Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 13

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 13

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The world moves and the young man of this age who would keep up with the pro- cession must step lively.

The changes in our laws have kept pace with the progress of the age in other re- spects. These changes and innovations upon the common law have been in the di- rection of reform and improvement tending to the elevation of man and the amelioration of the condition of woman.

The act of April 9, 1849, exempting prop- erty of a debtor to the value of $300 from levy and sale on execution or by distress for rent is a humane and beneficent law, as are also all the various laws protecting and giving a preference to the wages of manual -labor.

The legal status of married women has been entirely changed, and sweeping mod-

ifications have been made by the acts of 1848, 1887 and 1893. The act of April II, 1848, was the first great departure. It pro- vided that every species and description of property, whether real, personal or mixed, which may be owned by or belong to any single woman shall continue to be the prop- erty of such woman as fully after her mar- riage as before, and all such property, of whatever nature or kind, which shall accrue to any married woman during coverture, by will, descent, deed of conveyance or other- wise, shall be owned and enjoyed by such married woman as her own separate prop- erty, and such property shall not be subject to levy and execution for the debts of liabili- ties of her husband.

The acts of 1887 and 1893 were still great- er departures in the same direction, tending to the protection of married women in their right of property.

In our grandmothers' days a married woman could hardly be said to own her spinning wheel in her own right. Now the dashing femme covert can spin along the public highway on her wheel and hold and own her spinning wheel in defiance of the world.

The constitution of 1874 made great and radical changes in the fundamental law.

The act of May 25, 1887, known as the civil procedure act, abolishing the distinc- tions theretofore existing between the dif- ferent forms of actions ex contractu and ac- tions ex delicto, and providing that the plaintiff's declaration shall consist of a con- cise statement of his demand, wrought a great and needed reform, and greatly sim- plified the pleadings and proceedings in the trial of causes. All these changes were made during the last fifty years. Much of the old and curious learning of a former age contained in old and musty tomes Dooms- day books has become obsolete. Much of what might be termed the rubbish of the law has been swept away.

At the time of the organization of the county and for many years afterwards, the

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

judge and the lawyers usually wrote down all the testimony during the progress of the trial. We are relieved of that labor now. as the official reporter and stenographer does that work. The judge's charge and the testimony are all typewritten by the re- porter, and the pleadings filed are also usu- ally typewritten.

In former times the Altoona lawyer would pack his grip on Monday morning and engage lodging at a hotel at the county seat for a week or during the sitting of the court. For many years during the terms of court I regularly occupied room 29, at the American house, then kept by that jolly landlord and genial host, Daniel K. Ramey. Now all that is changed by the electric cars, which run every fifteen minutes and land the Altoona lawyers at the steps of the court house. The Altoona lawyer can stand at the telephone in his comfortable office and by issuing his oral mandate through the 'phone can put the whole clerical force of the prothonotary's office in motion or he can be treated to a learned dissertation on prac- tice by Judge Bowers at long range.

Judges and lawyers have, from time im- memorial, been inclined to polite, social in- tercourse and rational enjoyment. They have been disposed to reasonable relaxation after the labors of the bench and the con- tests of the forum.

In England, in the olden time, the ser- geants at law were inducted into their office with great state and ceremony. It was at- tended with feasting, which sometimes lasted for several days, and at these feasts the lord chancellor and some of the highest dignitaries of the realm, sometimes includ- ing the king himself, sat down. On these festive occasions, the lord chancellor usu- ally headed the procession to the banqueting hall, thereby giving the sanction of his of- ficial approval to this important function. The newly created sergeants at law were allowed the high privilege of paying the bills for these banquets. Rich and fragrant are

the memories that cluster around the inns of court and chancery, which Ben Johnson characterizes as "the noblest nurseries of humanity and liberty in the kingdom." It is said that the inns of court and chancery were celebrated for the magnificence of their entertainments. True to those hon- ored and immemorial traditions, and cher- ishing the past associations of the bench and bar of Blair county, the Blair county bar association have invited the judges of adjoin- ing and adjacent counties, and all the law- yers now living who formerly were resident practitioners at our bar, and the judge of the supreme court who sat for many years as president judge in this county, and the only three ex-associate judges of this county now living, to participate in this semi-cen- tennial celebration.

It is gratifying to us to meet here so many worthy representatives of the judiciary and gentlemen of the bar from other localities.

Cambria county is here represented by its learned president judge. The rarified at- mosphere of that elevated plateau upon which Ebensburg stands seems to have quickened and sharpened the wits of its judges and lawyers, for they have always been celebrated for their wit. Michael Dan- iel Magehan, Michael Hasson and Robert L. Johnson were all in their day, noted wits ; Frank P. Tierney,who many years ago, re- moved from Ebensburg to Altoona and died some years ago, was a genuine wit, and as a mimic, he had few equals. Although of Irish descent he could delineate the German or Irish character with equal facility. His mantle has fallen upon a gentleman who is now the acknowledged wit of our bar. I forbear to mention his name as he is pres- ent, and I know he is averse to public notori- ety. It may not be said of him, perhaps, as was said of one of the characters in the "School for Scandal" that his wit costs him nothing, as it is always at the expense of a friend. It might be said, however, that it costs him nothing in this sense: It costs

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

him no effort. It is spontaneous. It effer- vesces and bubbles like champagne. But I fear I trespass on Judge Landis' domain. He is expected to give us the history of the Blair county bar. It is, I presume a clear case of trespass quare clausum fregit.

The supreme court of the state is repre- sented here by one of its learned justices who, on this anniversary, can look back with satisfaction on the many years during which he occupied the bench in this county with credit and distinction.

There is a gentleman here who former- ly practiced at this bar, although a resident of Huntingdon, now residing in Philadel- phia. He was admitted at the first court held in 1846. Those who heard him at the bar in days gone by will esteem themselves fortunate in having the opportunity of see- ing him and hearing him again.

There is a gentleman from Harrisburg present who years ago enjoyed unbounded popularity and was a power in law and pol- itics in this county. His numerous friends will greet him with the cordiality of the days of yore.

To the judges of neighboring counties, to the judges of the supreme court, to the old- time members of the bar, to the ex-associate judges of the county, the only three now liv- ing, to all who have responded to our in- vitation and kindly favored us with their presence, the Blair county bar association sends greeting and extends a cordial wel- come to a participation in all there is of in- terest, of cherished memories, and of enjoy- ment in the celebration of our semi-centen- nial. Few, if any of us, will see Blair's centennial.

May we now hope that the centennial of 1946 will be the dawn for our county and for our country of the millennial morn of a yet grander and nobler destiny. But as we may not be there to see it let us thank God that we are living to see the semi-centennial, and make the best of this occasion, while the train stops at this half-way station.

ADDRESS OF HON. AUG. S. LANDIS, HISTORY OF THE BAR OF BLAIR COUNTY.

It has been said that the history of a revolu- tion is often but the history of one man. By proper antithesis, it is perhaps just as true that the history of a legal bar is the history of many men.

When it is remembered that the component parts are the judges, invested with the dele- gated powers of the law, the attorneys and barristers who invite the application of these powers to obtain for suitors a resultant prod- uct called justice, the officer who records and perpetuates the adjudications of the court, and that other executive department, which relent- lessly enforces the law as crystallized into its peremptory mandate, many men with diversi- fied minds give it body, efficacy and character. What they thus have done during fifty years constitutes its history for that period.

The bar of this county came into existence in the year 1846. It had been a long struggle whether there should be a Blair county. The subject was first discussed about the year 1839. This town was then a prosperous, growing town. It was at the head of canal navigation. It was the point of transhipment from canal to railroad transportation. It was on the only traffic thoroughfare in the state. These condi- tions brought many people here. The state employed many men to operate the public im- provements. Large forwarding houses were erected, and their owners handled the ever- increasing freight tonnage passing east and west. Large capital was embarked in this business, and in mercantile and manufacturing enterprises. Bituminous coal found upon the land of Samuel Lemon, near the Summit, be- came a leading article of trade for domestic use and transportation. Whilst it was the only great distributing point for a neighbor- hood of large radius, it was also the entrepot for the products of a rapidly developing terri- tory. Its promise of a future urban popula- tion and wealth invited many from other parts, who came to share its generous and flattering fortunes.

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

This increased population and business nec- essarily gave rise to litigation, and applications for various purposes to the public officers and the courts. Huntingdon county, of which it was part, had its county seat at Huntingdon, which lay thirty miles away, to be reached by laborious and wearisome driving over two mountains. This inconvenience gave rise to the effort to have erected a new county, of which this busy and growing center should be the county seat.

During the six or seven years when the sub- ject was discussed, whilst all were favorable to the project, many were active in the work until it was finally accomplished. Among them should be named William Williams, afterward president of the Exchange bank at this place ; Peter Cassidy, a well-known surveyor; Peter Hewit, Silas Moore, Ed. McGraw, John Walker, Dr. Joseph A. Landis, Dr. James Cof- fey, Samuel Calvin, William McFarland, Joseph Dysart, George R. McFarlane, Will- iam C. McCormick, James M. Bell and R. A. McMurtrie.

The necessary legislation to erect the county having failed at the first session of the legisla- ture in which a bill was presented, it was finally enacted at the session of 1846, and was approved by Governor Francis R. Shunk on the 26th of February, 1846. When the news came to the people of the new county there was great rejoicing, and it was a day in this county capital in which the people were buoy- ant with an expectation they felt to be assured of great future development and prosperity.

This only in a measure was realized, for in a few years the colossus which reared itself but a few miles away cast its shadow upon the new plant and chilled and checked its young life. It can, however, assume to itself one comfort-that it lives to celebrate its survival of its disappointment, and the possession of many advantages, conveniences and benefits which others do not have and which keep it abreast with the day's civilization, socially, morally and intellectually.

The county, under the act, took from Hunt- ingdon county the townships of Allegheny,

Antis, Snyder, Tyrone, Frankstown, Blair, Huston, Woodbury, and part of Morris. Bed- ford was compelled to give up North Wood- bury and Greenfield townships. Since then, the townships of Juniata, Freedom, Logan and Taylor have been formed from other townships. The boroughs of the county are Hollidaysburg, Gaysport, Martinsburg, Dun- cansville, Roaring Spring, Tyrone, East Ty- rone, Williamsburg, Bellwood and Juniata. Altoona is the only incorporated city.

Thus, in 1846, a new county was added to the state's long list, with a population of some 17,000 and an area of 510 square miles. The population in 1890 was over 70,000.

It was, by the same act, made part of the sixteenth judicial district. This district al- ready comprised the counties of Franklin, Bedford, Somerset and Fulton. Judge Jere- miah S. Black was the president judge, and thus, by the enactment, he became the first judge of this county.

It is well, also, to remark that Huntingdon county formed part of one of the original dis- tricts of the commonwealth-the fourth judi- cial district-which embraced many of the original counties, and which was justly noted for having furnished so many able and emi- nent judges and lawyers in both the supreme and common pleas courts.

Until the new court house should be com- pleted court sat in the old Methodist church building on Walnut street west of Montgom- ery street. This was a one-story brick build- ing perched upon the brink of a hill, thirty feet from the street. The approach to it was by 2 broad stairway, and for the temporary pur- pose was convenient and suitable. In the 27th of July, 1846, Judge Black with his associates, George R. McFarlane and Daniel McConnell, at 10 a. m. ascended the platform, and the crier opened the court with the usual formality. Colonel John Cresswell was the district attor- ney, but there was but little to demand his official attention.

The following persons were sworn to the bar :

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

LIST OF ATTORNEYS COMPOSING THE ORIGINAL BLAIR COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION.

(Members sworn in July 27, 1846.)

J. P. Anderson, Thaddeus Banks, Samuel S. Blair, A. W. Benedict, David Blair, Eph- raim Banks, Samuel M. Barkley, John Broth- erline, J. M. Bell, Moses Canan, Samuel Calvin, A. G. Curtin, John Cresswell, T. J. Coffey, Joshua F. Cox, A. J. Cline, Theodore H. Cremer, William Dorris, Jr., David Huff, John Fenlon, James T. Hall, David H. Hofius, Charles H. Heyer, Michael Hasson, Isaac Hughes, Robert L. Johnston, William J. Jacobs, Alexander King, F. M. Kimmell, Joseph Kemp, J. R. Lowrie, William Lyon, Job Mann, John G. Miles, M. D. Megehan, R. A. McMurtrie, John Mower, H. N. McAl- lister, A. J. Ogle, William P. Orbisonin, James M. Russell, Samuel L. Russell, William M. Stewart, J. S. Stewart, John Scott, Jr., Sam- uel H. Tate, John Williamson, A. P. Wilson, S. S. Wharton.

Making forty-nine in all. On Tuesday, the 28th, three more were added: George Taylor, afterwards president judge; Alex. Gwin and John A. Blodgett; making fifty-two as the original number of the membership.

No causes were tried and the traverse jury was discharged, and the court adjourned on the 28th of July.

Of the court and bar as thus constituted. ex- cept five, all are dead. The judges are all dead, and of the bar ex-Senator John Scott, Colonel William Dorris, Hon. Titian J. Coffey, ex- assistant attorney general of the United States, Hon. John Fenlon, ex-member of the house of representatives, and William P. Or- bison, Esq., alone survive; but some of these survivors are here today, and whilst I am silent as to them, they, themselves, will tell us of the past.

A glance at the personnel of this court and its bar in the light of their subsequent history will disclose a remarkable body of men. They were educated lawyers. They were nearly all proficient in their professional knowledge and experience. The same care, zeal, caution and

research which the lawyer of today exerts, was practiced then. He strove to attain to the same acumen and success then as now. The professional ambition and ethics of that day are indeed made more conspicuous by the lower grade of principle and tarnished acts, which too often offend the honorable lawyer of the present.

We can recall the appearance of the presi- ident judge. His massive head and intellect- ual face were impressive to both acquaintance and stranger. He was the man of whom, under Dr. Johnson's conditions, it would be asked, who is he? He was learned, decided, courteous and dignified. He possessed the confidence of the bar, and during his remaining life he was the admiration of his many friends. He became a justice of the supreme court, at- torney general of the United States and a del- egate to the constitutional convention of 1873. He continued, after leaving office, to be one of the busiest and most eminent lawyers in the land. He was of counsel in the argument be- fore the presidential commission in 1877 and his effort before that tribunal exhibited many of his most conspicuous, as well as most val- ued, characteristics.

Among those who were sworn to the bar be- fore him on that day was one who subse- quently became as widely known as Judge Black. Andrew G. Curtin was then but a modest lawyer in Bellefonte. His career in state politics as the great war governor of Pennsylvania, minister to Russia, delegate to the constitutional convention of the state and member of congress with national fame, is now easily recalled.

These two men met during the year 1873 in Philadelphia on the floor of the convention. With no partisanship, they vied in the respon- sible task of perfecting the fundamental law of the state. Both had achieved fame, both had the respect and affection of their colleagues, and both left their impress upon the instru- ment which now constitutes our organic law. Both were often participants in many contro- versies on that floor. The writer recalls a scene of pleasurable excitement and surprise

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

when, in the discussion of the question of leg- islative apportionment, the judge learned from his adversary that his vast learning was of no value compared to the governor's practical knowledge of men and things.

A well known figure at the bar in those days, and many years thereafter, was Mr. Miles. He was very fair in complexion, large and handsome. His reticence gave him a dig- nity which he never lost. He was laborious and indefatigable. His arguments were long and exhaustive. He stood at the counsel table to talk to the court, and sometimes stood at the witness box, requiring the judge to turn in that direction to face him. His voice was high and sharp and penetrated every part of the room. His manner was earnest and convinc- ing, and to the boyish mind the wonder was that anything more need be said. He contin- ued in active practice for many years and died in Peoria, Ill., in 1877, leaving an honored memory.

Mr. McAllister, of Bellefonte, was an able and industrious lawyer. In professional zeal, energy and prowess he was an Ajax Telamon. He was a member of the constitutional con- vention of 1873, and brought with him for the fulfilment of the duties of that important office, a deep sense of his own responsibility. Noth- ing seemed to escape his attention, and no one department of the fundamental law was less worthy of his scrutiny than another. He was often admonished by his brethren that his zeal and labors must sap even his rugged health. He succumbed before the close of the session, and was succeeded by Samuel Calvin, whose name is likewise in this list of original attor- neys.

Mr. Calvin, when elected to fill Mr. McAl- lister's chair, had practically retired from pro- fessional duties, and the call to him was op- portune, and agreeable to his tastes. He had long been a successful and able lawyer, and was a lawyer, in its highest professional sense. His integrity and honor were his most valued possessions. They were never cheapened by being bartered nor tarnished by his holding them. He tried his cases in the old style.

There were no stenographers then and with scrupulous fullness, he wrote down every word uttered by the witness. He had no patience with the stupid witness. His "Sir," "I don't hear you, sir," and "repeat it, sir," uttered in intimidating tones to the astonished witness, was the delight of the student and young law- yer looking on somewhere in the bar. Few of the present bar knew him and his peculiarities ; but some of us here today, remember him as the learned lawyer, a ripe scholar in literature and the classics, and the most warn hearted and genial of gentlemen. It only remains to be said of him, that he was a member of the thirty-first congress in 1851, and was a fol- lower of Henry Carey in his theories of social science. He met Mr. Carey on the floor of the convention, and a friendship sprang up be- tween them that lasted during his remaining life. His son, Matthew Calvin, succeeded him at the bar.

Colonel McMurtrie was in this list. He was a close friend of Mr. Calvin. He was for many years the commander of the militia under the old state system, and he mustered his undis- ciplined forces in the month of May for many years. He was a member of the legislature in 1863. He was long an active practitioner and stood in the bar and community as a man and lawyer of great probity and honor.

Robert L. Johnston, after many years of most active practice, became the president judge of Cambria county. Alex. King be- came judge of the Bedford and Franklin dis- trict, as did also F. M. Kimmell. Job Mann was a member of the twenty-fourth, thirtieth and thirty-first congresses and state treasurer. Samuel L. Russell was also in the thirty-third congress and a member of the constitutional convention of 1873. A. W. Benedict, of Huntingdon, was a member of the legislature of 1863. John Cresswell was a member of the state senate in 1857, and was speaker of the house in 1889, and Thaddeus Banks, a mem- ber of the legislature with John Scott in 1862. Mr. Scott afterwards became a United States senator, and at the close of his term became

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

the general solicitor of the Pennsylvania rail- road company.

Ephraim Banks was the auditor general of the state in 1851, and an associate judge of the court of common pleas of Mifflin county. He was a man of great decision of character and of great dignity and worth. On one occasion, on the bench in the trial of a case, he differed from the president judge in his views, and, carrying his associate with him, he charged a jury over the head. of his chief.

Thaddeus Banks was long conspicuous at this bar and, during his very active career, was prominent in the most noteworthy ligitation. He was a man of fine social qualities, and of a warm and generous heart. He was the dem- ocratic candidate for judge against Dean and Taylor in 1871, but was defeated.

Samuel S. Blair commenced a brilliant ca- reer a few years after his admission. His in- troduction to public notice in the celebrated case of Summerville vs. Jackson continued him in the public eye and brought him to the front. He developed into a strong and learned law- yer, and in all this part of the state he was for many years as an industrious and able lawyer, facile princeps. He was elected to the thirty- sixth and thirty-seventh congresses. He was succeeded in his office by his son, Mr. John D. Blair.

John Williamson lived to be an octogena- rian. Though he lived in Huntingdon, it was his habit for many years to visit this court and participate in the trial of cases-mostly in the quarter sessions. His arguments to the jury furnished the most delightful entertainment to his hearers. He was a nervous speaker, but as he progressed he was fluent and accurate. He abounded in both humor and pathos, and won for himself a popularity that long survived his retirement from our midst.

M. D. Magehan, familiarly known as "Michael Dan," with his contemporary, Michael Hasson, came to us from the Cambria bar. The wit and fancy of those well known and excellent Irish gentlemen were the admi- ration of many indulgent friends in their day,

and form the effervescent sparkle of many a story which survives to this hour.

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Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 13

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