The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I, Part 83

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

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1886; Wm. L. Littlehales, September 6, 1886 . Norman V. S. Farquhar, January 10, 1887 : George W. Ryon, March 14, 1887; James A. Rinck, June 13, 1887; Jos. S. Whitehouse, July 5, 1887; Reese P. Daniels, July 11. 1887; Josiah Funck, July 11, 1887; A. F. Thompson, February 3, 1888; Edw. Mulher- ren, May 24, 1888; Charles A. Snyder, Jan- uary 7, 1889; R. S. Bashore, January 7, 1889; M. H. Wilhelm, January 7, 1889; S. Monroe Enterline, July 1, 1889; Daniel W. Kaercher, July 1, 1889; Benj. W. Cumming, Jr., July 7, 1890; M. C. Reinhold, July 7, 1890; Frank P. Krebs, March 17, 1890; Horace Bartholomew, September 7, 1891; Christian P. Kramer, September 7, 1891; C. O. Burkert, September 7, 1891; M. M. Burke, September 6, 1892; Edgar W. Bechtel, Sep- tember 6, 1892; Robert P. Swank. February 13, 1893; George Dyson, February 13, 1893; Carl Wagner, July 17, 1893; George W. Gise, July 17, 1893; E. Paul Leuschner, Septem- ber 4, 1893; James W. Carlin, September +. 1893; C. E. Berger, January 3, 1894; J. H. Filbert, January 3, 1894; John G. Smith. January 3, 1894; William D. Williams, Jan- uary 3, 1894; James J. Moran, January 3. 1894; Lin S. Bowman, February 26, 1894: H. O. Bechtel, July 2, 1894; Albert D. Knit- tle, January 7, 1895; James F. O'Hare, Jan- uary 7, 1895; A. B. Esher, January 7, 1895 ; Frank W. Wharton, January 21, 1895; G. A. Berner, July 1, 1895; Ed. W. Shoemaker, July 1, 1895; Wm. M. Fausset, July 1, 1895; Jos. J. Brown, January 6, 1896; W. C. Dev- itt, January 6, 1896; George Striegel, Jan- uary 6, 1896; J. W. Honsberger, January 6. 1896; Wmn. L. Kramer, January 6, 1896: II. E. Buffington, January 6, 1896; J. E. Bas- tress, June 29, 1896; Edward B. Esher, De- cember 14, 1896; Maurice Moyer, February 8, 1897; John Stauffer. February 8. 1897 : John McGurl, February 8, 1897 : J. A. Noeck- er, September 8, 1897: M. J. Fleming, Sep- tember 6, 1897; F. V. Filbert, September 6, 1897; George F. Krapp, September 6, 1897;

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Harry O. Haag, January 3, 1898; A. B. Gar- ner, July 2, 1898; Jas. P. Flanagan, July 2. 1898; C. F. Muehlhof, July 2, 1898; Robert A. Reiek, January 2, 1899; Irvin A. Reed, Jan- uary 2, 1899; Wm. K. Shissler, January 2, 1899; Robert C. Smith, January 2, 1899; Ben. D. Troutman, January 2, 1899; Wm. F. Lyons, January 2, 1899; James B. Robertson, January 2, 1899; J. Claud Brown, July 29, 1899; Michael A. Kilker, July 29, 1899; Wil- liam B. Durkin, July 29, 1899; Otto F. Far- quhar, July 29, 1899; Walter F. Treibley, July 29, 1899; James L. N. Channell, Janu- ary 8, 1900; Rufus A. Dentzer, January 8, 1900; George M. Paxson, January 8, 1900; Morris H. Spieker, January 8, 1900; George MeKinney, January 8, 1900; Austin C. Sher- man, January 8, 1900; R. Albert Freiler, June 30, 1900; Martin F. Duffy, June 30, 1900; David L. Thomas, June 30, 1900; E. J. Webb, June 30, 1900; John J. Kelly, June 30, 1900; J. O. Haas, June 30, 1900; J. Milton Boone, July 23, 1900; J. F. Rehm, July 23, 1900; E. Harper Hoffman, July 23, 1900; Jos. H. Jones, July 23, 1900; George Ellis, January 7, 1901; D. W. Alt- house, January 7, 1901; James Bell, Janu- ary 7, 1901; Edw. MeGinnis, January 7, 1901; Jacob Rothstein, January 7, 1901: Thos. F. Garrahan, July 22, 1901; Jos. B. Monoghan, July 22, 1901; Jos. II. Garrahan, July 28, 1902; Garrison C. Breisch, July 28. 1902; George .S. Merriek, July 28, 1902; Chas. P. Lineweaver, July 23, 1902; Frank Toole, Deecmber 22, 1902; R. C. Collins, December 22, 1902; A. Leffler, December 22, 1902; Robert J. Graeff, December 22, 1902.

List of attorneys, the dates of whose ad- mission is not recorded, most of whom were regular practitioners at our bar :

George Wolff, Charles Evans, Fred'k Hal- ler, David MeGowen, Marks I. Biddle, James B. Hubley, Curtis, John K. Clement, John Davis, J. W. Roseberry, Sr., David F. Gor- don, Fred'k Smith, Jonathan Good, William Ball, John Spayd, John W, Collins, James L.

Dunn, Simon Cohen, Charles Witmen, Charles D. Donnell, James H. Graeff, P. H. Lyman.

In addition to the shining lights of our own old bar, the older members of the pres- ent bar also remember with delight the great lawyers from abroad who came here to take part in the trial of the different celebrated ejeetment eases which came up in our eourts, involving the titles to coal lands worth mil- lions of dollars. Such great men as Ex- Chief Justices Blaek, Woodward and Strong ; Judges Mallory and Brewster, and Messrs. Meredith, Cuyler, Comley and others then held forth in our county, and the young men of those days listened to their powerful and eloquent arguments with awe and ad- miration. Let us add that great as these men were, our own Christopher Loeser, John Bannan, Franeis W. Hughes, E. O. Parry, Franklin B. Gowen, John W. Ryon, James Ryon and B. W. Cumming were not less versed in ejectment law, and especially do we remember how well in our days Messrs. Hughes and Gowen and John W. Ryon bat- tled with these giants.

The most of these attorneys were residents of this eounty, and praetieed regularly in our courts, while others were admitted only pro hae viee, or were here only temporarily, or remained here but a short time and left the county. It is impossible at this late day to give partieulars, or to be more specific in reference to this array, excepting perhaps as to such as practieed within the recoller- tion of the older members of the present bar. A few of our deceased brethren, who were recognized leaders of our bar, and within the recollection of some of the present bar, will be specially referred to later on in this arti- cle, it being impracticable in a work of this kind, and of questionable wisdom. to speak of the living, or even to dwell on more than a necessarily limited number of the deceased.

As to the judges who sat in our eourts, or who now sit therein, a brief mention of them

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is of course a part of this work, as they con- stitute the court of which we write. After Judge Porter, were the following law judges :

David Scott, Amos Elhnaker, Samuel D. Franks, Calvin Blythe, N. B. Eldred, James M. Porter, A. V. Parsons and Luther Kidder, who succeeded each other by appointment by the governor during the years prior to the adoption of the Constitution of 1850, which made the judiciary an elective office.

None of these judges were appointed from the bar of Schuylkill county, but all of them were either residents of other counties in the judicial district of which Schuylkill formed a part, or were sent into the district by the governor from other parts of the com- monwealth, and none of them resided here permanently so far as we know. Little is known of them at this time among the mem- bers of our present bar, exeepting the mere fact that they presided over the courts of our county, and apparently the only interest they had in this county, or that the people of the county had in them, was by reason of their occasional visits and short stays in the county in their official capacity.

The Constitution of 1850 having made the judiciary an elective office, the first election thereunder was held in 1851.

Hon. Charles W. Hegins, a prominent at- torney living in Sunbury, in Northumberland county, was elected as the Democratic can- didate to the position of president judge. This position he filled with marked ability and with credit to himself and to the county for the full term of ten years, and on the expiration thereof in 1861, he was re-elected for another term of ten years, but died in the following year (1862), aged 48 years.

Hon. Edward Owen Parry, of Pottsville, a leading Republiean lawyer, born April 3rd, 1807, in Portsmouth, N. H., but for over thirty years a resident of Pottsville and a member of our bar, and a cultured gentle-

man highly respected, genial and affable, a diligent student, and well remembered by the older members of our bar, having died "in the harness" about twenty years ago, was appointed by Governor Curtin to suc- ceed Judge Hegins. Judge Parry held this position, however, only a short time, because in the fall of 1862, the Democratic party, be- ing then largely in the majority in this county, elected the Hon. James Ryon, born November 13, 1831, in Tioga county, Pa., and then a resident of the borough of Tamaqua, who had just finished very cred- itably a term in the Legislature of our com- monwealth (where he had secured the pas- sage of some laws in the interest of the miners and working people), to the office of president judge of our courts. Judge Ryon, at the time of his election, was only thirty- one years old, but with his experience at the bar and in the Legislature, he soon familiar- ized himself with the responsibilities and duties of this position, and proved an able, learned, industrious and painstaking judge, and served out his full term-discharging alone and single handed for years the vol- ume of business of our courts. He resumed the active practice, being one of the ablest lawyers at our bar, after retiring from the bench, and died also "in the harness" in 1900.

Hon. Cyrus L. Pershing, in 1872, a native of. Westmoreland county, Pa., born in 1825, who was then a resident of Johnstown. Cambria county, was invited to be- come the candidate of the Demoerats and others who deemed a change on the bench desirable, but, failing to secure his nomination in the Democratic convention, the various elements desiring a change con- bined with the other political parties, and thus, though a pronounced Democrat, they secured his nomination by the Republican convention, and also the nomination of the Labor Reform, or Workingmen's party,

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which was then a great power in this eounty, and being thus supported by an invincible combination, he was elected by a large ma- jority that fall.

This was the first great battle in Pennsyl- vania for an independent judiciary, and it is gratifying to know that the doctrine of the independent judiciary, the disearding of striet partisanship in the election of our judges, and later on in the retention of tried and faithful judges on the beneh, has since then been recognized and followed in this and other counties, and is fast becoming the unwritten law of our commonwealth.

Judge Pershing also had made an ex- eellent reeord as a member of the Log- islature, and a leader of his party for sev- eral sessions, and only a few years before (in 1869) had been the candidate of the Dem- oeratie party for judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, with the well known Asa Paeker as the candidate for governor, but the state being overwhelmingly Republiean, he was defeated in that eampaign.

After his election to our benel, Judge Pershing removed to Pottsville and assumed his judicial duties, and was soon ealled upon to preside at the trial of important eases, some being of the most momentous im- portanee, not only to Schuylkill county, but to the entire anthracite eoal regions, and in- deed to the whole commonwealth of Pennsyl- vania, to wit, the so-called "Mollie Maguire" cases. The nature of these troubles and of these eases, and the result thereof, and how largely Judge Pershing by his ability and well tempered firmness contributed to the restoration of law and order, and to the vin- dieation of justice in our region, are matters of history. When Judge Pershing's first term was up in 1882 he was re-elected for another term of ten years, which term lie also served through so aeeeptably that at the expiration of his second term in 1892 he was again re-elected for another term, and

for a number of years he served in his third term, until ill health compelled him to re- linquish his judicial labors, so that in 1899 he was obliged to resign his position on the bench.

In 1875 Judge Pershing was the Demo- eratic candidate for governor, and carried the rest of the state, but the overwhelming Republiean majority returned from Phila- delphia re-elected Gen. Hartranft.

Just as this article is about going to the press Judge Pershing passed away, dying at his home in Pottsville in the early morn of Monday, the 29th day of June, 1903. The beneh and bar of Schuylkill eounty on the afternoon of that day held impressive and largely attended memorial services, at which eloquent and well merited eulogies of the great jurist were delivered, and the fol- lowing resolution adopted :

RESOLUTIONS BY THE BENCH AND BAR.

The beneh and bar of Schuylkill county make entry upon the records of the several courts the following minute :

That the death of Honorable Cyrus L. Pershing, who was for nearly twenty-seven years the president judge of our several eourts, is most deeply deplored by our mem- bers, by this eommunity, and throughout our state, in which he was so well known.

That he was a wise, honest, just and capable judge.

That his eourage and fearlessness in the right were the salvation of law and order, and that his eourse as a judge is an example to the judiciary of our commonwealth.

We deplore his death and we do honor to his memory. We admire and are proud of the example he has set, not alone to our loeal bar, but to the profession in state and nation.

His loyalty to the principles of good eit- izenship, his purity of eharaeter, his beauți-

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ful Christian life, taught us to love, revere and honor him living-we are proud of his memory in death.

ARTHUR J. PILGRAM,

S. H. KAERCHER, GUY E. FARQUHAR,

JAS. B. REILLY,

D. C. HENNING,

C. N. BRUMM, A. W. SCHALCK.

F. W. BECHTEL,

W. F. SHEPHERD, Committee of the bar.

It is worthy of special note that during his lifelong public and judicial career Judge Pershing devoted himself so faithfully and so exclusively to his profession, and to the discharge of his duties, to his home and to his church. that he never engaged in any outside enterprises or speculations to enrich himself, or even to increase his ineome, but contented himself with the salary of his of- fice, out of which by strict economy he saved just enough to see him through after his in- firmities compelled him to resign his seat on the bench, so that he died in comparatively very moderate circumstances, which speaks volumes for his official and personal integ- rity, and for his wholesouled and unselfish devotion to his profession, and to the duties of the trusts which he had assumed.

Owing to the disturbed and troublesome condition of things in this county, it was deemed proper by the Legislature to estab- lish a most peculiar conrt to exercise crim- inal jurisdiction over the people of Schuyl- kill county. On April 18, 1867, an act was passed. P. L. 91, entitled "An Act to estab- lish criminal courts in Dauphin, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties." It established a judicial district under the name and style of "The First District of Criminal Jurisdiction in and for the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon and Schuylkill," and nominally conferred upon this new court criminal jurisdiction

over these three counties; and provided for the appointment and subsequent election by the eleetors of the three counties of one judge learned in the law to be the president judge of the district created by this act, with authority to hold courts of quarter sessions of the peace and oyer and terminer. etc., in the three counties named. It, however. specially provided for the transfer of the criminal business of Schuylkill county from the old established constitutional courts of oyer and terminer and quarter sessions of that county into the new criminal court. While it allowed the district attorneys of Dauphin county and of Lebanon county to use their own pleasure as to the trial of their criminal cases in this new court, it stripped the old courts of Schuylkill county entirely of their criminal jurisdiction, and compelled the distriet attorney of Schuylkill county to try his eases in this new court.

Hon. David C. Henning. When Judge Pershing resigned, on June 21, 1899, Gov- ernor Stone appointed Mr. Henning, also a native of Union county, Pa., born November 22, 1847, but for many years an active prac- fitioner residing in Pottsville, to fill the va- cancy. Captain Henning, so well known by his military title as an active officer in our Pennsylvania National Guard, had for years taken a lively interest in military matters. and also had a large and varied experience as a successful practitioner in the several courts of this county, and a speaker and was noted for his scholarly accomplishments. both in legal as well as in general literature. and his fondness for local history. He. how- ever, also served on the bench only the bal- ance of that year, for. in the fall of 1899. the election resulted in favor of George J. Wad- linger, Esq., the Democratic candidate.

Col. David B. Green .- Governor Geary having appointed Col. Green as judge of this court, he was of course at the next election .elected for the full term of ten years, the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon being

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strongly Republican, outvoting the county of Schuylkill.

This act was bitterly contested and re- sisted to the utmost, resulting in protracted litigation, reports of which can be found in

Com. vs. Green (the judge) 58 P. 226 (Quo Warranto).

Com. vs. Hipple (district attorney) 69 P. 9 (mandamus).

The act of April 21, 1870, P. L. 1254, was passed to remedy defects found in the act of 1867, more completely stripping the old courts of their criminal jurisdiction, and even also of their authority to grant licenses, and vesting the same in the new court, and denouncing the refusal of any official to rez- ognize the new court as a misdemeanor.

Judge Green had made a good record for himself in the war of the rebellion, having been adjutant of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment P. V. I., and after- wards lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-sev- enth Regiment P. V. M., participating as such in a number of battles and other bloody engagements, and was conspicuous for his coolness and bravery, and for his efficiency as an officer. He was a man of sterling in- tegrity, and also a thorough lawyer, and soon mastered the duties of judge of this court, and served faithfully and efficiently as such for a number of years.

Upon the adoption of the new constitution in 1874, in accordance with sections 11 and 15 of the schedule which wiped out this unique court, Judge Green was commissioned as a "judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill county" for his unexpired term.

The act of May 14, 1874, P. L. 139, was also passed to carry out the provisions of sections 11 and 15 of the schedule of the constitution, and in express language re- pealed the act of 1867, and provided the de- tails for transferring the business of the now defunct court back to the regular tribunals.

Thereafter Judge Green continued to serve as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, taking part in the Mollie Maguire and other important cases, until the expiration of his term of office. Though defeated for re-election in that year by Ex-Senator Oliver I'. Bechtel, leader of the then junior bar, and an able speaker, Judge Green was after- wards, in 1881, upon the expiration of the term of Judge Walker, as "additional law judge," renominated and re-elected to a judgeship of our court, and thereupon served as an "additional law judge" for a further period of ten years.

In 1891 he was renominated, being sup- ported by Democrats who championed an in- dependent judiciary, he was re-elected, though his party (the Republican) was in the minority in this county. Soon after that his health suddenly began to fail and he de- clined rapidly, dying on the sixth day of February, 1893, in his seventieth year, to the sincere sorrow and regret of the bench and bar, and of his comrades in arms and of the community in general, having by his painstaking, fearless, faithful and able ad- ministration of the office, and by his sterling impartiality and integrity as a judge gained the respect of all.

The Legislature of 1871 passed (over the governor's veto) an act (P. L. p. 1561) pro- viding for an additional law judge for the courts of this county-said courts having up to that time but one judge learned in the law (Hon. James Ryon) -Judge Green's criminal court being, however, then also in existence. By this act, the judge newly provided for is designated as an "additional law judge of the several courts of said district," and is given the same powers as are held by the president judge.

Upon the passage of said act, Governor Geary appointed Henry Souther, formerly surveyor general, then residing at Erie, as the "additional law judge," but in the fall of that year Mr, Souther, who had done as

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well as he could under such adverse circum- stances, and had become a candidate for the - election to said office, was defeated by the Hon. Thomas H. Walker, of Pottsville- after one of the most bitter judicial cam- paigns (next to that of 1872) ever waged in Schuylkill county.

The Legislature, by an act approved August 7, 1883 (see P. L. 1885 p. 323), being a general act designating the several judicial districts, undertook to wipe out the "addi- tional law judge" of this court, by providing that the court shall have three judges learned in the law only until the expiration of the term of office of "the additional law judge" oldest in commission therein, and thereafter only two. By reason of the ambiguity of this language, and also the uncertainty of its effect, and for other causes, this repealing act was itself repealed by the act approved July 8, 1885 (P. L. 271), which provides for the election of a third judge in this county to serve as successor to "the judge of the Court of Common Pleas," then soon to go out of commission, and repealed the act of August 7, 1883. It will be noted that while the act of 1883 seems apparently intended to wipe out the "additional law judge," a position then filled by Judge Green, as the successor of Judge Walker, under his election in 1881, as "additional law judge," it would most seriously have affected another member of the court, Judge Bechtel, who was the suc- cessor of Judge Green when elected in 1877, and as such was designated as a "judge of the common pleas," and whose commission would have been the first to expire after 1883, to wit, in 1887, while Judge Green's commission would not expire till 1891. Therefore this last act of 1885 not only con- tinued the office of "additional law judge." but provided for the election of a successor to the "judge of the Court of Common Pleas." So that ever since then we have had three law judges in this court -though each

of them, technically speaking, bears a dif- ferent title; but the powers of all are practi- cally alike, and there is no difference in their functions, except certain powers. exercised by, and certain duties imposed on, the presi- dent judge eo nomine under special laws.

To resume the sketch of the several judges: We first take up Judge Walker. who, in 1871, had been elected "additional law judge," and served his full term of ten years, leaving a record as a conscientious, painstaking, patient and merciful judge.

He was succeeded in 1881 by Judge Green, formerly of the Criminal Court, who had failed of re-election in 1877, but was re- turned to the bench in 1881. Judge Walker was a man of considerable means, and there- fore did not resume the active practice of his profession after leaving the bench, but lived a quiet, retired life, and died in 1900. aged seventy-eight years.

We have already written of Judge Green's career and of his death in 1893. Mr. Mason Weidman, who was appointed by Governor Pattison to succeed him, was born at Leban- on, Pa., in 1843, but was then practicing and living in Pottsville. Mr. Weidman, though a lawyer of ability, was rather a counsellor and a real estate, or what is generally called an "office" lawyer, rather than one who had been actively engaged in the animated ac- crimonious and trying contests and battles of trials in open court, but he labored hard and faithfully to familiarize himself with the exacting duties of a trial judge, and con- scientiously ' to discharge his duties. It proved, however, too severe a strain, and too laborious, worrying and exacting a life for him, so that, after being elected for the full term and serving a few years, his health failed him, and, after suffering for several years, he finally passed away on September 3. 1897.

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Hon. Richard H. Koch, ex-district attorney, was then appointed by Governor Hastings to succeed Judge Weidman. He was born April 2, 1852, in Sehuylkill county, residing at Pottsville, and he, having had a varied ex- perience in an active and sneeessful praetiee for some years, both in the criminal and civil courts, soon mastered the routine work of the bench, and served very creditably for over a year, but the election held in the fall of 1898 resulted in the election of William A. Marr, Esq., Democratie candidate, over Judge Koeh.

Hon. Wm. A. Marr was born July 8, 1838, in Union county, Pa., but for many years was and still is a resident of Ashland, and was long the eoneeded leader of the bar "north of the mountain," a man of recognized abil- ity and of varied experienees in the eriminal and civil courts in a successful practice of over thirty years, and also well versed in business and in politieal and public affairs- which experienee stood him well when he ascended the beneh, of which he has been sinec then, and still is, an honored and effi- cient member, and of state reputation.

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The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I, Part 83

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