USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. VII > Part 4
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Henry W. Palmer was born at Clifford, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, July
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10, 1839, on a farm of about two hundred acres bought by his grandfather. He was five years of age when his father moved to Carbondale, and twelve years of age when he moved to Wilkes-Barre, his father having been elected sheriff of Luzerne county, and the family home be- ing at the jail, then standing at the corner
Row," on the northeast corner of the square. In the spring of 1862 he was made a paymaster's clerk in New Orleans, where his father, a newly appointed pay- master in the Union army, had been sta- tioned. In 1863 he returned to Wilkes- Barre, resumed law practice, and began his upward climb of the ladder of success,
of Market and Washington streets. From . a journey that ended not until the top- 1850 to 1856 he was a student at Wyo- most round was reached. He gradually acquired a large practice, achieving ex- traordinary success. Although preëmi- nently an advocate who was at his best powers and in his favorite occupation when before a jury, his general ambition would not brook restriction within the limits of a specialty, and his practice ranged over the entire field of equity, in all State and Federal courts of the dis- trict. Commanding in appearance and forceful in utterance, he early ranked well toward the front at a bar which embraced men of distinguished ability as counsel- lors and advocates, and in a few years was outranked by none, even in the State. He practiced alone until, on the offer of Garrick M. Harding, a partnership was formed that existed until 1870, when Mr Harding was elected president judge of the several courts of Luzerne and Lacka- wanna counties. Judge Harding sold his interest in the partnership to his young partner for the nominal sum of $300, which was paid in legal service. This was the golden opportunity long desired, and was the flood tide that bore Mr. Palmer to fame and fortune. Although many of Judge Harding's clients withdrew their patronage, a majority were retained and formed the nucleus about which a very large and profitable legal business grew. He was connected as counsel with the important cases tried in his district dur- ing his half century of practice, and also won enviable distinction as an exponent of corporation law. ming Seminary, crossing the flats from Wilkes-Barre to Kingston during all weathers, good or bad, the Rev. Reuben Nelson then being principal of the school. About 1856 he became rodman in the corps of engineers engaged in construct- ing the railroad from Scranton to Cata- wissa, continuing about one and one half years, his last work being in charge of the division from Nanticoke to Beach Haven. In 1858 he entered Fort Edward Institute, New York, and there decided to prepare for the profession of law. He entered the State National Law School, at Poughkeepsie, New York, was gradu- ated in August, 1860, and after a severe examination by lawyers prejudiced against the school, was admitted to the New York bar, locating at Peekskill. In April, 1861. he entered the law office of Garrick M. Harding, then district at- torney of Luzerne county, and from that year was a member of the Luzerne county bar and identified with the city of Wilkes-Barre. He was a clerk in the prothonotary's office until September 12, 1861, when he married, at Plattsburg, New York, and returned with his bride, Ellen M. Webster, to Wilkes-Barre. "But," he writes, "I had confidence, hope, courage, and faith in myself." The young couple began housekeeping in a rented furnished house on West Union street, and the young lawyer began demonstrat- ing the fact that he could "support a wife." He commenced practicing law in an office in what was called "Buzzards'
The prominence General Palmer won
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in political life began with his first elec- tion as school director in the old borough of Wilkes-Barre, Henry M. Hoyt, after- ward Governor of Pennsylvania, also be- ing a member of the board. This board built the Franklin street school house, the first modern school building erected in Wilkes-Barre. General Palmer at that time was secretary of the board. His in- terest in politics, however, dates from boyhood, and from early life he was a strong adherent of the Republican party. The Constitutional Convention, convened November 2, 1872, in obedience to an overwhelming popular vote, was the next important appearance of General Palmer in public life, he being one of the six members representing Luzerne, Monroe, and Pike counties, forming the Twenty- third Senatorial District. The valuable service rendered by him in the framing of the constitution ratified by the voters of the Commonwealth, December 16, 1873, may be estimated by reference to the general index of "Debates of the Consti- tutional Convention," which discloses the fact that he addressed the convention on the following subjects: Woman suffrage, oath of office, Court of Pardons, printing reports of committees, the education article, settlement of State printers' ac- counts, oath prescribed to members of the Legislature, legislative appropriations for sectarian and other purposes, legisla- tive appropriation to charitable and edu- cational institutions, creating offices for inspection of change of venue, validity of acts of Assembly, exempting persons having religious scruples from military service, restraining railroad companies from mining and manufacturing, the for- feiture of charters of railroad companies for combination between, consequential damages by railroad and canal com- panies, acceptance by railroads of the provisions of the general law, the powers of the Supreme Court, the oath pre-
scribed for members of the General As- sembly, the compensation of the officers of the Philadelphia courts, the appoint- ment of overseers of elections by the courts, the passage of bills contrary to constitutional provisions, the formation of new counties, the liberty of the press, recess of the convention, the rights of foreign corporations, appropriations to sectarian schools, the taxation of manu- facturing corporations, oath prescribed members of the Assembly after sine die adjournment, the legislative powers of cities, the removal of criminal cases to the Supreme Court, separate judicial dis- tricts for each county, providing for fill- ing office of Associate Judge, dispensing with trial by jury in civil cases, prevent- ing corporations from doing the business of a common carrier from mining and manufacturing, the limitation of actions, legislative bribery, the division of counties, the assent of the electors to the division of the county, the granting of pardons, the legislative oath, election ex- penses authorized by law, the free pass system, discrimination by railroads in freight or passage, abolishing jury com- missioners, form of ballot in voting on the constitution, and signing the consti- tution in pamphlet form. His attitude on some of these articles will be shown in the following extracts on "Competition of Railroads." He said :
By habit and education I am an enemy of the aggregation and extension of corporate power. I believe no prophetic vision is needed to fore- tell the time when it will be necessary for the people to strike a sharp and deadly blow at com- binations that will be made by corporations to take possession of their government and steal
away their liberties. * * When the supreme hour arrives for action, when the servants clothed in their borrowed strength and grown great upon the benefactions granted them shall make their purpose plain I would send them stripped and shorn into the shades of retirement and restore their misused franchises to the power that gave them.
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On prohibition he spoke thus power- fully :
No man who is at all familiar with the annals of crime will deny that ninety-five per cent., not only of all crime but of all the suffering and wretchedness in this Commonwealth can be traced to the use of ardent spirits. It costs the people of Pennsylvania more to drink the whis- key than to bear all the rest of the burdens of society put together twice over. It is a fearful voluntary tax that they have laid upon them- selves and they are crying for relief. Relief in some form must be given: we do not dare refuse it. I ask it in the name of the multitudes of sore hearted women, mothers, sisters, wives and daughters of this Commonwealth, who sit in the darkness of despair and out of whose lives the light of hope has been crushed by the mon- ster rum. I ask it in the name of the hecatombs of trembling victims of a habit relentless as death and as remorseless as the grave. I ask it in the name of the little children, pale, hungry, haggard, and tattered, shivering on the threshold of a comfortless life, victims without their fault or consent of the vice of intemperance. I ask it in the name of the tens of thousands who have petitioned in this behalf the poor privilege of voting for a prohibitory section in the organic law of the Commonwealth. And this we dare . not refuse.
On woman suffrage he spoke most carnestly and forcibly, claiming the right as " an original woman suffrage man:"
Give to women the right and the details can be regulated so that she may exercise it in a manner agreeable to herself. I believe then that in the simple expression of an opinion, which is all that it is to cast a ballot, there can be noth- ing to degrade. * * I think the women are amply able to take care of themselves. For my part, I have no faith in the virtue that needs the protection of a bowie knife and revolver; the day for that kind has gone by. * * *
Com- pare our country to-day, where the freedom of the women excites the surprise and comment of foreigners, with any land in Christendom and the result need not be feared. Neither France nor Italy, nor Spain, nor even England herself can boast a higher purity or a more exalted and ennobling modesty. *
* * No man can deny that in the purity of the ballot rests the per- petuity of our freedom and because gentlemen
admit that the inevitable result of giving the ballot to women will be to purify and to elevate our politics, because I believe that where cor- ruption and fraud now run riot in the street honesty and justice will succeed, because the gambler and the pimp and the rogue shall no more sit at the receipt of customs nor, clothed in purple and fine linen, fill the offices of the State, because in this reform I see the glimmer of the dawning of a better day, when worth, not wealth, when ability and not influence, shall secure the primary nominations and fill the offices in the public gift, I hope this cause will succeed. *
* * Briefly stated, the proposition is this: The women of the land have half the intelligence and more than half the virtue of the people, and as honesty and virtue are the corner stones upon which the people's freedom rests woman's vote and woman's influence cannot be spared from the government of the country. *
* * Are politics disgusting and infamous? Let her shed upon them the glory of her pres- ence and give to them the cleansing of her con- tinual help and the waste places shall blossom as the rose. Bring home to her the knowledge that with the ballot in her hand she has the power to close every grog shop in the land and drive away from her hearthstone the brooding horror of a drunken son or besotted husband, a horror that broods in palace and hovel alike, and her voice will not cease to cry aloud until the ballot is there. Let her know that the right to vote will secure to her the guardianship of her own children, the disposition of her own property, the use of her own wages, her eman- cipation from a bondage handed down from a generation when a woman was a plaything and a slave, and she who now holds her peace will clamor for the right. Inform her that a vote means equal wages for equal work, the opening up of new avenues of employment suitable for her sex, the securing of equal rights in the estate of a deceased husband, the privilege of living in her home after her husband's death beyond the pitiable quarantine now allowed by law, a lifting of the unequal burdens that man's law and man's tyranny have down through the centuries heaped upon her and her voice will not cease to cry until the ballot is hers.
In 1878 General Palmer, in the Republi- can State Convention, made a brilliant and powerful nominating speech placing Henry M. Hoyt before the convention as candidate for governor, and in the cam-
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paign that followed he "stumped" the State in company with Governor Hoyt, Reuben E. King, and Major Vickers. In forming his cabinet, Governor Hoyt selected General Palmer as Attorney- General, a choice that brought forth from the State press most favorable comment. His term of office, 1879 to 1883, was a most trying one, as the Constitution was then new, and there was much conflict of opinion as to how it would apply to im- portant legislation. His first experience after being appointed was with the suit started by Governor Hartranft for the oil producers against the railroads to re- strain them from giving rebates. This suit against the four trunk lines General Palmer forced to a settlement, and com- pelled the discontinuance of rebates. By his prosecution the Pennsylvania Rail- road was compelled to pay into the State Treasury a large amount in taxes which it had disputed, and during his term up- wards of $700,000 in disputed taxes was paid into the treasury by the corpora- tions. Among other conspicuous features of his administration was his prosecution of bogus medical colleges and death rattle insurance companies, incidents that creat- ed a great deal of excitement at the time. He handled cases involving millions of dollars with consummate skill, and by his ability proved the wisdom of his ap- pointment. His controversy over the "salary grab" with the Legislature is his- torical, and of it General Palmer says:
"I became the most unpopular man in the State of Pennsylvania and if the motion had been made in the Legislature to hang me the next Friday, there wouldn't have been four dissent- ing votes." When the Supreme Court finally decided against the stand taken by the Attorney- General, Judge Jeremiah S. Black thus ex- pressed himself: We are told by the Good Book not to speak evil of our rulers. If it were not for that injunction I should say that there must be some kind of a back door into this Court that didn't use to be there when I was on the bench.
In 1889 the question of prohibition was voted on by the people, General Palmer serving as chairman of the State Pro- hibition Committee, and leading the fight for the Constitutional Prohibitory Amendment Committee, with headquar- ters in Philadelphia. The amendment was lost at the polls June 18th by a vote of 296,617 for, 484,644 against. But the saloon interests were partially dethroned, and became a less potent power in poli- tics. General Palmer, in an address to the friends of prohibition after the result. said: "You are everlastingly right and a just cause, backed by the strength shown in this contest, never can be lost." In 1899 the bar of Luzerne county inaugu- rated a movement to nominate General Palmer for Supreme Court Judge in an address to the bar and people of Pennsyl- vania, and there was a general endorse- ment of his candidacy received from all parts of the State. But the "powers that rule" decided otherwise.
At the expiration of his term as At- torney-General he returned to Wilkes- Barre and again engaged in the private practice of his profession. He was coun- sel for numerous corporations, and had large business interests outside the law. He was vice-president and director of the Miners' Bank, director of the Wilkes- Barre Savings Bank, director of the People's Bank, and was actively interest- ed in the building of the West and North Branch Railroad, later operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, of which corporation he afterward became a director.
In 1898 General Palmer first became a candidate for Congress, receiving sixty- seven votes in the convention, without solicitation beyond a letter to the "People of Luzerne County," stating, "If thirty- five years as a practicing lawyer, four years in the office of Attorney-General of the State, and one year in the Consti-
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tutional Convention, with constant atten- tion to public questions, have given me an experience that would be useful to you as a representative in Congress, and if you choose to honor me with a nomina- tion I shall find it my duty to fight for election and to serve you to the best of my ability." In 1900 he was again a can- didate, received an overwhelming vote at the primaries, was elected to sit in the Fifty-seventh Congress, and was appoint- ed by Speaker Henderson a member of the judiciary committee, serving also on that committee during the Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth congresses. He made his presence felt in the House by notable speech and action, and was returned to the Fifty-eighth Congress by a plurality of 2,216, Luzerne county giving the Democratic candidate for governor a plu- rality of 3,687. It was during the Fifty- eighth Congress that General Palmer bore so conspicuous a part in the impeachment proceedings against Charles Swayne, United States District Judge. He was again elected to Congress in 1904, but in 1906, through a split in the convention after General Palmer had clearly been nominated, the whole matter was taken into the Dauphin County Court under an act of Assembly having jurisdiction, and there it was decided that no nomination had been made, a decision absolutely wrong, not in accordance with the testi- mony. Under the circumstances General Palmer refused to be a candidate on nomination papers, and the district was represented by a Democrat in the Sixtieth Congress. In 1908 he was elected to the Sixty-first Congress, and at the end of his term declined to be again a candidate, having had "a full fill of politics and poli- ticians." From that time until his death he confined himself to his private practice and business affairs. His law business was principally in the trial of cases in Luzerne and adjoining counties in the
civil, criminal, and orphans' court, and in equity, his clients all sorts and conditions of men. His record in the Supreme Court, where he rarely appeared for the plaintiff in error, is to be found in two hundred and twenty cases of the State Reports, scattered through one hundred and fifteen volumes, and upon it, cover- ing as it does, all kinds of litigation known to our laws, he was content to rest his claim to the name of lawyer. His last public service was in the capacity of delegate to the Peace Congress held at Mohonk, New York.
General Palmer married, September 12, 1861, Ellen Mary Webster, of Plattsburg, New York. Mrs. Palmer is the founder of the Boys' Industrial Association that has for its object the training of the busy boys of Wilkes-Barre, the boys who for some reason are working in shops, fac- tories, and mills instead of being at school. The following tribute is from "Leaders in Though and Action, an Ap- preciation," by S. R. Smith :
Mrs. H. W. Palmer is the discoverer of the boy. A boy's woman, his friend who inspires, guides, comes into his heart and life with a devo- tion and helpfulness that never falters, bring- ing the youth realization of his hopes and dreams. In the economy of the world Mrs. Palmer was called to save the boy. She went out after him, took him by the hand, awakening the unused forces in him, shaping his unformed nature, opening to him the door to the great world and leading him into the highway of suc- cess. Her B. I. A. boys are to be found in the colleges and in every line of activity all over the world, many of them filling positions of great responsibility. As the soldiers gloried in wear- ing the badge of the Legion of Honor, her boys glory in the fact that they are Mrs. Palmer's B. I. A. boys. The people furnished the money and she gave the boys an opportunity to fit themselves for active life by erecting a building ample in size and equipment. This magnetic, great souled, superb leader fills all with admira- tion and gratitude. We can properly associate her with all that is musical, beautiful, and benefi- cent. She has dedicated her superb powers of
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mind and heart to the blessed work of searching for the boys who need help. The angels may love and adore, yet we believe this friend of the youth of our valley has brought more happiness on earth and more joy in Heaven than the angelic choir. We are reminded of Abon Ben Adhem, whose name led all the rest because he served his fellow men.
The Boys' Industrial Association was organized in 1892, meeting in various places until 1899, when a building was constructed on a vacant lot in the rear of the City Hall by unsolicited contribution. It costs something over two thousand dol- lars a year to maintain the work and the enrollment averages four hundred boys. A cordial welcome to everyone, working boys especially, is the spirit of the asso- ciation. There are light dues for full members and the Federal Government, with its president, vice-president and cabinet is the model for the government of the association. A savings bank and a monthly journal are run by the boys themselves. Among the treasures of the association are three little volumes that the boys call the "Swearing Book," the "Drinking Book," and the "Smoking Book," and the names signed in these in boyish scrawls are eloquent witnesses of the success of the work. "A Bit of Prac- tical Christianity" says of the work of Boys' Industrial Association :
The wife of a business man, a national Con- gressman for several terms, the mother of five children, a woman of means whereby to live in ease and comfort, Mrs. Palmer might have pre- sented the same reasons that many other women deem sufficient excuse for lack of service. Be- cause she did not, because with her own children occupying responsible positions she did not deem her responsibility ended because she gave out of her great heart of love,-for this thou- sands of boys who have come under her influ- ence through nearly two decades "rise up and call her blessed."
General Palmer was intimately associ- ated with his wife in the Boys' Industrial
Association from its organization, and ever showed his continual interest in the boys of the city by substantial assistance. Mrs. Palmer is also vice-president of the Boys' Club Federation of America, her election being a graceful recognition of her work in promoting the welfare of the boys of the Boys' Industrial Association as well as that of boys not connected with that organization. Mrs. Palmer has been equally interested and helpful in all forms of Christian, educational and philan- thropic work. She has been vice-presi- dent and president of the local Women's Christian Temperance Union, also offi- cially identified with the county organ- ization. For many years she has been a teacher in St. Stephen's Sunday school, conducting a class numbering one hun- dred young people. In 1911 she cele- brated the golden anniversary of her wedding day, and two years later was left to tread life's pathway without the strong arm upon which she had constantly leaned for so long. She is a daughter of George W. and Diama (Bradley) Web- ster, the latter a daughter of Baird Brad- ley, and granddaughter of Captain Joseph Bradley, an officer of the Revolution- ary army. Baird Bradley married Lucy Dewey, daughter of Thomas and Anna (Allen) Dewey, the latter a cousin of Colo- nel Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame, the former a direct descendant of Simeon Dewey, who was created a baronet of Stone Hall, England, in 1629. George W. Webster, a prominent merchant of Platts- burg, with large Lake Champlain ship- ping interests, died there at the age of fifty-five years, his widow surviving him to the age of seventy-five years, dying in Wilkes-Barre at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Ellen W. Palmer.
Five children were born to General and Mrs. Palmer : I. Louise Mary, a graduate of Wellesley; married George E. Vin- cent, LL.D., now president of Minnesota
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State University, son of Bishop John H. Vincent, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, founder of the Chautauqua move- ment. 2. Bradley Webster, a graduate of Harvard, and a lawyer of international prominence and distinction. He is a member of the firm of Storey, Thorndike, Palmer & Dodge, of Boston, Massachu- setts, and is engaged principally in the practice of corporation law. 3. Madeline, a graduate of Bryn Mawr; married Charles M. Bakewell, Ph.D., senior Pro- fessor of Philosophy, Yale University. 4. Henry Webster, a graduate of Har- vard, a member of the firm of Stim- son, Stockton, Livermore & Palmer, of Boston, Massachusetts, and practices chiefly in cases bearing upon international law; he married Elsa Marie, daughter of Captain John Wilhelm and Hilda (Ask- ergren) Lanborg, at Stockholm, Sweden, August 19, 1907. 5. Ellen Constance, a woman of literary and musical talent, educated at Wellesley, and afterward in vocal music in New York under Madame Marchesi, and in London, England, under Shakespeare. She married, March 29, 1915, Count Francisco Dandini de Sylva, of Italy, the marriage being performed in one of the old churches of Rome under special dispensation of the Pope, a Cardi- nal of the Church, an uncle of the Count, officiating. Immediately after the cere- mony the Count, responding to his King's call to the colors, he being an officer in the Third Regimento Antiglierra de Fort- essa, in command of batteries, and with the Contessa, sailed at once for his com- mand on the island of La Maddalena, off the coast of Sardinia, in the Mediterra- nean, a submarine and torpedo boat sta- tion.
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