History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 25

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592

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The county subsequently erected an edifice upon the same location which was quite an architectural display. It had a cupola some eighty feet high, was orna-

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mented with balustrades, all of which called for an expenditure of $3,000, a sum that would now scarcely suffice for the erection of an office for a justice of the peace. The courthouse of 1851 cost $695, 253.29, which illustrates the advance of civili- zation.

Fire has played an important part in the administration of justice in Hamilton county. During the war of 1812, the courthouse was used as a barracks for sol- diers, who succeeded in setting fire to the building, to its entire destruction. A large lot was then donated to the county by Jesse Hunt, and a new building was completed in 1819. It was also destroyed by fire in 1849, and the Courts adjourned to a pork house on Court street. Legal business was here transacted, until a new building was completed in 1853. It remained until 1884, when it too was destroyed by fire, upon March 29, of that year. This disaster was the result of mob violence. A man by the name of Berner was tried for an atrocious murder. He was assumed to be guilty, and his acquittal to be the result of illegitimate methods. A virtuous but excited populace arose in their indignation to vindicate the law. With an intel- ligence quite as rare as its results were discriminating, the mob, instead of taking the criminal, and punishing him, fired the courthouse. The fire was disastrous. The records from the earliest times were burnt. No one can ever tell what books and papers, the accumulation of an hundred years, were thus lost. The magnificent Law Library, the result of many years wise and patient collection, was completely destroyed. It was some days before the mob was suppressed. The military took possession of what remained of the courthouse, and in the course of the rioting John J. Desmond, at the head of the company he commanded, was accidentally shot and killed. He was a brave, gallant young man, and promising lawyer; a tablet to his memory stands in the courthouse near the spot where he fell. It is a satisfaction, however, to know, as was subsequently developed, that there must have been a large number of the rioters who were killed, or wounded so that they died, by the prompt measures the military adopted. The number is said to have been as large as one hundred and fifty.

At the time this great calamity happened Governor George Hoadly was chief magistrate of the State. A law was passed creating a Board of Trustees to be appointed by the Governor to build a new courthouse. Governor Hoadly appointed Henry C. Urner, John L. Stettinius, Wesley M. Cameron, and William Worthington. The successful result justified this wise selection. The Board of Trustees gave their two years and a half of public service, without compensation, and the present building is the result of their labor. On January 15, 1887, the Bar gave a banquet to the trustees and architect, James W. Mclaughlin, as a testimonial of their regard for, and appreciation of, the work which had been done. It was a happy occasion, for the good will and high esteem, manifested for the gentlemen named, was a tribute they will long remember.

THE CINCINNATI LAW LIBRARY.

Any account of the profession in Hamilton county would be altogether incom- plete without some reference to the Law Library. For many years it has been, at least, a feature of the courthouse. It was organized in 1846, and incorporated in 1847, rooms being provided by the county commissioners. It was destroyed by the fire of Saturday night, March 29, 1884. At this time the Library numbered some seventeen thousand volumes. During the thirty-seven years these had been accu- mulating, its members had invested in their purchase $43,968.98. It was one of the most complete libraries in this country. Every department was full. It gloried also in the possession of many exceedingly rare curiosities, some of which were val- uable also for occasional practical use. Among them were complete copies of the Territorial laws of the Northwest Territory and of the Territories formed therefrom; of the Territorial laws of Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi;

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a copy of Justinian edition of 1535; of Grotius' first edition, containing pen and ink notes and emendations made by the author, and original copies of the first edi- tion of Coke, Blackstone and Kent. On the walls were many paintings, portraits of early and distinguished jurists of Ohio. The room also held a collection of many valuable articles, the accumulation of years of active interest in the association on the part of its members, and of those who, although not members, yet realized that the public at large would be greatly benefited by the success of such a library. Of all that was in the library rooms that Saturday night, but one book came through the fire safely-that was an odd volume of Pennsylvania laws. A few volumes, six or seven in all, happened to be out on loan, and thus were saved. All else-reports, statutes, text-books, engravings and paintings-were reduced to ashes. The loss was a severe one. By none was it felt more keenly than by the librarian, Maurice W. Myers, who for almost a quarter of a century had carefully and zealously watched over and fostered the growth of the Library. To his indefatigable zeal and constant services it was mainly indebted for much that made it what it was-the Law Library of the country. The Library was insured in the sum of $10,000. This was looked upon as a fund for the restoration, so far as money could restore, of the Library that was gone. No one seemed to doubt for a moment that the immediate thing to be undertaken was this work of restoration. Courts and lawyers must have law books for constant, ready use, and in no other way could the demand be better met than by the association. Its affairs are managed by a board of trustees. On Mon- day after the fire, March 31, this board met to consider the situation. They found that several boxes of books had arrived at the depots, which, while useful to the old Library to round out its outlines in certain respects, were not necessary to a Library which, for some time to come, should contain only actually needed working material. Several orders were also outstanding for similar books. It was voted to return these books and cancel the orders if possible, and the treasurer was instructed to collect the insurance. On April 3, the treasurer reported at a meeting of the trus- tees, that the four insurance companies disclaimed all liability for loss, on the ground that the fire was caused by a riot. In the policies of three of the companies was found, hid away in the depths of the finely printed exceptions, a clause exempting them from losses so caused. The policy of the fourth company did not contain this clause. It nevertheless refused to pay, alleging that, by mutual agreement, it had been provided that this clause be inserted, but that it had been inadvertently omitted. The trustees promptly ordered suit to be brought on all four policies, and the five members of the board and their firms volunteered their services in the pros- ecution. On April 4, the association held a large and enthusiastic meeting in College Hall. Probably no better account of the spirit of this meeting can be given than that suggested by the following extracts from the resolutions that were then unanimously adopted:

WHEREAS, In the loss to its members and the Bench and the Bar of this county by the de- struction of our Library, which can not be overstated, this Association recognizes that the greatness of the disaster is commensurate with the complete success which had crowned the zeal, intelligence and energy of the management, and is confident, so long as the same quali- ties are employed in the restoration of what is lost, no misforturne can be called irreparable.

Resolved, That the support and co-operation of every member is hereby pledged to the offi- cers of this Association in every attempt and step to replace what we have lost as speedily as possible.

But the meeting did not stop with mere resolutions. Liberal subscriptions were made to the funds necessary to restore the Library, and committees were ap- pointed to solicit further aid, and, better still, an assessment of $100 was ordered on each member, payable in installments at reasonable intervals. With such back- ing the trustees did not hesitate to enter into contracts, and by April 30 they voted to accept an offer to furnish the Reports of the American Courts for $11,237.50, and, in May, one to furnish the English Courts for $5,070, and certain text-books.

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and digests for $1,830. £ By June, 1884, the treasurer had cash receipts amounting to $6,852, and during the year ending June, 1885, he had received from subscrip- tions and assessments $19,808, and from the insurance companies $3,300. For, though suits had been brought against the insurance companies, the riot clause in the three of them had proven an insurmountable difficulty in the way of recovering, and they were compromised. The fourth policy was paid, not withstanding the al- leged inadvertence in its draft. The Library was well known throughout the country, and received from many quarters practical expressions of sympathy. Val- uable contributions of books were made by the States of New York, Kentucky, Arkansas, Connecticut, Michigan, Iowa and Ohio. the Territories of Montana, Da- kota, Idaho, Wyoming and Arizona, the city of Cincinnati, Robert Clarke & Com- pany, Sonle & Bugbee, publishers of Boston, and many other individuals. The members responded liberally to the plea for funds. The total amount paid for books from the fire down to June, 1893, was $56,023.99. In addition to that it must be remembered that there were large payments for regular current expenses. The largest single subscription was made by Rufus King, who was for many years the honored president of the association, and has shown his devotion to its interests in a thousand instances. Mr. King died in 1891, and in his will made a most gen- erous bequest to the association. On the morning of April 3, 1884, the new Li- brary, containing nine volumes, was open and ready for use in temporary quarters in the Debolt building-as a guest in the office of J. W. Fitzgerald & Son. It fol- lowed the Courts to the Albany building, and then to its-let us trust-permanent home in the new courthouse. Its books have all been paid for. In June, 1893, they numbered 16,373. Surely the record is worthy of preservation. It is the work of a membership not exceeding in number at any one time 250 members.

BIOGRAPHIES OF PROMINENT JURISTS.

Jacob Burnet. - But few men were more practically useful in organizing society in the Northwest through the enactment and administration of laws than Judge Burnet. He was of Scotch descent, illustrating in himself the best elements of that somewhat peculiar character. He was a son of Dr. William Burnet, of Newark, N. J., one of the medical directors and surgeons general in the Continental army. Judge Burnet came to the Miami Country, as it was then called, in the spring of 1796, to begin the practice of law. He was a member of the first Legislative Coun- cil'of the Northwest Territory, exercising a large influence in the adoption of salu- tary laws, and now after nearly a century has elapsed, and the work has passed in review, it must be regarded as a happy circumstance that Jacob Burnet was a mem- ber of that first Legislature. Of a truth may it be said of this early pioneer in law, and in political and social economy, "their works do live after them." In 1820 the settlers on western land were hopelessly in debt to the government for the pur- chases they had made. There was no money in the country. Banks did nothing but fail. The sturdy woodman who more than once had gone forth, rifle in hand, to repel the onset of the savage foe upon the frontier settlement saw nothing but ruin before him. The humble home he had so often fought to defend "when the blood of his sons fattened his cornfields, and the war-whoop awakened the sleep of the cradle," was about to be torn from him, and he driven forth to the pitiless shel- ter of the wilderness. It was feared that an attempt by the government to collect its debts, amounting to about twenty-two millions of dollars, would result in civil war. At a time of such impending disaster, when the wisdom of statesmen was needed to divine a method of relief, and the justice of patriotism to arbitrate be- tween exasperated partisans, Judge Burnet was the author of a scheme by which the settlers were allowed to relinquish such land as they could not pay for, applying the money they had already paid to protect the improvements which they had made. This scheme passed into a law, and the settler could once more sleep in his humble log cabin with the healthful consciousness of knowing it was his own.

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To the efforts of Judge Burnet is due in a great measure the construction of the Miami canal from Dayton to the lakes. Congress had made large grants of land to the State of Ohio to assist in the construction of canals; there were conditions, however, attached to the grants under which, after large amounts of money had been expended, the State was likely to lose its land grants, leaving its canals entirely un- completed. Judge Burnet, then in the Senate, took up the matter with his accus- tomed zeal and energy. He succeeded in inducing the Senate to pass a bill remov- ing the obnoxious conditions and obtaining additional grants. The bill became a law through his untiring efforts, and the contemplated works were completed.

Judge Burnet was a member of the Supreme Court of Ohio, but resigned his place to take his seat in the United States Senate, as the successor of William Henry Harrison. In the early days of which he writes, Judge Burnet and other members of the Bar were accustomed to attend the Supreme Court of the Territory at Cincinnati, Marietta and Detroit, the field of jurisprudence being a wide one. They traveled on horseback, carrying their provisions with them. The hotels of that day were not numerous, and the wayfarers slept on the ground, at the foot of a tree, using their saddles for pillows. Sometimes they would enjoy tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep, but often the gnats and mosquitoes were inexorable. The roads were merely bridle paths through the woods, and there were no bridges or ferries over streams. Consequently one of the first requirements of a good horse was that he should be an expert swimmer. With such an animal under them, it seemed to make little difference to our peripatetic Bar, whether they were on land or in the water. In December, 1799, Arthur St. Clair, Jr., and Judge Burnet set out on a trip from Cincinnati to Vincennes, on professional business. They pur- chased a specimen of naval architecture known as an "Ark," into which they loaded their provisions, their horses and themselves. Four days of assiduous travel carried them to the Falls of the Ohio. Here they disembarked, mounted their horses, and plunged into the forest. As they were about to encamp for the night they encoun- tered a band of Indians. The pipe of peace, however, seemed to be prevalent, and the high contracting powers established relations of amity. The Judge and his companions shoveled the snow off the ground, built a fire, wrapped themselves in their blankets, and laid down to quiet dreams. A couple of panthers, of inquisitive turn of mind, persisted in inspecting these intruders upon their own private domain, beleaguering their camp with a prolonged succession of those blood curdling screams, the like of which can come from no other beast of prey. The next day they encountered a severe snowstorm, blinded by the fury of which they stumbled over a troop of buffalo. The surprise was entirely mutual, but the buffaloes being more alarmed than the white man, stayed not upon the order of their going. Arriving at White river, they found an old cabin deserted except by a pugnacious wild cat, who seemed to be of the opinion that possession was nine points in the law. As the night was coming on, and the storm raging. the question at issue between lawyer and wild cat, as to the tenancy of the cabin, became an interesting one. After con- sultation as to the proper mode of procedure, they moved upon the enemy's works and discomfited him until that he fled, when they enjoyed a coveted repose. The Judge reached Vincennes, where he remained a few days and then set out for home, stating with an unconscious but delicious gleam of humor, that he abandoned the intention of practicing law in that country "from a conviction that the profits of the business would not be sufficient to compensate for the fatigue and loss of time to which it would subject him."

Until his death in 1853 Jacob Burnet was one of the most notable figures upon the streets of Cincinnati. Tall and dignified in his appearance, he retained the style and manners of the olden times. He wore the old-fashioned queue, and in public assemblies his grave stately deportment inspired, if not awe, at least respect. In his opinions and judgments he was decided. He did not believe in anything half

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way, but altogether, nor did he hesitate to state his views, when occasion required, and they were so stated as to be completely understood.

Having been judge of the Supreme Court, United States Senator, and a public man all his life, and being in affluent circumstances, he was the most prominent citizen of Cincinnati. His hospitality was generous, and his home a hostelry for the stranger. No one had appreciated fully the merits of the city, unless they had sat at his board, and there would be encountered the most distinguished men of the country. The venerable mansion, formerly so long his home, has sheltered beneath its roof Gen. Lafayette, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, William Henry Harrison, Lewis Cass, and many others whose lives are ended but whose names remain. There has been in the Queen City no other residence within whose walls have been gath- ered so many who have been illustrious in their day. But he selected his company. Judge Barnet's father and brothers were intimate acquaintances of Col. Burr dur- ing the Revolutionary war, and when Burr visited Cincinnati, he expected to receive the courtesies so notoriously and so liberally extended to almost every man of prominence. Judge Burnet, however, peremptorily refused to make his acquaint- ance, and with that vigor with which he entertained his views, and that perspica- city with which he expressed them, put his refusal upon the distinct ground that he "considered Col. Burr a murderer."

Charles Hammond left behind him the reputation of a great lawyer. He is of course known to the Bar, as the first of the Supreme Court reporters. There is not much in such an office to develop great abilities, and though the work is well done, doubtless there were many more who could have done it just as well. Had Mr. Hammond devoted himself exclusively to the law, he would certainly have left more enduring monuments of his fame. His argument in the celebrated case of Osborne rs. the Bank of the United States shows that he was a great Constitutional lawyer, and to this day there are those who doubt whether John Marshall or Charles Ham- mond had the best of it. The Court, however, having the privilege of making the law, under the guise of declaring it, established the contrary of Hammond's views, and whether right or wrong matters not now, for error becomes truth, if it is venerable.

President Adams tendered to Mr. Hammond a seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, but it was declined. There is no more glittering prize to be offered the American lawyer. and Mr. Hammond's action shows his indepen- dence of spirit, and that he cared but little for the name and fame he was to leave behind him. The minutes of the Supreme Court of this State show the estimate in which he was held, by his professional brethren, in the few lines written by a lawyer fully capable to pass judgment, and one who was singularly just to his fellow men. Nathaniel Wright wrote of him thus: "Mr. Hammond was most truly a great and worthy man. Ardently devoted to truth and virtue, to charitable deeds, to human liberty and the Constitution of his country, his life was one of great labor, activity and usefulness. With a mind highly cultivated, clear perceptions, and, above all, of most inflexible integrity, he was fearless and independent. His pro- fessional career was fair, open, manly, and won the approbation of his contempor- aries. In him the weak, unfortunate and honest ever found an advocate, the guilty never. He attained to great eminence as a lawyer, as a literary man, and as a political writer."

If the student of belles-lettres, of rhetoric, and correct literary expression, will carefully analyze the few lines of the above eulogy, he will discover a wealth of meaning, scarcely ever found in classic literature. Many men are great; how few are worthy! Can there be higher aims in human life than truth, virtue, charity and human liberty ? If there be crowns reserved, they must be for those who labor with activity and usefulness, for such noble ends. The mind that is highly cultivated has become so, because it has recognized the fact that genius is not the result of

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great labor, and that work is worship. Clear perceptions are God-given. That puri- tication of the intellectual eye, which enables it at once to discover among the shape- less ore of the unexplored mines that which is rich and that which is dross, is not acquired, it belongs to the few who are chosen from the many called. That inflex- ible integrity, without which no man can be fearless and independent, was com- memorated two thousand years ago.

" Justum ac tenacem propositi virum."

The just man, of firm purpose, is steadfast still, and the wild fury of his fellow- men can not move him from his settled resolve. In this his eminence was great as a literary man and political writer, for although tradition has assigned him the place of Ohio's foremost lawyer, as an editor he was greater still. He was a native of a slave State, and his father was a slaveholder, but as early as 1820 his position, on this great political question of the day, was not doubtful. His belief was that slavery was a great wrong, destructive of national character and happiness, and that its extension was fraught with fearful consequences. This belief he impressed upon the Ohio Legislature as early as 1819, and he waged the warfare of a relent- less enemy. When John Quincy Adams maintained the right of petition against the united audacity of the South, and the gentle timidity of the North, Charles Hammond upheld the hands of the old man eloquent, that they " were steady until the going down of the sun." Nothing caused him to abate a jot or tittle of his determined aggressive action. The fact that it was dangerous so to do, did not weigh with him a particle. He had put his hand to the plough, and there was no turning back in that war.

As early as 1823, his words on this subject, in the light of 1861 and 1865, are prophetic. "A coalition, cemented by a sameness of manners, and by a mutuality of interests, will be formed, and, when it once can get the predominence, will over- power and trample under foot all opposition. We can not help making the inquiry whether such views are not opposed to the prosperity and peace of the United States ? And whether men, who wish the extension of slavery for political pur- poses, are not advocating measures which lead not only to moral degradation and misery but to great ultimate national calamity. To urge the farther extension of involuntary servitude, appears not only morally wrong, but politically dangerous."

In 1836 James G. Birney established his newspaper in Cincinnati. Some of the most distinguished citizens of the place endeavored to dissuade him from his course of publishing, as it would drive away the "Southern trade." It was the general belief of that day that the "Southern trade " ought to be secured at any sacrifice of principle or manhood. Perhaps it was not pleasant to contemplate, that in the great West and Northwest fetters should still be forged for an unhappy race, and auction blocks erected for the sale of men, women and children ; but this was a sen- timent merely. Southern trade was a fact. As Birney believed in the " freedom of the Press," he was mobbed, and the " freedom " which his " Press " enjoyed, was, to be smashed into smithereens. The Cincinnati Gazette, however, stood to its guns. Hammond was cool, but his nerve did not quail. Hired bullies threatened his life. Tar and feathers were displayed before him. A midnight raid upon his office was organized, but the splendid bravery of this single man so terrified the cowardly outlaws, they did not dare to face him. Since now it is that nearly a gen- eration has passed since the voice of a slave has been heard in the land, it would be well that the biography of Charles Hammond be written. A bold, daring, brilliant man, who hurled confusion among the oligarchy with the pungent sentences from his daily pen. One of the very few who stood unmoved, amid the brutal terrors of popular violence ; who defied insolent power ; resisted the importunities of terrified friends, and the insulting threats of enemies. Who took his stand upon the Bible

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 25

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1592

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592