USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > The centennial celebration of Springfield, Ohio, held August 4th to 10th, 1901 > Part 10
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the foundation of our economic and social conditions which have withstood the shocks of one century, and will withstand those of many more, if the descendants prove worthy of their ancestry.
We are hearing much this week of the century's progress. and it has been great ; but we must remember our pioneer fathers and mothers did not have at their command the churches and schools and colleges and millions of money this generation has at its disposal to accomplish the great results we boast of. And we must further remember that these people planted the social fabric. which, nurtured by their toil, their energy, and their suffering, has grown into the conditions which prevail today.
But all is not progress that we see around us. Our pioneer ancestors, as we will be told, were a Sabbath-observing people ; and had they been establishing an Ohio State Fair. I do not think they would have inaugurated it, as is proposed to be done in this now great State of Ohio next September. by opening it on the Sabbath day. They call such action modern liberality ; but a lib- erality which leads to the infraction of any commandment of Almighty God, promulgated amidst the thunderings of Sinai. is wrong. This is not progress ; it is retrogression.
You will hear today from one of the learned members of our medical profession, who will tell you of the progress in that science during the past century. He will tell you of the changes in the practice; how the old doctor exerted all his skill with the aid of his good lancet, to get the blood out of his patient, and how the modern practitioner exerts all his skill to keep the blood in his patient. He will also tell you of a modern school which would do away with doctors altogether; which would have us believe that sickness and disease are mere figments of the imagi- nation. But as, notwithstanding, we continue to sicken and die as heretofore, we will doubtless always require the skill and attention ยท of our medical brethren.
You will further hear today from one of the honored mem- bers of my own profession, who will tell you of the courts and lawyers of the past. Judge Rockel cannot tell you of the ad- vancement and progress in the legal profession that Dr. Seys will show in the medical. because the fundamental principles of the law are the same today as when the sun first shone on the hamlet
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of Springfield. Aye, the same as when our Savior was born. Aye, further back, the same as when they were first indicted in Holy Writ : for all principles of law and equity are derived from the Bible.
It is true, the lawyers of today have more books than those of one hundred years ago. Go into a law library and you will find books piled up like Pelion upon Ossa: but they contain no new principles. They simply show the application of old prin- ciples to ever-changing facts.
Our pioneer fathers and mothers builded better than they knew. Whilst self-reliant. they relied chiefly upon God. As a consequence, they laid the foundation of our social fabric broad and deep, and God crowned their efforts with success; so that today we can proudly boast of the results of their prayerful efforts.
Success does not attend self-reliance alone. Take Napoleon, one of the greatest military geniuses of the world, as an illus- tration. In the pride of his success, he boasted that God always favored the strongest battalions : meaning there was no God ; but that all depended on the ability of the commander and the strength of his army. His own career belied this statement. Let us see. The Sun of Austerlitz shone brightly down on the Mora- vian plain on that December morning which was to witness the fearful struggle between three empires. Naught disturbed the quiet of that winter morning save the bellowing of the husband- man's cattle, and the twittering of winter birds. But soon all was changed. Soon that scene of rural beauty was transformed into one of strife and carnage. And as the day wore on, it did seem as if Napoleon was right ; that there was no God. His eagle eye had seen that victory was again perched upon the banners of France, and when, to complete the rout of the opposing forces, he ordered the advance of the Imperial Guard, history tells he stood upon a little knoll overlooking the bloody field, and with folded arms and a proud smile playing over his face, glanced along the roadway the Old Guard was cutting through the foes of France.
But Napoleon little recked that a keener eye than his was looking down upon that battle field. Napoleon little recked that
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the God of Battles, who holds all in the hollow of His hand, but Whom he did not recognize, was directing the maneuvers of that field which he vainly supposed were under his control. Napoleon little recked that the roadway along which he was then proudly gazing, now paved with dead and dying Austrians and Russians was one of the roadways by which, under that God of Battles, he would afterward march to Waterloo.
Napoleon relied upon himself and his boasted battalions. History tells us the consequences. Our pioneer fathers and mothers relied, it is true, upon themselves, but always under the guidance and direction of God : and all around us today we see and are enjoying the glorious results.
Thanking you for your attention to my remarks, we will now proceed with the program.
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JUDGE W. M. ROCKEL.
BENCH AND BAR.
BY JUDGE WILLIAM MAHLON ROCKEL.
A distinguished lawyer, and a great statesman, who left the impression of his very great intellect in the Senate of the United States and on the bench of our Supreme Court, Allen G. Thur- man, once said: "That without any boasting, and without any disposition to brag or boast, it is and has been for a great while my firm belief that, great as has been the bar of other States, there is no State in the Union that has had a bar of greater men . than have appeared in the State of Ohio. That is my firm belief. I do not forget the great lawyers of Massachusetts, of Connecti- cut, of New York, of Pennsylvania, of Maryland, of Virginia, and of Kentucky. I do not forget any of them. Many of them I have seen and heard with great delight and with great instruc- tion. And yet, I repeat the opinion I have had for many long years, that no State has ever had within its limits an abler and better bar than the State of Ohio."
Having heard this great encomium on the bar of our State, it would be supreme arrogance in me to claim for the bar of the City of Springfield, that it was the equal or the greatest in the State of Ohio. I can say, however, that, taking into considera- tion the date of the city's organization, its population, and the
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character of its industries, that the bar of the City of Springfield and the County of Clark, compares favorably with any other city or county of the State. And in point of integrity, honor, and high character of its members, and general standing in the com- munity, it acknowledges a superior nowhere on the face of the earth.
There is no record that any one within the confines of our city or county limits was ever questioned before a court organized under territorial laws. Under the constitution of 1802, it was provided that there should be a Supreme Court of three or five judges, who were required to hold court once a year in each county in the State. This court had original and appellant juris- diction, both at Common law and in Chancery. By the rapid in- crease of population in the State, this court was soon greatly overtaxed ; allowing the judges thirty days for court in bank at Columbus and one day for travel from one county to the other, making no allowance for sickness of the judges or any respite from labor. they had an average of less than seven and one-half days for the annual business of each county. The records, how- ever, disclose the fact that the cases were carefully considered, and the occupants of the bench were men of very great ability. The first session of the Supreme Court that was held in the City of Springfield was in 1805, the judges being Samuel Huntington, Chief Justice ; and William Sprigg and Daniel Symmes. Asso- ciates. At this session three men were tried for shooting an In- dian, whose name was Kanawa-Tuckow. The accused were Isaac Broken, Archibald Dowen and Robert Rennick, who were ac- quitted. This was before the organization of our county. The first session of the Supreme Court that was held in our county began on July 10, 1819. Hon. Calvin Pease was the Chief Judge, and Hon. John McLean was associated with him. Of this first Chief Justice who graced the bench of our county, Judge Thur- man once said, "That he was one of the finest specimens of man- hood that I ever saw, dressed in a way that would make a dude faint, the most perfect dress I ever saw on a man, and the nicest ruffles to his shirt bosom, looking the very beau ideal of a gentle- man of the olden times."
The other member of that court, John McLean, thought so
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much of his profession as to decline a candidacy for the United States Senate, when his election was reasonably assured. He aft- erward became a member of the Supreme Court of the United States, and served with distinguished ability for a period of thirty-two years. From this time on, until the constitution of 1852, the Supreme Court, with some of its members, gave an annual hearing to causes in the County of Clark and in the City of Springfield.
The Common Pleas Court, as organized by the constitution of 1802, consisted of three members, a presiding judge, and two associates. They were appointed by joint ballot of both houses of the General Assembly, and held their offices for the term of seven years, "if so long they behaved well." The State was divided into districts or circuits. At first there were but three circuits in the State-these were afterward increased from time to time as business demanded. The composition of this court was very often criticised, and sometimes spoken of as a court of one hundred judges, that is, one judge and two ciphers. In jury cases, undoubtedly the associate judges, who were not men skilled in the law, were practically ciphers, but in the trial of causes to the court they brought to the aid of the presiding judge, good common sense and business knowledge which was often an inval- uable assistance, and aided in making the finding of the court much more satisfactory than the verdict of a jury.
The first Court of Common Pleas held in Clark County was on April 7, 1818, with Orrin Parish as presiding judge; Daniel McKinnon, Joseph Tatman and Joseph Layton, associates. At the August term of 1819, the record shows that Frederick Grimke was the presiding judge. At the March term of the Common Pleas Court in 1820, Joseph H. Crane was the presiding judge, with the same associates as the first term. At the March term of the court in 1822, Samson Mason was, by order of the court, ap- pointed Prosecuting Attorney of the county. Judge Crane was presiding judge until the close of 1828, when he resigned, having been elected to Congress in the fall of that year. It is said that he was an able lawyer and an excellent judge. That his manners and his conduct on the bench were such as won for him the esteem of all who had transactions in the court during his presi- dency.
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He was succeeded by Hon. George W. Holt, who continued to hold the office until 1834, at which time a new circuit was formed. Over this new circuit, which embraced the counties of Franklin, Madison, Clark, Champaign and Logan, and for a short tme Hardin County, Judge Joseph R. Swan was called to preside. He held the office from 1834 to 1845, when he resigned to return to the practice of law. Afterward, Judge Swan served with distinguished ability on the Supreme Court. But he will no doubt be longer remembered as the author of an incomparable volume on the practice in Justice of the Peace's Court, familiarly known as "Swan's Treaties," than as a lawyer or a judge. He was succeeded as presiding judge by the Hon. James L. Torbert, who occupied the position from 1846 until 1852, when the new constitution went into effect.
Judge Torbert was the first member selected from the Clark County Bar as a presiding judge on the Court of Common Pleas. He was afterward elected Judge of the Probate Court, and was a man of superior attainments and great literary taste. He was modest and unobtrusive. He was a man of strong convictions, and violently opposed to the institution of slavery. He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1796; came to Springfield in 1824, and died very suddenly on the 15th of May, 1859, on board a steamer on the Mississippi River. The associate judges of Clark County from 1831 to 1852 were Daniel Mckinnon, William G. Serviss, Joseph Perrin, Ira Paige, John R. Lemon, John T. Stewart, Isaac Paint, John Hunt, Abraham D. Menness and Oliver Clark. The history of our county shows that these asso- ciate judges were men of honorable and respectable callings, and lived the lives of useful citizens.
With the advent of the constitution of 1852 came the re- organization of the judiciary of Ohio. The Supreme Court no longer traveled on the circuit. For a while after the adoption of the present constitution one member of the Supreme Court would sit in each county in what was then known as the District Court. The Supreme Court held all its sessions at the City of Columbus. The Common Pleas Court no longer had associate judges, and there was organized a new court which had jurisdiction in pro- bate and testamentary matters, the appointment of executors and
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guardians, and the settlement of accounts of executors, etc., and such other jurisdiction as may be provided by law. This court took away from the Common Pleas Court many of the duties that formerly devolved upon associate judges, and was known as the Probate Court. Under the new constitution, all the judges were made elective, not appointive, as before. The first person to be elected as judge of the Common Pleas Court of this district was a distinguished member of the Clark County Bar. Concerning the character and qualifications of William A. Rogers no word of disparagement has ever been uttered. None of the present mem- bers of our bar ever practiced law before him, and but few have any personal recollection concerning him. Those few who do re- member anything about him have only words of praise in refer- ence to his legal abillity and general versatility. Judge W. H. West says : "He was a man combining both talent and genius, and cer- tainly one of the best lawyers in the Mad River Valley." He was born December 13, 1809, in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania ; studied law in Pittsburg, and in the fall of 1834 removed to the City of Springfield. He became prominent as a Whig in politics and was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated General Harrison in 1840. In 1851, as before stated, he was elected Common Pleas Judge, which position he occupied until 1855, when he resigned his office on account of failing health. And on the 25th of May, of the same year, he died in the City of Springfield. One who knew him well says of him: "He was endowed with a brilliant intellect and with remarkable power of analysis; he possessed a sparkling wit, was a logician of high order, and his eloquence was rich and impressive; these qualities made him an effective advocate and formidable antagonist in any case which he espoused; he was a man of broad culture, and of liberal and comprehensive views."
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The next person called from the bar of Clark County to the position of Common Pleas Judge is justly entitled to be desig- nated as the greatest jurist that ever came from this bar. Will- iam White was born in England on the 28th day of January, 1822. He came to this country with an uncle in 1831. At 12 years of age he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker for a term of nine years, but after serving six years of his apprenticeship,
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he purchased his time by giving his notes to his master. In 1846 he was admitted to the bar. In 1847 was elected Prosecuting Attorney, and three times re-elected. In 1856 he was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. And in 1861 was re- elected. In 1864 he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court, and was three times re-elected. And in 1882 he was appointed by President Arthur, United States District Judge for the South- ern District of Ohio, and was confirmed by the Senate, but died before he could qualify for that high position. His death occur- ring as recent as 1883, leaves a personal recollection of many of his distinguishing characteristics among the older members of our bar. But from the fact that his duties called him away from our city, since 1864, most of the present generation of our law- yers remember nothing more about him than having seen his striking, strong, pleasant face. For twenty-seven years he wore the judicial ermine, stainless and spotless as ever the mantle fell from a human judge. He was an affectionate and devoted hus- band, a considerate, kind, and indulgent father. His manners were modest, kind and unassuming ; to his brethren of the bar he was the personification of kindness and generosity. His popu- larity among all classes of people was evidenced by the fact that every time he was a candidate for their suffrages, he led his ticket by many hundreds of votes. He was a man of very great industry. He may have had compeers on the bench who were more brillliant. and quicker to grasp some intricate question of law, but none ever exceeded him in an industrious investigaton and firm determination to arrive at a right and just conclusion. His life was no doubt shortened by his close application to the arduous duties devolving upon him as a member of the Supreme Court.
From 1864 until 1875 the Common Pleas Court was presided over by judges from other counties. In the previous year an additional judge having been granted to this district, James S. Goode, a practitioner at this har for nearly thirty years, was elected to that important position. Declining a re-election, he served for ten years, with the general approbation of all persons who had business with him in his judicial capacity. James S. Goode was born in Warren County, Ohio, January 22, 1823, and
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was admitted to the bar in 1848. In the same year he opened an office in the City of Springfield. He was Mayor of the City of Springfield and Prosecuting Attorney for two terms. He died after an illness of but a few days, on April 10, 1891. Judge Goode is remembered kindly by all the older members of the present bar, and by many of the younger ones. When he took his seat upon the bench, the docket was crowded by the-accumu- lation of years, justice was tardily administered ; "the law's de- lays" was much cause of dissatisfaction. He brought to the bench his well-known energy at the bar, and soon made order
out of disorder ; and in a reasonably short length of time had the docket in such a condition that a suit could be brought and tried during the same term. He deservedly won a high and enviable reputation not only with the public, but with the bar of this and other counties. Imposing in appearance, quick of apprehension. learned and patient, he was an ideal on the bench, and many of the members of the bar have reason to remember his extreme kindnss to them in the earlier years of their professional life. After Judge Goode's retirement from the bar, he practiced law with his son Frank until the latter's death, in 1887. With the death of his only son. Judge Goode seemed to have lost much of his interest in the profession, and from that time until his death did not appear in court very frequently. His long and extensive practice at the bar, with his quickness of mind, made him an ex- ceedingly good Nisi Prius judge.
Judge Goode was succeeded on the bench by Charles Rogers White. Charles R. White was the only son of Judge William White. He was born in the City of Springfield, the 25th day of May, 1849. Admitted to the bar 1873, and in 1884 was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and re-elected in 1889. He died on the 29th day of July, 1890. in the forty-second year of his age. Charles R. White was a worthy son of an illustrious father. He was quicker to arrive at conclusions, and therefore, in the opinion of some, was a better Nisi Prius judge than his distinguished father. He was studious, honest, and exceedingly sensitive to any act of his which might cause pain to the feelings of any member of the bar. His dealings with all persons were conducted with the sole purpose of justice and right. He re-
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vered the memory of his father, and it was the highest ambition of his life to follow in his footsteps; and should he have lived, no doubt high judicial honors would have fallen upon him. As it was, taken from the bench in the prime of life, he left behind him a memory cherished by all who came in contact with him.
Upon the death of Charles R. White, Governor Campbell appointed Francis Marion Hagan to fill the vacancy. until the regular election. Judge Hagan was born June 10, 1844. in Mad River Township of this county. By his own efforts he secured his education, and is in every sense of the term a "self-made man." He was admitted to the bar in 1873, and in 1879 and again in 1883 was elected City Solicitor. In 1887 he was ap- pointed postmaster. While Judge Hagan's occupation of the bench was for the brief period of four months, yet it was suffi- cient to demonstrate the fact that he possessed exceptional judi- cial qualifications ; and no doubt were it not for the fact that his political belief is not in accord with that of the prevailing party in this district, his judicial career would have been very much ex- tended. Judge Hagan made a careful, painstaking, able, and conscientious judge. Since his service upon the bench he has been engaged in the active practice of his profession, and is now the senior partner of the firm of Hagan & Kunkle. In all matters connected with the welfare of the City of Springfield he has al- . ways taken a prominent part; and is chairman of the committee having in charge this centennial celebration.
In 1890, John C. Miller was elected to fill the vacancy made by the death of Judge Charles R. White. In January, 1891, he relieved Judge Hagan, who had been appointed to fill the va- cancy until an election. Judge Miller came to the Common Pleas bench with a long career in public life. His father, Reuben Miller, likewise had a long public career in our city and county. He was born in the City of Springfield, April 13, 1834. He was appren- ticed as a printer, afterward took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1855. In 1861 he was elected Mayor of the City of Springfield, and in the fall of the same year was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the county, and several times re-elected. In 1869 he was chosen City Solicitor, and held the office by repeated elections until 1876, when he resigned to accept
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the position of Probate Judge, to which office he had been elected in the previous October. This position he held until 1891, when he resigned to accept the position of Common Pleas Judge, to which he had been elected in the previous fall. He was twice re- elected to this position. He died September 17, 1900, at his resi- dence in this city. Judge Miller was a familiar character for many years, to the people of the City of Springfield ; he possessed great aptitude for politics, and had few superiors in the man- aging of men to secure official positions. His learning of the law did not seem to come from books, but rather from strong com- mon sense; intuitively he seemed to correctly grasp the rights that ought to exist between man and man. He was quick and impulsive, possessed of a temper which at times made him dis- agreeable to do business with, yet much of this irascibility no doubt came from long and continual ill health. His convictions were strong, and no doubt expressions were sometimes made that carried him beyond his real intention. He had a determined idea of justice and right. Beneath an austere manner and demeanor, was a heart as kind and open to a person in distress as was ever possessed by man. With all his faults-and who has none ?- he was a strong, able, conscientious judge, an exceedingly good interpreter of the law, and an upright citizen.
Upon the death of Judge Miller, the bar selected for ap- pointment Jacob Kreider Mower, who was afterward, in the fall of 1900, elected and now occupies the position of Common Pleas Judge. Judge Mower was born in Franklin County, Pennsyl- vania, April 4, 1833, was admitted to the bar in 1858, in the same year took up his residence in the City of Springfield. He was City Solicitor from 1868 to 1870, and the next two years a member of the Legislature. Other than serving upon the School Board, these were the only public positions which Judge Mower held until his present one. Judge Mower comes to the bench with ripe experience, gathered from a varied and extensive prac- tice at the bar. His character is high and unblemished, his deci- sions are prompt and fearless, and he gives promise of making a judicial career equal to that of any of his predecessors.
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