USA > Pennsylvania > The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I > Part 89
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vancement to the Supreme Court of the com- monwealth as one of the justices thereof.
In the meantime, however, the term for which he had been elected to the office of president judge of the Twenty-eighth Ju- dicial District was drawing to a close. In the Democratic party, of which he was a mem- ber, there was but little thought of any other gentleman in connection with the succession. and he was renominated by that party with the cordial approval of every member of the local bar of the same political faith, and of many of the Republican lawyers. The bit- terness of party spirit, engendered by causes growing out of the Civil war, had not fully abated, and there were party leaders then, as there still are, who could not entertain a thought of anything short of a full party ticket. Accordingly, a candidate in opposi- tion to Judge Trunkey was placed in nom- ination by the Republican party, then largely in the ascendant. The saloon element nat- urally and instinctively arrayed itself against the man from whom it could hope only for justice ; but such was the confidence . of the better class of voters of all parties in Judge Trunkey that he was elected for another term of ten years.
He had but entered upon his second term when a vacancy in the Supreme Court was caused by the death of the elder Justice Will- iams, of that court. In many parts of the state Judge Trunkey was at once named for the vacancy. In his own district there was not entire unanimity. The less considerate of his neighbors looked forward to his eleva- tion to the Supreme bench with the greatest satisfaction, but there were many who did not share that feeling. The office of presi- dent judge of the inferior courts, while not ordinarily regarded as of equal dignity witlı that of justice of the Supreme Court, is of much greater responsibility, and, to the peo- ple of the district, of vastly more importance. When, as is the case in many of the judicial districts in Pennsylvania, he is the sole
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judge, lie is very largely the guardian of the rights of the people, and not only the con- servator of the public peaee, but, in a great measure, of the public morals; and, aside from the power which he exercises in virtue of his office, his influenee for good or evil, if he be a man of positive eharacter, is greater than that of any other eitizen in his district. Moreover, this office is, in at least one respect, more desirable than that of jus- tiee of the Supreme Court; the ineumbent may enjoy the comforts and pleasures of home life, which the legislature of Pennsyl- vania denies to the members of its Appellate Court by requiring them to itinerate. And in Judge Trunkey's distriet, the labor had been greatly lessened since his first election ; first by the exeision of Mereer county; sec- ondly, by his indefatigable industry in clear- ing the doekets of the eases which had ae- eumulated before his time; and finally and then recently by a great falling off in the volume of new eases. On the other hand, the business of the Supreme Court was large and steadily increasing. For these reasons somc of his friends not only regretted that he was proposed for the vacancy in the latter court, but went to him and protested against his giving any countenance to the movement. There was a tinge of selfishness in some of the reasons which moved these friends, and, Judge Trunkey recognizing it, and the elaimns which the distriet had upon him, would, but for a pressure from the opposite direction, probably have yielded to the entreaty that he remain where he was. These friends, how- ever, finally withdrew their opposition; he consented to the presentation of his name to the Democratic state convention for nomina- tion to the office of justice of the Supreme Court, was nominated, and was elected for the term of twenty-one years.
When he took his place in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania as one of the justiees thereof, he carried with him the same con- scientious devotion to duty that character-
ized him as the president judge of the sev- eral eourts of the Twenty-eighth Judicial district. Until disabled by the malady-ag- gravated, if not eaused by overwork-which ended his life, he was habitually in his place when the court was in session, and always attentive to the arguments, whether interest- ing or insipid, and whether delivered by the humblest of the profession, or by the most gifted, or otherwise eminent. Indeed, he seemed to have understood, not improbably from his own experience at the bar, that an interested manner on the part of the judge is helpful to young lawyers in their forensie efforts, and even to the experienced, when suffering under embarrassments which will at times come to them as unaccountably as panies to soldiers in battle ; and he has been seen to lean forward and look and listen with an apparently intense interest in what was being said when the lawyer addressing the eourt seemed to be on the point of breaking down. Whether such demeanor was a delib- erate effort to encourage, or the spontaneous manifestation of sympathy, the result would ordinarily be the same; the speaker's em- barrassment would be alleviated, and his gratitude would be quenched only with his life.
Mr. Justice Trunkey took as little respite from the labors of the Appellate Court as he had taken from those of the inferior courts in which he had theretofore presided. He was rarely seen in public, except in the court room, and when friends ealled upon him at his lodgings in the eities in which the ses- sions of the court were held, or at his resi- denee during vacations, they almost invar- iably found him at work. His reported opin- ions, though not usually elaborate, furnish abundant evidence of his industry, in that they exhibit an exaet knowledge of the facts of the causes determined, and the legal ques- tions involved. It was not, however, in his judgment, any part of the functions of the judiciary to enrich the literature of the law
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by new forms of expression, in which grace and elegance are conspicuous features. Upon an occasion when an elaborate discussion of legal principles in judicial opinions was praised, he propounded the inquiry: "Is it not the business of judges to decide men's controversies, rather than white essays upon the law ?"
The principle interrogatively stated was recognized by him in his judicial carcer. Hc usually stated the question to be decided, to- gether with the facts out of which they arose, sententiously, and applied the law as he found it written, with no or little discussion of the reason of the law so applied. He never turned aside for rhetorical embellishment of his opinions; never paraded learning of doubtful or remote application to the case in hand, and never indulged in metaphysical disquisitions which could serve no other pur- pose than to show that he knew something about some other subject than that imme- diately before him. In a few, a very few, cases he betrayed in his language his sym- pathetic nature, which in the discharge of his official duty, was usually closely veiled or severely repressed, and gave utterance to his detestation of wrong, though it cannot be said that in these cases he either relaxed or strained the rules of law which it was his duty to apply. Darlington's appeal reported in Eighty-sixth Pennsylvania State Reports, page 512, et. seq., is one of these cases.
After the elections of 1881 it became ap- parent to intelligent observers of the trend of political events that the Democratic party was destined to come into power once more in Pennsylvania and in the country at large. At this time not only had Judge Trunkey's reputation as a lawyer been firmly estab- lished, but he enjoyed the confidence of the people of his state, of all classes and of every shade of political opinion, in an exceptional degree; and it was believed by many that if he could be induced to accept a nomination by the Democratic party as its candidate for
governor in 1882, his election would be as- surcd, and that, being elected governor in so important a state, theretofore strongly Re- publican, his nomination for the presidency two years later would follow almost as a mat- ter of course. In this belief a private meet- ing of a number of leading Democrats was held in the city of Pittsburgh, with a view to bringing his name before the public as such candidate; and a gentleman who stood near to him was delegated to ask his consent to the movement. The project was presented to him; the belief, and the grounds of the belief, that if he would but consent he would be nominated for governor by acclamation, and be elected, and that the rest would follow, were fully stated. He listened attentively un- til the last word had been spoken, and then, after a few minutes of reflection, gave his answer. He waived discussion of the proba- bilities of success, declared his belief that he did not possess the necessary qualifica- tions for an executive office, and that, if he had any aptitude for public service, it was for that in which he was engaged, and ter- minated the interview by saying: "I am very sure that I have no presidential bee in my bonnet, and hope that no friend of mine will try to put one there, or say anything further upon the subject."
The friends who had hoped to gain his con- sent to their scheme knew him too well to pursue the subject further, but not so the people at large. As the county conventions began to be held in the spring and early summer of 1882, one after another declared for him as the Democratic candidate for gov- ernor, until the 20th of June, when the con- vention of his own county met. Prior to this , time he had authorized a public statement, that under no circumstances would he accept a nomination, but as it did not appear over his signature it was distrusted. The endorse- ments of the county conventions were thick- ening, and he could not doubt that the conventions of his own county would fall in
Mimaxwelle
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line. He shrank from what seemed to him the indelicacy of declining a nomination that had not been authoritatively tendered to him, and at the same time thought that it would be most ungracious to allow the party that had signally honored him in the past to nominate him, and then decline its nomina- tion. In his dilemma he applied to the same friend who had proposed his candidacy the fall before to relieve him, and when asked how he would have the relief brought about, proposed that a resolution should be intro- duced, instructing the delegates to the state convention to support some other gentleman, which he thought would end all talk about himself. He was told that such a resolution would raise a storm of indignation that few would care to face. It was finally arranged, though he reluctantly agreed to it, that a resolution should be introduced appointing a committee to wait upon him and request his permission to present his name to the state convention, in order that he might have an opportunity to say, without apparent indel- ieacy, what he wanted the public to under- stand. The resolution was introduced and passed; the committee was appointed, and performed its duty and reported to the con- vention this letter, addressed to themselves:
Franklin, Pa., June 20, 1882.
Gentlemen: "Most grateful for the ex- pression of the continued confidence of neighbors, I am constrained to decline your request, for reasons which would profit noth- ing to state. Owing to the mention of mny name for the gubernatorial nomination, it was authoritatively published a few months that I was not, and would not be, a eandi- date; but since some friends have given mne oeeasion to consider and answer to them a question which I had believed would not arise-namely, whether I would accept the nomination, should it be tendered-recent events have caused me to fear that some of my friends are under the impression that I
would, and, as it is due to everybody that there should be no misunderstanding, this seems the proper occasion to say that, in no event, could I accept the nomination. I am deeply sensible of the honor the convention has done me by the resolution favoring my nomination for the first office in dignity and importanee in the commonwealth, and shall cherish its memory. But it is less painful to decline the request of those friends who have desired my nomination, because of my belief that the state convention will act so wisely that its work will be ratified at the election, and all will be satisfied.
"With warmest acknowledgment to the members of the convention, and to your- selves personally, I am, very respectfully, "JOHN TRUNKEY."
A man so devoted to the work in which he had been engaged continuously during sixteen years, that the highest offiee in the gift of the American people had no tempta- tion for him, was not likely to spare himself, if by so doing he should negleet that work. The duties of Judge Trunkey's office were sufficiently exacting and onerous when he as- sumed them, and they were continually be- coming more so, as the population of the state increased, but with the elose of each year nothing was left undone. There was, however, a limit to his power of endurance, and that limit was reached before midsum- mer of 1887. For months before that time he had been in eonstant pain while perform- ing his full share of the work of the court. At the beginning of the summer vacation he yielded to the entreaties of his friends and to the advice of his physician, and went abroad, for the double purpose of obtaining rest and seeuring the serviees of an eminent specialist in the treatment of the malady from which he was suffering. But it was too late. He had drawn too largely upon his vital energies, and his system failed to rebound. He died in the city of London, on the 24th
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day of June, 1888, and his remains were brought home by his wife, who was at his bedside at the time of his death.
His death eaused profound sorrow where- ever he was known. A great throng of peo- ple came far and near to attend his funeral, and filled the Presbyterian ehureh of Frank- lin, where he had served many years as a ruling elder, and packed the approaches to it. A marked feature of the tributes whiel were paid to his memory was the evidence they gave of affection for the man. The bar of Venango county placed upon the ree- ords of the courts of that county a memorial, from which much that is herein contained has been drawn. Its eoneluding words were :
"As a citizen, as a neighbor, as a friend, lic shone pre-eminently, in spite of that diffi- dence which rendered it impossible for him to give articulate revelation of his esoterie character. His life was pure; his conversa- tion was pure ; his heart must have been pure. He allowed his publie station to cxeuse him from no private duty. He was found in the house of mourning and at the bedside of the suffering, in the houses of the lowly as well as in the parlors of his friends, and in in- numerable inartieulate ways approved him- self a Christian gentleman. In common with all our fellow eitizens, we mourn his un- timely end, and affectionately and reverently lay upon his tomb this, our tribute to his memory."
At the first meeting of the Supreme Court after his death, Mr. George Shiras, now one of the justiees of the Supreme Court of the United States in moving an adjournment in respeet for his memory, suggested "An im- mediate meeting of the bar, at which shall be appointed a committee to prepare and pre- sent, at a subsequent meeting, suitable reso- lutions commemorate of the excellent quali- ties of our departed friend." The chief justiee, granting the motion, said :
"I was fortunate enough to have been in- timately acquainted with this gentleman for
many years, henee I eame to know him better and more thoroughly perhaps than any other member of this bench, and, for myself, I anı constrained to say that, on a careful review of his whole character-moral, eivil, social and judicial-he was a man more nearly per- feet than any other man I ever knew. I first beeanie acquainted with him some twenty- two years ago, when presiding over the courts of Mereer county, and I then regarded him not only as a kind gentleman, but as an accomplished and thoroughly eonseientious lawyer. . His eases were carefully prepared, and presented with remarkable elearness and precision. He saw his strong points, urged them strongly and waived, or refused to no- tiee, immaterial issues. He was an eminently fair man. His statements to the beneh were concise and impartial, and he never attempt- ed to deceive, or even to embarrass, opposing counsel. Of his character as a judge, both at nisi prius and on this beneh, I need not speak, for he has been for years regarded by the bar and people of the commonwealth as one of the ablest and nobles of our jurists.
"But this partial measure of this great man would do his memory but seant justice ; for we have had very great lawyers and judges who were by no means good eitizens, and who fell far short of being truly great men. The glamor of genius is apt to obseure even gross and serious personal defects ; nev- ertheless, he is a bad judge of human nature who will substitute genius for goodness, or attempt to make one distinguished feature of a man's life represent his entire character. It was in the completion of his manhood that our Brother Trunkey exeelled. There were no flaws in his eharaeter. He was like a well built mansion, ehaste, severe, and well-pro- portioned, complete in all its appointments, and beautiful without meretricious orna- ment. We have had many lawyers who, in legal learning, were his equals, but few who had the same innate and severe sense of jus- tiee : many upright men, but rarely one who
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accompanied his sense of justice with the same charity. In essentials he was stern and unwavering, immovable as the everlasting hills, but in matters of opinion merely, he was always ready to yield, and never was disposed to quarrel about indifferent mat- ters.
"Social men and kind companions are by no means infrequent, but as a steadfast and enduring friend, Judge Trunkey had few, if any, equals. His friendship was no mere pro- fession, but an abiding, unending affeetion which induced willing self-saerifiee to an ex- tent incomprehensible to ordinary minds. As a son, husband, father and brother he was kind and faithful to the last degree, and as a citizen loyal to the eore. To him duty never seemed to be a task, and when aseer- tained, he performed it with cheerfulness and alaerity, and his courage and patienee in sickness and suffering were something little less than marvelous. I am sure no ordinary man, under the physical suffering endured by him, eould so long and so well have dis- charged the irksome and laborious duties of this bench, and have so faithfully fulfilled every necessary requirement of domestic and social life. In this ease, the domination of the mind over the infirmities of the body ean- not but challenge our admiration. But, more than this, John Trunkey lived on a higher plane, and in a purer atmosphere than that which is comprehensible to the merely earth- born. Hle was not only a prinee among men, but a genuine son of the Most High; and, concerning the divine love and the verity of the plan of salvation in Jesus Christ, he had more doubt than of his own identity. In- fidelity to God was to him an impossibility ; the complete and thorough balance of his mental constitution precluded a doubt as to either the being or the goodness of the Father of the universe, or of the truth of that reve- lation which He has made of Himself in the Holy Seriptures.
"As a conclusion then of this short and
imperfect history of our beloved brother's life, we may be permitted to say that, whilst we lament the great and irreparable loss which we have sustained by his death, and whilst we are filled with sorrow when we re- fleet that he will meet with us no more on earth, nevertheless we may derive some eon- solation from the assurance that to him the change is all for the better; that he fell asleep in the full convietion of a divine resurrection, and of all that immortality which God has provided for all who are loyal to Him."
The committee appointed adopted as their report the memorial which had been spread upon the records of the courts of Venango county, and, upon its consideration, many gentlemen bore testimony to the character of the deceased judge similar to that of the chief justice. .
One who had known him intimately during nearly the whole of his professional life con- cluded his tribute to his memory in these words :
"Judge Trunkey undoubtedly had a stronger hold upon the confidenee and re- spect of the people of all elasses in the two counties in which he was best known than any other person living at the time of his death. This was not because he possessed the elements of popularity as ordinarily un- derstood, for he was destitute of them. It was because of the singular purity of his life, his wonderful self-abnegation and his entire conseeration of all that was in him and of him to the performance of his duties as a judge, citizen, neighbor, friend and in those tender relations of which we may not speak here."
As will be inferred from the tributes paid to his memory, he did not, in the busiest years of his life, exeuse himself from those social duties which are usually left to pri- vate citizens of the unpretentious elass. He visited the siek and afflicted, and in his quiet way looked after the poor in his own neigh-
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borhood. He accepted the office of ruling elder in the Presbyterian chureh, of which he was a member, and of trustee of the Theolog- ical seminary at Prineeton, as ealls to duty, and discharged the duties thereof with the same earnestness that marked the exereise of his public functions.
In reeognition of his merits, Lafayette col- lege conferred upon him the degree of doe- tor of laws some years before his death.
In 1853 he married Agnes, daughter of Hon. William S. Garvin, of Mereer, Pennsyl- vania, who at one time represented his dis- triet in Congress. Three children were born to them, of whom but one, William G., lived to maturity, and he, after having given prom- ise of a useful and honorable eareer, followed his father to the grave. Of his six brothers and sisters, but one, Mrs. Morford, of Kins- man, Ohio, survived him, and but a single grandson of his father remains to perpetuate the name.
Hon. William Maxwell, Greenville. The subject of this sketch, who was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, was for many years a prominent and influential citizen of Mereer county and one of the able and sue- cessful members of her bar.
When a boy he received an appointment as a eadet to West Point, but later decided to fit himself for the legal profession and turned his attention to the study of law. He began his practice in 1832 at Mereer and carried it on with marked suecess for more than a quarter of a century without interruption, and attained a prominent place among his professional brethren. At the opening of the war of the rebellion he enlisted in the Union cause, and went to the front in com- mand of the Fifty-seventh Regiment Penn- sylvania volunteers, and served with distine- tion until he brigaded his regiment in Jan- mary, 1863, when he resigned through disa- bility.“
After his return home, in 1865, he removed his residence from Mercer to Greenville,
where he resumed his practice, and with the exeeption of a short time in 1874, during which he served as president judge of his district under appointment to fill a vacancy, after the adoption of the new constitution, carried it on uninterruptedly to the end of his life, his deeease oeeurring at the age of eighty-two years after a long and honorable career.
John Bredin was the second judge of this Judicial district, and held his office by sueeessive appointments from the governors down to the time of his death in 1851.
James Campbell graduated at Jefferson college, read law and practieed in Clarion county, Pa., until his eleetion as judge of this district. He held for his full term of ten years, afterwards practiced his profession until the time of his death. He never held any other office.
Isaac G. Gordon, a resident of Jefferson county, was appointed president judge of this district to fill a vacancy of a few months, afterwards nominated and elected one of the supreme judges of the state. Held his office for the full term of fifteen years. Never held any other office.
Arcus McDermitt, born and reared in Mer- cer county, where he practieed until his elec- tion as judge in 1874. Died one year before the expiration of his term of ten years.
Hon. Samuel H. Miller, president judge of Mercer county, is one of the leading members of that bar.
A native of Mercer county, he spent his early life on a farm, attended the district sehools and later was graduated from West- minister eollege. For a number of years after leaving college, Mr. Miller edited and conducted the "Mercer Dispatch," a weekly newspaper, devoting his spare hours in the meantime to the study of law, and in 1871 passed his examination and was admitted to the bar. Mr. Miller was a diligent student, careful and painstaking, and rapidly rose to prominence at the local bar, and came to be
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