An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 43

Author: Hines, Harvey K., 1828-1902
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1056

USA > Washington > An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 43

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

274

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

what was the matter, and I replied that there were a lot of caynses around, when up jumped Judge Oliphant and enquired, " Where are they ? where are they?" I replied that they were just outside not far from onr animals. Out the Judge went, half dressed, but after a short time returned saying that he could not see any eay- nses. Garfielde remarked that probably they had gone away, and that " yon never could find that breed of Indian ponies when you wanted them, any way!" At that, Oliphant, who had gotten into bed again, raised up and shrieked " Ponies! Ponies! I thought yon said they were cay- nses?" When Oliphant finally saw the joke that had been played on him, he was as inch out of humor as such a good soul could be, and didn't speak to any of us for several days, unless he was obliged to!

Judge Oliphant was an elderly man, of large france and equally large heart, unacenstomed to the rough ways of the Western wilds, and he soon tired of his position as Judge. After hold- ing terms of court at Oro Fino and Boise City among the miners, who carried their revolvers in the court-room as elsewhere, the Judge re- signed to take a elerkship in the General Land Office in Washington eity, where he could live in peace and quiet, and there spent the balance of lis days.

In consequence of the obliging disposition of Judge Oliphant and his desire to please every- one, and especially the attorneys, he sometimes got himself into an awkward predicament.

During the fall term of 1862 at Walla Walla, Judge Lander and General Bridges were pitted against each other in a canse that came up for hearing on demorrer. Judge Lander made a speech in support of the demarrer, and the Judge promptly decided in his favor withont waiting to hear General Bridges; bnt Bridges as promptly jumped to his feet, saying, " Hold on, Judge; I have a right to be heard!" " Well," says the Judge, " what have you got to say?" Wherenpon the general launched out upon an argument that soon convinced the Judge that his first ruling was wrong, whereupon he as

promptly decided in favor of the general; but Lander, of course, was not satisfied and elaimed his right to the elosing argument and proceeded with his side of the case. At the close of Judge Lander's argument, Judge Oliphant threw him- self baek in his chair and with his arıns hang- ing loosely by his side in despair exclaimed: "Gentlemen, I wish I could please you both!", adjourned the court and took the case under advisement.

After the fall term of court at Walla Walla, we removed down the Columbia and Vancou- ver, which was thenceforth our headquarters until the fall of 1864, when we located at Seat- tle.

The next session of conrt was the annual ses- sion of the Supreme Court for 1862-63. It was during this term of the Supreme Court that B. F. Kendall was shot and killed by a young man by the name of Ilowe.

Kendall was an able man but a bitter part- isan and relentless foe. At the time of his deatlı he was Superintendent of the Indian Af- fairs for Washington Territory, and was also the proprietor and editor of a newspaper pub- lished in Olympia. Kendall took occasion, with or without canse, to attack most bitterly young flowe's father in his newspaper. The elder Ilowe, meeting Kendall on the streets of Olympia, undertook to castigate him with a cane, but Kendall defended himself with a re- volver and wounded Howe, though not seri- onsly. I was after this that young Howe es- ponsed the quarrel of his father, and, as it was understood at the time, demanded of Kendall a retraction of the article containing an attack upon the elder Ilowe. The final meeting was in Kendall's office, withont the presence of any third person, with the result that Kendall was shot dead. Publie sentiment was divided as to the merits of the Kendall-Howe controversy, and as Kendall had many bitter enimies, al- though young Howe was committed for mur- der, the grand jury failed to indict him, and he was liberated after about three months' im- prisonment in the Thurston county jail. Young

275

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

Howe removed to California, where he soon died of consumption.

At the fall term of court, 1862, several indict- ments were found by the grand jury at Port Townsend against Victor Smith, then collector of customs for the Puget Sound district. Smith had previously procured the removal of the custom- house from Port Townsend to Port Angles, and of course the feeling was very bitter at Port Town- send against him. Smith procured a change of venne from Port Townsend to Olympia, and when the proper time arrived, boarded the re- venne entter with his witnesses and set sail for Olympia. The people of Port Townsend, not to be outdone by Victor Smith, chartered a steamer, which they designated as " Revenue Cutter No. 2," and with the attorneys, witness- es, etc., for the prosecution, also set sail for Olympia.

The indictments against Smith contained nminerous counts for all sorts of crimes and misdemeanors, most of which were no doubt imaginary. After considerable skirmishing on the part of the respectively attorneys, these cases were continued until the spring term of 1863, and were then dismissed by order of the Secre- tary of the Treasury.

The war upon Victor Smith was not wholly confined to l'ort Townsend. Smith was the warm personal friend and protege of Sahnon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, and was disposed to run the politics of the Territory.

Dr. Anson G. Henry, Surveyor General of the Territory, was an old personal friend and former family physician of President Lincoln, and he was also disposed to assume the rule of political boss.

There was, therefore, an irrepressible conflict between Smith and Henry, which could end only with the absolute defeat of the one or the other. After the dismissal of the Smith in- dictments, the war was transferred to Washing- ton eity, Henry having the ear of Lincoln, and Smith that of Chase. Finally, in the winter of 1864-65, Henry and Smith both went to the city of Washington in person, and the final re-

sult was the removal of Smith from the office of collector of enstoms.

A singular circumstance connected with this contest was that both Henry and Smith, on their return trip home, were fellow passengers on the ill-fated steamer, " Brother Jonathan, " which was lost in the early spring of 1865 off Crescent Harbor, on the California coast, and both perished in the wreck.

Some funny things happened in connection with the administration of justice in these early days.

In 1864 or 1865, the sheriff of Island county and one of his depnties were indicted for mur- der. They were charged with killing an In- dian at Coupeville, on Whidby Island. They were arrested and held to bail, but in the mean- time, between their examination and the next term of court, continued to performin the duties of the sheriff's office, which in part consisted in summoning a portion of the grand jury and petit jury for the next term at Port Townsend when and where are they to be tried. They were duly indicted, and patiently awaited their turn to be tried, the sheriff, in the meantime, acting as one of the bailiffs of the court, nntil the judge's attention was called to the fact, when his service at the term of court were dis- pensed with, notwithstanding his vigorous pro- test.

There were several murder cases on the docket of that term. One was against a inan by the name of Martin for killing one Kelly at Port Ludlow. Wyche presided, Judge Den- nison and myself prosecuted, and Judge Me- Fadden and Frank Clarke defended.

It was during this trial that Frank Clarke objected to a very popular question asked the witness by Judge Dennison, and the presiding Judge in surprise asked Clarke what his objec- tion was, when Frank replied that his objection was not so much to the question itself as to the very grave and solemn manner in which it was asked!

The result of the Martin case was a prompt acquittal by the jury, much to the disgust of the

276

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

judge, who, after repremanding the jury, au- nonnced that the balance of the capital cases would be continued to the next term. There- npon, the attorney for the Island county sheriff undertook to argne the matter with the court as to the sheriff's case, and finally the sheriff, himself, no doubt thinking the attorney was not making mneh headway, arose and an- nounced to the court that he was now present and ready to be tried, and that he did not pro- pose to dance attendance at the next term of court, which would convene about harvest time,-a very busy season for him. The court, however, ordered the sheriff into enstody and continued the cases. It is needless to say the sheriff was never convicted.

Charles Ben Darwin was the successor of Judge Oliphant, and held his first term at Seattle.

Among the attorneys who had been in the habit of re-arguing their cases before Oliphant after they had been decided and sometimes with success, was Frank Clarke of Steilacoom. On the first day of Darwin's term, the judge promptly overruled one of Clarke's demnrrers, wherenpon Mr. Clarke undertook to re-argue it. The judge stopped him by saying, " There is nothing before the court, Mr. Clarke." " Yes, but-" said Frank. "Mr. Clarke" said the Judge very emphatically, " I tell you there is nothing before this court!" Whereupon ('larke sat down and remarked in a loud whisper that " that was the d -- st court" he ever saw; whereupon the judge turned to the clerk and ordered him to enter np a fine of fifty dollars against Mr. Clarke, and called the next case. Clarke, somewhat crestfallen, walked up to the clerk's desk and paid his fine in greenbacks, then worth about fifty cents on the dollar. Ile then went out doors to give vent to his feelings and cool off. After talking the matter over a while with his friends, he borrowed a handful of twenty-dollar gold pieces of Charlie Terry and returned to the court-room, when, at the first opportunity, he arose, and, pulling ont the shining twenties and exhibiting them to the

court, said: "May it please the Conrt: I did not understand whether my fine was to be paid in currency or coin. I paid it in currency, but if it was intended to be in coin, I will correct the mistate." "Snit yourself," said the judge, and proceeded with the business of the Court. Clarke, who was an able man, but what might be called a "roustabont" in practice, never fairly recovered from the effects of this defeat.

At the same term of court, and on the same day, Dr. Maynard was fined by the court five dollars for failure to appear as a witness. Maynard never paid his fine, but went out among the boys, and the first thing he said was that that was the meanest thing he ever knew a conrt to do. " Why," said the Doctor, " he fined Frank Clarke fifty dollars like a gentle- man, and then he has fined me five dollars like a son of-a-gun!"

It was at this term that the celebrated case of James Crow vs. Thomas Alvord was tried before Darwin and a jury. Alvord had killed a female pup belonging to Crow, that was supposed to be the making of a good bear-dog, a valuable animal in those days.

The case was first tried before Justice Mc- Millan near where Kent now is, by the parties withont attorneys, but as the jury failed to agree, Crow employed the writer to go up and re-try the case, and Alvord employed Dick Ward on his side.

The only law book, aside from the Territorial Statutes, used in this trial, was a couple of leaves ent from an old number of Peterson's Magazine, containing a fine steel engraving of a beautiful honnd, and a poem descriptive of his many good qualities!

Having to ride on horse-back some twenty miles over a rough trail it was impracticable to carry much of a law library, even if it had been at hand, and would not have been of great use in any event.

The scene of the poem and engraving was laid in the Highlands of Scotland. Luarth, the high-bred and noble greyhound of Chieftain Cameron, had been shot by some miscreant and

277

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

had come home to die on his master's hearth-rng. Chieftain Cameron sits by the open fire-place with his trusty fire-lock across his knee, looking down into the appealing eyes of the faithful ani- mal, dreaming of vengeance, while his daughters, Jenny and Cathleen, stand on either side, giving vent to their grief in a shower of tears. The poem was a pathetic description of the worth, attachment and fidelity of the expiring victim of some secret enemy.

This engraving and poem settled the question with that jury, and the plaintiff obtained a judg- ment for $20, and defendant appealed. At the trial in the district court, Judge Dennison was employed as assistant counsel for plaintiff, and Judge McFadden and Frank Clark were em- ployed for the defense. In the argument to the jury, Judge Dennison read Byron's inscrip- tion upon a monument to a Newfoundland dog. I again exhibited the engraving and read the poem, while Judge McFadden made some quota- tions from Shakespeare, not quite so complis mentary to the dog and exhibiting some of his worst qualities.

This was the great case of that term, and re- sulted in a verdict of ten cents for the plaintiff, which, however, carried the costs, amounting to over $300, besides the attorney's fees.

At the last term of court held by Judge Oliphant in Seattle, in 1863, I think, during the trial of a cause, the writer had occasion, as he thought, to criticise very severely some act of the auditor of King county, when he was inter- rupted by the judge, who thought the criticismn too severe; but the attorney persisting, the judge finally screamed out: "Sit down, Mr. McGilvra; sit down! I want you to understand when this court is 'roused, its -- 'roused!" The strong rising inflection upon the first "'roused", and the marked falling inflection upon the last " 'roused," made the scene so ridic- ulous that the bar commenced to langh, and, finally seeing the humorous side of the affair, the judge joined in the langh, and so the matter ended. This was the fall term.

At the spring term, previons, Judge Wyche

presided, and during the trial of a criminal case old Manuel Lopez, now an inmate of the Provi- dence IIospital, I think, was called as a witness in a criminal case. He came forward but re- fused to be sworn or to testify until his fees had been paid. The judge informed him that he conld not demand his fees in advance in a crim- inal case, to which Mannel replied, " I don't know about that law, Mr. Judge. I has been told by the best lawyer and judge in this coun- try that I was not obliged to swear till I was paid de money." About this time Judge Me- Fadden took his hat and left the court-room. Wyche saw the point of the joke, and was so much amused that he had to smile, and this tended to confirm Manuel in the belief that he had been correctly advised as to his legal rights. As soon as Wyche could control his risibilities he tried to explain to Manuel that it was only in civil cases that he had a right to demand his fees. Manuel, however, could not see the dis- tinetion, and still refused to testify until the judge threatened to send him to jail, and even then he reluctantly testified, under strong pro- test.

Judge Wyche was a genial man, an able and upright judge, and a lawyer of marked ability. He was one of the very few lawyers who could step down from the bench and take the first rank at the bar over which he had presided. This, Judge Wyche emphatically did.

McFadden was another Judge who made a success in his practice upon retiring to the bar.

In 1869, soon after Judge Jacobs had as- cended the bench, McFadden had occasion to appear before him to settle the pleadings in a certain canse, when Jacobs was particularly severe in his criticism of MeFadden's answer in the case. Jacobs intimated that an office boy ought to draw a better pleading. Judge McFad- den arose, and in his blandest manner said: " May it please the Court, when I occupied the position your Honor now fills with so much grace, I never had any difficulty in knowing what the law was; but I find it very different when I get down here," and sat down! That is

578

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

the only time I ever saw Judge Jacobs blush, and he lost no time in calling the next case.

In early times it was the practice of suitors to consult the judges privately, without the in- tervention of attorneys, and I am not certain that this practice is entirely done away with yet. On one occasion a farmer came to Judge Oli- phant and complained that the Board of County Commissioners had opened up a road through his farm without notice, assessment of damages, etc., etc. "Why," said the Judge, "my good man, they can't do that !"

"Now Judge," says he, "what is the use of your telling me that ? I tell you they have done it !"

The Judge wilted.

These are only a few of the incidents of the olden times that come floating down on memory through the lapse of many years.

While the country was new and rough, and sparsely settled, there was really a great deal of important business for the courts to do, and so far as ability and integrity is concerned, the beneh and bar of those days will compare favor- ably with the bench and bar of to-day.

One marked difference is that it required more nerve then than it does now on the part of both bench and bar to perform the respective duties of their office in good faith and fearlessly.

1 onee prosecuted a defendant in this town for assault with intent to kill, and convicted him, too, when I knew a drunken attorney for the defense had a pistol in his pocket for my benefit and had threatened to use it.

In those days it required true courage to en- able a man to live up to the standard of his con- victions.

At the beginning and all through the war of the Rebellion, there were a great many South- ern men and Southern sympathizers scattered all through this country, and they belonged to the aggressive element of frontier life, loud- monthed, defiant and threatening. Among the leaders of this element were several army officers from the South, in command of and attached to the various military posts along the coast, who preferred quietly to draw their pay from the Federal Government to facing Federal guns in the Confederate army, and yet they would openly eurse the government that fed them, and were loud in their expressions of sympathy for the rebels. Abraham Lincoln was cursed, and toasts were drank to Jeff. Davis in the presence of the commanding officers of the military posts without rebuke. This was particularly the case in all the region of Eastern Oregon and Wash- ington.

It will be remembered that at the commence- ment of the Rebellion Albert Sidney Johnston was in command of the army and military posts of the Pacific Coast, and when he was nnex- pectedly relieved by Sumner was preparing to hoist the rebel flag and turn the army and the country over to the rebels.

While some of these army officers deserted and entered the rebel army early in the Re- bellion, it was not until the winter of 1863- '64 that the military posts on this coast were thoroughly cleansed of this rebel element. Then these recreant officers were either relieved or sent to the front.

It was the writer's privilege to assist in this good work, for which he was soundly rated by a portion of the rebel sympathizing press of the country at the time.

279

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

CHAPTER XXXIX

WASHINGTON AT THE WORLD'S FAIR.

WASHINGTON STATE BUILDING, AT THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, CHICAGO.

IT seems fitting that we should close this volume of the History of Washington, " The Evergreen State," with an account of the State at the world's great Columbian Exposi- tion. This seems especially appropriate sinee the State itself eame so near being ealled "Columbia." While all the new States that came into the Union at the same time with Washington have received marked considera- tions from the Commissioners of the great Ex- position, Washington has easily received the mnost marked attention. Crowds of wondering visitors linger around and stroll through her unique building, and gaze npon the exhibition of her produets with surprise. The following descriptive paper, prepared mostly by Mr. E. S. Meany, Secretary of the Washington Commis- sion will diselose, the occasion of this wonder- ing admiration.

This new State made three World's Fair ap- propriations: the first one of $100,000 in 1891, and another of $50,000 in 1893, and a separate one at the same time of $5,000, to defray the expense of maintaining the exhibits prepared by the Board of Lady Managers of Washington. The officers of older States, who had more money at their disposal, have frequently expressed their wonder at the showing made by Wash- ington with this $155,000.

In the first place it is impossible to visit any portion of the Exposition withont being re- minded of the existence of the rich new common- wealth in the far northwest. Even the flag-staff's nsed on the grounds in front of the Gov- ernment buildings. were all sent from Washing- ton. There are forty-seven of these tall flag- staffs, all straight, fine, young fir trees. It will be noticed, also, that Washington gave more

280

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.

than her share of the columns in the rustic colonnade surrounding the Forestry building, for three of the columns bear her name.

A tour of the general Exposition buildings will show fine exhibits from this State in six of them; viz., in the Mining, Agricultural, Horti- cultural, Fisheries, Forestry and Transportation buildings.

In the Mining building there is seen a fine booth, ornate with columns and pyramids of gold, silver, lead, iron and other valuable ores. In one of the attractive cases is shown about $3,000 worth of native gold nuggets, all brought from Washington, to show the wealth securely locked in the hills and valleys of the State and only waiting the well directed toil of man to set many new industries in motion. In this section is also shown great quantities of coal, coke and building stones.

In the agricultural booth is shown many sur- prises for those uninformed about the great West. Great yields of bright golden grains, large vegetables, luxuriant, hops, tobaccos, and in fact all the products of diversified temperate-zone farming.

Another surprise is in store for all who visit Washington at the Horticultural building. Great varieties of apples, pears, cherries, plnins, peaches, prunes, quinces, small fruits, grapes, and in fact nearly every product of the orchard are shown here to the astonishment of many who had heretofore supposed that the far North- west was a land of snow, ice, Indians and dense forests.

In the Fisheries building the Washington section is one very easy to find, as it is crowned by the skeleton of an immense whale, suspended from the iron archies of the roof. This whale is the species known to science as the Megaptera versabilis. To the trade it is known as the Pacific Humpback, and it is one of the whales that produce the black whale-bone of commerce. It was forty-seven feet in length and forty-eight feet in maximum girth. In this booth are shown many prepared specimens of all kinds of salmon, trout, cod, halibut, sturgeon, shellfish,

crustaceans, fish-eating birds and animals, canned and prepared fish and their products, squids, oysters, shrimp, clams, canoes, Indian fishing implements, and, in fact, a complete fish exhibit, showing vast wealth in store for in the future development of this industry. One noticeable feature in this booth is a linge sea lion with a captive salmon in his jaws.

The general Forestry building contains an at- tractive exhibit of Washington woods. One special exhibit is a model cottage home made out of the principal native woods such as fir, cedar, spruce, hemlock, maple, elder and so on. The design is songhit after by many who desire to reproduce the artistic effect in reproducing the cottage for a dwelling. There are also shown here sections of all the great forest trees of Washington, some of these sections of monsters eight and nine feet in diameter. Many of these are highly polished, showing the great beanty of the woods when finished in their natural grains. One particular section is that of a big fir log twenty-four feet long and over six feet in diam- eter, scaling over 7,000 feet of lumber, and all clear, without a spot or blemish. This wood is recognized as among the best of building ma- terials, as it is firm, solid and free from all the objections of shrinking, warping, etc.

The last of the general buildings in which this State makes an exhibit is the Transportation building, and here is shown a set of logging trucks. These trucks are loaded with three big Puget Sound logs, a cedar, spruce and fir, show- ing how the principal lumber logs of that sec- tion are brought to the mills at tide water from the hearts of the great forests.

There is another important exhibit in this same building in which Washington has a large share. I refer to the Northern Pacific Railroad. This company has fitted np three elegant coaches and filled them with samples of the wonderful resources of the Northwestern States through which the road operates.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

An illustrated history of the state of Washington, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 43

Author: Hines, Harvey K., 1828-1902 Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1056

Author: Hines, Harvey K., 1828-1902
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1056