Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 42

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192

USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 42

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"Those issues by the Exchange Bank were not made because she herself wanted assistance; her situation was otherwise, and her executive officers and her directors were prompted by a motive to benefit a large trading and manu- facturing community in any way it could be done consistent with the interests of her stockholders" (z).

The Advocate also said that the Exchange Bank had not availed herself of the provisions of the Revenue or Relief Bill, authorizing her to suspend specie payments for five years, providing she would accept her quota of the loan to the State; that she had issued small notes in conformity to that law; that the balance of trade being in favor of Philadelphia had caused large quantities of the issues of the Exchange Bank to be circulated there, and, therefore, the consequent fear of the same in that city; that the notes of the branch of the Exchange Bank at Hollidaysburg were at par here and in the East; that the bank was known to be sound and her officers were men of sagacious minds and honorable inten- tions; that she was independent, asked no favors and feared not the calumny of the Eastern newspapers.

Early in November, 1841, the Bank of Pittsburg had on hand in coin $203,344.88, and its own notes in circulation $45,395; individual deposits $339,- 630.08. The Exchange Bank (a) had in gold and silver $161,514.12; its own notes in circulation $137,655; certificates of deposit and circulation $98,300; post-notes in circulation $23,140; individual deposits $232,071.23; issue of State scrip seventeen and one-half per cent. on its capital. The Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bank had in coin $55,936.17; its own notes in circulation $28,- 457.50; certificates in circulation $77,820; individual deposits $188,197.07; issue of twenty per cent. of State scrip (b). The National Gazette, in commenting on the condition of the Pittsburg banks, said: "It affords us pleasure to show forth the condition of such banks as these. They furnish proofs that they have been managed prudently and with good judgment" (c). Regardless of the fact that the notes of the banks of Pittsburg were known to be good for the coin upon presentation, they were quoted in January, 1842, by William A. Hill, broker, at four and one-half per cent. premium with specie at five and one-half per cent. premium. Post-notes, State scrip and certificates were quoted at par and paper of the United States branches at fifty-five per cent. discount" (d).

For the State loan of $3,100,000 the Exchange Bank, with a capital of $895,980, could subscribe seventeen and one-half per cent-$39,199 in $5 notes and $117,597 in $1 and $2 notes. The Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bank of Pittsburg, with a capital of $600,000, could subscribe twenty per cent .- $30,000 in $5 notes and $90,000 in $1 and $2 notes. Both of these banks had suspended specie payments, but the Bank of Pittsburg, with a capital of $1,188,- 200, being on a continuous specie-paying basis, was exempted from subscription to this loan.

But this extraordinary period of financial dismay was now almost at an end. From 1831 to 1842 the whole country had been kept in almost a continuous

(z) Advocate and Emporium, November 29, 1841.

(a) This included the report of its Hollidaysburg Branch.

(b) Auditor-General's Report.

(d) Advocate, January 6, 1842.

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HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

state of uproar and paralyzing fear on the moncy question. During this mo- mentous era the subject of banking and formed the principal contention of partisans. The war upon the Bank of the United States had led a large follow- ing to fiercely assail all banking systems, and to pursue with undeviating and unrelenting persistence the samc bank after it had become an institution of this State. The Whigs fought every inch of ground, but lost in their efforts to secure and sustain a National bank. At length all parties were quieted and grounded early in the '40s on the State bank system. The banking problem had ceased to rivet the whole attention; the tariff and the annexation of Texas absorbed the venom of partisans.

In 1835 the Legislature had enacted that the tax of dividends should be as follows: "Eight per cent. of all dividends which do not exceed six per cent. per annum; on dividends exceeding six per cent. and not exceeding scven per cent. per annum, a tax of nine per cent. on such dividends; and on dividends exceeding seven per cent. per annum and not exceeding eight per cent., the said bank shall pay a tax .of ten per cent .; and on dividends exceeding eight per cent. per annum, such banks shall pay a tax of eleven per cent." (e). By act of April 16, 1845, the tax on bank charters was as follows:

Tax.

Capital, $300,000 or less.

$ 200

Capital, $200,000 to $400,000.

400

Capital, $400,000 to $600,000. 500

Capital, $600,000 to $1,000,000. 800

Capital, over $1,000,000. 1,000

"Be it enacted, etc., That all banks of this Commonwealth, whose charters have been extended or renewed, or whose charters shall hereafter be extended or renewed, are hereby made subject to the graduated tax upon dividends pro- vidcd for by the act relating to banks, passed April 1, 1835, except in cases where there is an express exemption in the act extending or renewing such charter" (f).

Six per cent. and less. tax 8 per cent.

Six per cent. to seven per cent. 9 per cent.

Seven per cent. to cight per cent. 66 Io per cent. Eight per cent. to nine per cent. 12 per cent. 66

Nine per cent. to ten per cent .. 13 per cent.

15 per cent. Ten per cent. to elcven per cent .. 66

Eleven per cent. to twelve per cent 16 per cent.

Twelve per cent. to fifteen per cent. 20 per cent.

Fifteen per cent. to twenty per cent .. 25 per cent.

Exceeding twenty per cent. 66

30 per cent.

"The amount of tax chargeable on the capital stock of all banks, institu- tions and combines incorporated by Pennsylvania, on which a profit of six per cent. per annum shall be made and declared, shall be at the rate of one-half mill on each one per cent. of such dividend or profit" (g).

Among the private banking houses and exchange offices here in early years were those of N. Holmes & Son, established about 1821, James and Gordon Gilmore about 1818, George A. Cook about 1828, Cook and Cassat, E. Sibbett & Co., Sibbett & Jones, Samuel Jones & Co., Allen Kramer about 1841, William A. Hill about 1844, William Forse about 1845, Hussey & Pcttit about 1845, and others.

(e) Act of April 1, 1835.

(f) Act of April II, 1848. (g) Law of 1844.

CHAPTER XV.

PROFESSION OF THE LAW-1TS AIMS AND OBJECTS-IMPORTANCE OF THE PROFESSION UNDER THE ROMAN AND THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENTS-METHODS OF FEE-GETTING -CLEARING THE GUILTY CONDEMNED-REQUIREMENTS OF THE ATTORNEY'S

OATH-HIGH STANDARD OF THE ALLEGHENY COUNTY BAR - CREATION AND JURISDICTION OF THE VARIOUS COURTS-PROFESSIONAL CHAR- ACTER OF MANY OF THE LEADING LAWYERS-OLD CUSTOMS AND PECULIARITIES - LATER IDLERS IN THE PROFESSION - CASE-

HUNTERS-PRIMARY PRINCIPLES OVERLOOKED-ORATORY

OF THE OLD LAWYERS-DEGENERACY AT THE BAR - CATALOGUE OF JUDGES AND ATTORNEYS.

The profession of the Law is the most honorable and useful of all pro- fessions or vocations in life. It secures to every man his civil and political rights in the government. It protects every man in the enjoyment of his personal and property rights, and secures him redress for any injury to his person, reputation or property. It is equally necessary to the public welfare. As its aim and object are to secure justice to all, rich or poor, weak or strong, it establishes the principles on which governments should be founded and administered, on which legislatures should proceed in the enactment of statutes, on which the courts should interpret the statutes, and, in the absence of statutes, give decisions to promote justice and prevent wrong.

The profession has been held in high honor by every civilized nation. Cicero said, "What is so kinglike, so generous, so munificent, as to bestow help on those who supplicate our aid? to raise the oppressed, and save our fellow citizens from peril, and preserve them to the State?" A Roman emperor declared that those advocates who perform faithfully their professional duties were as great benefactors to the State as those who fought on the battle- field to save their country. It was the rule in France until the Revolution of 1789, that all the officers of the Government be chosen from the legal pro- fession, the Noblesse de La Robe. And John Davys, a quaint old English writer, says: "The profession of the law is to be preferred before all other human professions and sciences, as being most noble for the matter and subject thereof, most necessary for the common and continued use thereof, and most meritorious for the good effects it doth produce in the Commonwealth. All men, at all times and in all places, do stand in need of justice, and of law, which is the rule of justice, and of the interpreters and ministers of the law, which give life and motion unto justice."

"From the very earliest times," says Mr. Forsyth, "in every country where advocacy has been known, it has been the custom to look upon the exertions of the advocate as given gratuitously, and the reward which the client bestows as purely honorary, in discharge, not of legal obligation, but a mere debt of grati- tude." This was called by the Romans honorarium. During the Republic, when eloquence flourished and was the passport to office, the orators gave their services with no bargain for fees, and the clients were left to indicate their grati- tude by the voluntary gift, or honorarium. This was also the custom in France and England. But in France, in 1274, the King by an ordinance limited the amount of the honorarium, which in no case should exceed thirty livres (about $6).

372

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HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

It has always been the law in England that the barrister has no legal right to a fee. He cannot maintain an action in court to recover a fee for his services.

It is often said that the members of the bar will do anything for money, will undertake any cause, and work as hard for a bad cause as a good one. Were this true it would be a great reproach to the profession; but it is not true -- it is false in theory and false in practice. There may be bad men in the pro- fession, as there are in all other vocations. There are bad men and hypocrites in the church. From the earliest times advocates were held to a high sense of honor, truth and justice. It was the opinion of Cicero that an advocate should not undertake a bad cause. Quintilian said: "The advocate will not undertake the defense of everyone, nor will he throw open the harbor of his eloquence as a port of refuge to pirates." An edict of the Emperor Justinian required advocates to take a solemn oath to exert themselves to the utmost for their clients in all they believed to be right and just, but if at the trial they discovered the cause to be unjust, they would immediately abandon it. A similar oath was required of advocates in France. Pasquier said: "Do not undertake any cause which you do not believe to be good-combat for truth and not for victory." D'Aguessean, in addressing the bar, said: "Never pride yourselves on the miserable honor of having thrown obscurity over truth; be more sensitive to the interests of justice than the desire of a vain reputation."

In England a similar oath was required of every advocate, "that he would not maintain or defend a cause that was unjust to his knowledge." Sir Edward Coke says: "Fraud and falsehood are against the common law; and, therefore, if the client would have the attorney plead a false plea, he ought not to do it." Sir John Davys (heretofore quoted, who lived in 1612 and was Chief Justice of Ireland) said: "If the attorney fortune to be engaged in a cause, which, seeming honest in the beginning, doth in the proceeding appear to be unjust, he must give up the cause, but take care not to betray its secrets to the adversary."

The ancient laws of Scotland required advocates, at the time of admission, and yearly thereafter, to take an oath "to execute their office diligently and truly; and that as soon as they understood their client's cause to be unjust or wrongful, they shall immediately leave the same and desist from all further pursuit or defense."

In opposition to these views of the high and honorable character of the profession, the remarks of Lord Erskine in defending Tom Paine in 1792, on a charge of libel, and of Lord Brougham in the defense of Queen Caroline, in 1820, are sometimes cited. But they are not really of an opposite character. In both cases the attorney believed his client innocent. There is not a word in the remarks of either that would justify an attorney in the bringing and prose- cuting of a cause he did not believe to be just, or of resorting to any falsehood or trick to gain the cause.

An attorney may very properly appear for a defendant, in a criminal or civil suit, although he may be satisfied his client is guilty, or in the wrong; but only so far as to see that his client is not condemned except upon proper testimony, and in due legal manner. He is never justified in using any false- hood or trick, or conniving at any falsehood, fraud or trick in the entire pro- ceedings. He is never justified in saying to the court or jury that he believes his client is innocent, or that he believes the testimony of certain witnesses, when there is any doubt on the subject. And he is never justified in bringing or prosecuting a suit which he does not believe to be honest and just.

The oath which every attorney takes on his admission to the bar in this State clearly shows the high character required for the profession: "You will behave yourself in the office of attorney within this court. according to the best

374

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

of your learning and ability, and with all good fidelity, as well to the court as to the client; that you will use no falschood, nor delay any person's cause for lucre or malicc." And our Supreme Court, in Rush vs. Cavenaugh, 2 Pa. 189, said, a lawyer violates that oath "when he consciously presses for an unjust judgment; much more so when he presses for the conviction of an innocent man."

It is very gratifying to know that for upward of a century the bar of Alle- gheny County has maintained this high standard of the profession. There have been, perhaps, fcwer exceptions to the rule, considering the number of attorneys, than in any other county of the State.

Under the Constitution of 1776, the judges of the county courts were not required to be learned in the law. All justices of the peace were judges of the Quarter Sessions, that is, they had a right to sit in that court. But certain ones were specially assigned as judges of the Common Pleas and Orphans' Court. All were appointed by the Governor and held office for life, or during good behavior.

By the Constitution of 1790, the president judge was required to be learned in the law, that is, a regular attorney. Two others, laymen, were associates. All were appointed by the Governor, and commissioned for life, or during good behavior. The same system was continued under the Constitution of 1838. The District Court of Allegheny County was created in 1833. It had jurisdiction only in civil causes. The jurisdiction of the Common Pleas was limited to con- troversies not exceeding one hundred dollars. As justices of the peace had juris- diction of cases up to one hundred dollars, most of the civil causes in the Common Pleas were appeals from judgments of magistrates. When an associate law judge was added to the Common Pleas, its jurisdiction was enlarged to three hundred dollars. The Constitution of 1873 abolished districts, which gave jurisdiction to the Common Pleas of all causes.

An amendment to the Constitution was adopted in 1851, requiring the judges to be elected; the law judges of the county courts for a term of ten ycars, and the lay associate judges a term of five years. In 1859 a law was passed abolishing the lay judges for this county (except those in office) and providing for the election of an associate learned in the law.

The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania was established by act of Congress in 1818, the judges to be appointed, of course, by the President of the United States, with an unlimited term of office. The judges of this court, and also of the county courts, when appointed by the Governor, were most frequently from other parts of the State, and not members of the Allegheny County bar. The judges thus appointed were: Jonathan Hoge Walker, Thomas Irwin, and Winthrow W. Ketcham, of the United States Dis- trict Court; Samuel Roberts, Benjamin Patton, Jr., and John W. Maynard, of the Common Pleas, and Robert C. Grier and Hopewell Hepburn of the Dis- trict Court.

A brief notice of these may properly precede a notice of the bar, and the judges taken from it. After judges became elective, of course all were taken from the bar, although that was not a requirement of the law. There were always aspirants for the position, and too often politicians working for it, and seeking reelection-one of the cvils of an elective judiciary.

J. H. Walker was appointed judge of the United States District Court by President Monroe, in 1818. He was from Cumberland County, born in 1756. His father, Wm. Walker, was a captain under Marlborough in Queen Anne's wars. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1787. In 1806 was appointed president judge of the judicial district composed of the counties' of Center, Huntingdon, Mifflin and Bedford, and presided twelve years. In 1819 moved to Pittsburg. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and in several expedi-

REV. A. A. LAMBING.

377

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

tions against the Indians in Western Pennsylvania and west of the Ohio. He died in 1826, while on a visit to his son in Natchez. His son, Robert J. Walker, later a senator from Mississippi, read law with him, and was admitted to the bar in 1821. After his father's death, Robert J., in 1826, moved to Natchez.

Thomas Irwin was appointed by President Jackson in 1831, and held the office until 1859, when he resigned. He was born in Philadelphia in 1784. In 1808 he moved to Louisiana and commenced the practice of law. Returned to Pennsylvania in 1815, and located at Uniontown, where he was practicing law when commissioned judge. He was elected to the Legislature from Fayette County in 1824 and 1826, and was elected to Congress in 1828. He was the Jackson candidate for Congress in 1830, but defeated, when Jackson rewarded him with the judgeship.

Winthrop W. Ketchan was from Wilkesbarre, born in 1820. Was a teacher for a while in the Wyoming Seminary; in 1848-9 a teacher in Girard College, Philadelphia; admitted to the bar at Wilkesbarre, 1850; 1855 elected Prothonotary of Luzerne County; 1858 to the Legislature, and 1859 to the State Senate; 1864 appointed by President Lincoln solicitor of the United States Court of Claims; elected to Congress 1874, and appointed judge 1876. On December 6, 1879, he held court as usual, returned to his room at the St. Charles Hotel, at 5 p. m. was stricken with apoplexy, and died at 11:50 p. m.

Samuel Roberts was the second president judge of the Common Pleas, succeeding Judge Addison. Was born in Philadelphia, 1763, admitted to the bar 1793; moved to Lancaster and commenced practice there; moved to Sun- bury, where he was practicing when appointed judge, in 1803. He held the office till his death in 1820. While on the bench he published a digest of the British Statutes in force in this State, which has been a standard on the subject ever since.

Benjamin Patton, Jr., was born in Bellefonte in 1810; admitted to the bar in 1831; went to Nashville and opened an office there, but in less than a year returned to Pennsylvania, and opened an office in Mifflin County; was ap- pointed by President Jackson United States District Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and in 1839 appointed judge of the Common Pleas, held that position until 1850, when he resigned. He was an ardent admirer of President Jackson and Judge Grier, and prided himself on his intimacy with them. During his judgeship he tried, in the Quarter Sessions, several cases of considerable importance, and felicitated himself upon the great ability he dis- played. After his retirement from the bench he moved to Northumberland County. In 1858 he was appointed by Judge Grier clerk of the United States Circuit Court at Philadelphia, which office he retained until 1870, when he resigned and moved to Ohio. He was noted for his social qualities and hos- pitality. He delighted to detail incidents of his numerous hunting trips with Judge Grier.

J. W. Maynard was the first associate law judge appointed in the Common Pleas; appointed in 1859; was born in Vermont in 1806; admitted to the bar in Tioga County in 1831; 1840 moved to Williamsport. He held his office in this county only nine months, when he was succeeded by Judge Mellon, who was elected under the new law. He returned to Williamsport, and in 1862 was elected president judge of the Third Judicial District, composed of Northampton and Lehigh counties. He resigned in 1867, and died recently.

Robert C. Grier was the first judge of the District Court, appointed in 1833; held the office till 1846, when he was appointed by President Polk a justice of the United States Supreme Court. The act of 1833 creating the court, lim- ited it to a period of seven years, but in 1839 it was continued indefinitely, and an associate added. He was born in Cumberland County in 1794; graduated .

378

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

at Dickinson in 1812, taught a year in the college, for three years principal of an academy; admitted to the bar in 1817, practiced a while in Bloomsburg, then at Danville, where he was living when appointed judgc. He lived in Alle- ghcny City from 1833 to 1848, when he moved to Philadelphia. He resigned liis position on the Supreme Bench of the United States 1870, and died the same year. He was a fine classical scholar and able jurist. He hated hypocrisy and cant, and loved justice and the right. So intolerant of anything wrong, so decided, positive and emphatic in his opinions, he seemed at times arbitrary and dictatorial. But he was seldom wrong. Men of great intellectual abilities are generally headstrong and determined; weak men are the trimmers and polite palterers.

Hopewell Hepburn was associate judge of the District Court from 1844 to 1846, and then became president judge, when Judge Grier was promoted to the United States Supreme bench, He was born in Northumberland County in 1799; attended the academy where R. C. Grier then taught; graduated at Princeton College; admitted to the bar at Easton in 1823, and practiced there until appointed judge. He had been on the bench seven years when the clection of judges took place in 1851. He was acknowledged by all to be an able and upright judge. But party lines were drawn. He was the Democratic candidate, but beaten by W. Forward, the Whig candidate. After the election he resigned. He then practiced at the bar for a few years; was president of the Allegheny Bank three years; died in 1863.

The county of Allegheny was organized in 1788, cutting off portions of Westmoreland and Washington counties, and embracing the wilderness from the Allegheny and Ohio rivers to Lake Erie. The first court-Quarter Sessions- was held in Pittsburg, December 16, 1788, at which time ten persons were sworn in as members of the bar. Since that time perhaps three thousand more have been sworn in. Of these not more than two or three hundred have risen to high eminence in the profession, although many have attained a respectable standing at the bar. In this brief account of the bench and bar it is impossible to name all who have made their mark in the profession, or give anything like a biography of the more prominent ones. We can only name a few with brief notices, accompanied by some remarks not inappropriate to the subject. The ten first admissions were the following: Robert Galbraith, H. H. Bracken- ridge, John Woods, James Ross, George Thompson, Alexander Addison,' David Bradford, James Carson, David St. Clair and Michael Huffnagle. Not more than three or four of these lived in Pittsburg at the time. The others were attorneys from Westmoreland and Washington counties. Of Galbraith, Thompson, Car- son, St. Clair and Huffnagle we know but little. Woods was chiefly a surveyor and conveyancer. David Bradford lived in Washington. He became very prominent during the whisky insurrection, from 1791 to 1794, being the leader and demagogue of the movement, and when the United States soldiers were called out he fled the country to Louisiana, then French territory.

Alexander Addison was a Christian gentleman, a fine scholar and able lawyer. He was the first judge of the Court of Common Pleas under the con- stitution of 1790, and was on the bench from 1790 to 1803. He was a true patriot and brave in the discharge of his judicial duties during the perilous times of the whisky insurrection. This caused him many bitter enemies among the party and sympathizers in that movement, who, with reckless audacity and untiring malignity, sought for his destruction. A Frenchman by the name of Lucas was appointed associate judge in 1800. He was a layman with no knowl- edge of the law; and a bitter enemy of Addison, and with the impudence of a demagogue, as he was, he would charge petit juries and the grand jury, directly contrary to the charge of Judge Addison. Addison rebuked him for his conduct,

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Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 42

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co. Number of Pages: 1192

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192