The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I, Part 19

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, H. C. Cooper, jr., bro. & co.
Number of Pages: 1102

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At another time a young member of the bar was burned out by a fire and lost his li- brary. Thinking that assistanee would stand him in good stead a number of Greensburg people circulated a subseription paper to purchase him a new library. In the morning two young men called on General Foster and explained to hin the nature of their mission, when Mr. Foster very kindly subscribed and paid ten dollars. In the afternoon two other members of the committee, not knowing that the first members had ealled on the General, visited him. The General said they were do- ing exactly right and that the young man should be helped, whereupon he subseribed and paid fifteen dollars. Later, when it be- came known that General Foster had twee subseribed in this way, one of the subserip- tions was returned to himn.

When Judge Buffington was ready to re- tire from the beneh because his life's work was done, he said that Henry D. Foster was the strongest and consequently the most dan- gerous man when, on the wrong side of a case, who ever appeared before him. Justiee Gibson and Henry D. Foster and Judge Thompson were for many years regarded as three of the strongest men at the Pennsyl- vania bar, and Justice Gibson himself has beeu heard to say frequently that he re- garded Mr. Foster as the greatest land law- yer in Pennsylvania.

He was a Jaeksonian Democrat even as far back as 1828. He was three times elected to Congress and twiee defeated, being eleeted in 1842 and 1844 and for the last time in 1870. He was defeated in 1866 and again in 1868, when the returns showed a majority in his favor, but the seat was eontested by Covode, his opponent, which contest was deeided against Mr. Foster. In 1860 when he was paying no attention whatever to polities the Democratic state convention met in Lancas- ter. After balloting several times without nominating any one the name of Foster was sprung on the convention and he was nom- inated for governor. It was during this eon- test that he had his celebrated controversy with Steven A. Douglas, who pressed Fos- ter, against his own views, to take sides against Breckinridge, which Foster refused to do. He was defeated for the governor- ship, for Pennsylvania went Republican in that year and later east her vote for Abra- ham Lincoln. Andrew Curtin was elected governor.

Concerning Foster's unlooked-for nomi- nation for governor in 1860, Mr. Bales Me- Colley, of Ligonier, relates a remarkable incident; all the more remarkable is it when it is remembered that our politicians were very careful in those days of small majori- ties to select strong candidates for governor, and that the Democratie party had been in the ascendency for many years in Pennsyl- vania. Mr. McColley, who was then pro- thonotary of the county, was closeted with General Foster in the back room of the pro- thonotary's office in the old court house, engaged in a private conversation, neither of them thinking about the governorship. Some boys passed down Main street yelling "Hurrah for Foster." Little attention was paid to this until again and again the ery "Foster for Governor" was repeated. By this time Mr. MeColley's suspicions were aroused, and he asked the General what it meant. Foster replied unconcernedly that

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it was merely the foolishness of some thoughtless boys. But the cry became gen- eral, and when, much against Foster's desire, an investigation was made, they found hun- dreds of citizens in the street hunting for Foster, to congratulate him, for the news of his nomination for the governorship had just reached Greensburg. Everyone in his home town was delighted with the nomination, save Foster himself; he had no ambition to be governor.

While in Congress he made some very re- markable speeches. In 1846 he was warmly congratulated by a no less distinguished man than John Quiney Adams, "The Old Man Eloquent," who made the remark that Foster was the coming man. In the tariff debates of the day, if one will seareh the Congressional Globe, he will find that Mr. Foster left a very enviable reeord. In one bold and eonvine- ing argument made against Holmes, of South Carolina, where the duty on railroad iron was at stake, he has left us a masterpiece both of elose reasoning and logieal dedue- tion; and he demonstrated that he himself was thoroughly alive to the great importance of the iron industries of Pennsylvania. The tariff of 1842, which was a very highly pro- tective one, it will be remembered was then under diseussion.

Mr. Foster was frequently offered posi- tions on the supreme beneh of Pennsylvania, but always deehined them. His only am- bition, if indeed he had an ambition outside of professional life, was to become United States senator. He was supported for this offiee by his wing of the Democracy, but was defeated in the end by Simon Cameron. who was, however, always one of his great- est admirers.

Mr. Foster was a man universally loved and respeeted. His manners were gentle and attractive and this made him a host of friends wherever he went. In personal appearance he was of medium height. In his youth he had dark hair, but this turned gray and

white in his deelining years. His nose was aquiline, his eyes were a light blue, his fore- head high and commanding and thongh a comparatively small man, he had a "high and lofty mien."

If any one at the Westinoreland bar now competent to give an opinion on the ques- tion, were asked who was the greatest law- yer in the second half of the century just passed, he would doubtless hesitate whether he should name Henry D. Foster or Edgar Cowan. Both of them for many years stood not only at the head of the Westmoreland bar, but were ranked throughout the eom- monwealth as the very leading lawyers in the state. As may be supposed, they were nearly always pitted against each other in the important trials of their day. Foster was undoubtedly more resourceful than Cowan in the trial of a weak ease; but, on the other hand, the latter possessed some elements of strength which the former laeked. Take them all in all they were marvelously equally matehed, and sinee their death there have been no rivals to their fame in the Westmoreland bar. Foster cross-examined very little, paying apparent- ly no attention to the testimony unless he thought the witness mistaken or wilfully perverting or eoneealing the truth. Usually he sat with his head down during a trial. until the vital point, or mayhap. a weak place of his ease, which he saw with un- erring certainty from the beginning, was touched by his opponent. Then it was that his fiery nature was aronsed, and the spee- tator saw him eome like a warring eagle to the reseue of his endangered position.

Mr. Foster died on October 16, 1880, in the seventy-second year of his age. No man's death for many years in this part of the state ealled forth sneh. unstinted expressions of sorrow. He was not only a great lawyer, but was singularly fortunate in the possession of the esteem and love of the entire eommu- nity.

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General James Keenan was a son of James and Isabella (Johnston) Keenan and was born in Youngstown, Westmoreland county, in 1823. He was educated at Mount St. Mary's, Emnittsburg, Md., and read law with H. C. Marchand. Before his admission to the bar he went to the Mexican war, hav- ing enlisted with Richard C., afterwards Adjutant General Drum, in a company known as the Duquesne Grays of Pittsburgh. Before the war closed he was promoted to the office of second lieutenant. Upon his re- turn to Westmoreland county he was elected register and recorder for three years and was re-elected at the end of his first term. In 1852 he was appointed adjutant general of Pennsylvania by Governor Bigler, which po- sition he resigned to accept the appointinent of United States consul at Hong Kong from President Franklin Pierce. This position he continued to hold under Presidents Bu- chanan and Lincoln. It became a place of great importance in the Sepoy Mutiny and other troubles in the East. He was with the United States marines when the English took Canton and the adjoining country. Later he accompanied Admiral Perry on his memor- able expedition to open the Japanese ports to American commerce.

General Keenan was six feet high and well proportioned with dark hair, dark eyes and dark complexion. He was by nature a leader among men, and moreover earned a very en- viable reputation as an international lawyer by his correspondence with the State De- partment at Washington during the Sepoy and other kindred troubles in the East. He was the personal friend of General Lewis Cass, Senator Simon Cameron, Governor Big- ler, General Foster and other well known Democratic leaders of that day.

In 1862 he returned to America broken in health and died in New York on his way home, in the thirty-ninth year of his age. His only surviving son is Capt. John B. Keenan, one of the leading members of the present bar.

Senator Edgar Cowan was the most dis- tinguished lawyer Westmoreland county ever produced. He was the only member of the bar who ever succeeded in being elected to the United States Senate. It is peculiar, too, that he filled during his long and eventful life, but two offices; one was that of school director in Greensburg and the other was that of United States senator.

He was descended from a Scotch-Irish stock of intellectually and physically strong men. Hugh Cowan settled in Chester county in 1720. His son, William Cowan, grand- father of Edgar Cowan, was born in 1749, and was a captain in the Revolutionary war. He was a very large man in stature, vigorous in intellectual power and an acknowledged leader in his community. Both Edgar Cow- an's paternal and maternal ancestors were prominent in their day and both his grand- fathers were in the Revolutionary war.

Mr. Cowan was born in Sewickley town- ship September 19, 1815. He was brought up by his grandfather. At an early age he taught school, worked on the Youghiogheny river as a keel boatman and for a time worked at the carpenter trade. In 1838 he entered Franklin college at New Athens, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1839, being the valedictorian of his class. He returned to Westmoreland county and read law with Henry D. Foster. Shortly after his admis- sion in February, 1842 he became associated with John F. Beaver, whose office fixtures and practice were purchased by Mr. Cowan when the former moved to Ohio.

Nature had indeed been kind to him. She gave him a magnificent form, he being six feet four inches high, with most classically chiseled features, an intellect perhaps more acute than that of any other man who ever belonged to the Westmoreland bar, and a voice that could roll and thunder like the. peal of a great organ: and in addition to this she endowed him with a ready wit which alone was sufficient to render him noted

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among his fellows. With all these marvelous powers one need not be surprised that he very rapidly attained a foremost rank at the bar. His practice for years was the largest in Greensburg. If one will take the pains to examine the Continuance Dockets between 1850 and 1860, he will see that Mr. Cowan either tried or was connected with two-thirds of the cases, both great and small, in all these years. During this period he did not pur- chase property, but books, and read them.

It may be well to state here that he was scarcely more seholarly in the law than in science, history, philosophy, poetry and the elassies. He was a great reader all his life ; he had a most retentive memory and could at any moment recall and give utterance to any thought which he had mastered in for- mer years. In 1861 he was elected to the United States Senate by the legislature of Pennsylvania. It will hardly be understood at this day how a man without the influences which wealth can bring, without the power of politieal leadership and coming from a backwoods county, could be elected to this high position over the Pittsburgh and Phil- adelphia candidates. Before this he had been little known in politics except as a stump speaker. He was originally a Jackson- ian Democrat and in 1840 became a Whig and in 1856 was strong in his advocacy of the election of John C. Fremont. He had also been a presidential elector in 1860 on the Republican ticket.

When he entered the United States Sen- ate, secession, the great question which had been bubbling and bursting forth in Con- gress for thirty years, had now fully ex- ploded and was before the American people for settlement. It could not be otherwise than that a man of Mr. Cowan's attainments, strength of character and native ability would take a high rank even in so learned a body as the United States Senate. Very early after his entry upon the duties of his office le laid down certain rules which were

to govern him in all his actions in the Sen- ate. One of the rules was as follows :

That the war being made to suppress the rebellion and not to make a conquest of the Confederate states, therefore as soon as the Southern states submitted, they should re- sume their former functions in the Union.

With this principle in view he voted against the Confiscation Bill and opposed the policy of the Republican party as to recon- struction. And there is little doubt now that his policy of reconstruction much more nearly resembled the ideas of President Lin- coln than the one adopted by the ruling party. Lincoln's talk with Stevens and Tombs at the Hampton Roads conference and liis letter to Governor Vance, both prove this. Both Lincoln and Cowan undoubtedly wanted to "bury the hatchet" at once when the war was closed.

It had been usual for new senators to remain quiet for a session or two and learn something of the methods of conducting busi- ness before taking part in debate. Not so with Mr. Cowan. He dashed into debate on legal questions in the very first session. As a lawyer he took high rank at once with such men as Collamer, Browning, the elder Bayard, Trumbull and Fessenden. He meas- ured swords with the ablest lawyers of the Senate and there is no reliance to be put in human opinion, if he did not hold his own in every contest.

Governor Hendricks said of him in his sec- ond year in the Senate that "he was a daslı- ing debater ; came into any controversy when it was at its highest and was able to main- tain himself against much odds." A very good description of Mr. Cowan is given by the poet, Nathaniel P. Willis, in the Home Journal, from which we quote :

"The drive to Hall's IIill was exceedingly beautiful, like an excursion in early Octo- ber, but made mainly interesting to me, how- ever, by the company of the elegant senator who shared our carriage, Mr. Cowan, of

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Pennsylvania. IIe is the finest specimen of humanity I have ever seen for brillianey and learning. *

* * Of his powerfully pro- portioned frame and fine chiseled face, the senator seemed as naturally unconseious as of his singular readiness and universal erudi- tion. He comes from the western part of Pennsylvania and passed his early life as half huntsman, half sehoolmaster-and later beeame a lawyer. Ilis speech on this occa- sion for the flags, very flowing and fine, has been reported at length in the papers. It was most stirring to watch the faees of the. men as they looked on and listened to him. I realized what eloquenee might do in the in- spiring of pluek for the battle."

From the "Dobbs Family in America," a novel published in 1864 by Maxwell & Com- pany in London, written by Albert Rhodes, page 197, is found this deseription.

"That tall, fine looking gentleman, with keen gray eyes and aquiline nose is Edgar Cowan, of Pennsylvania. It is generally eon- eeded, even among his enemies, that he is the most talented man who ever came to Con- gress from that state. He came up from the common people. At an early age he was thrown upon his own resources, and by his indomitable will and talents mounted to his present position. He is the fullest man in this eliamber. Although his specialty is the law, it would be difficult to name a science that he is not more or less acquainted with. Nothing delights him more than to tackle with men of science who are able to throw the ball with him; then the riehes of his well- stored inind arc displayed in profusion. Let the subject be what it may, he always touches the bottom. In speaking, as soon as he is fully aroused, his words roll out in well rounded sentenees. His voice is full and deep, and when he chooses to employ it, has more volume than that of any other senator here. His. style in one point, that of classie illustrations, is not unlike Senator Sumner's of Boston. Cowan is praetieal and argu-

mentative in his speeches, a wrangler by profession, and is as brave as Julius Caesar. Both Cowan and Sumner are fond of tradi- tion and classic lore and here they meet on common ground."

George Augusta Sala wrote of him in the London Times, "as the ablest Shakespearian scholar in the United States Congress." Dan- iel Daugherty spoke of him in 1880 as "the most seholarly and learned man among liv- ing Pennsylvanians." All this indueed Sen- ator Trumbull to say that Cowan knew more useless things than any man lie ever met.

It may be supposed that the public utter- anees of a man of sueli varied intellectual accomplishments would be beyond the mind of the ordinary hearer. The faet was ex- actly opposite. Mr. Cowan was, above all things, essentially a trained lawyer, and as sueh he surpassed himself in everything else in his ability to state the principles of his ease and in doing so to adapt his language and reasoning to the mind of the hearer. This power of statement he had in such a marked degree that the hearer eould not mis- understand if he tried, and therein lay his greatest strength as a lawyer. As an illus- tration of his Anglo-Saxon language the fol- lowing ineident is remembered :

In the early eighties he delivered one aft- ernoon an address to a jury occupying about an hour and a half. In the evening one of the jurors, a level-headed, hard working, rugged minded man, of but little education, came to the writer and said to him: "Who was that big man who addressed us this aft- ernoon?" When told that it was Senator Cowan he said: "I suppose he is a very ignorant man." Not wishing to disabuse his mind too suddenly, he was told that Mr. Cowan was regarde l as rather bright, and asked him why he doubted his edueation. "Because," said lie, "he talked all after- noon to us and did not use any big words and I supposed that, being ignorant, he did not know any to use."

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Mr. Cowan regarded this as one of the highest compliments which could be paid to him.

Mr. Cowan's rural nativity colored his whole life. He loved nature, the singing birds, the trees and the wild flowers. By nature he was a philosopher. His examina- tion of law students generally developed into a delightful talk on the eauses and effects of the natural phenomena surrounding them. He invested his money in lands rather than in stocks, bonds, etc.

In his law practice his natural predilec- tion was to favor the weak rather than the strong, and he generally appeared for the individual as against the corporation. In the Senate he raised his strong arm against syndicates, rings, and combinations. He in- troduced and put through a measure to send quinine to suffering Confederate soldiers in Southern hospitals. He was drawn by every fiber of his nature toward the downtrodden and oppressed, whose cause he advocated and made his own.

One morning when quite infirm with age he was pressing before Judge Hunter the case of a poor widow, convicted of selling a few glasses of beer without a license. She had a large family and he asked the court to suspend sentence, to send her home to her children with the admonition that she sell no more liquor. The judge, with a quizzical smile, said: "Have you any cases, anything to cite to sustain your position, Senator?" "Oh, yes, your Honor, I have," said Mr. Cow- an. "I refer you to a Judge whose opinions are clearer than Gibson's ; whose law is more enduring than that of Lycurgus, and from whose judgment no one to this day has suc- cessfully appealed; a Judge who, when He had before Him a woman charged with a se- rious offense, and guilty, too, like this woman had the courage and the kindness to send her forth with the injunction 'Go thy way and sin no more.' "

On one oceasion a client was paying him

a fee for serviecs rendered and, by a good deal of haggling, beat him down from one hundred to fifty dollars. In writing the re- ceipt he wrote it without capital letters, us- ing small letters in beginning each part of the client's name. When remonstrated with by the client he said that a man who was small enough to beat a lawyer down to such a fee for such serviees should always have his name written in that way, and that this was the best he could write for so small a fee.

At another time a wealthy but extremely penurious client called to have him draw his will, devising many thousands to different relatives, ete., and asked him what he would charge. Mr. Cowan told him he would charge one hundred dollars. The elient thought this very excessive and said he could get a will written by a justice of the peace for one dollar. "Very well," said Mr. Cowan, "but remember if you get a will writ- ten by a justice of the peace, and I live longer than you do, I will make a good deal inore than a hundred dollars out of your es- tate." The record shows that a cheap de- fective will was written, that Mr. Cowan sus- tained it in a long eontest and received a fee of nearly a thousand dollars.

Not being in accord with the predomi- nant party in Pennsylvania, he was not re- turned to the Senate. In 1867, therefore, he returned to Greensburg and for many years, again divided with General Foster the hon- ors of leadership of the bar, appearing in nearly all the important trials and seemingly as forceful as in his former years. Early in the eighties, his eyesight failing, he retired gradually from the duties of his profession. This he did willingly, too, for he realized that his life as a lawyer had been a success. that he had grasped its greatest honors, and that there might yet remain for him a few years of ease which a life of unusual indus- try had warranted and made possible. In 1883 and 1884 his days were spent mostly in

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hearing his son read to him, in looking after lis estate and in a quasi social life, well be- coming an elderly gentleman of his disposi- tion and attainments. His natural strength was such that his days should have been pro- longed to four score years and more. But late in 1884 a most malignant cancer de- veloped in his mouth. It grew rapidly and was attended with excruciating pain. Grad- ually he wasted away and on August 31, 1885, his last battle was fought, his race was run, his eyes were closed and his cloquent tongue was stilled in death.

Irwin W. Tarr was born in East Hunting- don township and read law with H. P. Laird. He was admitted to the bar in August, 1871, and practiced very successfully for a few years, his distinguishing characteristic being his energy and industry. Unfortunately he succumbed to the ravages of consumption and died in 1874.

Jacob Beaumont was descended from a French Huguenot family which settled in Westmoreland county very early. He was born August 4, 1831, and was educated at Mount Pleasant academy and Waynesburg college. Hc read law with Edgar Cowan, and was admitted to the bar on November 16, 1861. Shortly after his admission he formed a partnership with James A. Hunter. He was a very successful lawyer, and a most polished and companionable gentleman. He did not live to be old, but died May 25, 1871.

Edward Johnston Keenan was a son of James Keenan and a younger brother of Gen- eral James Keenan. He was born in Youngs- town, Pa., April 3, 1834, and was educated at Greensburg. He read law with H. C. Marchand, Esq., and was admitted to the Westmoreland bar in 1863. Prior to this, when about sixteen years of age he accom- panied his older brother, Thomas J. Keenan, late of Pittsburgh, to Europe and spent nearly a year in England. Of this foreign experiences and observations he furnished many interesting and amusing sketches, for

his mind was peculiarly acute in noticing and depicting the incongruous and humorous side of life.

At the age of eighteen he was editor of the Greensburg Democrat and afterwards served a term as register and recorder of his county, having previously conducted the office while his brother James was the incumbent. When the Civil war came he entered as first licu- tenant of infantry in the Eleventh Pennsyl- vania Reserves, from which he was trans- ferred to the Signal Corps and afterward promoted to higher positions.

When he returned from the war he began the practice of the law and very soon stood foremost among the younger members of the profession in Greensburg. His strong points as a lawyer were his wide information and culture, his ingenuity in escaping impending disaster and his unrivaled humor. These qualities enabled him to build up a large practice. "Admit nothing and demand proof" was his oft quoted maxim in the tria! of a case.

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The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I, Part 19

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago, H. C. Cooper, jr., bro. & co. Number of Pages: 1102

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, H. C. Cooper, jr., bro. & co.
Number of Pages: 1102