USA > Pennsylvania > Clarion County > History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania > Part 42
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David W. Foster was also a citizen of Kittanning, and on his arrival here was already past the meridian of life. He was originally a cabinet-maker, and hav- ing been prothonotary's clerk at Kittanning, came here to act in the same cap- acity, and to open the records of the county. He had improved his spare time by the study of law, and was admitted here in February, 1841, but continued to assist the clerk of courts, pursuing his profession in that office. Although a mediocre lawyer, he acquired a respectable practice, especially as a collector. Mr. Foster remained in Clarion till his death in 1849.
Jesse G. Clark, the son of William Clark, of the Forest (now the Loomis) House, entered the bar here, but remained but a short time, before returning with his father to Brookville.
John L. Thompson was a young attorney from Lancaster, "a thin, spare man, with light hair," and a fluent talker. He did not abide in Clarion county long enough to warrant a further estimate, leaving in the spring of '42.
Thomas Sutton, originally of Indiana, Pa., was one of the few among Clarion's early legal lights, who achieved a pronounced success ; a success due to his high personal character and real professional merit. In argument he was fair, but as a business attorney he excelled. Mr. Sutton practiced alone. He died, aged about forty, in 1853, leaving a wife and two children.
George W. Lathy was an advocate of some experience when he cast his
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lines in Clarion. He came from Northumberland, Pa. Lathy was an effective jury lawyer, but his indolent disposition led him to rely too much on his foren- sic powers, to the neglect of the minutiæ of preparation. In March, 1871, he removed to Erie, as a field where his talents would have wider scope-a step which proved an unfortunate one. He is now living in Philadelphia, though not engaged in practice. Mr. Lathy, while in Clarion, married a daughter of Edward Derby, the builder of the first court-house. A large family was the result of this union. In the latter part of his career here, he took his eldest son, William E., in partnership with him.
Thomas M. Jolly was attracted to the new seat of justice from Norristown, Montgomery county, and at his arrival here was pretty well advanced in life. He had served in the War of 1812 when a mere boy, and was present at the siege of Fort McHenry. He always bore the title of "General " Jolly. Jolly was a man of ordinary attainments in the profession, and laid great stress on technicalities. He was addicted to the convivial glass-a fault common to sev- eral of the early sprigs of the law. General Jolly removed back to his native county in 1845. He had a family of three children.
George W. Carskadden, formerly of Clinton county, came in 1843, with a host of recommendations, which the event did not bear out. He is to be classed with the many other ephemera, remaining scarcely a year.
The bar of the new county seat, was composed-as we have seen-of young men, freshly embarked in life, who sought the newly-erected county as a vant- age ground, a comparatively free field, where they would not have to contend against the overshadowing prestige of older and more experienced heads. In this they were doomed to disappointment. Although by the spring of 1841 the resident lawyers numbered thirteen, nearly all the business was in the hands of practitioners of adjoining counties, who had already achieved reputations ; such men as Buffington, of Kittanning; Howe and Snowden, of Franklin ; the Purviances, and Ayres, of Butler. Many became discouraged, contending against such odds and did not long hold their ground. Those who stayed owed their success to industry, genuine worth, and the courage which tided them over their dark and unproductive days.
The winter of 1840-41 was a particularly dark and gloomy period for these first legal luminaries. Their surroundings were not such as tended to cheer their minds. The place was isolated in the midst of a forest; everything was in an inchoate state. The unfinished and unpainted houses, the muddy streets, and the background of gloomy pines with their snow-laden branches, formed a combination which had a depressing effect on the " briefless barris- ters," as they sat around in their barely-furnished offices, vainly waiting for a client to lift the latch. It was necessary to kill time, however, in some man- ner. The industriously inclined conned the volumes of their scantily supplied libraries, and then joined their idle comrades at the Great Western, where the
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evening was spent in games of euchre or "rounce," and trolling songs and catches. The moistening liquid was conveniently on hand in the tap-room. A happy diversion was the occasional dance. What odds though the company might happen to be a trifle democratic in ton ; none relished the fun more keenly than the legal fraternity.
Boyd, Butler, and Foster were benedicts; Sutton, Hays, Johnson, and the others were yet untrammeled by matrimonial ties. Their circumstances nec- essarily threw these young men together, and this social intercourse was one of the agreeable amenities of those days. They were inclined to make the best of things, and withal formed a gay coterie. In summer they rambled over the hills together, pitched quoits, and tossed the bar.
A propos of the impecuniosity prevalent then among the resident lawyers, one of their number relates: "As the summer (1841) advanced and harvest time came, times grew very dull indeed. Hays and I had paid out our last dollar, and were both completely strapped. One day we happened to ask Sut- ton what was the state of his finances, and he pulled out ten cents and said that was every cent of money he had in the world. We took a hearty laugh over it, and told him it was not fair for him to have such an advantage over us who had not a cent, and that he should hand the ten cents over to Hays, which he did, and we handed that ten cent piece back and forward, I should say at least two months.
"I recollect one day Sutton and I had been up town. As we came down we saw Hays coming toward us, laughing and showing something over his head. He came up to us, saying, 'Look here, you poor rascals!' and showed us a two-dollar shinplaster he had just taken in as a fee, and we all started over to Hysung's, who sold jumbles and small beer, and spent the most of Hays's money. Hays's client wanted to bring a suit against a man who had shot his dog. In passing along the road, the dog had run out and tried to bite him, and having a gun on his shoulder, he took it down and cracked away and shot the dog. The owner was indignant, and so paid Hays two dollars for telling him that the dog had no business to attack a man on the public road, and that the man had a right to defend himself against man or beast, even if it resulted in the death of the canine."
By 1845 the resident lawyers of standing had succeeded in getting the bulk of the local business in their own hands, and a few, such as Sutton and Campbell, had reputations extending beyond the limits of their own bailiwick. Judge Campbell was probably the best balanced, and the most generally pro- ficient of the early bar, and therefore entitled to be called its leader. Three- fourths of the lucrative practice of those days was land litigation, ejectments, disputes over lines, etc. Of this kind, the Junkin vs. McGinnis was the most noted case. It was a series of controversies, involving titles and possession to a portion of a warrant in southwestern Salem township. This civil feud reap-
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peared with regularity in some form or other at every term for a number of years. Like Banquo's spectre, it would not " down." The interminable liti- gation in which J. W. Guthrie was a party, generally plaintiff, began early and remained a fixture in Clarion county practice.
At the February session, 1841, all the Commonwealth cases were continued, and only civil business transacted. The first civil cause and the first jury trial in Clarion county was Samuel Adams vs. William Chambers; trespass; an appeal from the docket of Thomas B. Meager, esq., of Shippenville. It appears that the parties got into an altercation about the rent of a carding-mill, and Chambers struck Adams, who thereupon brought suit for damages and recov- ered before the justice. Campbell appeared for Adams; Johnson & Lathy for the defendant. The jury were Jacob McClain, Samuel Zink, James Huey, Philip Corbett, sr., John F. Conver, Alex. Blair, jr., John Smith, John Benn, Eli H. Clapp, James Reed, William Elliot, Jno. Alt. They rendered a verdict of ninety-five dollars damages. The defendant appealed to the Supreme Court, but failed to reverse the judgment.
At this court the following tavern licenses were granted : William Clark, James W. Coulter, George McWilliams, David Walters, Philip Corbett. Then the law required license petitions and certificates to be published in the papers for several weeks previous.
In the following May court the criminal suits were taken up : The first one disposed of, May 3, 1841, was Commonwealth against Thomas McCamant, in- dicted for keeping a tippling house, i. e., selling without license. McCamant plead guilty, and was sentenced to pay one dollar to the Commonwealth, and the costs of prosecution. The next day, May 4th, the first criminal trial took place. Jacob Wilks had been charged by John Wilks with malicious mischief, or in the wording of the bill did, " unlawfully, wilfully, and maliciously, and mischievously, burn, set fire to, waste and destroy shingling nails, a tin spoon, a cup and plate, two calico frocks, of the value of fifteen dollars." The panel were as follows: Peter Armagost, James Laughlin, Joseph Guthrie, Fred. Mohney, Isaac Courson, Jno. Armstrong, Jacob Alsbach, Barnhart Martin, William Clugh, Lewis Switzer, Levi Stone, Henry Schotts.
Wilks was acquitted because "he was insane at the time of the offence committed." The Court adjudged that he be kept in close custody in the county jail during the continuance of his insanity, and till he was legally dis- charged. The first ordinary trial was the next, taken up on the same day, Commonwealth vs. Maxwell, for assault; Penninah Gibson, prosecutrix. This was a weighty case, and occupied several days. Both Gilmore for the Common- wealth, and Jolly for the prisoner, were assisted by strong foreign counsel. The jury found a verdict of conviction. A new trial was granted, and when the case came up again, a nolle prosequi entered.
The second court, February, 1841, was held in the upper story of the jail,
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which had been hastened for that purpose. Here the sessions continued to be held till the completion of the court-house in the winter of 1842. The clerk of courts occupied an humble frame building on the public square, immediately opposite the court-house. The commissioners managed affairs of state in a temporary shanty standing on its southeast corner.
" As soon as the lower story of the jail was finished, Sheriff Hasson got an old man named Speer to move into the front part of it to act as deputy sheriff and jailor. He was something of a character in his way, very clever and social, but not very smart as a county officer. In those days, when everybody was poor and money scarce, it was not unusual when the sheriff got a fieri-facias to levy on personal property, and take a bond with security for the production of the property at the court-house on the return day of the writ. The object of this was to procure time, and generally the defendant did not expect to either pay the money or deliver the goods ; and at the next term a judgment would be entered on the bond and a new writ issued ; or, if the plaintiff preferred to look to the sheriff for the money, he had the bond for his protection. Sheriff Speer, as he was called, generally sympathized with the defendant, and as it made more costs, was very liberal in taking bonds. One time he got a writ on a man across the Clarion, and as he had no personal property, levied on a hun- dred acres of land, and took his bond for the delivery of it at the court-house on the first day of the next term. This was a standing joke on Sheriff Speer, and it was a long time before he heard the last of it."
Associate Hon. C. Myers was reappointed in 1846 and served to 1850, when he was elected to the State Senate, and James B. Lawson took his places Charles Evans was also reappointed, and died in office in 1849. Robert P. Maclay was appointed to the vacancy. Maclay dying in 1850, James Ros supplied his place till 1851. An amusing incident of Evans's judgeship will bear narration here: In February, 1847, George Wesner, the proprietor of a restau- rant at Clarion, was brought to trial for keeping a tippling house. Judge Evans was called down from the bench to testify for the defendant. Amid irrepressible merriment on the part of the spectators and attorneys, he pro- ceeded to relate, with solemn face and upturned eye, that once he had hap- pened in at the defendant's house when some of the prominent citizens of the town were holding high carnival and indulging in a dance upstairs. The room being small and cramped for space, they seized one of their number and began using him as a battering-ram to break down the partition. Then, that being the next heaviest person present, be feared that he would be next singled out for this ignominious treatment, and therefore retreated from the fray. Wesner was mulcted fifty dollars and costs.
Hon. Alex. McCalmont's term having expired, Jos. Buffington was ap- pointed judge of the eighteenth district, by Governor William Johnston. He presided first at the September term, 1849.
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Joseph Buffington was born at Westchester, Pa., in 1804, and when ten years of age his family moved to Allegheny county ; at eighteen he entered the Western University, was admitted to practice in Butler county in 1826, and went to Kittanning in 1843. In the autumn of that year he was elected to Congress as a Whig. He soon took a place in the front rank as a lawyer and public citizen. During the brief period in which he filled the bench of the eighteenth district he won encomiums as an upright and capable judge. In 1850 a law was passed providing for the election of judges by the people. John C. Knox, the Democratic candidate, was chosen over Buffington, and took office in 1851. After his retirement from this district, the latter was, in 1856, elected president judge of the tenth district, embracing Westmoreland, Indi- ana, and Armstrong counties. He completed the term and was again elected, but in 1871 his failing health induced him to resign. He died suddenly, Feb- ruary 3, 1872, full of years and honors, and enjoying the deserved esteem of his fellow citizens.
Hon. John Colvin Knox was born November 4, 1820, at Knoxville, Tioga county, Pa. He did not receive a day's schooling after his fourteenth year, being emphatically a self-educated as well as a self-made man; but the strain on his unaided intellect told sadly on him in later years. At an early age he was left an orphan, and went to live with an uncle. Finally adopting the legal profession, he soon made his mark as an attorney, and in 1849 his high repu- tation was recognized by his appointment to succeed Hon. Thomas White as president judge of the Westmoreland, Indiana and Armstrong district, in place of Judge Burrell, who had been nominated, and rejected by the Senate. While acting as judge of that district he resided at Kittanning; and in 1851, being chosen president of the 18th judicial district by popular vote, he removed to Franklin.
As president judge of the courts of Clarion county he was excelled by none ; his rulings were marked by exceptional acumen and rectitude. In 1853 Judge Knox was promoted to the Supreme bench, which he resigned in 1857 to accept the attorney-generalship, under Governor Packer. The advent of Curtin's administration in 1860 displaced him from that office, and he went into the practice of law at Philadelphia, as a member of the firm of Knox & Webster. Shortly after softening of the brain set in ; his intellect waned, and he never recovered. He died at a hospital at Philadelphia in 1880. In person Judge Knox was portly, handsome, and bore the stamp of a cultured gentleman.
John Swayze McCalmont, the eldest son of Hon. Alexander McCalmont, was appointed to succeed Judge Knox, and was elected in 1853. When fif- teen he entered Allegheny College, and after remaining two years was ap- pointed to a cadetship at West Point. He graduated in 1842, and served in Florida till July 1843, when he resigned his lieutenancy to pursue the study of law, previously commenced under the tuition of his father. Mr. McCal-
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mont was admitted to practice at Brookville, November, 1844. He located at Clarion in 1845, as a partner of A. Myers, esq., was married in 1848, and elected to the Legislature for the session of 1849-50, in the latter of which he was Speaker of the House. As an attorney he was successful, possessing in particular a grace and fluency of diction, and while he would sometimes wan- der in apparently aimless digressions, he seldom failed to come finally and strongly to the point. He was the most youthful magistrate that ever pre- sided over the eighteenth district, being only twenty-nine when he donned the ermine, and having been in practice only seven years. Yet, notwithstanding his fewness of years, his administration of justice was creditable and satisfactory; few reversals could be told against him.
Judge McCalmont was tall, thin, and striking in appearance, with an erect military bearing, which he brought with him from West Point, and always re- tained. He resided at Clarion with his family during the time he occupied the bench, till 1856, and then removed to Franklin. In 1861 he resigned his seat to take command of the Tenth Pennsylvania Reserves, which he held till May, 1862, and was then honorably discharged. He resumed the practice of his profession at Franklin, and continued it until appointed Commissioner of Cus- toms, and now spends most of his time at Washington, engaged in his official duties.
The associates elected under the new system for five years, were Wiliam Curll and D. B. Long ; the latter became prothonotary in 1855, and Benjamin Junkin filled his seat the remaining year. To these associates succeeded Peter Clover and Jacob Kahle, who served till 1861.
Between 1844 and 1862 the second generation of lawyers, Amos Myers, J. S. McCalmont, Wm. L. Corbett, William Shaw, James Boggs, Robert Sut- ton, W. W. Barr, James B. Knox, C. L. Lamberton, B. J. Reid, David Lawson, Theophilus S. Wilson, were launched into legal existence.
Amos Myers, the eldest son of Hon. Christian Myers, was born at Clarion Furnace, graduated at Allegheny College, Meadville, and was admitted to practice in the latter part of 1846, shortly after becoming of age. He studied under the preceptorship of James Campbell. Not long after his admission the firm of McCalmont & Myers was formed. He was elected as a Republican to Congress in 1862, and soon after left the law, and entered the Baptist ministry. He is still living in a suburb of Philadelphia. Mr. Myers was a man of con- siderable legal talent, of sprightly wit, and a ready speaker.
William Shaw, a young married man, left his trade of cabinet-making, in Clarion, to study law under D. W. Foster, and was admitted December, 1847, but died soon after. Mr. Shaw was a bright beginner, and gave promise of success.
James Boggs is a native of Plum township, Allegheny county. He took a Greek and Latin course at a select school, studied law under his brother,
N. M. Bar
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Judge Boggs, of Armstrong county, and was admitted at Kittanning in 1848. He immediately after took up his residence at Clarion. He was partner with Mr. Lathy from 1852 to 1855, with William L. Corbett from 1860 to 1865, being elected district attorney twice during these years. His present partner- ship with M. A. K. Weidner, esq., began in 1874. Mr. Boggs has had a large orphans' court business.
Robert Sutton was a younger brother of Thomas, and was raised in Indi- ana. He received his education at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, and was admitted to the courts of Clarion in 1850. He practiced at New Castle, Pa., till the death of his brother, when he removed to Clarion, and took charge of the office. In 1853 he entered into partnership with W. L. Corbett, and in 1857 with B. J. Reid. In 1860 he retired from the legal profession, and became a Presbyterian clergyman. Mr. Sutton now resides in Cincinnati. He married Miss Andrews, of Franklin, a sister of the wife of Amos Myers, esq. While an attorney of no mean proficiency, he did not obtain the eminence of his brother in the law. He was possessed of a cultured intellect, and his tastes were of a refined and literary character.1
Charles L. Lamberton settled at Clarion in 1851. . He was from the eastern part of the State, and previous to coming to Clarion county, had practiced a short time at Brookville. For some years he was a partner of Hon. James Campbell, confining himself almost entirely to office business. "Colonel" Lamberton, as he was called, was a man of quick parts and great activity, but his bent was more to the ferment of politics than the "quips and quiddities" of the law. He was chosen State senator in 1861. After the expiration of his term he removed to Philadelphia without returning to Clarion. He is now practicing in New York City.
Bernard J. Reid was born at Youngstown, Westmoreland county, in 1823; taught school at an early age, and in 1842 came to Clarion for the purpose of opening a select school, which he did, but soon relinquished the school to es- tablish the Iron County Democrat, which, in 1844, was consolidated with the Republican. In the following year Mr. Reid retired. He had practiced sur- veying occasionally while engaged in journalism, and in 1845 became county surveyor. In 1847 he left for St. Louis, and from thence went to California, as a pioneer of 1849. He returned in 1852, and after completing his studies at the office of Thomas Sutton, was admitted in 1853. He was in partnership with Robert Sutton from 1857 to 1860. He took James Craig into partner- ship in 1861, and in the same year raised a company and went into the army, returning in August, 1862. In July, 1863, he raised another company for the three months service, and was elected major of his regiment. The firm of Reid & Patrick (Joseph H. Patrick) existed from 1865 to 1869. In 1871 Mr. Reid removed to Titusville, and finally to Erie, and returned to Clarion in
1 For a sketch of W. W. Barr, esq., see " Biographical Sketches."
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1877. Mr. Reid is a master of the legal science, abstract and applied. As an analyst of evidence he has marked ability. In land suits of importance his services are almost invariably required, his experience as a surveyor rendering him especially fitted for such causes.
David Lawson, a son of Hon. James B. Lawson, was born in Madison township, Clarion county, in 1833, and completed his education at Elder's Ridge Academy, Indiana county. In 1856 he began the study of law at the office of Campbell & Lamberton, and was qualified an attorney in 1858. He entered into a partnership with Mr. Lamberton in 1861, which continued for some time. In 1869 Mr. Lawson removed to Wisconsin, and returned in 1871. He has filled the office of district attorney twice, and assisted Messrs. Brinker, Edinger and Sharrar in the county treasury during their respective terms. Mr. Lawson is an experienced and painstaking lawyer of unquestioned integrity.
It was toward the close of Hon. J. S. McCalmont's administration that the memorable trial of Charles Curtis, alias Logue, for the murder of Jared Lewis occurred. It was the first murder case in the annals of the county, and this fact, and the circumstances attending the fatality, aroused the intensest interest in it. With this there was mingled no inconsiderable degree of popular indig- nation against the prisoner.
Charles Curtis, a native of Ohio, and of respectable family, had early fallen into a career of evil, which led him to become one of a band of organized thieves and depredators, who made Ohio and the Western States their field. After a while, finding themselves under dangerously close surveillance, the gang dispersed, and Curtis, and one Ira Shotwell, came to Northwestern Pennsyl- vania, hoping to ply their vocation here in comparative security. They con- fined their operations to the smaller towns and rural districts, wandering about, leading a lawless and vagabond life under the guise of farm hands, etc. About 1857 they came to Clarion county, assuming the name Charles Logue, and Ira Davis. They remained in the neighborhood of New Bethlehem but for a short time, and left for other parts. In 1860 they returned, and came to Toby township as harvest hands in search of work. Logue was employed by Parker, and Davis, by Milton Stewart. After working there a while they moved to the vicinity of Callensburg, living most of the time at Major's, on the road lead- ing from Easton to the bridge. Major was an invalid pauper, and his daugh- ters, Harrietta and Lucetta, had a dubious reputation in the neighborhood. In August and September an alarming series of robberies and arsons excited that hitherto peaceful and secure community. Reynolds's store in Callens- burg was robbed and his barn burned. The house of an old man named Camp was burglarized.
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