USA > Ohio > Erie County > History of Erie County Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
In the month of August of that year Messrs. Kinney and Colver were joined by John C. Kinney, a brother of the former, and the first number of the Jour-
IS4
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
nal was issued on August 16, 1866. The new paper was an eight column folio, very neatly printed for the times, and was edited by John C. Kinney with vigor and ability. At the end of six months Mr. Colver retired from the firm, and the paper was conducted by Kinney Brothers until the Ist of January, 1868, when M. F. McKelvey became associated in the firm, and a daily and tri-weekly edition of the Journal, were established as an experiment. These editions were continued with varying success until Mr. McKelvey went out of the firm in September of the same year, when they were suspended. The Weekly Journal was not affected by this event, however, but kept up its issues regularly as an independent publication until the nomination of Horace Greeley for president in 1872. It then espoused his cause, and became the exponent of Democratic principles, which it always afterwards advocated.
In the year 1879, John C. Kinney, who had been its editor, felt compelled by failing health to retire from active business, and at the close of that year the Journal was sold to Frank and Charles A. Layman, who, on the 8th of Janu- ary, 1880, issued the paper under the firm name of Layman Bros.
After his retirement from active business John C. Kinney acted as stenog- rapher in the Court of Common Pleas, but later his failing health confined him to home, and in a little over eight years after relinquishing control of the paper of which he was one of the founders, he died at his residence in Sandusky, on February 1, 1888, at the age of fifty-eight years.
Layman Brothers, who were journalists from Columbus, concluded to re- issue a daily edition of the Journal, which they did in the form of a six-column folio, on January 1, 1885, since which time it has continued with only a brief interruption. In 1882 the office of publication was moved from 212 Columbus avenue to the Ramsey block on Market street, in rooms formerly occupied by the Sandusky Tribune and Sandusky Independent, the former paper having been published a few years as a daily and weekly, and the latter only about three months as a weekly.
The Layman Brothers sold out the establishment on March 1, 1886, to Frank Stible and Felix Breen, who published the journal, daily and weekly, for six weeks under the firm name of Stible & Breen. At the expiration of that time Mr. Stible purchased the interest of Mr. Breen, and continued to publish both editions, employing E. P. Moore as editorial writer. Some time later, in the year 1886, a Sunday edition was added, which appeared regularly several months, when it ceased for want of adequate support.
In January, 1887, the Journal office met with a disaster by fire, which ne- cessitated the suspension of the paper's issue for some weeks, after which the publication of the daily edition was resumed by Mr. Stible, and continued until March 3, 1887, when the whole establishment passed by sale into the posses- sion of A. E. Merrill and C. C. Bittner, and was consolidated with the Sandusky Local, a daily and weekly newspaper which had been in existence as an oppo- sition Democratic publication for several years.
185
THE ERIE COUNTY PRESS.
The Sandusky Local was founded as a weekly newspaper by Ernest King, jr., of Middletown, Conn., who at that time was one of the proprietors of the Middletown Sentinel and Witness, one of the oldest publications in that State. The first number of the Local was issued November 18, 1882, as an indepen- dent weekly newspaper politically. It was a six-column quarto, with publica- tion office in the third story of No. 212 Columbus avenue, in rooms formerly occupied by the Sandusky Journal. The weekly issue of the Local met with such continued success that a daily was projected and successfully published by its proprietor, beginning on the 2d of April, 1883, as a six- column folio. The publication of the paper in these two editions was continued independent in politics until November, 1884, when the paper espoused the cause of Democracy, that party at the time having no daily paper to champion its prin- ciples. In April, 1885, Mr. King finding that the newspaper property in which he had an equal interest with his father in Middletown, Conn., de- manded his personal attention, sold out the paper to F. P. Lyman and F. W. Stevens, the latter having been an attachee of the office since the paper was first issued. The first paper appearing under the proprietorship of the new firm was dated April 27, 1885. In March, 1886, O. P. Wharton, a veteran Democratic editor of Youngstown, O., was engaged as editorial writer and con- tinued in such capacity during the proprietorship of Lyman & Stevens. In July, 1886, Mr. King having sold his interest in his eastern paper, and desiring to again enter the business in Sandusky, bought out the interest of Lyman & Stevens, the services of Messrs. Wharton and Stevens being retained by Mr. King. The paper continued under the proprietorship of Mr. King until March 3, 1887, when he received an advantageous offer from A. E. Merrill and C. C. Bittner, who were desirous of uniting the two factions of the party by consoli- dating the two opposing Democratic organs, and the consolidation was there- fore effected by the sale of the Local to these parties on the above date.
This purchase finished the publication of the Local, as it did also that of the Journal as a separate concern, the consolidated paper appearing on March 3, 1887, as the Sandusky Daily Journal and Local, and the weekly edition on March 5, as the Weekly Journal and Local, under the firm name of Merrill & Bittner.
At the time this co-partnership was formed, A. E. Merrill was filling the offices of probate judge of the county and president of the Citizens' National Bank, so that the entire management of the paper devolved upon Mr. Bittner, a lawyer by profession, and who had previously held the position of justice of the peace, and member of the board of education, and, at this time, was one of the recognized leaders of the Democracy of the county. O. P. Wharton was retained by the new firm as editorial writer, as were also several of the attachees of both offices. The consolidated paper first appeared as a six-column folio, but the demands for advertising space was such that the new proprietor found
186
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
it necessary to enlarge ; therefore, in April the paper was issued as a seven- column folio. On June 23, Judge Merrill feeling convinced that the consoli- dation of the two papers had accomplished a much desired end-the harmony and good will of the two opposing factions of the party-sold out his interest to the active partner of the establishment, Mr. Bittner, who continued as the sole proprietor of the paper until November 14, 1887, when F. W. Stevens. who had been connected with the office since the consolidation, and who at one time was one of the proprietors of the Sandusky Local, formed a co- partner- ship with Mr. Bittner by the purchase of an interest in the paper, which ap- peared on the above date, under the proprietorship of Bittner & Stevens, and has so since continued.
THE MILAN ADVERTISER.
From the statistical information furnished by Rowell's Directory of Ohio newspapers, it is learned that the Advertiser is a weekly paper, issued each Saturday in size 30 by 44, and having a circulation of over five hundred. I: appears as a fact, but not upon the above quoted authority, that the Milan Advertiser is issued only in this county, the type and press- work being per- formed at Tiffin. W. B. Starbird, an attorney of Milan, is the resident editor.
A paper of this same name was founded in the year 1869, and was issued through that part of the county as an advertising sheet, and without expense to its readers. In the year following it became a subscription paper at one dollar per annum, but subsequently the price was raised to a dollar and fifty cents. Several changes and enlargements were made in the size of the paper to keep step with its increasing circulation. Of this newspaper the present Advertiser is the outgrowth.
THE HURON REPORTER.
In the year 1879 the Reporter made its first appearance. At the present day it appears as a weekly (Thursday) publication, 30 by 44 in size, with a circulation of something over five hundred copies, and under the management of D. H. Clock as editor and publisher.
THE SANDUSKY TRIBUNE.
On the 30th of April, 1879, the first issue of the Daily Tribune made its appearance in Sandusky, under the editorial control of C. M. Brown & Co. Some six weeks later from the same office there came a weekly edition, and. added to that, after an interval of about two months, a tri-weekly was issued. But the enterprise proved unsuccessful from a business point of view. The daily was continued for about a year, and suspended in February, ISSO. The weekly and tri-weekly editions were maintained until the year 1881, when they dis- appeared from the sight of the reading public. Brown sold the enterprise to Howe & Rutledge, and it was under the latter management that publication was suspended.
187
THE BENCH AND BAR.
THE INDEPENDENT.
The Independent succeeded the Tribune, and was published in the rooms occupied by its predecessor. Its first number appeared in April, 1881, and its :ast in July of the same year. It was edited by G. W. Rutlege, one of the proprietors of the defunct Tribune. The Independent was a weekly publica- tion.
THE SATURDAY GAZETTE.
The Saturday Gazette is the youngest occupant of the journalistic field in Erie county. It was established in Sandusky county, in October, 1886, by C. C. Hand and W. I. Jackson, but the latter on January 1, 1887, became sole edi- :or and owner. It was the aim of the founders to establish a paper that should be free from political bias, and become useful especially as a clean family paper. Among the special features of the Gazette one entire page is devoted to musical, dramatic, and athletic news ; another to humorous sketches and choice clippings from the spicy and popular writers of the day.
The Gazette seems to be established on a sound basis and determined "to stay," notwithstanding the misfortunes that have overtaken previously founded weekly journals in the county.
In connection with the press, in general, of the county, it may be well enough to mention the Mercury, a Sunday paper published for a very brief time in Sandusky by J. L. Sweeny. It was started in 1879, but did not long continue-long enough, however. And in this same connection there may be made mention of the several publications of the socialists of Berlin township, but, fortunately, their end was timely, as they were conducive of no good results, nor are we aware that, during their brief but eventful career, they did any special injury to the good people of that locality.
The socialistic publications were the Age of Freedom, the Social Revolu- tionist, the Good Time Coming, the New Republic, The Optimist, and Kingdom of Heaven, The Principia, or Personality, the Vew Campaign, and the Toledo Sun, the last named having been removed to this locality in 1875.
CHAPTER XV.
BENCH AND BAR.
IT was many years after the organization of Ohio before the northern por- tion of the State had either bench or bar, and for a long time after the ter- ritorial government had ceased, the only courts known were the Indian coun-
188
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
cil and the court martial, while the bar consisted of the feathered chief and the uniformed commander.
The jurisprudence of the State, as of all the northern territory embraced in the Virginia cession, was founded on the common law of England, modified and construed by the several charters of King James I to the early settlers of Virginia, and by the ordinance of 1787. In 1793, by the Territorial Legisla ture, a statute was adopted from Virginia declaring "that the common law of England and all statutes made in aid of the common law prior to the fourth year of James I, which were of a general nature, should be a rule of decision until repealed." By the second section of the act of February 22, 1805, this act was repealed, but by the first section of the act was re-enacted ; it was again repealed January 2, 1806. So it may safely be said that the British statutes never had any effect in Ohio save as adopted by the Legislature. [I Chase, 190, 512, 528.] The English common law, however, so far as reason- able in itself, suitable to the condition and business of our people, and consist- ent with the letter and spirit of the Federal and State constitutions and stat- utes, ever has been and is followed by our courts and may be said to constitute a part of the common law of Ohio. [2 O. S. 387.]
After the organization of the State by the adoption of the constitution of 1802, the written law of Ohio may be said to have commenced, but the prac- tice was far from uniform, and it was not until 1845, when the able work of Joseph R. Swan, whose name needs no title to the bar of Ohio, Practice and Precedents, was published, that uniformity began to prevail with either bench or bar. Previous to that time, paraphrasing from the preface of that able work, most of the members of the bar and bench, whose opinions moulded our judi- cial system, had pursued their legal studies in other States of the Union, and brought with them a high respect for the practice and decisions of the courts where they were educated. Almost all the States of the Union had been thus represented at our bar and upon our bench, and had produced a very great diversity of law in different parts of the State. In truth, a local common law existed to some extent in each judicial circuit. In one the English common law was looked to as the only pure fountain ; in another the common law of England was modified by the laws of New York ; in another the common law of Massachusetts ; in another of Connecticut ; in another of Pennsylvania. The statutes of the State indicated the same heterogeneousness. The practice act came from New Jersey ; the attachment law from Pennsylvania ; the adminis- tration law from Massachusetts, and the non-imprisonment act from New York. This state of things sometimes gave rise to divisions of opinion in the court, in bank, and often subjected the adjudications to severe and unjust criticism.
It is certainly no disparagement to the many able jurists who aided in giv- ing to Ohio a uniform and perfect system of jurisprudence, to say that to Judge Swan is the bench and bar of Ohio most indebted for the desirable consuni-
T
189
THE BENCH AND BAR.
mation ; and his work at once became the law of practice to bench and bar ::: roughout the State, and remained so until the enactment of the code of civil procedure in 1853, after the adoption of the Constitution of 1851.
The common law as to crimes, and the mode of procedure in criminal cases, was never in force in Ohio - all this was the matter of legislative enactments. [1 0. 132, 2 O. S. 387. 100. S. 287.]
The history of the various revisions and codifications of the statutory law. and modes of procedure within Ohio is interesting, and is so concisely and ac- curately stated in the preface to the first addition of the revised statutes made by the codifying commission, appointed under the act of March 27, 1875, and published in 1880, that we copy literally :
" The first revision was made during the session of the Legislature held at Chillicothe, in 1804-5, at which all the laws, with few exceptions, adopted by the governor and judges, or enacted by the Legislature under the territorial government were repealed. That revision embraced statutes for the adminis- tration of justice, the conveyance of property, the collection of the revenue, the organization of the militia and the punishment of crime, and other statutes pre- viously adopted or enacted were amended and re-enacted.
" With these statutes for a basis other legislatures followed the example, and accordingly, the laws were revised at the session of 1809-1810, the ses- sion of 1815-1816, the session 1823-1824 and the session of 1830-1831, each revision being an improvement on that which preceded it, the practice and other remedial statutes gradually becoming more liberal and the penal enact- ments more humane.
"In 1835 the statute relating to felonies was again revised and further pro- vision was made to simplify the practice, and in 1840 an act relating to the settlement of the estates of deceased persons, based on the statute of Massa- chusetts, was prepared by Joseph R. Swan and enacted by the General Assem- bly. The principal part of it has remained without change to the present day. At the same session the statutes in relation to wills, elections and other sub- :ects, were revised.
" Meanwhile the statutes had become so numerous and had fallen into such confusion that a systematic republication of the laws in force had become a necessity. Fortunately the work was undertaken by one competent for the task, and it is only just to say that with the material before him, and in the ab- sence of all power to change it, perhaps no other man would have been able to produce a collection of our statutes so admirable in all that pertains to the work of an editor, as Swan's Statutes of 1841. In 1854-5, in 1860 and in 1868, Judge Swan performed the same task of collecting and arranging the statutes in force, the notes to the edition of 1860 having been prepared by Leander J. Critchfield, and the notes to the edition of 1868 by Milton Sayler. While these editions of the statutes have now become comparatively useless, they are none
25
190
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
the less monuments to the industry and ability of the gentlemen who were en- gaged in their preparation.
" In this connection it will not be out of place to notice a collection of the statutes of a more permanent character. In 1833-1835 (subsequently Chief Justice) Chase prepared an edition of the statutes. It included the territorial laws, whether adopted by the governor and judges, or enacted by the Territo. rial Legislatures and the statutes down to and including those of 1833. This embraced seven volumes of territorial laws and thirty volumes of the statutes of the State, and the whole was republished in chronological order in three vol- umes. The work was continued on substantially the same plan by Maskell E. Curwen, who republished in four volumes, the general laws from 1834 to 1860. inclusive. Since the death of Mr. Curwen, the work has been continued by J. R. Sayler, who has republished, in four volumes, the general laws from 1861 to 1875, inclusive.
" It will thus be seen that the statutes of Chase, Curwen and Sayler - all admirably edited - are a republication of all the general laws adopted or en- acted under the territorial and State governments from 1788 to 1875, inclu- sive, in the order of the original publication. While only a very small number of the statutes which these volumes contain remains in force, the remarks of Judge Chase with respect to them, in his first volume are entirely just. ' Many questions of right and remedy,' said he, 'depend upon the provisions of re- pealed statutes. In reference to such questions the examination of the whole series of laws affecting them is a matter of absolute necessity. In addition to this, a knowledge of the acts repealed is often essential to a correct understand- ing of the law in force. No lawyer, nor intelligent legislator ought to be sat isfied with knowing what the law is, unless he also knows what the law has been."
" Recurring to the subject of codification, it is evident that it had engaged the attention of the people to some extent, previous to the adoption of the present constitution. Provision was made in that instrument for a commission : and it was ordained that 'said commissioners shall revise, reform, simplify, and abridge the practice, pleadings, forms, and proceedings of the courts of record of this State ; and as far as practicable and expedient shall provide for the abolition of the distinct forms of actions at law now in use, and for the admin- istration of justice by a uniform mode of proceeding, without reference to any distinction between law and equity.'
" In obedience to that provision an act was passed and William Kennon. William S. Groesbeck, and Daniel O. Morton were appointed commissioners They confined their labors to the subject of practice in civil cases, and reported what was known as the code of civil procedure, to the fiftieth General Assem. bly, and that body on March 11, 1853, adopted it. Though somewhat changed in language and arrangement, the principal part of it re- mains substantially as it was reported by those commissioners.
.
191
THE BENCH AND BAR.
"With the growth of the State in population and wealth, the annual vol- umes of the general laws increased in size until the statutes of a general nature, in force, exceed two thousand in number. The subject of codification then began to attract attention here as in other places. In 1869 a bill prepared by Senators Charles H. Scribner, Daniel B. Linn, and Homer Everett, codifying the statutes in relation to municipal corporations, became a law, as did also a bill embodying a code of criminal procedure, which had been prepared by Sen- ator Frank H. Hurd. The subject was further agitated and finally, in 1874, Representative George W. Boyce, of Hamilton county, introduced a bill pro- viding for such codification. Subsequently, Senator Lucian C. Jones, of Trum- bull, Trumbull county, introduced a bill on the same subject, which, on March 27, 1875, became a law. [72 v. 87]. The following are its leading features :
" The governor was required, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint three competent commissioners to revise and consolidate the general statutes of the State, and he was authorized to fill any vacancy in the commission.
"In performing the duty the commissioners were required to bring together all the statutes and parts of statutes relating to the same matter, omitting re- dundant and obsolete enactments, and such as had no influence on existing rights or remedies, and making alterations to reconcile contradictions, supply omissions, and amend imperfections in the original acts, so as to reduce the general statutes into as concise and comprehensive a form as might be con- sistent with clear expression of the will of the General Assembly, rejecting all equivocal and ambiguous words and circuitous and tautological phraseology.
" They were required to arrange the statutes under suitable titles, divisions, subdivisions, chapters, and sections, with head notes briefly expressive of the matter contained therein, with marginal notes of the contents of each section, with reference to the original act from which it was compiled, and foot notes of the decisions of the Supreme Court upon the same ; and they were required to report the whole, in print, to the general assembly for its adoption.
"On the day of the passage of the bill Governor Allen appointed, and the Senate unanimously confirmed, Michael A. Daugherty, Luther Day, and John W. Okey as the commissioners. Commissions were issued to them on that day, and immediately thereafter they entered upon their duties. Judge Day continued to be a member of the commission until February 1, 1876, when he resigned, having been appointed a member of the Supreme Court commission, and John S. Brasee was appointed by Governor Hayes to fill the vacancy, and Judge Okey continued to be a member of the commission until November 9. 1877, when he resigned, having been elected a judge of the Supreme Court, and George B. Okey was appointed by Governor Young to fill the vacancy. No other changes were made in the commission."
The codified or revised statutes consist of four parts. The first part (Polit-
192
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
ical) contains the enactments which are organic, being the frame-work and machinery of our government; the second part (Civil) relates to person and property ; the third part (Remedial) includes everything connected with civil procedure in all the courts; and the fourth part (Penal) embraces the pro- visions relating to crimes, criminal procedure, and jails and the penitentiary.
Constitution of 1802 .- Under the Constitution of 1802 the judicial power of the State, both as to matters of law and equity, was vested in a Supreme Court, in Court of Common Pleas for each county, in justices of the peace, and in such other courts as the Legislature might establish. Under this latter pro- vision the Circuit Courts were established.
The Supreme Court consisted of three judges-two of whom formed a quorum. It had original and appellate jurisdiction, both in law and in chan- cery, in such cases as the Legislature might direct, and which would be beyond the province of this chapter to enumerate. The Legislature was empowered to add another judge to the number after five years, and in that event the judges were authorized to divide the State into two circuits within which any two could hold court.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.