USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Memoirs of the Miami valley > Part 28
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Dow Aikin, born in the country near Bellefontaine, was educated at the local schools and is an active lawyer, served two terms in the legislature, and while so serving became the author of the "Aikin law," an outcome of the "Dow law," and touching the taxation of intoxicating liquors. He is now one of the leading lawyers of the county and highly respected.
John P. Bower, of Rushsylvania, well serves that community as counsellor and practitioner, and is a member of the county school board. In 1897 he was elected to the House of Representatives of the Ohio general assembly, and brought credit upon himself while serving in that capacity.
M. R. Brown, of Quaker parentage and having native ability, is in regular practice in Bellefontaine.
Elmer L. Godwin was a school teacher and postmaster at West Mansfield, before he became one of Bellefontaine's younger lawyers. In 1918 he was in government service as buyer of lumber for air- planes in the state of Washington, but returned early in 1919 to the practice of law in Bellefontaine, after the armistice was signed.
Lewis F. Hale is the present prosecuting attorney, serving his second term, and has a promising future. He was born in Logan county, was educated in the local schools and at the Northwest university, and taught school before studying law.
John S. Huston, a brother of W. Clay Huston, of the firm of Howenstine & Huston, is a resident of DeGraff, but practices law in Bellefontaine and other jurisdictions.
Forrest G. Long, born in Pleasant township, educated in the
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common schools and at Ada university, admitted to the bar and is in active practice, has been city solicitor and also, for two terms, prosecuting attorney.
S. J. Southard came to Bellefontaine from West Mansfield; served twice as a member of the state legislature, and is now in active practice.
Frank DeFrees, a native of Bellefontaine, was admitted to the bar in 1885 and continued in the practice until a few years ago, when he retired from the practice to engage in other work.
Marion G. Bell was born near West Mansfield in 1864, was edu- cated at the Ohio Northern university, Ada, Ohio, studied law in the office of West & West, was admitted to the bar in 1890. He con- tinued in active practice until 1911, when he was appointed post- master of this city. He died in April, 1915, while serving as postmaster.
Thomas L. Moore came to the local bar from the western part of the county. His practice was principally abstracting and he did not often appear in the trial of cases. His death occurred on the 19th day of May, 1917.
Ben. S. Johnson enjoyed a large practice and was regarded as one of the strong members of the bar. He died suddenly while in the prime of his career.
W. Clay Huston was born in Butler county, Ohio, in June, 1858, and removed with his parents to DeGraff at an early age. He received his education in the DeGraff schools, graduating from the high school in that town in 1881, and being retained as a teacher for three years following his graduation. He completed the course in the Cincinnati law school in 1886, and was at once admitted to the bar, practicing in the county courts from his DeGraff office until 1890, when he came to Bellefontaine to enter partnership with E. J. Howenstine, a business relationship which has lasted continuously ever since. Mr. Huston has devoted himself closely to law practice and is one of the most forceful members of present Bellefontaine society, a citizen in whom general confidence is well placed.
Walter S. Plum is a native of Logan county, born near Lewis- town, November, 1852, the son of Jonathan and Sallie (Mckinnon) Plum. He was educated in the county schools, attended Wittenberg college for one year, and graduated from Adrian (Michigan) college in 1878, receiving the B. S. degree, after which he entered the study of law in the office of Judge William Lawrence, and was admitted to the bar in 1880 after examination before the supreme court of the state. From 1882 until 1884 he was city attorney of Bellefontaine, and from 1885 to 1891 he served as prosecuting attorney for Logan county. In 1893 he was elected by the Republicans to the state senate, where he took an active and prominent part in the proceed- ings and on the committees. He was elected in 1902 to succeed Judge J. Duncan McLaughlin. on the probate bench of Logan county, which position he held from February 9, 1903, to February 9, 1909. In 1912 Judge Plum removed to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he still resides.
P. M. Keller of West Mansfield was a member of the Logan
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county bar, and occasionally appeared in the trial of cases at Belle- fontaine while in practice.
Edward Kellison came to Bellefontaine from Quincy, Ohio, his education having been acquired in the schools of that village and the State university at Columbus. He was admitted to the bar in 1905 and has had his office in Bellefontaine practically ever since. He has devoted his time more to money lending and commercial matters than law practice.
N. G. Hahn came to Bellefontaine from Quincy, Ohio, and graduated from the Cincinnati law school, having practiced at Wau- seon for several years before coming to Bellefontaine. He is deeply interested in the law and is enjoying a large clientele.
Ernest Thompson came to Logan county in 1889 at the age of thirteen years. His education was received in the common schools and in the Huntsville high school and at Ohio Northern university at Ada, where he graduated with the degree of bachelor of science. He then attended the law department of Ohio State university, was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of law at West Liberty. He was from there elected prosecuting attorney, and re- moved to Bellefontaine, where he continued the practice after his term expired, and in 1916 was elected judge of the probate court, where he is now efficiently serving.
So far as the writer is informed, there is not at this time a law student in Logan county. The foregoing completes the roster of the county bar, only attempting a brief sketch for each one, exclusive of those who have been elevated to the common pleas bench.
This history of the Logan county bar would hardly be complete without mentioning the court reporter, R. Eva Byers, who has faithfully and efficiently served in that capacity for nearly fifteen years. Her skill in reportorial work, taking the testimony of wit- nesses in shorthand and reproducing it in accurate typewritten form, her faithfulness and obliging disposition are appreciated by both bench and bar. Miss Byers was honored by her election, in 1917, to membership on the Bellefontaine Board of Education.
Judge John A. Price, now the dean of the legal profession in this county, is the president of the Logan County Bar Association.
County officials and assistants now (January, 1919) attached to the courthouse are: Judge of the court of common pleas, John C. Hover; judges of the court of appeals for Logan county, Phil M. Crow, Walter H. Kinder, Kent W. Hughes ; judge of probate court, Ernest Thompson ; court reporter, R. Eva Byers; clerk of courts, Irvin P. Steinberger ; deputy, Mrs. Ruth Steinberger ; deputy clerk of probate, Sergis Wheeler; court bailiff, Joseph Miner; sheriff, Homer Kennedy; deputy-sheriff and criminal court bailiff, George W. Smith ; Miss Helen Brehm, stenographer to sheriff ; 2nd deputy sheriff, George Henry. County treasurer, I. N. Plum ; deputy treas- urer, Berlin Davisson ; Mrs. Helen Kinnan, clerk. County auditor, Dr. O. W. Loffer ; deputy auditor, Stephen L. Smith ; clerks, Henry Kemper, Miss Amy Rairdon, Miss Mildred Renick. County re- corder, Resin M. Painter; deputy recorder, Miss Emma D. Camp- bell; clerk, Mrs. R. M. Painter. County commissioners, John R. March, Arthur Renick, W. Allen Bell. County surveyor, Walter B.'
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Scott; assistant surveyors, Oliver Richey, Harry Daily, and James Crane. Prosecuting attorney, Lewis F. Hale; stenographer, Miss Delpha Peele. Trustees of Children's Home, Harry G. Aikin and W. S. Jones, Bellefontaine; Henry Mack, Belle Centre; Charles McGee, West Mansfield. Courthouse janitor, Jont I. Ansley. Su- perintendent of county infirmary, George W. Kennedy.
The newly elected commissioners are Pearl J. Humphreys, East Liberty ; A. B. Hover, Stokes township; Hal E. Knight, Bellefon- taine.
A characteristic incident of the old temporary courthouse days was printed by the late Thomas Hubbard many years ago. It was during the incumbency of Judge Joseph H. Crain, who sat, on the occasion, with three "associate" judges, all of whom were bald- headed, while the judge himself possessed a fine head of hair. Into the open door of the old courthouse, one day, Lewis Davis dashed, seated on his mare "Brown Ear." The assembled court was, of course, speechless for a moment, during which the bold horseman removed his hat with a flourish, bowed low to the court, and roared, "Three bald eagles and a crane !" and rapidly clattered out and away. Judge Crain and the associates joined in the inevitable laugh, but the offender was subsequently apprehended and jailed for contempt of court.
Courts of Logan County
Before the majestic figures which have illumined the bench of Logan county in its earlier years, the annalist of today bares his head. It is rarely vouchsafed to a community to have as inspiration for its youth so many and so fine examples as we may write upon our county's roll of honor, of the dignity of law and its nobility as a profession when followed in high-minded fidelity to its tradi- tions.
Orvis Parrish was the first presiding judge to hold court in Logan county, the time being 1818, immediately following its organi- zation, and the place the house or tavern of Edwin Mathers at Belle- ville. During Judge Parrish's incumbency the county seat of justice was established at Bellefontaine, and all the details provided for the court and administration of the law. Beginning with Judge Parrish, all the judges who sat upon the county bench until 1851, when the new constitution went into effect, were non-resident in Logan. The law, however, provided for "associate judges" for the dispatch of land cases (rarely for criminal cases), and these digni- taries, appointed by the presiding judge, were chosen from the re- sponsible member of local society, and during thirty years included many of the best known citizens of Logan, who thereafter bore the title of "Judge," although their names do not appear in the roster of the bench proper. James McIlvain, Levi Garwood, James McPher- son, Abraham Elder, Joshua Robb, Gabriel Slaughter, William Hoge, Noah Z. McColloch, W. H. Mckinnon and Peter Kelly were among the list of associates, none of whom were appointed until after Judge Parrish's term closed.
The establishment, in 1851, of a probate court eliminated the associate bench, and the first probate judge to be elected under the
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new law, was Ezra Bennett, who was succeeded by Anthony Casad, Samuel B. Taylor, W. L. Nelson, R. E. Pettit, T. Miltonberger, L. E. Pettit, J. D. McLaughlin, W. S. Plum, John C. Hover, John R. Cas- sidy (for about eleven months), Don A. Detrick (for about six weeks), and Ernest Thompson.
Judge Benjamin Metcalf, of Allen county, elected in 1852, was the first judge of the common pleas court to preside under the new constitution, serving for five years. Judge William Lawrence, the first of the Logan county judges, succeeded, being elected in 1857, and serving until 1864, when he resigned to accept a seat in the Na- tional Congress, the appointee to fill his place being Jacob S. Conklin of Shelby county, who was afterward elected regularly, retaining the position until 1872. P. B. Cole of Union county followed Judge Conklin, presiding for five years, and succeeded by John L. Porter, also of Union county, who held the position until 1882. The honor then returned to Logan county, in the election of John A. Price of Bellefontaine, who administered justice from 1882 until 1897, a period of fifteen years-or five years longer than any other judge of this district or county in the century of justice just completed. Judge Price was succeeded in 1897 by Duncan Dow, also of Belle- fontaine, who presided for ten years, being followed in 1907 by John M. Broderick, of Union county. During the term of Judge Brod- erick, a law was passed by the state legislature providing for single county jurisdiction, thus creating Logan county a separate judicial district, and under this law Judge John C. Hover is the first to occupy the judicial chair.
Hon. William Lawrence, A.M., LL.D., lawyer, jurist, states- man, author, educator, banker and agriculturist, born June 26, 1819, at Mount Pleasant, Ohio (ten years after Benjamin Stanton, of the same town), was the son of Joseph and Temperance (Gilchrist) Lawrence, and his early education was secured in the schools of his native village. In 1830 the parents retired from the town to a farm, where the father continued to follow his trade of blacksmithing, and the services of the boy were requisite in this occupation, in which he dutifully acquiesced, although he found it uncongenial. However, he kept up his studies, and in 1831 was rewarded by being placed under the instruction of Rev. John T. Tidball, of a then recently opened classical seminary, near Steubenville. Here he studied for five years, assisting his father at intervals until the spring of 1836, in the autumn of which year he entered Franklin college at New Athens, Ohio, graduating two years later with the highest honors of the institution. Bending every step of his life toward his chosen goal, the law, young Lawrence at once began his legal studies under James L. Gage, of Morgan county, at the same time maintaining his economic independence by teaching school in Pennsville and Mc- Connellsville, where he met and (later) married Miss Cornelia Hawkins, daughter of Col. William Hawkins of that place. In the fall of 1839 he entered the law department of Cincinnati college, and took his degree in the following March, at an age too early to admit him to the bar. In the interval before attaining his majority, he reported the proceedings of the Ohio Legislature for the State Journal, and also was correspondent from Columbus for two well-
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known newspapers of the day, at the same time acquiring by obser- vation an intimate knowledge of legislative methods and parlia- mentary tactics. After a few months' preliminary law practice in Zanesville, Mr. Lawrence came to Bellefontaine in July, 1841, and thereafter was in continuous active legal work until his death in May, 1899, at the age of seventy-nine years. The death of his bride in 1843 occurred three months after their marriage, and in 1845 Mr. Lawrence married Miss Caroline M. Miller, who was the mother of their six children.
No brief sketch can do justice to this extraordinary man's career. His integrity, both personal and public, was unswerving and unassailable. To a mind broadly schooled was united a signal capacity for mental labor, a profound understanding of legal and judicial principles, and a thoroughness in detail, which made him the most imposing character of the legal forum of his day and place, as well as one of the greatest incentives to professional emulation instanced in Logan's first century. As a practicing lawyer, he won some of the greatest land cases ever argued in the United States court of last resort. He edited the Logan County Gazette for two years, and for seven years was editor of the Cleveland Western Law Monthly. He was sent to the state legislature for eight years, and to the National Congress for ten years. He was supreme court reporter in 1851, and the author of the Ohio free banking law. In 1871 he organized the Bellefontaine National bank, and served as its president until 1896. In the winter of 1876-7 he was elected by the Republicans in Congress to argue the claims of Rutherford B. Hayes in the great election contest. He was first comptroller of the United States treasury from 1880 to 1885, and first vice president of the American Red Cross after its incorporation in 1882. He was the author of two or three score works of permanent value upon law, science and business, and was a recognized authority upon all questions pertaining to wool, from grazing to tariff, holding at times the presidency of the Ohio State, and the National Wool Growers' associations, and contributing frequent articles to their journals and bulletins. Neither in an act or capacity is there occa- sion for apology in the life of Judge William Lawrence.
No name in the annals of Logan county is spoken with greater pride and reverence than that of Judge William N. West, the most brilliant of her legal lights, and a figure of national prominence, but none the less a citizen of sincere, fraternal spirit.
Judge West was born in Millsboro, Washington county, Penn- sylvania, in February, 1824. At six years of age he came with his parents, Samuel and Mary (Clear) West, to Knox county, Ohio, where he was inured to the hardships incident to pioneering, while obtaining his early education under the usual difficulties of frontier life, subsequently entering Jefferson college, in Pennsylvania, from which institution he graduated in 1846, with honors. Following his graduation, he taught public school in Kentucky, with James G. Blaine, was a tutor in Jefferson college, and an associate professor in Hampden-Sidney college in Virginia, until 1850, when he came north to Bellefontaine, to engage in the study of law with Judge William Lawrence. He was admitted to the bar and to partnership
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with Judge Lawrence at the same time, in 1851, and immediately came into prominence both in practice of law and in politics, being elected prosecuting attorney in 1852. Four years later, in 1856, he was elected to the general assembly, and served two terms. In 1860 he was sent as a delegate to the Republican national convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln. He was elected to the state senate in 1863, holding his seat until his election as attorney general of Ohio, in 1867, during the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes. This latter position he filled with the distinction which had by that time become expected of him, and, declining the United States con- sulship to Rio Janeiro, offered to him in 1869, he was elected judge of the supreme court of Ohio in 1871, and served from January, 1872, until February, 1873, when he resigned, because of the failure of his sight, but not before he had demonstrated the marvelous retentive- ness of his memory and the profundity of his legal learning, which enabled him to proceed unassisted in the exercise of his official duties though it was chiefly at his recommendation that a rule was adopted requiring all court records and briefs to be printed to facili- tate reading.
Judge West became a member of the constitutional convention in 1873, continuing throughout the session. He was nominated by the Republicans for governor of Ohio in 1877, a season which was characterized by various labor disturbances, notably the great rail- road strike, which inevitably became an issue of the campaign. With native straight-forwardness, Judge West met the issue, offer- ing, in his great speech at Cleveland, a solution of the question which was the original advocacy of the principle of profit-sharing between manufacturer and employee; but while since successfully adopted by many firms, the idea was then so far in advance of public thought that he was misunderstood by both sides. Nevertheless, he continued his campaign, winning many supporters and enlight- ening the thoughtful. Misquoted, he deigned not to controvert, but persisted in the exposition of his idea that the working man's labor is his capital, which at last gained nation-wide attention ; and though the governorship was lost to him, his reputation was broadened and enhanced by the staunch honesty of his course.
In 1884 Judge West was once more a delegate to the Republican national convention, which met at Chicago, and by reason of his national reputation as an orator was given the very distinguished honor of placing in nomination for the presidency the name of James G. Blaine, who was made the nominee of the convention.
In the field of legal practice his talents had no limitations, though he was never forgetful that "thrice armed is he who hath his quarrel just," and his comprehensive grasp of every merit of his case and of the law applying to it, seconded by an equal ability to present the case to judge and jury, made him well nigh invincible in the court room. He became an acknowledged authority in civil and corporation law throughout the middle west, and upon all questions affecting public welfare he was a leader and molder of thought. As supreme judge, "the beam of justice stood sure," and his judg- ments were as unimpeachable as his character.
As a speaker, his oratory was the spontaneous utterance of
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principles deeply fixed and supplemented by vast knowledge of his subject; for his forensic ability was a gift, an instinct, a genius of eloquence which could not fall to the commonplace, and which, under the stimulus of excited thought, or strong emotion, rose to inspired heights, swaying his hearers with irresistible force. As "The Blind Man Eloquent" he is still most widely and loving remembered.
Judge West was married in 1851 to Miss Elizabeth Williams, who was the mother of his four sons, William A., John E., Clarence and Samuel A. Mrs. West died in 1871, and he subsequently mar- ried Mrs. Clara Gorton, who also preceded him to the "undiscovered country." His death occurred in March, 1911.
Judge John A. Price, third and youngest son of Charles Fen- ton Mercer and Martha Mary (Kelly) Price, was born on the ninth of November, 1840, in Callaway county, Missouri. His ancestors on both sides were Virginians, and his paternal grand- father was Samuel Price, a captain of the Virginia line, on conti- nental establishment, in the revolutionary war. His maternal grandfather, John Kelly, emigrated from Virginia to Logan county, Ohio, in 1818, settling in the Mad river valley on a farm which for nearly one hundred years remained in possession of the Kelly family. Here his daughter Martha Mary was courted and married by the young guest from Virginia, Charles Fenton Mercer Price, and from here the young couple removed to Missouri in the early years of their married life. Charles Fenton Mercer Price died in Missouri at the age of twenty-seven years, when the subject of our sketch was three years old, and his widow and children then returned to Logan county to reside. John A. Price received his formal education in the country schools and the West Liberty high school, and has supplemented that equipment by wide and con- stant reading. His knowledge of books is unusual, and his ability to quote from the masterpieces of literature indicates a discrimi- nating taste and a cultured mind. After teaching for several terms in the country schools, Mr. Price, in 1860, when nineteen years of age, began the study of law in the office of the well known law firm of Stanton & Allison of Bellefontaine. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in the Thirteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, the first com- pany raised in Logan county for service in the war of the rebellion. The victim of an acute attack of pneumonia, he was honorably discharged at Columbus before his regiment was ordered to the field. In 1863, his health restored, he again enlisted, becoming a member of Company K, Fifth Ohio volunteer colored regiment, in which he was commissioned first lieutenant. He was at the front until the latter part of 1864, and participated in the siege of Petersburg. In 1862 Mr. Price was admitted to the bar, and in 1864, while still in the army, he was elected prosecuting attorney of Logan county, to which office he was re-elected in 1866, and again in 1868. In 1869 he resigned the office of prosecuting attorney, having been elected to represent his county in the Ohio legislature. He served in this capacity one term, declining a re-election, as he preferred to devote his time to his profession. In 1881 Mr. Price was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the district
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composed of Logan and Union counties, was re-elected in 1886, and again in 1891, holding the office continuously for fifteen years, a record without parallel in the history of the judiciary of the district. Judge Price's qualifications as a jurist are admirably pre- sented in the following tribute paid him by a member of the Belle- fontaine legal fraternity: "Mr. Price's term on the bench was distinguished by the highest legal ability. To wear the ermine worthily it is not enough that one possess legal acumen, is learned in the principles of jurisprudence, familiar with precedents, and thoroughly honest. Many men, even when acting uprightly, are wholly unable to divest themselves of prejudice, and are uncon- sciously warped in their judgments by their own mental charac- teristic or educational peculiarities. This unconscious and variable disturbing force enters more or less into the judgment of all men, but in the ideal jurist this factor becomes so small as not to be discernible in results, and loses its potency as a disturbing force. Judge Price was exceptionally free from all judicial bias. His varied legal learning and wide experience in the courts, the patient care with which he ascertained all the facts bearing upon every cast which came before him, gave his decisions a solidity and an exhaustiveness from which no member of the bar could take exception."
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