Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 12

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036

USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Altoona > Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 12

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There were two hearings on hab. corp. in the case of alleged fugitive slaves; one before Judge McFarlane, in 1849, and one before Judge Moses, in March, 1862. In each case the detained persons were discharged. In 1855 a man named Parsons from Virginia, who at- tempted to seize a colored man in Gaysport, on the claim that he was a fugitive slave, was indicted for abduction. John Randolph Tucker and Charles J. Faulkner came here to defend him; a true bill was found, but a nolle pros. was entered by the district attorney, Mr. Hammond.

There are quite a large number of cases, both civil and criminal, a notice of which would be interesting to the lawyers, and many non-professional people, but I cannot under- take to refer to them in a short address.

Those mentioned will suggest the general nature of and amount of litigation carried on . in the several courts since its organization.

OFFICERS OF THE COURT.

The first district attorney was Col. Cress- well, appointed by Gov. Shunk. He was suc- ceeded by Mr. Hofins, appointed by Gov. Johnston, who filled the office until 1851, when the office was made elective. Mr. Kemp was elected by the whigs; but his health failing soon after, Geo. A. Coffey performed the duties of the office until 1854, when Essington Ham- mond was elected. At the expiration of his term Mr. Hewit filled the office two terms;

then John H. Keatley almost two terms. He resigned the last year of the second term, and I was appointed to the vacancy until next elec- tion; was then elected and served one term. Mr. Alexander was then elected and served one term; then James F. Milliken, the present district attorney, was elected.

The office of prothonotary of the common pleas, clerk of the orphans' court, quarter sessions and oyer and terminer, filled by the same officer, has not had many incumbents. First, Jeremiah Cunningham was appointed in June, 1846, to serve until next December. At the October election of that year Joseph Smith was elected and served a term of three years; then Geo. W. Johnson a term of three years; then Hugh McNeal one term; then Joseph Baldrige two terms or six years; then A. S. Morrow four terms or twelve years; then James F. Stewart, present officer, two terms.

The office of register of wills and recorder of deeds was first filled by appointment of John M. Gibbony, to hold until December, 1846, or until his successor be qualified. At the election in October of that year Eph. Gal- braith was the whig candidate and Samuel Smith the democratic. Galbraith died the day of the election, before the votes were nearly all polled. Smith claimed the office on the grounds that he had a majority of the votes cast for a living man, although a majority of the people voted for Galbraith. Judge Black declined to decide in his favor and Gibbony held the office until the next election, when L. H. Williams was elected. He held the office nine years; was succeeded by H. A. Caldwell. who held it for six years; and he by D. M. Jones, who held the office for nine years, when the present officer, A. Lingenfelter, was elected. His term expires this year.

The first sheriff was Jeremiah Betts, ap- pointed by Gov. Shunk. Then follow him, in order, Samuel Royer, Thomas Reese, William Reed, George Port, James Funk, Samuel Mc- Camant, Martin Bachtel, John McKeage, Henry B. Huff, Alexander Bobb and James M. Stiffler, the last the present sheriff.

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

TOWNSHIPS AND BOROUGHS.

The territory in the original act and over which the court had jurisdiction, embraced Greenfield and North Woodbury townships of Bedford county ; Allegheny, Antis, Blair, Hus- ton, Tyrone and Woodberry townships, in Huntingdon; also, that part of Morris town- ship in Huntingdon county west of a line run by William Reed, surveyor, to be called Cath- arine township. Hollidaysburg and Martins- burg had already been incorporated as boroughs. The townships formed since the organization are Juniata out of Greenfield, in 1847; Logan out of Allegheny and Antis in 1850; Taylor out of North Woodberry and Huston in 1855; Freedom out of Juniata in 1857. Altoona was incorporated as a borough in 1854, and came under a city charter in 1871. Tyrone became a borough in 1857; East Tyrone in 1873; Newry in 1876. Eleven · constables made returns the first day of the court, twenty-three now.

COUNTY SEAT AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

The original act required the governor to appoint three non-residents of the county commissioners to run the county lines and fix the county seat. He appointed Henry McBride, of Westmoreland, General Orr, of Armstrong, and Judge Christy, of Juni- ata counties, who fixed upon Hollidaysburg as the county seat.

· The first court was held in an old Metho- dist church, which stood where the present Methodist church now stands. Mahony's store house, alongside, was rented at the rate of $50 per year and used as a jail. A contract was made in 1846 with Dan. K. Reamey, then a prominent builder, for the erection of the court house and jail on the ground covered by the present court house. The contract price for both was $11,998.50, but because of changes and extras, the amount paid was $14,576.18. Both were finished and occupied by June term, 1847. As you are all aware. both years ago became entirely insufficient for the wants of the

county. A new jail was erected at an ex- pense of over $100,000 in 1868 and 1869, and the old court house lasted but a few years longer. And although twenty-five or thirty years is not an old age for public buildings, yet a glance at the growth of the county in population and wealth in that period reveals, at once, the causes which demanded their de- struction and the erection of new and better. The men who designed these buildings did not forsee the rapid growth of the new county, in those particulars which are pro- lific of litigation.

In 1816 only 2,187 votes were polled, in- dicating (at five to the voter), a population of about 10,000. In 1856 there were polled 3,520 votes, showing a population of 18,000. In 1866 there were polled 6,288 votes, point- ing to a population of 32,000. In 1876 there were polled 8,720 votes, indicating a popu- lation of 44,000, four times greater than when the county was organized. In the meantime, the assessed valuation of property far more than doubled; its cash value has doubtless trebled.

The cost of the present building with all its surroundings and conveniences is very close to $139,000. It cannot exceed $140,- 000. Our records, whose preservation is worth millions of dollars to the people, are now secured in fire-proof offices and vaults. For the sessions of the courts, for the delib- eration of juries, and for the detention of witnesses we have rooms spacious, com- fortable and convenient. Long after we are gone, this building, in all its strength and beauty, will stand as a monument to the public spirit and enterprise of the people who authorized it, as well as an indisputable evidence of the architectural talents of him who designed it, and the mechanical skill of those who carried the design into execution.

We have met today, as lawyers and citi- zens, to dedicate it to its appropriate uses- the administation of justice between man and man. What we now say or do will soon pass from the memory ; but what we say or do within these walls hereafter, will not be

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forgotten; the fruits of our words and con- duct will appear in ineffaceable lines upon the records of our courts ; will be cut deep in the hearts and lives of those who shall here appear to have rights determined and wrongs redressed. May we so perform our part that we shall reflect honor upon an honorable profession; and so perform it, too, that, when called to appear in a higher court, there to be inquired of, we shall be ready to answer, although with awe, yet not with fear: "What thou gavest us to do, with the light we had, we did as best we could."

SPEECH OF HON. J. S. BLACK.

Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen -I am the victim of a contrivance that I am sure the most of you will not approve of. I told your committee of arrangements, in language too plain to be misunderstood, and I am sure it was not misunderstood, that I would come here on their invitation upon one condition, namely, that I was not to be asked to open my mouth in the way of mak- ing a speech. After that intimation the in- vitation was renewed and I am here upon that implied condition. This paper (holding up a programme of the exercises, including a speech from Judge Black), which sur- prises me very much, considering where it came from, I did not see until I got to the town-until I came into the court house here, where I found myself knocked down for a speech. [Laughter.] Now this makes it-take it altogether-absolutely necessary that I should appear before you, not to make a speech, but for the purpose of apologizing for not making one. That is all I am here for. I think that I am entitled fairly to a great deal of your sympathy, for am I not in the interesting predicament of a much injured and very ill-used gentleman ? [Laughter. ] I will tell you the reason why I very properly declined to make any speech on this occasion. I am sure you will appre- ciate my reasons. I said that Blair county might make and ought to make orations for herself, and the committee of arrangements

or the gentleman who was conducting the correspondence for the committee, and who had their full confidence, and who has the full confidence of this meeting, as he is its president now, replied, and assented, say- ing that Blair county could and would speak for herself, but she desired that I should be present.

Now the members of the bar of Blair county have, among other qualities, that of remarkable fluency and readiness. I have often envied the gentlemen whom I see around me now the possession of that gift which nature has denied to me-we call it the gift of the gab [laughter], the faculty of speaking readily and fluently upon any side of any case upon the shortest possible no- tice. [Laughter.] I could take any one of the gentlemen I see here and upon tapping them, wisdom and eloquence would flow out of them in a strong stream, as from a full fountain, and flow ou until you could man- age to close up the vent somehow, and it would always be good, smooth and consis- tent. [Applause.] On the contrary, for some reason or another, it has been my mis- fortune not to be so blest. I do not perform well in what rhetoricians call demonstrative oratory-that is, the sort of speaking which has no particular object or purpose [laugh- ter ] except that of talking. [Laughter. ] A very distinguished gentleman, Mr. Mar- shall of Kentucky, whom you have all heard of, was called upon on an occasion like this to address an audience for which he had a very high respect, but he said he had noth- ing to say to them-no particular subject that he wanted to speak to them about, or that they wanted to understand upon which he could give them instruction. They told him that he should come forward and make a few general remarks .- Well, he said he would do that-"he would take his position on the outer edge of created space and crack away at all eternity." [Laughter.] Now I cannot do that, because my intellectual run- ning gears would give out before I could reach the outer edge of created space, and I

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

think that all eternity would be rather too much for me. [Laughter.]

I have given a reason why I think the people who belong to the county of Blair ought to do their own speaking upon this occasion. It is because I can add nothing to the force and effect of what has already been said. I regard that address of Judge Dean's as the most perfect that I could have con- ceived of [applause], and so with those of the other gentlemen who have spoken. You all know what has been said about the at- tempt to gild refined gold, to paint the lily, or add a perfume to the violet. That is ex- actly the sort of absurdity that I would be guilty of if I attempted to improve upon the speeches that have already been made. One thing I ought to say, and I do not know very well how to avoid it, or at least some notice of it, and yet it is very awkward to touch upon. You remember the closing remarks of Mr. Calvin. To be called upon, under these circumstances, and in that way, to ad- dress an audience, is, I admit, the highest I

honor that could be bestowed upon me. would not ask for anything that could pos- sibly gratify my own vanity or self-esteem more than to have so highly appreciated the efforts that I made to do justice when I pre- sided in the courts of this county-I would not ask for anything stronger than that-I do not suppose it possible for anybody to re- gard the honor of it more highly than I do that I was here thirty years ago; began more than thirty years ago, and was here, I believe, about three years altogether. During that time I did the best I could under the circum- stances. You have had, since that time, sev- eral successors to me; you have had the fullest opportunity of contrasting their merits with my demerits, and if, after all that length of time, you can look back with approbation and with pleasure upon what I did, I have very great reason to congratulate myself. But as to Mr. Calvin, I must say that he is extrava- gant. I have no answer to make to him except the one which Lord Byron made to Jeffrey.

Jeffrey was the editor of the Edinburgh Re- view, and he published in that journal a very laudatory critique, upon the third and fourth cantos of Childe Harold. The Review was sent to him, and he was asked what he thought of Jeffrey now? He made the reply which I would make to Mr. Calvin. He said: "As to that Jeffrey, he is a devilish discerning fellow; [laughter] he has found out mv merits." [Applause and laughter.].

As I am up, I may as well make one prac- tical remark. If I do not make it, you will be sure to forget it. You will go away and never think of it again. It is this: You have erected a court house which is beyond comparison, the most perfect structure of its kind in this country. It reminds one of the description that Horace gave of the woman that he ad- mired more thany any other-simplex mun- dities-simple in the abundant wealth of its beauty.

There is another thing that you will not forget, and I am sure that the judge who pre- sides in this court will not permit it to be for- gotten, neither will the gentlemen of the bar, who practice before him, permit it to be for- gotten, namely, that this building is dedicated to the administration of justice, which is the greatest of human concerns. The most im- portant part of the machinery of justice is the county courts-the courts of common pleas- these courts whose function it is to take origi- nal cognizance of all cases affecting life, liberty and property and to do justice between man and man. All the other machinery of our gov- ernment is made for the purpose of bringing a competent judge upon that bench, and twelve honest men into that jury box, in order that they may do justice. For that you make a legislature; for that you have a congress; for that you have a union of the states; an execu- tive department; an army and a navy. The ultimate object of it all is, that justice shall be administered between the people of a neighbor- hood. As long as you can maintain perfect purity in the judiciary and have justice ad- ministered promptly and speedily at home it

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does not matter very much-that is, it is not a thing of vital importance how the other parts of your political machinery go on; and when- ever there is any serious corruption or wrong, by which the scales of justice do not hang with an even balance in these courts of original jurisdiction, you are in the worst possible con- dition in which you can be placed.

Now, gentlemen, have I made a sufficient apology for not making a speech? If I have not, why I will have to apologize for that. [Laughter.] If there was anybody here who would undertake to speak evil of the Blair county court, or its bar, or to falsify its history, or to say that the members of this bar were not the best men in the world, then I would have an issue which I could take up with them, and I think I could keep up my side pretty well. [Laughter and applause.] But I have nobody to fight! I am, therefore, in a situation some- what like that of Jemima Wickersham, a fe- male prophet, who made her appearance in western New York. She said she was able to walk upon the water miraculously and called divers persons to witness the performance. They assembled in large numbers, and just be- fore she made preparation to step out on the lake, she asked the crowd there assembled, if they believed she could do it. They told her that they though she could not. "Then," she said, "you have little faith-a generation of vipers, who seek a sign and shall find none." Therefore, she would not walk upon the water that day. [Laughter.] She tried them again, however, another day, and she put the same question to them, and, knowing what sort of an answer had defeated them before, they an- swered affirmatively, that they believed she could. "Very well, then," said she, "there is no use to work miracles in your presence, you have faith enough!" [Laughter.] Now, I think you all have faith enough in your judge, and faith enough in your bar, and faith enough in yourselves to get on very well without any exhortation from me, and therefore I bid you an affectionate farewell. [Long continued ap- plause. ]

THE ADDRESS OF HON. DANIEL J. NEFF, WEL- COMING TO BLAIR COUNTY'S SEMI-CENTEN- NIAL CELEBRATION THE GUESTS OF THE BAR ASSOCIATION.

The people of this county, and others from far and near, who were at one time residents thereof, or who are interested in its history, will, during this week, commemorate the fif- tieth anniversary of the organization of the county. They will review the progress that has been made in art, sciences and invention, the improvements in machinery, in the modes of transportation and the growth and develop- ment of the county in population and wealth of the past fifty years. The occasion will be most interesting and instructive to all the par- ticipants. The judiciary and the bar of the county have deemed it advisable and opportune, that they also should observe the occasion and commemorate it in a suitable manner. The administration of the laws deeply concerns all the inhabitants of the county. In all enlight- ened commonwealths the due administration of justice has been esteemed as of great public in- terest, of supreme importance, and an upright and independent judiciary one of the safe- guards of civil liberty. When we consider the character and attainments, learning and ability, of the judges, past and present, who have oc- cupied the bench, we cannot doubt that this county has been fortunate in its judiciary. Judges have sat in our courts who have shed a luster upon the jurisprudence of the com- monwealth, and who would compare not un- favorably with John Marshall, former chief justice of the supreme court of the United States; with Sir Matthew Hale, Chief Justice Mansfield, or with Sir Edward Coke, the greatest oracle of municipal jurisprudence in England.

Speaking of the amenities of the bench, I once heard Judge Taylor pay a high compli- ment to the supreme court. A gentleman of the bar had been arguing a question before him at considerable length. The judge was against him, but he persisted in his argument. The judge finally told him it was useless to argue

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

the question further; he had decided it. But he said, "you have your remedy ; take an ex- ception, and you can take the case up and have my decision reviewed by a court that cannot err." His honor specially emphasized the last two words.

We can look back over fifty years of eventful history and contemplate with interest the many important issues that have been tried, the im- portant decisions of our courts that have been rendered, establishing the rights of person and property and defining the landmarks of the law. There is, at times, much in the proceed- ings of courts to excite and attract popular in- terest. There are witnessed the tragic and the comic sides of human life, its ups and downs ; life histories and life tragedies are rehearsed with more of passion and pathos than upon the mimic stage, and the curtain falls upon many a scene of human misery and despair. The forensic displays of the Roman forum in the palmy days of the republic and the empire, the great trials of thrilling and historic interest in Westminster hall, in its meridian glory, are remembered with an absorbing and never fad- ing interest. There, within the old walls of Westminster hall, "has stood the Duke of Nor- folk, to answer the charge of asserting the right of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the throne of England; and the Earl of Strafford, accused of high treason against the sovereign whom he served too faithfully, and Warren Hastings, around whose impeachment was thrown the gorgeous splendor of eastern imagery evoked by the spell of eloquence from the lips of Sheri- dan and Burke."

The gentlemen of the bar who attended the first court held in this county in 1846, and were then admitted to practice in the several courts of this county, and who are yet living will, no doubt, reflect upon the many changes that have taken place in the intervening years. They probably journeyed to Holli- daysburg by canal boat, by stage coach, or perhaps partly canal and partly over the in- clined planes of the Portage railroad. The Pennsylvania canal, in connection with the Portage railroad, constituting a great pub-

lic highway between the east and the west, was regarded at that time, and in fact was, a work of great magnitude, of supreme im- portance. Time had been when the mode of transportation, at least in central Pennsyl- vania, was principally by broad wheeled Conestoga wagons lumbering slowly along the pike between Philadelphia and Pitts- burg, or arks of rude and primitive design, floating down our rivers. The canal east and west of the mountains, traversing in many places dense forests, with the connect- ing links of the rail and inclined plane, across the Alleghenies, extending through a country abounding in mineral resources and undeveloped wealth, constructed with arduous labor and consummate engineer- ing skill, was considered one of the greatest achievements of the age. The Allegheny portage was pronounced by enlightened en- gineers in England and France as one of the then wonders of the world. The exalted purpose, the vast importance of these works, connecting as they did with the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Pittsburg, and with the Ohio and Mississippi establishing a great commercial waterway or highway to the gulf of Mexico, extending in their beneficial effects to the utmost limits of the national domain, and in their prospective operation and effects into the far future could not be overestimated. The engineers and scientists of that day were men of high intelligence and varied knowledge, who had studied carefully the most advanced sys- tems of inland navigation and railway con- struction in Europe and applied the knowl- . edge thus acquired to the advancement of great enterprises at home. Standing in the van of civilization and human progress, they helped to build up a great common- wealth in enduring strength. The canal commissioner of that day was an important man, sometimes bigger than the governor 'himself or the legislature, the power behind the throne greater than the throne itself, making and unmaking the fortunes of men. The canal boat captain also was a big man.

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He walked the deck of his craft with as proud a step as the commander of a man-of- war walks his quarterdeck.

These great public works, it was sup- posed, would be enduring, would last for ages, like the Roman aqueducts or the Ap- pian, over which, for centuries, the legions of imperial Rome marched to their distant conquests. But the tireless energy and the inventive genius of man have achieved con- quests over the forces of nature and the ele- ments undreamed of in that earlier day. The continent is spanned by great railways, grappling the states together with hooks of steel and bands of iron. Queen Victoria can say "good morning" to Grover Cleveland through the submarine cable. It is said that Chauncy M. Depew recently sent a message around the world-25,000 miles-in four minutes. We have the inestimable advan- tages and conveniences of the electric rail- way. The telephone is an accomplished fact and the Roentgen ray has been discovered. During the last fifty years dynasties have risen and fallen, there have been social and political upheavals in various parts of the world, and mighty blows have been struck for civil liberty, the rights of men and the emancipation of the oppressed.

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Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 12

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872- Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Number of Pages: 1036

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036