USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume I > Part 30
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The general committee of arrangements appointed the following special committees, who had charge of the dedicatory exercises: Com- mittee on special arrangements: J. P. Hale Jenkins, Neville D. Tyson, Wm. F. Dannehower, Charles D. McAvoy, and Theo. Lane Bean ; recep- tion committee : Montgomery Evans, Miller D. Evans, I. P. Wanger, N. H. Larzelere, Jacob A. Strassburger, H. M. Brownback, and John Faber Miller; committee on program: John W. Bickel and Louis M. Childs; committee on entertainment: Henry M. Tracy, Abraham H. Hendricks, and Henry I. Fox.
The nearness of the county seat to Philadelphia and the consequent residence of numerous members of the Philadelphia bar in the lower end of this county without law offices in this county where service of notice and other papers (in cases where they may be counsel of record in this county ) may be served on them without hunting their offices in Phila- delphia, have, by experience, taught the members of this Bar that their rights are frequently invaded, and they are put to great inconvenience and their clients to unnecessary costs and expense in serving notices on these practitioners. Accordingly, in June, 1889, the Association laid before the Court proposed rules of court for adoption relative to lay- men practicing law, and to service upon non-resident lawyers practicing in this county without having an office therein. The rules proposed were adopted by the Court.
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On January 20, 1908, Messrs. Knipe, Miller and Harry were appointed a committee to investigate certain charges against William W. Cham- bers, of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, who was alleged to be holding himself out as an attorney-at-law, although not admitted to any bar. The evi- dence submitted was reported to be insufficient to sustain the charge.
In 1909 a resolution was adopted requesting the Senator and Repre- sentatives from this county to oppose a pending bill in the Legislature providing that admission to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania should of itself operate as an admission of any such attorney as an attorney-at- law in every court of the Commonwealth, on the ground of unconstitu- tionality and unwisdom. A copy of the resolution was sent to the Bars of Bucks, Chester, and Delaware counties for similar action. The bill was passed. The secretary submitted a brief on the unconstitutionality of the bill to Governor Stuart and his Attorney-General. The bill became a law.
Proposed legislative limitations on the court's discretion in directing advertisement of legal notice, was protested against by the Association.
On Friday the 12th of February, 1909, the Association celebrated Lincoln's Centenary with a public meeting held in the afternoon in Court Room No. I. The floral decorations were elaborately furnished free of charge by Florist Joseph N. King, picture frames by Charles W. Moll, flags by Brendlinger & Co., and Lincoln pictures by J. P. Hale Jenkins, Esq., and the Norristown High School. A suitable address was delivered by Franklin S. Wright ; Judge Solly read Lincoln's Gettys- burg address; and a suitable minute was prepared and read by Neville D. Tyson. A full report of the celebration, including the addresses of Judge Henry K. Weand, the presiding officer, and Mr. Wright, and the minute prepared by Mr. Tyson, are preserved in the archives of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Judge Weand in 1903 presented the Association with a beautifully penned set of resolutions adopted by the Bar on the death of Daniel Mulvaney, Esq., a leader of the Bar in his time. They were suitably framed by the secretary and hung in the law library.
Twelve members of the Association contributed their noble and brave "bit" to the World War. They are: Paul M. Brooke, Frank J. Bradley, George C. Corson, C. Russell Corson, Joseph H. Cochran, Wm. F. Dan- nehower, Jr., Joseph K. Fornance, J. Burnett Holland, Elgin H. Lenhart, Daniel Yeakel Miller, Eldred J. Pennell, and George Wanger. Those who saw service in France are Messrs. Corson (Geo. C.), Dannehower, Fornance, Holland, Lenhardt, and Wanger. Their records follow:
Frank J. Bradley enlisted in Philadelphia, in October, 1918. He was beyond the draft age. He was voluntarily inducted into the service by the draft board of Norristown, and was then sent to Camp Zachary Tay- lor, near Louisville, Kentucky. He was a private in the Field Artillery Officers' Training School. He remained there until December 7, 1918, when he was honorably discharged. Before his enlistment, Mr. Bradley
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was active in assisting registrants to answer questionaires, and in speak- ing at Liberty Loan meetings and at the Grand Opera House, the Gar- rick Theatre and at mills and factories. He made a tour over the county in the interest of the sale of War Stamps.
Paul M. Brooke enlisted in December, 1917, at Camp Dix, New Jer- sey. After remaining there nearly a year, he was transferred, in Sep- tember, 1918, to Camp Meigs, Washington, D. C., where he attended the Training School, Quartermaster's Department. About the middle of December, 1918, he was discharged. He was commissioned second lieu- tenant in the Officers' Reserve Corps for five years, which have not yet expired.
C. Russell Corson was a private in the infantry at Camp Lee, Peters- burg, Virginia, and also in the Officers' Artillery Training School at Camp Zachary Taylor, near Louisville, Kentucky. He spent three months in each camp, and then the war ended.
George C. Corson enlisted on the 10th of May, 1917, at Philadelphia. He was sent to Fort Howard, Maryland, where he remained a few days. On July 12, 1917, he together with Elgin H. Lenhardt was transferred to Camp Meade, Maryland. He was a private in Motor Truck Company No. 36. On May 1, 1918, he was sent to Camp Johnson. On June 14 following he was commissioned a second lieutenant, and on the 6th of July 1918, was transported to France. He was landed at Liverpool, England, and then at Cherbourg, France. His company there joined the Ninth American Division, 315th Motor Supply Train, at Racey-Sur- Ource, in the second training area. He was there three weeks. On August 24 he went in line on the Toul sector, and until September 21 was in action. On October 21 he was sent back to a Motor Transport School at Decize, France, and after a month's schooling rejoined the goth Division on the Argonne front, northwest of Verdun. He was pro- moted on October 2, 1918, to first lieutenant. He was still on the Argonne front on the day the armistice was signed, November 11, 1918. He spent the next six months with the Army of Occupation, at Berne Castle, Germany. He started for home May 21, and landed at Newport News, Virginia, on June 10, 1919, and six days thereafter was mustered out of service at Camp Dix. In 1922 he and his parents and a few friends revisited the scenes of his soldier days in France, touring over the battle- fields of the country he helped to save from the terrible Huns.
William F. Dannehower, Jr., enlisted as an orderly in the service of the Pennsylvania Base Hospital, No. 10, at Philadelphia, May 7, 1917. Eleven days afterward he was on his way to France. Two weeks were spent in training at Blackpool, England, after landing at Liverpool. In June the hospital opened for action at La Porte, France, after setting foot on French soil at Havre. He was appointed clerk to Colonel Richard Harte, of Philadelphia, the head of this hospital unit. Promoted to ser- geant shortly thereafter, he was placed in charge of the Isolation Divi- sion, the Infectious and Contagious Hospital. In 1918 he was again promoted, to first-class sergeant. He was captain of the hospital base- ball and football teams, which won interesting contests with rival organ- izations. Placed in charge of Mobile Hospital, No. 8, his duties carried him and this hospital into the Meuse Argonne, and thence followed on the heels of the American army until the armistice, November 11, 1918. Early in the following year he was mustered out of service at St. Aignan, France. He then enlisted in the Transportation Service of the American
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Red Cross at Paris, and continued in this service until March, 1921, arriving home on the 24th of that month. His duties carried him by automobile through France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, Spain, Italy, and to Constantinople, Turkey. During a two weeks' furlough he traveled through England and Scotland. He picked up enough French and German so as to be able to make himself readily understood in those languages.
Joseph Knox Fornance was called into active service, July 15, 1917, as captain of Field Artillery, in command of Battery B, 108th (2nd Pennsyl- vania) Regiment of Field Artillery, and was stationed at Camp Wana- maker, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and Camp Hancock, Augusta, Georgia, from that date until September 9, 1917. From September 10, 1917, to November 26, 1917, he was stationed at Reserve Officers' Training Camp, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. His resignation from the Pennsylvania National Guard was accepted by the President, October II, 1917, and he was commissioned as captain of Field Artillery, U. S. Army, Novem- ber 26, 1917, on graduation from Reserve Officers' Training Camp. Then he was assigned to 321st Regiment, U. S. Field Artillery (157th U. S. Field Artillery Brigade, 82nd Division), and was stationed at Camp Gor- don, Georgia, November and December, 1917, and from March to May, 1918. He was next stationed at the School of Fire for Field Artillery, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, from January 1, 1918, until graduation on March 8, 1918. He was assigned to headquarters, 157th U. S. Field Artillery Brigade, as operations officer, March 9, 1918. He left Embarkation Camp, Camp Merritt, New Jersey, for overseas service, May 19, 1918, and arrived at Brest, France, May 29, 1918. He was stationed at Brest and La Courtine, France, until August 11, 1918. He was with headquarters, 157th U. S. Field Artillery Brigade (82nd Division) as operations officer, from August 12, 1918, to October 14, 1918, and was active in the Mar- bache Sector, Lorraine, St. Mihiel offensive, and the Meuse-Argonne offensive. On October 14, 1918, he was appointed aide-de-camp to commanding general, 42nd Division, assigned to that division, and con- tinued with 42nd Division through Meuse-Argonne offensive until November 10, 1918, when the division was relieved. He was appointed a member of the American Section of Interallied Armistice Commission, November 14, 1918, and was stationed at Spa, Belgium, until December 26, 1918, as adjutant of the American section and aide-de-camp to the com- manding general of the American section. Afterwards he was stationed in Paris and in Bordeaux, France, as aide-de-camp to the commanding general, Base Section No. 2, American Expeditionary Forces, from December, 1918, to July, 1919. He arrived in the United States from overseas service, August 8, 1919. He was awarded a British Military Cross, and was promoted to be major of Field Artillery, U. S. Army, May 8, 1919. He was stationed in Washington, D. C., since his return from overseas. On September 24, 1920, he was commissioned as captain of Field Artillery, Regular Army, as of July 1, 1920, and October 18, 1920, was transferred to the Quartermaster Corps.
J. Burnett Holland was drafted, and was inducted into service on December 7, 1917, at Camp Meade, Maryland; and was discharged at Camp Dix, New Jersey, June 7, 1919, after one and a half year's service in the Great War. He was first assigned to Company A, No. 312 Machine Gun Battalion, 79th Division. He remained at Camp Meade until July 9, 1918, when he sailed with his battalion from Hoboken, New Jersey,
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and after nine days they landed at Brest, France. At the end of a week they were moved into the training area in the vicinity of Dijohn. The battalion was billeted in the village of Riviere Les Fosses. Mr. Holland was then transferred to the sanitary detachment of the same battalion. In September they left for the front and were put in the trenches in the Verdun sector, near Hill No. 304. They were there a month, in the mean- while taking part early in October in the advance on Montfaucon. Just before the battle, Mr. Holland was evacuated to the hospital of his bat- talion on account of a severe attack of influenza, which confined him five weeks. At the time the armistice was signed, November 1I, 1918, he was in the Replacement Camp at Toul. A week afterward he rejoined his battalion at Reville, twenty miles northeast of Verdun. He remained there until December 12, 1918. Shortly thereafter he was put on an attached service with an entertainment unit, which, like other entertain- ment units, traveled over the entire entertainment circuit on the front, covering the entire territory occupied by the American Expeditionary Forces. His unit gave nightly minstrel, vaudeville and musical enter- tainments in the Verdun sector, St. Mihiel sector, Toul sector and Lux- emberg, covering a period of four months. Before they could make their next move, to Coblenz, Germany, they were recalled. It has been esti- mated that about twenty thousand professional, and a greater number of amateur entertainers, served amusement to the million of American sol- diers in France. Holland's battalion sailed from Saint Nazaire on May 14, 1919, and after a long homeward trip of fourteen days, landed at Brooklyn, New York, on May 28, 1919. He was mustered out of service at Camp Dix, New Jersey, on June 7, 1919. Mr. Holland, with his fine baritone voice, had sung his way into the hearts of the American boys on French soil, and helped them to keep up their patriotic enthusiasm.
Elgin H. Lenhardt entered the service in 1917, at Fort Howard, Mary- land. A few days thereafter he was transferred to Camp Meade, Mary- land, where he remained a year. After spending the two succeeding months at Camp Johnson, Florida, he was transported to France on Sep- tember 16, 1918. He was a second lieutenant in the Motor Transport Car Service, and was stationed at Nantes and St. Nazaire. He was mus- tered out of service on July 2, 1919, at Presidio, California. His com- panion in his early service was George C. Corson.
Edred J. Pennell enlisted in September, 1917, and on the 20th of that month went to Camp Meade, Maryland, to enter the 17th Training Bat- talion, Depot Brigade, as a private. On October 2, 1917, he was trans- ferred to Company A, 304th Ammunition Train, and twelve days later was transferred to Headquarters Troop, 79th Division. On the 7th December following he was appointed first-class private. On January 5, 1918, he entered the Officers' Training School at Camp Meade, as a mem- ber of the First Battery, and completed the course on April 19, 1918, when he was appointed a sergeant (officer candidate) and returned to Headquarters Troop, 79th Division. On May 8th, 1918, he was trans- ferred to Field Artillery, replacement depot, Camp Jackson, South Caro- lina, and two weeks later was assigned to Battery B, 14th Battalion, F. A. R. D., and on June 1, 1918, was commissioned second lieutenant, F. A. N. A., and assigned to Battery B, 14th Battalion, F. A. R. D. Two weeks later he was transferred to Battery B, 23rd Battalion, F. A. R. D. On the reorganization of 8th Regiment, F. A. R. D., on August 17, 1918, he was assigned to Headquarters Company, 8th Regiment, F. A. R. D. On Sep-
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tember 21, 1918, he was commissioned first lieutenant, F. A. U. S. A., and a month later was transferred to the command of Battery F, 8th Regi- ment, F. A. R. D. On the following day he was commissioned captain, F. A. U. S. A., and on December 6, 1918, was honorably discharged from the army.
D. Yeakel Miller enlisted as a seaman, June 5, 1918, in the United States Naval Reserve Force, and was sent to the Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Illinois. After drilling in various seaman companies until November 1, 1918, he was transferred to the Officers' Material School and there underwent a four months' intensive training course for officers, jumping from seaman to chief boatswain's mate. After the signing of the armistice and before receiving his commission of ensign, he was at his own request released from active service early in February, 1919. He had practically completed the whole training course. He was discharged September 1, 1921. Before enlisting, Mr. Miller was a busy "Four-Minute Man," and did yeoman service in the Liberty Loan and War Chest drives in Norristown and other parts of the county.
George Wanger enlisted on March 4, 1910, before America went into the World War, in Company F, 6th Pennsylvania Infantry, and on July 3, 1910, had been elected its second lieutenant; had been captain of Com- pany M, Ist Pennsylvania Infantry; and had served in the Federal serv- ice on the Mexican border from June 27, 1916, to October 23, 1916. Just as this country was entering the World War, Mr. Wanger was called out by the President for guard duty. On August 5, 1917, he was drafted. Subsequently he served at Camp Hancock, Georgia; and in France with the 28th Division as captain of Company M; regimental adjutant, and regimental operations officer of the 109th Infantry ; and as brigade adju- tant of the 56th Infantry Brigade. He also commanded the Ist Battalion, 109th Infantry, in action. He was graduated from the Infantry School of Arms, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in August, 1917; from the Army General Staff College, Langres, France, on September 15, 1918; and from the Sorbonne University, Paris, France, on March 1, 1919. He was dis- charged September 22, 1919.
The "stay-at-home"-from-the-World-War lawyers were, nevertheless, actively patriotic. On May 18, 1917, Messrs. Wright, Knipe, Moyer, Place and Brecht were appointed "to take over the legal business of any member of the Association entering the military service of the State or Nation, and desiring the same to be done, and of transacting such busi- ness without any charge to such member, with power in said committee to increase its membership by appointment of other attorneys."
On November 26, 1917, a resolution was adopted "that all the mem- bers of the Association, as a committee of the whole, offer themselves as associate members of the Legal Advisory Boards to be provided for Norristown and for the remaining portions of Montgomery county, for the purpose of advising, without compensation, registrants under the new selective service regulations, of their rights and obligations, and of assisting them in the preparation of their answers to the questions which all men subject to draft are required to submit." A copy of this reso- lution was sent by the secretary to all the Legal Advisory Boards in the
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county, and to every member of the Association and of the Bar. In Norristown a room for the purpose expressed in the resolution, was fitted up in the basement of the court house, where lawyers relayed each other, day and night, to assist and advise registrants. Lawyers residing or having offices away from the county seat assisted registrants in their respective communities. Some lawyers sat at convenient public places in the county at stated times to lend assistance in answering question- naires. Henry C. Stinson organized a Home Defense Guard. It under- went daily drilling lessons at the local Armory on Cherry street, near Airy street. He was elected captain of the lawyer-soldiers. Their num- ber was later augmented by the addition of bank clerks and other lay- men, until they numbered thirty embryonic soldiers. These and other patriotic citizens then formed a regular military organization called Company F, which later merged with the National Guard. C. Townley Larzelere was the captain of Company F.
Subsequently Mr. Stinson was appointed superintendent of the Home Defense Police of Montgomery county, 900 strong. It was divided into units, located throughout the county. The Norristown unit did active police duty in Norristown, and also patrol duty at Valley Forge to handle big crowds there. A part of the duty of this patriotic body was to investigate and silence German sympathizers. Mr. Stinson and J. Aubrey Anderson had charge of District No. 2 of the Legal Advisory Board, comprising Norristown and surrounding townships. The former was also the official adviser of the registrants who were not exempted from military service.
When ex-State Treasurer Henry K. Boyer resigned as Food Admin- istrator of Montgomery county, his legal adviser, Mr. Stinson, suc- ceeded him. He served about a year, until the close of the war. Mr. Stinson, so far as known, was the only food administrator who fined pub- lic officials for violations of the law in having on hand over-supplies of sugar. He turned all fines so collected over to the Red Cross. Attor- neys Williams, Wright, Hoover, Gibson, Emery and others also were active speakers in the campaigns for the sale of Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps. The Association volunteered the services of its mem- bers gratuitously to claimants of their rights under the War Risk Insur- ance Act, who should apply for the same.
The members of the Association who entered any branch of the mil- itary or naval service of the United States, were relieved from the pay- ment of Association dues, and were to remain in good standing. Annual outings and banquets were dispensed with on account of war conditions.
The members of the Association announced they stood ready to give legal advice and services, without charge, to draftees respecting their rights under Federal and State statutes, and to cooperate with the Alien Property Custodian at Washington in reaching enemy property.
In 1918 the Association, in conjunction with the county commission-
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ers, procured large and handsome American flags for each of the three court rooms, and a service flag containing twelve stars for the law library. Twelve members of the Association were then serving in mili- tary service of the United States. The Association paid for the service flag ; the county commissioners for the flags hung in the court rooms.
Members of the Association who were in active military service during any part of 1918 or 1919, were excused from the payment of Association dues for those years. The Association purchased a $100 Fifth Liberty Loan Bond.
In June, 1919, Messrs. Rex, Anderson and Dannehower were ap- pointed to secure and preserve a record of the war work of the Associa- tion and each individual member thereof.
Banquets-A prominent auxiliary feature of the Association has been of a social nature-its annual banquets, an occasional smoker, and later, its spring outings. The social ball was set to rolling at the first stated meeting in January, 1886, when Montgomery Evans moved "that the Association have a supper." On motion of the writer the following were appointed the first committee of arrangements : Charles Hunsicker, Aaron S. Swartz, I. P. Wanger, Montgomery Evans, and D. Ogden Rogers. Immediately the question of having wine served at the supper was raised by F. G. Hobson, a temperance advocate, but was promptly voted down by a rising vote which required no count. The same ques- tion recurred annually for some years thereafter, but the matter was always left to the committee of arrangements, who invariably were chosen, it seemed, from the "wets."
At every annual meeting after the first, a committee on banquet was invariably appointed. The judge, or judges, were always invited to the banquets as honorary guests until Judges Swartz, Weand and Solly were, at their own request, regarded as full-fledged members of the Association, with voice and vote, and payment for their plates at the subsequent banquets.
Nine days after it was decided to have a "supper," another trouble- some question was raised at a special meeting, which recurred annually for some years thereafter-the question of members bringing one or more ladies to the supper. This was George W. Rogers' "hobby." He carried his point in meeting by a vote of 15 to 9, but owing to a decided sentiment against the proposition by leading members who did not attend the meeting, no one invited any ladies to attend.
No annual banquet was held in 1896 because of the deaths of four members of the Association within a period of three months, namely: Charles Hunsicker, October 27, 1895; Walter S. Jennings, November 14, 1895; Isaac Chism, November 20, 1895 (three within one month); and Warren M. Dickinson, February 1, 1896.
Complimentary banquets have played no small part in the social life
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of the Association. The first was given to Gilbert Rodman Fox, one of the great leaders of the Bar and a popular and successful preceptor, in 1888. He had as students at law in his office from time to time, Judges Swartz and Solly, and Joseph Fornance, H. B. Dickinson, Louis M. Childs, William F. Dannehower, his son, Gilbert R. Fox, Jr., and others. On November 19, 1888, he would complete fifty years of active practice at the Montgomery County Bar, and on October 13, 1888, Messrs. Wanger, Fornance and Childs were appointed to wait on Mr. Fox relative to giv- ing him a testimonial banquet. A week later Messrs. Freedley and Jen- nings were added to the former committee to arrange for the banquet. It was the first affair of the kind given by the Association. It was held at the Rambo House, Norristown, on the 19th of November, 1888, exactly fifty years after the honored guest's admission to the Bar. It was largely attended and proved a complete success. On the 26th of Sep- tember, 1891, at Stritzinger's Parlors, Norristown, the members of the Bar tendered a complimentary banquet to Judge Henry K. Weand, Henry M. Tracy and Henry D. Saylor, upon their return from tours in Europe. President Judge Swartz was an honorary guest.
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