Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 7

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 7

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In the orphans' court there has been only a normal increase in business such as we would expect from the growth of population in the county. The same may be said as to the crim- inal business in the quarter sessions and oyer and terminer. The citizens of Blair county in the main are peaceable and well behaved.

A number of interesting and important cases have been tried during the last eleven years, but time will only allow reference to two of these cases. The Bonnecke murder case was a most important one and was ably tried by the respective attorneys. W. S. Ham- mond, district attorney, was assisted by Thomas H. Greevy, Esq., for the common- wealth. The defendants had as counsel George H. Spang and R. H. Henderson, Esq., and at one stage of the proceedings W. C. Fletcher, Esq., appeared as counsel for the ac- cused. Bonnecke was an old man living by himself in Altoona, and supposed to be a miser. One Sunday in April, 1895, his dead body was

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

found lying on the floor of his shanty. He had evidently been murdered. An indictment was found charging William Doran, Frank Wil- son and James Farrell with the murder. De- tectives testified to confessions alleged to have been made by Wilson. He sought to prove an alibi but Mrs. Lysinger, at whose house he claimed to have been on the night of the mur- der, contradicted him and she in turn was con- tradicted by other inmates of the house. There was evidence that shortly after the murder Wilson spent money freely. Farrell under- took to prove an alibi. He swore that he was in Aliquippa, Beaver county, when the murder occurred. But the servant girl at the house of his sister at that place contradicted his alibi. Likewise other witnesses. When Farrell was arrested a pocketbook alleged to have belonged to old man Bonnecke was found hid between the mattresses of his bed. Doran never was taken. Apparently he disappeared off the face of the earth and it has since been asserted that he went to Cuba and was killed in a battle with the Spaniards.

Wilson and Farrell were both convicted, but while the case was pending on a motion for a new trial and in the supreme court nu- merous parties in various penitentiaries began to confess that they and not Wilson had killed Bonnecke. Most of these confessions were so improbable that no attention was paid to them. But a convict in a Maryland penitentiary con- fessed that he killed Bonnecke, and counte- nance was lent to his confession by the fact that the same day he committed suicide. The cases were taken to the supreme court, Com- monwealth v. Frank Wilson is reported in 186 Pa. page I. Commonwealth v. Farrell is found in 187 Pa. page 408. The supreme court evidently doubted as to the guilt of the defendants and reversed this court for errors which to mind were far from being of a seri- ous character. When the cases were called for a new trial, Mr. Hammond, who was then district attorney, stated to the court that as the supreme court evidently had doubts as to the guilt of the accused he declined to retry the defendants. I thought at the time and still

think that the course pursued by the district attorney in this matter was perfectly proper and right.

Another case tried while Mr. Hammond was district attorney is Commonwealth v. Hutchison, reported in 6th Sup. Ct. 405. Mr. Hammond made a most able argument in this case. The superior court in their opinion vir- tually adopted his argument and ruled :

"Solicitation to commit a felony is a mis- demeanor. But the classification of the crime as a felony or a misdemeanor, being wholly arbitrary, and governed by no fixed or definite principles, it is not the criterion by which to determine the question whether solicitation to its commission is an offense in law. The true test is to be found in its effect on society, since all acts that injuriously affect the public police and economy are indictable at common law. Solicitation to burn a store building is such an act; incident to incendiarism being a direct blow at security of property and even of life. It is therefore indictable as a misdemeanor." A. V. Dively, Esq., was counsel for defend- ant.

EQUITY.

From 1865 when the courts of Pennsyl- vania were given equitable jurisdiction up to 1877 but sixty-three equity suits were com- menced. The first suit was brought by Joshua Roller and others v. Arch. McAllister and others. The subject matter of the controversy was the settlement of partnership accounts in a deal for forty-one mules. The papers in that case are very crude and to the equity pleader of today are perfect curiosities.

· From 1877 to 1896, 256 suits in equity were brought; from 1896 to the present time 374 additional bills have been filed. But these figures by no means represent the additional labor imposed on the president judge by rea- son of such great increase in equity litigation.

In January, 1894, the supreme court radi- cally revised and amended the equity rules. The office of master, except by agreement of the parties, was abolished and the labor of hearing and deciding all equity matters was

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imposed on the president judge. And my brethren at the bar I think will agree with me that this burden has been a heavy one on the court of Blair county.

Time will only suffice to mention three of the many interesting and important equity cases tried in this county during the past ten years. In Tyrone Gas & Water Company against the Borough of Tyrone, 195 Pa. 566, the supreme court affirmed this court in refus- ing to allow the municipality of Tyrone to con- struct a separate water plant and virtually confiscate or render worthless the property of the water company. Stevens, Owens and Pascoe were counsel for the water company. Hicks & Templeton and Judge Furst, of Belle- fonte, were solicitors for the borough.

Gable v. City of Altoona, 200 Pa. 15, was an aftermath of Altoona v. Bowman, 171 Pa. 307, referred to by Judge Landis in his ad- dress. In the Bowman case the supreme court. ruled that the city could not collect paving frontage. After this ruling the city issued bonds aggregating over $200,000 to the pav- ing contractors. Citizens of Altoona filed a bill to have said bonds declared illegal. This court decided that said bonds were valid and would have to be paid by the city. Such rul- ing was affirmed by the supreme court. The syllabus in the case reads as follows :

"Where a city issues bonds payable out of assessments on property, and subsequently the assessments are declared illegal because -both branches of city council had passed the ordi- nances providing for the assessments on the same day, the illegality of the assessment does not relieve the city from liability on the bonds.

"Where a city in good faith provides that bonds issued for street paving shall be payable out of assessments on property, and it turns out that such assessments are illegal because of the improper manner in which the ordi- nances authorizing them were enacted, the city is liable for the bonds although at the time of their issue they increased the debt beyond the constitutional limitation." M. M. McNeil and E. H. Fleck were for plaintiff; T. H. Greevy for defendants.

Much important litigation grew out of the action of the Rogers collection agency of Wheeling, purchasing accounts from Altoona merchants; then obtaining judgments against the debtors by posting a notice on the court house door at Wheeling and then serving or attempting to serve an attachment against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. One branch of said litigation is reported in Galbraith v. Rutter, 20 Sup. Ct. 354.

When the county of Blair was formed in 1846 the population was about 17,000. In 1877 when Judge Dean delivered his address the population was approximately 45,000. Now I presume it is 100,000. In 1878 the as- sessed valuation of property in Blair county was $7,357,10I and in 1907 said assessment valuation has increased to the sum of $39,351,492.

I have thus hurriedly and imperfectly striven to give some account of the doings of the bench and bar in this county for the past eleven years. The next question that con- fronts us: "What of the future?" In the new small court room is a beautiful picture of the signing of the Declaration of Independ- ence. That event was an epoch in the world's history. But even a more important epoch was that which transpired at Runnymede-al- most a thousand years ago-when our sturdy English forefathers, at the point of their good swords, extorted from King John (among other things), the declaration "I will sell to none, I will deny to none, I will delay to none justice and right." Taken in a literal sense the words "I will sell to none," have to a great extent lost their importance. Happily in these modern days few judges can be bought with money ; there are but few Cardosas among us. But what money cannot buy may still some- times be accomplished by flattery or over-per- suasion or the glamour of great power and in- fluence, And it behooves the modern judge to be on his guard to see to it that the hum- blest suitor in his court is treated with the same kindness, courtesy and fairness that is extended to the rich and powerful and to the great corporations which have come to make

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

up so much of the warp and woof of our mod- ern life. And the modern judge in the press of business and the hurry and bustle of the court is prone sometimes to forget that other clause in magna charta: "I will delay justice to none, justice or right."

The lawyer too should ever bear in mind that portion of his oath which binds him to be true to the court and his client, and to delay no man's cause for filthy lucre or malice. He should ever remember that he is an officer of a court of justice; that while he is to be true to his client he likewise owes an equal duty to the court and the community. The client is to be guarded and protected in his rights but not in his wrongs; if he is in the wrong his attor- ney owes him no duty except to see that he is proceeded against and judged according to the law and no undue advantage is taken and no illegal procedure is worked.

In court an attorney should ever keep in mind those two great maxims which should be the bed rock on which all legal rules should be founded. One maxim was laid down by the pagan Justinian some two thousand years ago. It is inscribed over the bench in the new court room :

JURIS PRAECEPTA SUNT: HONESTE VIVERE, ALTERUM NON LAEDERE. SUUM CVIQUE TRIBVERE.

"The principles of justice are these: live honestly; injure no one; give to every man his just due."

The other maxim was laid down by our Savior in His sermon on the mount: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."

If the bench keeps in mind these maxims and strives to live up to the traditions handed down by Black and Taylor and Dean and Lan- dis, and if the bar likewise ever remembers the same great cardinal legal rules and copies after all the good qualities of Calvin, Banks, Blair, H. M. Baldrige, Hewitt and the other worthies who have gone before us, truly we will in the future have a model court. And

when we have passed off the stage and others have come to fill our places may we have so lived that our successors at some future bar meeting, in the years to come, may be able truthfully to say good and pleasant things of us.

COLONEL NEFF'S ADDRESS.

The address on "The Judiciary" was deliv- ered by Hon. Daniel J. Neff of this city, the dean of the bar, who spoke as follows :

Those who were present at the dedication of the court house, on July 2, 1877, will recol- lect that we were honered on that occasion by the presence of Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, who favored us with a brief address. I cannot pref- ace what I have to say more appropriately than by quoting one sentence from that ad- dress :

"This building is dedicated to the adminis- tration of justice, which is the greatest of human concerns."

Blair county was formed in 1846, from parts of Bedford and Huntingdon counties, and became a part of the sixteenth judicial district, composed, before the formation of Blair, of the counties of Franklin, Bedford, Somerset and Fulton; as Hon. Jeremiah S. Black was the president judge of that district, he became the first president judge of Blair county, and his first term of court commenced on July 27, 1846. The associate judges at the first term of court were George R. McFarlane and Daneil McConnell. Judge Black contin- ued as president judge of this county until April 5, 1849, when the legislature, having re- organized the judicial districts of the state, and created the twenty-fourth judicial district, . composed of the counties of Blair, Hunting- don and Cambria, Blair county was detached from Judge Black's district.

Judge Dean in his historical address, at the former dedication, speaking of Judge Black, said: "His legal opinions and arguments are the delight of the lawyer. For it may be said of him as Coke said of Littleton: 'He cites not many authorities, yet he holdeth no opin- ion but is proved and approved by these two

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faithful witnesses in matters of law, authority and reason.' "

Judge Black was a great lawyer and a great judge. In personal appearance tall, rugged, with massive head, strong features, great in- tellectual force, an analytical mind, of unques- tioned integrity in private and public life, he adorned every court in which he sat, and en- joyed a national reputation as a jurist. As common pleas judge, as justice of the supreme court, in which court he was a tower of strength, as attorney general in the cabinet of President Buchanan, as counsel for President Johnson at the time of his impeachment, as member of the convention which revised the state constitution, in every employment which occupied his versatile mind, in every depart- ment of the public service to which he was called, Jeremiah Sullivan Black was eminent. The people of Blair county may well felicitate · themselves upon the fact that he was their first president judge.

George Taylor, who ultimately became the president judge of the twenty-fourth judicial district, was born in Chester county, on No- vember 20, 1812. In his earlier years he was a blacksmith by occupation, as was his father before him, and as stated in J. Simpson Africa's history of Huntingdon county, "through a long line of ancestors, the anvil and the hammer were the family ensigns." But it was not the destiny of this young man to make that calling, honorable and useful as it is, his life work. His advantages of educa- tion were very limited; he attended no school or other institution of learning after he was thirteen years of age; he was self-educated, and it may be said, self-made. After teaching a country school for a time, he was employed as a clerk in the office of David R. Porter, pro- thonotary of Huntingdon county. Later, he became a law student in the office of General Andrew Porter Wilson, of Huntingdon, and was admitted to the bar on April 12, 1836. He had various employments at different times; at one time editing a democratic news- paper, and he served a term of two years as county treasurer. He at one time, had other

than legal aspirations as while he was acting as county treasurer, he commenced to prepare himself for the Presbyterian ministry, and had made such progress in studying Greek, that he could read the New Testament in Greek. But his ideal in this direction was not realized. He wisely concluded to return to the law, the profession to which his mind was peculiarly adapted, and which ultimately resulted in his elevation to that judicial office, for which he seemed specially designed by providence, and in which he found his proper and legitimate sphere of usefulness.

At the time the twenty-fourth judicial dis- trict was formed, the judges of the courts were appointed by the governor, subject to ratification by the senate, and George Taylor, having so distinguished himself as a jurist, while practicing at the bar, that he was con- sidered eminently qualified for judicial honors, was appointed by Governor Johnson president judge of the district in April, 1849, which ap- pointment was unanimously confirmed by the senate. He continued as president judge un- der this appointment until 1851. After the adoption of the amendment to the constitution, making the judiciary elective, he was unan- imously nominated as a candidate by the whig party, and was elected in October of that year. During his term of ten years, he made such a creditable record and established such a repu- tation for ability and integrity, that he was ac- corded the signal honor of a re-election with- out opposition for another term of ten years. He continued on the bench until November, 1871, when his long judicial career ended with his death, having served the public faithfully and honorably for twenty-two years.

Judge Taylor was a short-hand writer, and usually took short-hand notes during the trial of cases. His charges to the jury and his legal opinions, usually prepared with great care, showed profound learning and great legal acu- men, and were models of correct diction and vigorous English. Clearness, force, precision, logical reasoning and sound judgment marked all his judicial deliverances. Those lawyers, who practiced before Judge Taylor, take pleas-

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ure in spending a leisure hour occasionally in turning to some of the old state reports, and reading some of his charges to the jury, whence such charges are reported and in doing so, they seem to recall his manner in court; they seem to see him as he appeared in days of yore, and seem to hear again his sledge ham- mer deliverances from the bench. Speaking of his characteristics generally, without reference to his merits or demerits as a judge he was a positive character, with decided convictions, strong and outspoken in his likes and dislikes, unostentatious and unconventional in manner, constant in his friendship, intolerant of all sham and pretence, and unspring in denuncia- tions of doings which he deemed to be wrong, harmful or fraudulent.

Judge Taylor was succeeded on the bench by that judge of lustrous name and fame John Dean. He was elected at the October election in 1871, and commissioned for a term of ten years to be computed from the first Monday in December, 1871. At the November elec- tion in 1881, under the new constitution of 1874, he was re-elected, without opposition, and commissioned for the term of ten years, to commence on the first Monday of January, 1882. .. At the November election in 1891, he was again re-elected and commissioned for another term of ten years to be computed from

the first Monday of January, 1892. He did not serve out his full third term for the reason that at the November election in 1892, he was elected as a justice of the supreme court, and commissioned as such justice on December 19, 1892, in consequence of which election and commission, he resigned as judge of the com- mon pleas. My first recollection of John Dean was when he entered the office of that brilliant lawyer, David H. Hofius, Esq., as a law stu- dent. After practicing at the bar for some years, he was appointed as district attorney by Judge Taylor to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of John H. Keatley, Esq., who enlisted in the army. He was afterwards elected as district attorney for a term of three years. . That office gave him an opportunity for the display of his abilities, and brought

him prominently before the public. He prose- cuted the pleas of the commonwealth with such credit and distinction; he displayed such marked and signal ability, that the reputation he then made prepared the way for his subse- quent nomination and election to the bench. When he first entered upon the discharge of his duties as judge, there were a number of old cases disposed of, and as new cases were constantly accumulating, he found his judicial labors peculiarly arduous. He worked with untiring industry and diligence to get the con- gested dockets cleared, frequently holding night sessions. In this way very satisfactory progress was made in the dispatch of the pub- lic business. After the old cases were cleared from the docket the court moved at a more de- liberate pace, and night sessions were rare.

Judge Dean was, in every way, an ideal common pleas judge. His charges to the jury were models of clearness, preciseness and vig- orous expression, and they were delivered with great emphasis, the judge frequently bringing his fist down on the desk before him to emphasize his deliverances. He was a man of imposing presence; and without affecting any magisterial dignity or factitious show of authority, his appearance and manner on the bench were most impressive. His countenance bore the unmistakable stamp and impress of character. I have heard that some one said of Webster, when he was living, referring to his imposing personality and majestic presence, that he must be an imposter, for no man could be as great as he looked. But Webster was not an imposter ; he was as great as he looked. So without comparing Dean with Webster, it may be said, that whilst the personal appear -. ance and general make-up of Judge Dean in-, dicated great strength of character and great intellectual force, his attributes did not belie these outward indications; he was as great in these respects as he looked.

Whilst Judge Dean at all times exacted that respect and deference which was due to the judicial office, whilst he was most positive and direct in his rulings and in his conduct of the public business, he was most patient in hearing

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the arguments of counsel on both sides of a case; and was uniformly affable and courteous to the members of the bar. I do not recollect of his ever losing his temper, at any time, on account of any exasperating remarks that might be made by any dissatisfied lawyer. When a certain prominent lawyer, at one time, made a veiled threat of an appeal to the su- preme court, the judge was not offended, but with admirable poise and equanimity, but in unmistakable language, said, "the case is in this court now, and we will try it according to our best judgment and from the best light we can get." Speaking generally of his mental characteristics and judicial accomplishments, it seems to me that while he was always well read in the law, his great strength did not con- sist so much in book learning, or in the mental equipment that came from delving in the musty tomes of the law, or the accumulated wealth of legal lore, although he did not de- spise these, 'as in the breadth and depth of his understanding, his clear comprehension of fundamental principles, his mental grasp, his sound judgment and his innate sense of jus- tice. He seemed to grasp the principles of the law by a sort of intuition. Distinguished as he was in the common pleas court, he was no less eminent in that higher tribunal, that wider sphere, the supreme court. The opinions he delivered in that court, in some of the most important cases that ever came before that tri- bunal, involving questions of vast and far reaching import, have become imbedded in the jurisprudence of commonwealth, and have won for him enduring fame.

Upon the resignation of Judge Dean as common pleas judge, Hon. Aug. S. Landis was appointed by Governor Pattison to fill the vacancy from January 2, 1893, to January 2, 1894. As he was an incumbent of the office for so short a time, he did not have an oppor- tunity to attain an extended reputation as a judge. But during that short time he acquit- ted himself with credit and honor, and to the entire satisfaction of the public.

At the time memorial services were held on the occasion of the death of ex-Judge Landis,

a letter from Justice Dean was produced and read at the bar meeting. With the permission of the chair, I will read an extract from it as showing Justice Dean's estimate of the char- acter and attainments of ex-Judge Landis. I cannot take the time of the meeting by reading the entire letter, although it is pervaded throughout by a noble and exalted sentiment :

"Landis was a learned and profound law- yer. He was so well grounded in elementary principles, that often, without labor and re- search, he divined what the case law was. He indulged not greatly in emotion; his mind was analytical and logical; it was a pleasure to hear him brush aside all the chaff and rubbish which often gathers about a case and go with the unerring insight of a logical mind, straight to the real point."

Hon. Martin Bell was elected president judge in November, 1892, and his first term commenced on the first Monday of January, 1894, ten years thereafter he was re-elected for a second term of ten years, his second term commencing on the first Monday of January, 1904.

The judges who have, from time to time, presided in the courts of this county, and to whom I have referred, have all passed away. They are no longer among the living. But Hon. Martin Bell, our present president judge, is very much alive. I cannot, on this occasion, extol his merits as a judge, as I might feel in- clined to do, because the judge is present, and owing to his innate modesty, he might think I was indulging in flattery; and the critical and fastidious members of the bar might say that it savored of bad taste to laud a judge in his presence. Suffice to say that in his charges to the jury, and in his judicial opinions, Judge Bell has a way of "getting there" (craving the indulgence of the chair for the use of that ex- pression), of getting to rock bottom; of mar- shalling the facts and expounding the law in such fashion as to elucidate the real questions involved, without any irrelevant allusions, or superfluous verbiage, without any frills; that he has sized up to the full measure of the judi-

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Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 7

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