USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of the state of Pennsylvania with a compendium of history. A record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume II > Part 32
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back. deceased. attacked the mental capacity of the endorsement of a note for $10.000, and the case was tried three times in the lower court. and was twice argued in the supreme court, where the contention of Mr. Fox was upheld. 97 Pa. St., 543. 106 Pa. St .. 37. The Herster will case, involving more than $200,000, was twice tried in common pleas. and was twice heard in the appellate court. Mr. Fox had one verdict be- low and one appeal. but the final judgment was against him, as reported in Herster vs. Herster, 116 Pa. St., 612. ibid .. 122 Pa. St., 239. In the cases of Snyder vs. Mutual Life Insurance Company, actions on policies for $30.000. tried in the United States circuit court in Philadelphia, in 1874. defense was stoutly made upon the suicide clause by Mr. Biddle and Mr. Porter. The plaintiff. represented by Mr. Fox and Judge Green, ob- tained verdicts, which were held upon error to the United States supreme court, 3 Otto. 393-6. In suits of the same plaintiff against the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, tried in the common pleas of Monroe county in 1875. verdicts were obtained for $16,000, and judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of Pennsylvania. 3 W. N. Cases. 269. In 1882 Mr. Fox filed a bill in equity for the Lehigh Water Company against ยท the municipal corporation of Easton, to restrain it from proceeding to construct waterworks for furnishing water to the public. and thus de- stroy the valuable property and franchises of the Water Company. It involved very large financial interests. The Lehigh Water Company had been incorporated in 1860, and was authorized to supply the citizens of Easton with water. It erected valuable plants, invested large sums of money, and proceeded to fulfil its incorporated purposes. In 1867 Easton was empowered by an act of assembly to construct its own water- works, after receiving a majority of the popular vote therefor. This vote it secured in 1881. In June. 1880, the water company accepted the provisions of an act of the legislature, April 29, 1874, which pro-
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vided for the regulation of water and gas companies, and made the right "in the locality covered by charter an exclusive one." The suit was prose- cuted upon the theory that the act of 1867 ceased to be valid after the adoption of the present constitution : that the Lehigh Water Company acquired by the act of 1874 the exclusive right to erect and maintain waterworks for supplying water to Easton: that the act of 1867, if not superseded by the new constitution of the state, impaired the obligation of the contract between it and the commonwealth, and was thus obnoxious to the federal prohibition. This view was not sustained by the supreme court of the state ( Lehigh Water Company's .Appeal. 102 Pa. St., 515). and upon writ of error to the supreme court of the United States the judgment was affirmed ( Lehigh Water Company vs. Easton, 121 U. S .. 388).
Mr. Fox displayed splendid ability in the conduct of the many closely contested murder and homicide cases to which he was called. In one famous instance he was retained by the county of Northampton to assist the district attorney in the prosecution of Allen C. Laros, charged with killing by poison his father, mother and uncle. Mr. Scott and Mr. Kirk- patrick made an elaborate defense, introducing expert testimony tending to discredit the allegations of death by poison. and to establish the irre- sponsibility of the accused by reason of the impairment of his mind by epilepsy. Throughout the trial of two weeks. Mr. Fox combated with great tact and ingenuity every point raised. calling to his aid a large fund of technical scientific knowledge covering the action of poisons and phenomena of disease, as well as the manifestations of alienism, and suc- ceeded in procuring a verdict of murder in the first degree. The further history of this case, a most notable one in the criminal annals of the state. is not pertinent to this narrative. In 1867 Mr. Fox aided the district attorney in the Carbon county court in the prosecution of Gould, Acker-
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son and Meckes, indicted for the murder of a young girl. The accused were convicted, but the deadly blow having been given in one county and death ensuing in another. judgment was arrested on the ground of want of jurisdiction, and on a new trial in Monroe county the defendants were acquitted, although they were afterwards convicted in a less degree in Carbon county. In 1877 Mr. Fox aided the district attorney in the Carbon county court in the prosecution of Charles Wagner for killing with poison Louisa Boyer. Allen Craig and General Albright, for the commonwealth. brought out ample proof that death was due to arsenic. but failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was chargeable with its administration, and he was acquitted. Mr. Fox's speech in this case was his only one which was stenographically reported. It was printed in extenso in the newspapers of the Lehigh Valley, and added vastly to his previous reputation as a capable lawyer and effective orator.
It was on the side of the defense. however, that Mr. Fox revealed hiis highest qualities. A strong example of his powers appears in his defense of Campbell. Fisher and Kenna, three of the famous "Molly Maguires." In the case of the last named. a conviction was brought in of a lesser grade than the highest, and he carried the case of Campbell to the supreme court, where the judgment was affirmed. Campbell vs. Com., 3 Norris, 187. In 1865 he was leading counsel for Hattie Blaine. indicted for the murder of William Blaine, and who was acquitted. after he had made a strongly impressive speech, on the ground of self-defense in face of much strong evidence of premeditation. In 1872, appearing for John Lucas, accused of the murder of his wife by the administering of arsenic, the state proved the presence of arsenic in the stomach of de- ceased, as well as deadly threats on the part of the defendant. Through his skilful cross-examination Mr. Fox left it doubtful whether death was
OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 1015
not due to suicide, and acquittal followed. In 1875 Mr. Fox defended Martha Glose, indicted for the murder of her infant, and procured an acquittal, setting up as a defense, under difficult conditions of proof, an assertion of puerperal mania. His speech in this case exhibited his rare power of dramatic touch and pathos, in which he was without a master.
Mr. Fox's professional attainments were eloquently narrated by his personal friend and warm admirer, Mr. Henry W. Scott, of the North- ampton county bar, now judge of that district. in a memorial sketch printed in 1893, and in the following language :
"In his later years, at least, he was no student of books. either of literature or of law. Ilis legal library was not replenished with many modern text books ; he kept to the old editions, which were not disfigured by copious and contradictory annotations. He preferred to drink from the fountains rather than from the polluted currents. He did not read the decisions of the courts systematically, as they were published in the Reports ; he believed he knew what the law was, and did not expect to find the decisions otherwise. He stopped brief-making many years be- fore his death: but. sometimes, for easy reference, made note of a case on the back of an envelope, or upon the face of one of the pleadings. These would be fatal courses for a new generation, but he had a steady faith in the acquisitions of his earlier years, and the measure of success he had justified his wisdom.
"In the argument of a case he would not yield to absolute precedent unless it was binding authority. If it was a decision of an inferior or extra-territorial court, he would take the book with a manner of sublime confidence that he could shake its reasoning to pieces, or distinguish it from the point before him. He did not always succeed, but he did not shrink from the occasion to measure his strength with some other vigor- ous and manly mind that thought otherwise than he did.
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"In the management of a cause, his tact was a matter for admira- tion ; from the moment a jury was empaneled, his thought was upon the verdict ; he yieldled to every persausive suggestion of the court ; he made the jurymen his friends by watching their comfort: if a draught of air came from the window, it was closed: if the hour for adjournment had come, it was upon his hint that the court was reminded the jury had been sitting patiently and long : his cheerful "Good morning!" as they passed into their seats made each feel it was of some consequence to meet him with familiar recognition, yet there was no unworthy artifice : like Burke, he 'had no arts but manly arts.' If his own witness was timid, he en- couraged him first by unimportant questioning, until he was assured how easy it all was: if his adversary's witness was self-reliant, positive and strong. he did not by cross-examination give him an opportunity to repeat his damaging proofs, but led him away to some irrelevant matter, and sought there a vulnerable spot for contradiction.
"Ile did not often make objections unless the matter was vital ; his records on writs of error contained but few exceptions ; and he rarely supported his cause by more than one or two leading propositions : he believed good cases were lost by obscuring the conspicuous general features with irrelevant and inconsequential particulars.
"Ilis arguments were in strong, direct, vigorous Anglo-Saxon, often powerful, always impressive. His fine voice was under complete con- trol, and his speech sometimes, upon great occasions, reached the very highest points of spoken eloquence : but he put on no purple patches, tin- less he was swelling with some mighty theme. Illustrations he chiefly drew, and with great effect. from the historical books of the Old Testa- ment and the Parables of the New. His mind had the enlarged cultiva- tion which comes from much travel at home and abroad. and his manners were those of stately courtesy.
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" 'Thus he bore, without abuse. The grand old name of gentleman.'
"Ilis was not an eventful life: his deeds will not be written in the memorials of history, but no ruler who ever founded empires, no states- man who ever raised .the weary hope of fallen nations, no conquering captain who ever drew a sword, could leave behind to those who loved him, the memory of a name more stainless."
Mr. Fox preserved his mental and physical vigor unimpaired and to the last. On November 22. 1889. he finished the trial of an important case which had consumed much time, and it is worthy of note that some months afterwards the judgment he secured on this occasion was sus- tained by the supreme court in Rickert vs. Stephens et al .. 133 Pa. St .. 538. At the adjournment of court he was engaged in another cause. Three hours later, seated with his wife in a social gathering in the Pres- byterian church, he fell dead from a stroke of apoplexy. The event was a great shock to the community, and evoked sorrow and sympathy from all classes. The funeral services were attended by a large and deeply affected concourse, and the members of the bar of the counties of North- ampton, Bucks and Lehigh. each of itself. held memorial meetings and gave expression to their sentiments of affection and admiration of the greatest one of all their number.
Mr. Fox was a pillar of the church within whose walls he died- the Brainerd Presbyterian church, and he was for more than a quarter of a century the superintendent of its Sunday-school. His personal char- acter was unsullied. Besides the church societies with which he was connected, he was president of the Easton Relief Association. His private imostentatious deeds of kindness were legion, and it was said of him by one in his household. "I do not think anybody ever came to him in (listress and trouble but that he did something to help them." He was
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a power in the community in the advancement of material as well as moral agencies, and was long a member of the city council and of the school board. In politics he was a Democrat, steadfast and carnest, yet tolerant towards those who held to antagonistic principles.
Mr. Fox was married, June 5. 1849, to Miss Mary C. Wilson, daughter of James C. Wilson, of Easton. She died November 27. 1871. and on January 16, 1878, Mr. Fox was married to Miss Elizabeth F. Randolph, a daughter of Hon. James T. Randolph, who survives him. Six children were born by his first marriage. They were as follows : 1. Emily became the wife of John L. Wilson, and is deceased. 2. John graduated from Lafayette College in the class of 1872, studied theology at Princeton, was ordained in the Presbyterian ministry, had pastorates in Baltimore, Pittsburg and Brooklyn, and is now secretary of the Amer- ican Bible Society. He married Miss Margaret B. Kinkead, of Lex- ington, Kentucky, and to them was born a daughter. Pearce K. Fox. 3. Eliza became the wife of Dr. Joseph P. Nevin, to whom she bore two children, Mary W. and Joseph P. Nevin. After the death of Dr. Nevin she married William B. Marx. and to them was born a child, Edward Fox Marx. 4. Edward J., Jr., graduated from Lafayette College in the class of 1878, was admitted to the bar in 1880, after some years' study under his father, and the two were associated in practice until the death of the senior Fox. After practicing alone for a time. Edward J. Fox., Jr., in 1897. formed a partnership, which yet exists. with his brother. James W .. under the firm name of E. J. & J. W. Fox. The firm make a specialty of corporation law, and conduct a large and important business. Mr. Fox was one of the organizers of the Easton Trust Company, a director in the Warren Foundry and Machine Com- pany, the Easton Gas and Electric Company and the East Bangor Slate Company, and is counsel for these and other corporations. He was
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married in 1888 to Miss Cora L. Marsh, a daughter of William W. Marsh, of Schooley's Mountain, New Jersey, and a granddaughter of the late Governor Andrew H. Reeder, of Easton. Mr. and Mrs. Fox were the parents of four children : Dorothy; Robinson, who died at the age of three years ; Louis Rodman ; and Edward J., Jr. 5. Anna Wil- 6. James W .. a graduate of Lafayette College, class of 1888. studied law with his father and brother, and was admitted to the bar in 1891. lle is engaged in practice with his brother, and was district at- torney from 1895 to 1898. He married Miss Leila B. Reeder, a daughter of the late Judge Howard J. Reeder, and of this marriage was born two sons, Harold Armitage Fox and James Reeder Fox.
son.
THEODORE L. SEIP. D. D.
An enumeration of the men of Pennsylvania who have conferred honor and dignity upon the state which has honored them, would be incomplete were omission made of the Rev. Theodore L. Seip. D. D. His life record forms an important chapter in the history of educational development in the Lehigh valley, nor was his influence in this work restricted to his own state. It was far-reaching and beneficial, for not only was he one of the founders and promoters of Muhlenberg College. but he was also the originator of the idea of public education that has become known to the country through the term of university extension lectures. He was for thirty-six years connected with what became the leading Lutheran educational institution of the country, and for seven- teen years was its president.
Dr. Theodore Lorenzo Seip was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, June 25, 1842, a son of Renben L. and Sarah A. Seip. He was of German lineage, representing a family that was founded in Northampton county.
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Pennsylvania, in the carly part of the nineteenth century. Among his paternal ancestors were those who served in the Revolutionary war and the war of 1812. His maternal grandfather, William Henry Hemsing, removed from Philadelphia to Allentown, Pennsylvania, in order to ac- cept the position of teacher and organist in a parochial school. He mar- ried Margaretta Spinner, of Salisbury, Pennsylvania, and they began their domestic life in the Livingston mansion, which now forms the east wing of Muhlenberg College. Subsequently they removed to Easton, where Mr. Hemsing spent his remaining days as a teacher, exercising strong influence in the educational development of his adopted city. He carefully trained his daughter, Mrs. Seip. in both English and German, and especially in music. One of the biographers of Dr. Seip has said of his mother : "She was gifted with high mental and moral endowments, a strong character, was firm in her conviction of truth and duty, and not casily influenced by the isms of the times. The molding influence of such a mother had much to do in forming the life and character of her son, although his father discharged his paternal duties faithfully and was prominent among his fellow citizens, having been chosen by them for local positions of honor and trust by reason of his intelligence and fitness for the place. The instruction of the schools, private and public. which he attended in his native place. Easton, was supplemented by home instruction in religion, morals and music. taught him by his devoted mother."
When sixteen years of age, Dr. Seip became a student in Weavers- ville Academy, then under the presidency of Professor H. F. Savage, and while in that institution he took up the study of Latin and Greek. Throughout his life his deep interest in the languages continued, and for many years he devoted his talents to teaching these studies. ITis education was continued in the preparatory department of the college at
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Gettysburg, in which he matriculated in October. 1859, and in October, 1860, he entered the freshman class of the college, being graduated in 1864. He made rapid advance in his studies, although suffering at times from ill health, which on more than one occasion promised to terminate fatally. However, he recovered and was graduated with honors. While in college he became a member of the Phrenakosmian Literary Society and a Greek letter society. He was pursuing his studies at Gettysburg when, in 1863, General Lee invaded Pennsylvania and fought the memorable battle near the college town. Dr. Seip joined the college company, and was mustered into the United States service with Com- pany A. Twenty-third Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. After spending one night in Camp Curtin at Harrisburg, he was detailed for duty at headquarters with the staff of Major General D. N. Couch, then in command of the Department of the Susquehanna, with whom he served until the company was mustered out after the armies had recrossed the Potomac river. He spent the spring vacation of 1864 in the service of the United States Christian Commission in Tennessee and Georgia, hav- ing charge of the office and work of the commission in the hospitals in Murfreesboro. He was afterward sent to the front with General Sher- man, who was fighting his way to AAtlanta, and he terminated his services at Resaca, Georgia, where he administered alike to the wounded of both armies.
On the expiration of his term of service with the United States Christian Commission, Dr. Seip returned to Gettysburg to complete his college course. In the meantime he had planned to devote his life to the Christian ministry, and in October, 1864. entered the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He was present at the inauguration of the faculty and the opening of the seminary, being a member of the first class that received the full three years' course in that
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institution. In the spring of 1865. through the instrumentality of Rev. Dr. Krauth, he was appointed an agent of the United States Sanitary Commission, and was sent on a tour of inspection of the work of stations in the armies under General Grant on the James and Appomattox rivers in Virginia. On the completion of that tour he returned to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he delivered many public addresses con- cerning the work, and organized ladies' aid societies in all the towns and villages to assist in furnishing supplies to sick and wounded. His work in this connection was terminated with the surrender of General Lee. He afterward completed his course in the Theological Seminary, and was graduated in June, 1865, being ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and adjacent states at its meeting in Salem church, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, June 19. 1867.
Prior to this time, Dr. Seip had been called to enter upon what be- came his real life work, that of college education. A plan had been made for the organization of Muhlenberg College by the gentlemen who had charge of the Allentown College Institute, and Dr. Seip was selected to aid in the instructions and discipline of the students of the latter school until its affairs could be closed with the end of the school term. June 27. 1867. The call came to him unsolicited, and he entered upon his duties on the 25th of April of that year. He was elected on the 21st of May prin- cipal of the academic department. and also provisional professor of Ger- man until a regular professor could be secured for Muhlenberg College, which was to be opened in the following September. At the solicitation of President Muhlenberg, and on the advice of the faculty of the Theo- logical Seminary, he accepted the call, and declined the pastorate of St. John's church at Quakertown, which had been offered him. He was made assistant professor of Greek in the college, in addition to the prin- cipalship of the academic department, and he also gave instruction in
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English literature. During the absence of the regular professor he also taught classes in mathematics. Ile served as principal of the academic department of Muhlenberg College until June, 1872, when he was chosen to the chair of Latin languages and literature, and was also continued in the Greek department. He thus labored in the institution as a teacher until February. 1876. A crisis in the history of the college was im- pending, and Dr. Seip at that time was called to enter other fields of activity. The institution had become embarrassed financially, and the management realized the absolute necessity of furnishing immediate funds, else the suspension of the institution would follow. On the 18th of January, 1876, the board of trustees elected Professor Seip to act as financial agent, relieving him temporarily from the duties of his pro- fessorship. He entered upon his new work in February. 1876, and for almost a year and a half discharged the duties of the position. His efforts proved the salvation of the school. About thirty-three thousand dollars were secured for endowment and current expenses through the labors of Professor Seip, who visited many homes and individuals in behalf of Muhlenberg, and also delivered many addresses to different congre- gations, soliciting funds to meet the necessary expenses relative to the conduct of the school.
After his return to the college, and following the retirement of Dr. Muhlenberg from the presidency. Professor Seip was given charge of the classes in advanced Greek, and was also continued as Latin pro- fessor. From 1877 until 1880, inclusive, he was professor of the Greek 4 and Latin languages, and in the latter year he was chosen to the chair of Greek. It was due to his efforts that this chair was endowed by Messrs. James K. Mosser and Thomas Keck, who gave twenty thousand dollars in money, which sum was subsequently increased to thirty thou- sand dollars. This endowment was accepted by the board of trustees at
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a special meeting July 20, 1830, when Professor Seip was elected Mosser- Keck professor of the Greek language and literature. He also remained in charge of the advanced classes in Latin, and occupied the chair until December, 1885. At the June meeting of the board of trustees in that year, President Sadtler, the successor of Dr. Muhlenberg, had tendered his resignation, and on the 5th of November, 1885. Dr. Seip was elected to the presidency, entering upon the duties of that position on the ist of January, 1886. He was inaugurated January 6, 1886, in St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church, and entered upon the work with renewed energy, consecration and zeal. He had been a teacher in almost every department of the college, and thus brought to his new labors thorough and comprehensive as well as practical understanding of the work. its needs and its possibilities. "Ile watched with an eager scrutiny every opportunity for the advancement and improvement of the institution over which he so ably and successfully presided. He surveyed the whole ground, examined with the utmost care and precision every point, and when he was satisfied in his own mind that the way was clear to under- take or inaugurate any improvement, he laid his plan, well matured and fortified at every point, before the committee or board. Honest, upright and conscientious in principle and purpose, he was a safe man. To. Dr. Seip belongs the credit. above all others, of the forward step that was taken at the meeting of the trustees in June of 1892, when three new professors were added to the faculty. He was also largely instrumental in making the quarter-centennial of Muhlenberg College such a grand success. It was one of his great ambitions to see the erection of more modern and better equipped buildings for the college, and he lived to see the commencement of that work. . At the time of his death no other had been so long connected with the institution, and Muhlenberg College to- clay largely stands as a monument to his life work."
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