History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 27

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

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Judge Spencer did not like the drudgery of the profession, but it was a delight to him to examine and reason out pure legal questions. To settle a bill of excep-

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tions between two pertinacious, pugnacious lawyers, both of whom were insisting on multitudinous matters which were of no imaginable consequence, was a weari- ness to the flesh. The following tribute to his eminent ability and great legal acquirements will be recognized as from the pen of one who wrote the English lan- guage with an elegance and force that was perhaps the least of his many and varied accomplishments as a lawyer and judge: "He loved the law as a science, and pro- foundly felt its responsibilities. His mind clearly perceived his duty, and his heart tempered justice with the purest equity. Never impulsive or demonstrative, he yet possessed large sympathies which ever controlled his opinions, and gave the assur- ance to his brethren, that he felt, as well as thought. His perceptions of right were intuitive; and in all his deliberations with his colleagues, he sought to reach a result his conscience could approve. Mere expediency, nor the power of precedent, never controlled his decisions, nor yet the approbation nor censure of his profession, when stern duty claimed his bold utterance for the truth. The loss of such a man can not be properly estimated, yet the example of judicial integrity, impartiality, and gentle courtesy he so beautifully exhibited in his life, is still fresh in the remembrance of his legal friends. One of his colleagues who is still permitted to hold a seat on the Bench, and who knew him in his youth, in his manhood and more mature years, who knew him but to love him, who was with him in the hour of his departure, and felt the last earthly pressure of his hands, indulges in the abiding hope that he is now in the presence of that just Judge whose will, in the administration of human law, our departed friend strove so conscientiously to obey."

William Y. Gholson .- Judge Gholson was a thoroughly complete lawyer. He was the embodiment of clear legal logic, and his judgments were the transparent, dispassionate, frigid announcements of conclusions. Whatever his reasonings led up to, that was the result, and there was no reductio ad absurdum that could appall him. It isnot meant that his opinions were open to any such criticism. In the trial of a case, or the argument of a proposition, he could not be imposed upon by false premises. His mind was acute, and if anything was asserted that was irrele- vant to the issue, he saw it in an instant, completely ignored its existence, and waited until he saw what was the true gist of the controversy. This he seized upon. With this before him his syllogism was faultless. He was not at all oppressed with the gravity of matters before him. He was quite equal to the occasion, no matter how vast was the importance of the case he was deciding, and he preserved the same direct course, whether it was a dollar involved or a million. When the Ohio Life Insurance & Trust Company failed, in 1857, an attachment was issued against it on the ground that it had fraudulently incurred the obligation for which the suit was brought; the allegations being that the Trust Company had fraudulently hypothecated com- mercial paper left with it by plaintiff for collection. The public interest in the case was intense. The Trust Company had long been regarded as the one solid, impreg- nable financial institution of the West, if not of the United States. Its wealth was supposed to be without end, and its managers the most prudent, intelligent, con- servative men to be found in any community. When it closed its doors, the shock was fearful, even in a country where bank failures are perennial, and whence bank cashiers constantly emigrate. The amount involved was very large; but it was not this so much, as the idea that such an institution should be amenable to such a charge. Everybody felt as though their own personal integrity had been attacked. A motion to dissolve was made. Judge Gholson heard and decided it, with the same calm utter indifference to all adventitious circumstances, as if he had never heard of the parties before.

This decision is one of the best specimens of Judge Gholson's ablest work. It is difficult to speak of it, as it is impossible to describe it. It might be called a mas- terpiece of reasoning, or any of those other names ordinarily used, in such a connec- tion. But these are mere platitudes which can be employed for any purpose, or

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upon any occasion, and which are quite as likely to convey a wrong or exaggerated idea, if they convey any. The weight, however, of a decision is determined by the deference the Bar gives to it, and this has been considered the law of Ohio for over thirty years. It is quite true that the Supreme Court of the State has thought it safe to run counter to the doctrines of this case. But it has been in the announce- ments of conclusions without opinions. Opinions require reason for their support, and the authority of Judge Gholson has not yet been shaken.

The case of Masury vs. Southworth is an illustration of his method of arguing wise questions of the law. The subject is about as dry and technical as can be found in the books. But the way in which he discusses it, in this opinion, makes the read- ing fascinating, if such a term may be applied to anything so utterly devoid of inter- est to any but the profession. The critical examination he makes of Spencer's case, and the manner in which he elucidates and reconciles the inconsistencies in the reso- lutions laid down, and which have always been a stumbling block to lawyers, shows a power and accuracy of analysis only to be found in a trained, well-ordered legal brain. It is a popularly received notion that the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, upon the construction of the Constitution and laws of the United States, is conclusive upon everybody in all cases.

In Skelly and Jefferson Bank, he explodes this notion, declining to follow a deci- sion of the national tribunal, on the mooted question of bank taxation. With all his great ability, with all his great learning, he was neither too great nor too learned to be the most gentle of gentlemen. The stereotyped joke about the judge, who observed-to the novice, perhaps needlessly diffuse, or too thorough from the founda- tion up, that " The Court is supposed to know some law," was not wit, but brutality merely. The patient endurance with which Judge Gholson would listen for hours to some young lawyer laying down and elaborating the simplest principles of law, citing authorities from the year books to the 115th Texas, " saying an undis- puted thing, in such a solemn way," was the highest example of Christian fortitude. Rather than hurt the feelings of anyone he would suffer these afflictions in silence, martyrdom as it must have been to such an accomplished lawyer. Under such try- ing circumstances, and when wearied nature was hardly further adequate, his grav- est reproach would be "I think Mr. So and So, I may safely say the Court is with you upon that proposition." If this did not bring surcease of sorrow, he resigned himself to his fate.

Bellamy Storer was one of the early lawyers of the Hamilton County Bar. He came to this country in 1817. He was one of those self-reliant sons of New Eng- land that followed the course of Empire. Cincinnati then had a population of about nine thousand, and he lived to see it one of the great cities of the West. He had long been one of our leading lawyers, and when he was elected judge of the Superior Court brought to this Bench a wide legal experience. There are few who had such devotion to, such love for, the profession. It was the theme of his life. He never ceased the study of the law, keeping apace with its literature throughout his entire career, and his acquaintance with the books was marvelous. A long and active practice, with his habits of industrious research, had so imbued him with knowledge that, when he assumed it, he was ripe for the judicial position he so long adorned. The operations of his mind were quick, and his restless energy made the courtroom where he presided a scene of lively activity. His nature was sprightly and vivacious, so that he did not conduct the affairs of daily business with that ponderous solem- nity that is so frequently awful in Courts of Justice, where mere gravity of manners is assumed to be profundity, and asperity and boorishness are believed to be the qualities of a great judge.

Judge Storer was an elegant writer. In the expression of ideas he was forcible, and what he wrote could be plainly understood. He was not redundant until obscur- ity made darkness visible. The first choice of words was natural to him, and there

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was a finish to all ho did, that could not have been any acquired talent. Besides his high position at the Bar and upon the Bench, he was a public-spirited citizen. There have been times in the history of Cincinnati when it has experienced great calamities. Ohio river floods have occasioned great distress, especially among the poorer classes. Pestilence has been in our midst, until the plague-beleagured city became a charnel house, and the grim monster strode through the streets, the swathes from his scythe impeding the highways. Panic prevailed, and citizens fled from their houses in town as though they could escape the appointed hour, by trying to run away from it. Time has perhaps effaced the memory of these calamities, but they were not the less fearful because they are forgotten. When re- lief societies were organized for the benefit of suffering humanity, he was always foremost in the work, as he was always foremost when good was to be done. His zeal, his untiring energy, was the soul of public action, his great administrative ability wisely directed united effort; his fearless, cheery good nature was infectious and inspired hope when hope was the best tonic that pharmacy could afford. Labors such as those do not perhaps bring distinguished renown. The warrior, who slays a thousand men, achieves greater fame than he who nnostentatiously saves the life of one; but such is the course of human affairs.

He was intensely American in his feelings. In 1862 the siege of Cincinnati cre- ated the wildest excitement. Our Confederate brethren had swarmed into Ken- tucky principally, stealing horses and converting to their own use such portable property, belonging to others, as they could lay hands on easily and carry off safely.

The war cloud was fast gathering on our borders, and the hue was butternut. The hostile clans approached in force, until they were upon the confines of the city, and the startling announcement was made:

The rebel foot is on thy shore, His torch is at thy temple door,

and Cincinnati was peremptorily informed that she must

Rise and be the battle queen of yore.

Governor Tod issued a proclamation, Gen. Wallace issued a proclamation, every- body in authority or out of authority issued a proclamation. The governor called upon all the armed men in the State to come to Cincinnati, and be quick about it. They came galloping-some in rags and some in jags; but all had guns. In three- days Gov. Tod had sent twenty regiments and twenty-one more were on the way. All the citizens of Cincinnati armed themselves, and moved over to the Kentucky hills. They dug trenches during the day, and laid in the mud at night. The panic lasted for nearly a week, when our misguided brethren " folded their tents like the Arab, and as silently stole away." When our gallant citizen soldiery returned from the tented field, it was a gala day. The streets were crowded with mothers, wives and sweethearts, flags were flying, drums beating and bells ringing. Regiment after reg- iment swarmed along Fourth street, until people exclaimed in utter amazement, " Where did they all come from?" In that patriotic host, with clothes soiled and ragged, a hat the appearance of which indicated a familiar acquaintance with, but utter indifference to, the storms of the universe; his shoes travel-worn and dusty with scarcely a vestige of judicial dignity in his entire make-up, but with a face beaming with delighted enthusiasm, a private in the ranks, a musket on his shoulder, keeping step to the music of the Union, marched Judge Bellamy Storer, presiding justice of the Superior court of Cincinnati.

At one time in the trial of a case before him, a distinguished southern lawyer was addressing the jury. In the course of his remarks, he had occasion to refer to pub- lic affairs, and spoke of "the death of Mr. Lincoln.". Judge Storer rapped with his pencil upon the bench in front of him, and when the lawyer paused in his argu-

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ment, and stillness prevailed, the judge said: "Here, we call it the murder of Mr. Lincoln." The emphasis on the noun substantive was such that the rebuke was as pointed in its utterance, as it was keenly felt.

He was always very popular, for his manners were so pleasant, his nature was so genial, that none could fail to be attracted to him. He was fond of young men, and enjoyed their society. It is the young men of that day-they are mostly old now- that will recall most vividly the many kind things he has said and done; how he was partaker of and enjoyed their mirth, and how often in times of perplexity or trouble, he would put his arm around your neck, and say some word that was grateful to hear Lawyers who have practiced before him, in the first disappointment of defeat, doubtless have felt aggrieved, for humanity is not always the perfection of philoso- phy. But now that the asperities of strife are things of the past, and the sun has set on wrath, who, that has known him, during the many years of his judicial life, that has seen him, day after day, in the warmth of litigation and the amenities of social life, can recur to the retrospect, without sentiments of admiration for the dis- tinguished jurist, and feelings of affectionate remembrance for the venerable man ?

Aaron F. Perry .- In a paper read before the State Bar Association, Hon. Jud- son Harmon has treated the character of Mr. Perry with a justness and felicity that leaves nothing to be added. It is impossible to condense this paper without marring it, and such extracts as may be allowed can give but an imperfect idea of the whole.

Mr. Perry was a native of Vermont, of Puritan stock. "He had the inheritance, which such descent implies, of healthy vigor of mind and body, the love of justice, and a spirit inclined upward." He had not much of the advantages of early educa- tion through the medium of schools, though he was a rare instance of self-improve- ment. The love of knowledge inherent in him was such that he became a man of wide and varied learning.

His "position and reputation were due to distinction at the Bar alone. He was plain Mr. Perry to the end." The cases, in which he was chiefly engaged, were of great importance, some of them involving questions, the result of the Civil war. "He probably made a wider reputation as chief counsel of Gen. Burn- side, on the application of Mr. Vallandigham for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States Court at Cincinnati. It took a strong man to maintain debate with George E. Pugh, who was counsel for Mr. Vallandigham. It required a wise, safe, cautious and learned man, with ingenuity tempered with broad sagacity, to sustain Mr. Lincoln in the arrest of this distinguished prisoner, without rudely pulling down the pillars of the temple of Liberty. Without passing judgment upon the merits of the case, it may justly be said that Mr. Perry's argument, which is reported in full, gives a good display of the extent of his learning, the clearness and versatility of his thought, his logical faculty, the force and nicety of his doctrine, his power of anal- ysis, the play of his fancy, and his humor, which gave spice, without bitterness, to his discourse."

It might also be said of this argument, that, as a philosophical disquisition, it is successful in showing how the rendering of moral aid to any cause is just as important and far reaching in results, as the rendering of physical aid. The word, fitly spoken, may revive drooping energies or stimulate the fainting soul to heroic action.

Mr. Perry's sense of humor was exquisite. To meet him on the street, there was a sparkle in the eye that foretold something good was coming. A lawyer's brief ordi- narily is not the place to look for levity. They are generally full of ponderous solemnity. But if anyone wishes to read a paper that is full of fun, let him peruse Mr. Perry's brief in Doolittle vs. Burgess.

"To his great talents he added a high character, and crowned a successful profes- sional career with a pure and unselfish life. And to talents and character he joined the manners of a kind and courteous gentleman, who never knowingly gave offense,

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and was slow to take it; who respected the diguity of others, and seldom had occa- sion to defend his own. He had what might be called the soaring sense of humor. He had also a keen and lively wit, but delighted in its wings, rather than its sting."

Rufus King .- The one remarkable circumstance of Mr. King's life was that it was chiefly spent in laboring for the good of others. He held very many public positions which were positions of hard work without any compensation. He filled them with the full measure of his best zeal, and his sole reward was the conscious- ness of good accomplished. So universally is selfishness the mainspring of action, it is difficult to understand how a man can spend year after year of a busy life, giv- ing the best portion of his time, skill and ability, for the mere advancement of the public good. A mere statement of the work in which he was during a long life usefully engaged is the best tribute which can be paid to his memory. He began his professional life in Cincinnati in 1840. In 1846 he was a member of the con- vention to form the city charter. Than this there could be no more important pub- lic trust. Thereafter he was a member of the city council, and such was his high character that he could hold a municipal office without reproach. The public schools then became the object of his choicest regard, and for fourteen years he was engaged in this service, not in any perfunctory manner, but he devoted himself to it with vigor and enthusiasm. From 1852 until 1867 he was president of the board. No man would have been better qualified to superintend the public educa- tion than he himself; a scholar, of broad ideas, accomplished in all the liberal arts, it was under his supervision that our public schools have justly become our proud- est boast. In 1869 the use of the Bible in the public schools agitated the commu- nity to a degree of excitement not often known in society where the peace is still preserved. Mr. King at that time had severed his connection with the Board of Education, but his interest in the case had not abated, and when the battle was on he was among the ablest defenders of the faith. Limits preclude the possibility of any description of that famous controversy. The first lawyers of the State took part in it. Men on the streets, in the marts of business, wherever intelligence met intelligence, waged the warfare without cessation. There were those who honestly thought that the pillars of the Commonwealth were being rudely shaken; that de- struction was inevitable. But the schools survived. When the Woodward and Hughes High Schools were consolidated, in 1851, Mr. King was elected president of the board of managers, which position he held until the close of his life. In 1859 he was elected by the city council director of the MeMicken University, and was made president of the board, acting as such until 1870, when the name was changed to the University of Cincinnati. He was president of the board until 1877. Mr. King was the author of the law founding the Public Library of Cincinnati; in 1867 was a member of the board of directors, and in 1870 became president. In 1874 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, and when its president, Morrison R. Waite, was made chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Mr. King was made president of the convention. He was connected with the Cincinnati Law School as dean, and professor from 1875 until his death.

Lawyers owe him a special debt of gratitude for the part he took in the organ- ization of the Cincinnati Law Library, and for the support he had always given it. He was elected president in 1855, and filled that office for thirty-six years. Besides his daily interest in the affairs of the Library, when it was destroyed in 1884, Mr. King paid the debt of the association, amounting to nearly four thousand dollars, and by his will he remembered it in a bequest of twenty thousand dollars. He was a member of the board of tax commissioners organized in 1883 to prevent public plunder, serving until 1891. He was a member of the Committee of One Hundred. Of late years, under our system of registration, our community have had honest elections; Mr. King prepared the law which secured this result. He was an active supporter of the College of Music and Art Museum. In considering this list of

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public offices it will be seen that the emoluments attached to these various positions could not have been an attraction. The principal use he seemed to have for money was to give it away; the desire of accumulating it does not seem to have been an element of his character.

Busy, active, as he always was, from his entrance upon, to the end of, his life, he has left behind him a stainless record of useful, unselfish work.

Chas. Linnaeus Telford, a native of Ohio, and a graduate of the Miami Univer- sity, came to Cincinnati in the year 1836 to accept the chair of rhetoric and belles- lettres in the Cincinnati College, which had recently re-organized by the efforts of Dr. Daniel Drake.

He was the youngest member of the Faculty, being then only about twenty years of age; and although his associates in the college were men of learning, distinction and talent, young Telford at once took high rank among them, and made his depart- ment one of the most popular and effective in the institution. But his tastes were not so much in the line of academic studies as to lead him to remain long in the chair to which he had been called. Indeed, we have the testimony of one who knew him intimately in his boyhood, that very early in life he expressed a strong desire to become a member of the legal profession, and ultimately to enter public life.

He therefore soon resigned his college professorship, entered eagerly upon the study of the law, and was in due time admitted to the Bar, and became, at once, the partner of Samuel F. Cary, who at that time enjoyed a fine reputation as an orator, and had every prospect of a distinguished career. But this partnership did not long continue, Mr. Telford leaving Mr. Cary to associate himself with William S. Groesbeck, in a partnership which continued up to the time of Mr. Telford's death, and during this period both Mr. Groesbeck and Mr. Telford held professorships in the Law School of the Cincinnati College.

Mr. Telford's rise to distinction at the Bar was phenomenally rapid; but to those who knew his power, his industry and his conscientiousness, it was not surprising. To a mind of uncommon vigor and analytical power he added an exquisite literary taste, and an industry which would have insured success to the merest plodder. Fully conscious of his great natural gifts, he never presumed on them, but brought to every task which he undertook the most untiring industry and the supremest purpose to do his very best; and it may fairly be doubted whether in the course of his whole life, in college, in the professor's chair, or at the Bar, he ever entered upon the performance of any public duty without first making faithful and exhaus- tive preparation.

His personal appearance was striking. Tall, erect and dignified, with a piercing eye, a fine Roman nose, a mouth expressive at once of sweetness and firmness, and a chin which indicated an indomitable character, he commanded attention wherever he appeared. -

His diction was chaste and yet copious, his voice clear and manly, his manner fervent, and yet persuasive, his bearing lofty, and his gestures graceful, yet impres- sive. Indeed, he was every inch an orator. His professional standard was of the highest, and the purity of his life gave an illustrious example of all that was manly in character and irreproachable in conduct. One who knew him intimately in boy- hood, as well as in his maturer years, has said of him that during all this time and in all the varying temptations, irritations and antagonisms which must always mark the life of a man of strong character, he never heard young Telford utter a word or express a sentiment which might not have been uttered or expressed with- out offense, in the presence of his mother : "Nullum verbum, quod revocare vellet, emisit."

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 27

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