USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. I > Part 13
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management of the school department exclu- sively. In August, 1853, the office was vacated by Mr. St. John:
In January, 1854, Professor Cottingham sug- gested a plan which still governs the management of the schools, proposing a plan for the high school, the systematic arrangement of the subor- dinate school, and a thorough regular course for each. This plan on presentation to the board was adopted, and Professor Cotttingham at once be- gan the thorough organization of the schools, drawing up a draft of graduation for all, and this, too, was endorsed by the board. His plan. of work has been enlarged, improved and extended, but the basic element still remains. He received the active co-operation and assistance of Judge McCartney, who at once accepted Professor Cot- tingham's system as the most complete presented to the board. Mr. Cottingham prepared a cata- logue of the high schools, to which Judge Mc- Cartney made some additions, and E. F. Stewart wrote an address to the citizens setting forth the advantages of the high school system and this ad- dress was printed and widely circulated through the town. The poorer classes of the city heartily endorsed the plan and encouraged Mr. Cotting- ham, and as time passed he received the active co- operation of many of the leading residents of Easton.
Following the adoption of his plan, he at once proceeded to examine all of the schools and pupils in the town, giving each child as well as each school a grade with a certificate. This was the first formal examination ever made to deter- mine the proper grade of the schools of pupils. The pupils were at once sent to their proper places in classes and schoolrooms, and the system was soon in active operation. Professor Cottingham has continually studied to benefit the schools, to broaden the system, and to make the work of education in Easton of more practical and far- reaching benefit. While he systematized the school, however, the transactions of the school board were conducted with utter disregard of any method. The papers were stored away in old boxes in the room or in a cellar, and Mr. Cottting-
ham directed his labor toward securing improve- ment in that direction. He gathered all of the records, bills, petitions and receipts, filed them with care, and put them in places of safety. He suggested the use of books for the recording of all transactions of the board, and for its accounts and regular business. He offered to keep the ac- counts and records of the board complete, and as the result of his diligent presentation of the sub- ject the present system of books in use by this school board was adopted. In addition to the regular work of superintending the schools, Pro- fessor Cottingham also for a number of years per- formed the clerical work now done by the secre- tary and librarian, and the manifold duties which devolved upon him in this connection often caused him to write busily in his office until twelve or one o'clock at night, after following the arduous duties of the day. He continued to do this until his eyes were weakened to such an extent that he was obliged to place himself in the hands of a sur- geon for treatment. He performed the extra service gratuitously until 1873, when he was relieved by the appointment of a secretary. Many original features have been introduced into the schools of Easton, and the work of the educational de- partment of the city is now of a most practical character. Professor Cottingham largely main- tains the parental attitude to a child in his rela- tion to the pupils that come under his care, taking recognition of their dispositional tendencies in as far as is possible and practical. He labors to pro- mote physical, mental and moral development, and thus produces a well rounded character. His interest in the individual does not cease as the pupil passes from his care in the school room, and many now successful and prominent business men owe to him their start upon a business career because of the influence which he exerted in se- curing positions for thm. Through his sugges- tion and influence, four scholarships to Lafayette College were obtained and offered as prizes in the high school, so that each year one of these is given to the boy who wins the highest scholarship in the public school course of Easton. He also secured the adoption by the school board of the plan of
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issuing diplomas, and designed the certificate of graduation which is now given to each high school pupil who completes the regular course.
An analyzation of his life work shows that Professor Cottingham is a man of scholarly at- tainments and strong intellectuality, and yet not to this alone is due his success as one of the most able public-school educators of the country. One of the elements of power in his work is his earnest desire and efforts for advancement in methods, and another equally potent factor has been his interest in the individual, and his co-operation for the advancement of the inherent talent of each pupil. Few men of the country have so won the love of those who come under their instruction as has Professor Cottingham, and his career as an educator has been an honor to the city which has honored him. A notable event in the life of Pro- fessor Cottingham, and also in the local history of Easton, was the celebration which was held in that city, April 28, 1887, in honor of the comple- tion of one-third of a century of his superinten- dency, and another on October 28, 1903, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of his service. On that occasion many notable educators and prom- inent men of Pennsylvania were present, several of whom delivered addresses, and in the evening a banquet was held. It was an occasion long to be remembered by Professor Cottingham and his many friends, and well did he merit this public token of the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens and co-workers in educational lines throughout the state.
Professor Cottingham is a Mason, and for twenty-seven years was secretary of Dallas Lodge, No. 396; he also belongs to Royal Arch Chapter, No.172; Hugh dePayens Commandery, No. 19, K. T., and affiliates with the order of American Mechanics. In religious belief he is a Presby- terian, belonging to the First Church of Easton. In the various local and state teachers' conven- tions he has been an important factor, serving as president of the state convention held in Harris- burg, and in many other ways promoting the success of the work in which he is so deeply in- terested. He was instrumental in having the pub-
lic library (now the Carnegie Library) opened for the use of the people of Easton.
Professor Cottingham was married, March 20, 1855, to Louisa C. Abel, a daughter of John and Maria E. (Reichard) Abel. Her paternal an- cestry is traced back to Johan Jacob and Maria Sophia (Raub) Abel, the former arriving in America from Hanover, Germany, on the 25th of October, 1652. John Abel was born September 12, 1744, and died September 12, 1822. He mar- ried Catherine Blakeley, and among their chil- dren was John Abel, father of Mrs. Cotttingham. Her mother, Maria (Reichard) Abel, was a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Hay) Reich- ard. The former was a son of Daniel Reichard, who was born in Switzerland in 1752 and died in Easton in March, 1819. His wife, Catherire Dorothy Reichard was born in Switzerland, in 1753 and died in Easton, November 19, 1845. Mrs. Elizabeth (Hay) Reichard, the grandmother of Mrs. Cottingham, was born in Easton, in March, 1780, and was a daughter of Peter and Margaret (Simmons) Hay. Peter Hay was a son of Melchoir Hay, and a grandson of Mal- come Hay, the progenitor of the family in America.
Four children comprise the family of Pro- fessor and Mrs. Cottingham, namely : Mrs. Laura S. Morrison, of St. Albans, Vermont ; Mrs. Annie W. Talmage, of New Bedford, Massachusetts ; Mrs. Jennie B. Vories, of St. Paul, Minnesota ; and W. W. Cottingham, Jr., also of St. Paul, Minnesota. Two children are deceased : Lizzie A. and Emily L. Cottingham.
EDWARD J. FOX, one of the most dis- tinguished members of the Pennsylvania bar, whose brilliant professional life extended over the long period of forty-four years, came of a splendid colonial ancestry.
The Fox family was English, and of assured position. In the church of SS. Peter and Paul in Northamptonshire. England, are memorials to Michael Fox, and the family coat-of-arms is re- corded in the Herald's College. A branch of the family was planted in Ireland, and from this de-
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scended Edward Fox, paternal grandfather of Edward J. Fox, born in Dublin in 1752, and who came to America some years before the Rev- olution. He settled in Philadelphia, and there married, in 1780, a sister of Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant. This Sergeant was also of a distin- guished family, and one of its most illustrious members was his nephew, Hon. John Sergeant, lawyer and statesman, who in 1832 was a can- didate for vice-president on the same ticket with the great Henry Clay. Edward Fox carved out for himself a noble career. He studied law under Samuel Chase, of Maryland (afterwards a judge of the supreme court of the United States by appointment of President Washington), became a prominent member of the Pennsylvania bar, and in 1783 was auditor-general of the state.
John Fox, son of Edward Fox, became even more conspicuous than his sire. Born in Phila- delphia, April 26, 1787, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and studied law under the preceptorship of Alexander J. Dallas, whose son, George Mifflin Dallas, was elected to the vice-presidency in 1844, upon the same ticket with President Polk. John Fox was admitted to the bar in 1807, and entered upon practice in New- town, where he remained until 1813, when he removed to Doylestown, to which place the county seat of Bucks county was removed from the first named. In 1814 he became deputy attorney gen- eral for Bucks county under appointment by Gov- ernor Simon Snyder. When court opened in that year, a few days after the burning of the capitol at Washington, Mr. Fox arose and said that the British were devastating the country, and, with- out asking what others deemed their duty, felt that he had no business in a court room while an enemy occupied the land. He at once left the building and joined a company of volunteers and was elected a lieutenant. He practiced his pro- fession until 1830, when he was appointed presi- dent judge of the Bucks and Montgomery dis- trict, in which capacity he served until 1841, when he retired from the bench and resumed law prac- tice at Doylestown, to which he devoted himself until his death, April 15, 1849, at the age of sixty-two years.
A profoundly learned lawyer, Judge Fox was incomparable as a jurist. Among the most notable trials upon which he sat were those of Mina and Mrs. Chapman, in 1832. In 1838 he handed down a long and exhaustive decision denying the right of a negro to vote in Pennsyl- vania under the state constitution of 1790, which attracted wide attention, and which the French historian De Tocqueville deemed so thorough a presentation of an important question that he cited it in his "Democracy in America." Judge Fox was a man of intense feeling and contro- versial nature, and bore a full share in the politi- cal struggles of his day. He was the bosom friend and adviser of Samuel D. Ingham, who was secretary of the treasury under President Jackson, and who left the cabinet on account of the Eaton imbroglio.
Judge Fox was married, June 6, 1816, to Margery Rodman. Her father, Gilbert Rodman, of Bensalem, was a man of strong character and highly connected. An ardent patriot, he was dis- owned by the Quaker congregation of which he was a member because of his taking up arms in the Revolution, in which he served as major in the Second Bucks County Battalion in the Am- boy campaign of 1776. His brother William was also disowned by the same people for voluntarily taking the oath of allegiance to the continental government in 1778. William served under Gen- eral Lacey in 1781, was a member of the state senate, commanded a troop of horse in the Fries rebellion in 1799, and was a member of congress from 1812 to 1816.
Of this excellent lineage was born Edward J. Fox, son of Judge John and Margery ( Rodman) Fox, at Doylestown, Pennsylvania, September 15, 1824. His education was begun in the village schools and was completed at Princeton College, which he entered at so early an age and where he pursued his studies with such avidity that when in his eighteenth year he began the study of law in the office of his father, who had just retired from the bench. His training under the masterly paternal preceptorship of his sire was deep and thorough and long continued. For four years the son was daily taught in the principles and
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practice of the profession, and he was admitted to the bar in 1845, on the day after his attaining his majority. He soon afterwards became asso- ciated in practice with his elder brother, Gilbert R. Fox, at Norristown (now deceased), but sub- sequently removed to Philadelphia, where he re- mained but a year, when he was called to Doyles- town on account of the illness of his father, and a partnership was formed between father and son which only terminated in the death of the senior Fox. In 1846 he was admitted to prac- tice before the supreme court of Pennsylvania, int 1847 to the United States district and circuit courts, and in 1875 to the supreme court of the United States. In 1853 he removed to Easton, where he was engaged in practice for thirty-six years. In January, 1882, he took as a law part- ner his son, Edward J. Fox, Jr., and their asso- ciation was maintained until his death.
Mr. Fox was entirely devoted to his profes- sion, from which he could not be withdrawn by the most alluring invitations to official or public position. His friends presented him for nomi- nation to the supreme bench in 1880, and he was strongly supported in the Democratic state con- vention, but this effort received no aid from him, and when it failed for want of a few votes which he could have secured, he thanked his friends for their labors, and pleasantly congratulated them upon their failure. Yet, while thus destitute of political ambition, he was an aggressive advo- cate of his political principles, and habitually took the platform in every important campaign, at all times exerting a marked influence through his captivating personality and forcible oratory.
The remarkable professional industry of Mr. Fox is discernable in the references to him as counsel in the state reports for the long period of forty-three years from 1846 to 1889. His first reported argument in the supreme court is in Commonwealth, to the use of Meyers vs. Fretz, 4 Barr, 344, and his last was Miller vs. Chester Slate Company, 129 Pa. St. 81, decided less than three weeks before his death, and these two cases are marked by a division line of one hun- dred and twenty-five volumes within which are his arguments. He had a large practice in all
the civil courts in his own and adjoining districts, and in the federal courts and reaching to the su- preme court of the United States, his services be- ing in special demand in the trial of issues in- volving large sums of money. In the McKeen will case, in 1859, he adjusted a dispute over the validity of two codicils, reported as McKeen's Appeal, 6 Wright, 479. The First National Bank of Easton vs. Executors of Jacob Wireback, de- ceased, attacked the mental capacity of the en- dorsement 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 con- tention 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, twice heard in the appellate court ; Mr. Fox had one verdict below 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, obtained verdicts, which were held upon error to the United States su- preme 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 the municipal corpora- tion of Easton, to restrain it from proceeding to construct water works for furnishing water to the public, and thus destroy the valuable property and franchises of the Water Company. It in- volved very large financial interests. The Le- high Water Company had been incorporated in 1860, and was authorized to supply the citizens of Easton with water. It erected valuable plants, in- vested large sums of money, and proceeded to fulfill its incorporated purposes. In 1867 Easton was empowered by an act of assembly to con-
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struct its own water works, after receiving a ma- jority of the popular vote therefor upon submis- . sion. 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 provided for the regulation of water and gas com- panies, 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 con- stitution; that the Lehigh Water Company ac- quired, by the act of 1874, the exclusive right to erect and maintain water works for supplying water to Easton; that the act of 1867, if not su- perseded by the new constitution of the state, im- paired 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 (Le- high 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, 12I 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. Kirkpatrick made an elaborate defense, introducing expert testimony tending to discredit the allegations of death by poison and to establish the irresponsibility of the ac- cused by reason of the impairment of his mind by epilepsy. Throughout the trial of two weeks, Mr. Fox combatted 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 the phenomena of disease, as well as the manifestations of alienism, and he succeeded 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- 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 con- victed 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 com- monwealth, brought out ample proof that death was due to arsenic, but failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was charge- able 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 Le- high 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 his highest qualities. A strong example of his powers appears in his de- fense 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 defence in the 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 deceased, as well as deadly threats on the part of the de- fendant. Through his skillful cross-examination Mr. Fox left it doubtful whether death was 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,
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setting up as a defence, under difficult conditions of proof, an assertion of puerperal mania. His speech in this case exhibited his rare power of dramatic touch and effective pathos, in which he was without a master.
Mr. Fox's professional attainments were elo- quently 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 latter years, at least, he was no student of books, either of literature or of law. His legal library was not replenished with many modern text-books ; he kept to the old editions, which were not disfigured by copious and contradictory an- notations. He preferred to drink from the foun- tains, rather than from the polluted currents. He did not read the decisions of the Courts, sys- tematically as they were published in the Re- ports ; he believed he knew what the law was, and did not expect to find the decisions otherwise. He stopped brief-making many years before 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, justi- fied his wisdom.
"In the argument of a case, he would not yield to absolute precedent, unless it was binding au- thority. If it was a decision of an inferior, or ex- tra-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 vigorous and manly mind that thought otherwise than he did.
In the management of a cause, his tact was a matter for admiration ; from the moment a jury was empaneled, his thought was upon the verdict ; he yielded to every persuasive suggestion of the Court ; he made the jurymen his friends by watch- ing their comfort; if a draught of air came from
the window, it was closed; if the hour for ad- journment had come, it was upon his hint that the Court was reminded the jury had been sitting patiently and long; his cheerful 'Good morn- ing!' 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 encour- aged him first by unimportant questioning, until he was assured how easy it all was; if his ad- versary'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.
"He 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 par- ticulars.
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