USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume II > Part 71
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A. J. LAUGHON
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Knipe, whose husband also became identified with Spokane when it was a frontier town.
Albert J. Laughon was but seven years of age when the family came to the north- west and in the country schools of Spokane county near Spangle he pursued his early education. Afterward he became a pupil of the Bancroft School of this city and for one year attended the high school. While yet a school boy he contributed to his own support by carrying a paper route on the old Spokane Spokesman. He soon directed his attention to those business interests where keen intellectuality must supplement unfaltering energy and, taking up the study of law, he pursued his read- ing with a firm then composed of Senator George Turner, Frank Graves and J. C. Mckinstry. Later this firm became Turner & Graves and was succeeded by Graves, Kizer & Graves. While pursuing his law reading Mr. Laughon also engaged in teaching school and pursued a commercial course in the Spokane Business College, in which he was afterward employed as a teacher, giving instruction in bookkeeping. At the same time he was employed as bookkeeper by the Spokane Gas Light Com- pany and taught school in the country districts. Every available opportunity, how- ever, was used for the perusal of his law books and gradually he mastered the principles with which every successful attorney must be familiar. Ere he was ready to enter upon active practice he conducted and edited a newspaper in connection with Oscar Loe called the Fairfield Standard, which is still being published, and at one time he edited a newspaper in Waverly, Washington, called the Waverly Optimist, which he founded.
All this time Mr. Laughon was studying law under the direction of Mr. Graves and on the 15th of May, 1897, he was admitted to the bar at Olympia. He entered upon active practice in connection with Del Cary Smith, and later was employed by Graves & Graves with whom he continued for three years, gaining much prac- tical and valuable experience during that period. In the fall of 1904 he was ap- pointed deputy prosecuting attorney under Horace Kimball and when R. M. Barn- hart became prosecuting attorney Mr. Laughon was his chief deputy prosecuting attorney for three years. In September, 1907, he was appointed assistant attorney for the Great Northern Railroad Company in Spokane. In September, 1909, he was appointed special deputy prosecuting attorney of Spokane county, for the pur- pose of handling the county's brief work in the supreme court, which position he filled until January, 1910. On January 1, 1910, he formed a partnership with Judge W. E. Richardson for the general practice of law and is now senior partner of the firm of Laughon, Lavin & Fitzgerald, the second member of the firm having formerly been the assistant of Mr. Laughon in his work with the Great Northern. They engage in general practice and have a large number of personal injury cases and Mr. Laughon devotes much time to supreme court brief work in which he has been very successful. During the last year in which he was associated with the Great Northern he tried many personal injury cases with Mr. Lavin's assistance and in every trial was very successful. He is now representing the plaintiff in- stead of the defendant and is equally successful in his work'. He is a very able writer; his briefs always show wide research, careful thought; and the best and strongest reasons which can be urged for his contention presented in cogent, log- ical form and illustrated by a style unusually lucid and clear. His arguments, too, have elicited warm commendation not only from his associates at the bar hut also from the bench. In all of his work his success is. due largely to the preparation
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which he gives to every case, for he never enters the courtroom unless thoroughly conversant with every phase and ready for trial to the minutest detail. He finds absolute pleasure in the preparation of briefs and in the work of looking up decisions and harmonizing them and in preparing his case for presentation. He has a par- ticularly retentive memory and a point or fact once mastered is seldom forgotten. He seems to have ready for immediate use every decision that he has ever read. He never takes notes in the trial of a case but depends entirely upon his memory which never seems to fail him. He successfully defended ten damage suits against the company while prosecuting attorney and has had a number of important murder cases which he briefed and argued in the supreme court. Two of these which created widespread interest were those of Dalton and of Fillpot, both murder cases. The court sustained the charge of murder in the first degree in both cases, although the governor afterward commuted the charge to life imprisonment. His colleagues at the bar have no hesitancy in proclaiming Mr. Laughon one of the prominent repre- sentatives of the legal profession in Spokane.
As opportunity has offered Mr. Laughon has from time to time made wise in- vestment in reality, owning considerable property in Spokane while at the same time he is interested in mining property at Murray in a company of which he is vice president. The mine is known as the Iron Clad and is a promising field.
In October, 1900, in Spokane, Mr. Laughon was married to Miss Mae Sweet, a daughter of E. R. Sweet, of Waverly, who is a retired farmer and pioneer, hav- ing become a resident of the Walla Walla country in 1879. Mr. Laughon votes with the republican party and is an active champion of its interests, believing it the duty as well as the privilege of every American citizen to support the prin- ciples which he regards as conducive to best government. He has served on the county committees and has been delegate to city and county conventions. He is a past grand of Imperial Lodge, No. 134, I. O. O. F., past consul commander of Spokane Camp No. 99, Woodmen of the World, and past worthy president of the Eagles. He likewise holds membership with the Red Men. All these things, however, are but side issues in his life, for his attention is closely concentrated upon his professional duties and his devotion to his clients' interests is proverbial. He is an able, efficient and conscientious minister in the temple of justice, is always courteous to the court and to the witnesses, and never forgets the duty which he owes in connection with the righteous administration of the law. More- over, he deserves much credit for what he has accomplished as his advancement has been based upon his own ability developed through close study and unremit- ting energy. He has ever been a keen observer and his particularly retentive memory is one of the strong and admirable features in his success.
GEORGE F. BITNER.
George F. Bitner, a well known capitalist of Kellogg, is now living retired save for the supervision which he gives to his numerous real-estate holdings in Kellogg and Wardner as well as his private investments. His birth occurred in Adams county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of March, 1857, his parents being Henry and Nancy (Glass) Bitner. He acquired his education in the schools of his native
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county and after putting aside his text-books worked for his father in the nursery business until twenty years of age. In 1877 he left the parental roof and made his way to Springfield, Ohio, where he worked in a grocery store for three years. In the spring of 1880 he went to Colorado, there being employed in the construction department of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, while subsequently he opened a saloon at Antonito. In 1883 he came to Spokane, before the railroad was com- pleted to that eity, and from there went to Sprague. In April, 1884, at the time of the gold discoveries on Eagle and Pritchard Creeks, he made his way to Murray, Idaho, here working in the mines until the winter of 1888. At that time he em- barked in the saloon business at Wardner, Idaho, and conducted an establishment of that character until 1890, when he sold out and opened a wholesale beer depot in Kellogg, continuing its conduct until he retired from active business life in 1908. He now devotes his time to the supervision of his extensive real-estate holdings 11: Kellogg and Wardner as well as his private investments.
On the 16th of October, 1900, Mr. Bitner was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Crebs, of Colfax, Washington, by whom he has three children, namely: Ella Margaret, who was born on the 5th of August, 1901; William Henry, whose natal day was July 5, 1903; and Phillip George, whose birth occurred on the 12th of March, 1907. Fraternally Mr. Bitner is identified with the Eagles and the Knights of Pythias at Wardner, belonging to Galena Lodge, No. 12, of the latter organization. He owns an attractive home at Kellogg and enjoys an extensive and favorable acquaintance throughout the community.
WILLIAM F. DORGAN.
William F. Dorgan, who for the past four years had been manager of the Ritz- ville warehouse Company, was born in Yolo county, California, on November 28, 1877. His parents, William and Kate (Murphy) Dorgan, were among the pioneer settlers of California, having come around the Horn during the years of the early movement toward the western coast.
Reared on a ranch in his native state, while engaged in the mastery of the eom- mon branches William F. Dorgan assisted his father in the work of the fields. He began his agricultural career at the age of nine years, and after leaving school he gave his undivided attention to farming until he was twenty-four. In 1901 he left home to begin working for himself and coming to Washington, he located in Harring- ton, where he was employed in a grain warehouse and mill for a year. At the ex- piration of that time he came to Ritzville and obtained employment on a ranch, continuing in this work until 1905. In the latter year he withdrew, in order to be- come bookkeeper for the Ritzville Warehouse Company. He was an efficient em- ploye and early gave evidence of being capable of satisfactorily filling a more re- sponsible position, so in 1907 he was made manager. During the four years he has been engaged in this capacity he has proven to be fully equal to the expectations of his employers and has discharged his duties most ably. Mr. Dorgan is an energetie man, possessing the enterprise and resourcefulness essential to the successful man- agement of any undertaking. He conduets his transactions in an honorable, straight- forward manner and is thus held in high esteem by all who have had dealings with him.
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In November, 1904, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Dorgan and Miss Maggie Estell, a daughter of Mrs. T. J. Davis, of Warden, Washington, and they have become the parents of three children: Violet, whose natal day was August 9, 1905; Donnie, who was born on the 1st of June, 1907; and baby Eunice, who will celebrate her first anniversary in April, 1912.
The fraternal relations of Mr. Dorgan are confined to his membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has filled all of the chairs except that of Noble Grand; and the Modern Woodmen of America, his affiliation with both of these organizations being with Ritzville lodges. During the period of his residence here Mr. Dorgan has at all times manifested those qualities that make him a most admirable citizen and desirable friend as well as respected business man, and he is held in high esteem in local commercial and social circles.
HON. MILES POINDEXTER.
As lawyer and law maker Hon. Miles Poindexter has since the early '90s had much to do with shaping the policy and molding the destiny of his adopted state. He has left the impress of his individuality upon its legal and judicial history and is now numbered with those who are framing the laws of the nation, having since 1909 had voice in the settlement of the significant and vital questions which have come before congress and the United States senate. He ranks with the eminent representatives of the republican party in the northwest. He was born at Memphis, Tennessee, April 22, 1868, while his parents, William B. and Josephine (Ander- son) Poindexter, were temporarily residing there although their home was in Mal- vern Hill, Henrico county, Virginia. The father devoted his time to agricultural pursuits and the practice of law, but at the time of the Civil war put aside all busi- ness and personal consideration and served with distinction as a member of Stu- art's Cavalry, of the Confederate army. His wife was a daughter of Judge Fran- cis T. Adams, who was at one time a prominent iron manufacturer and afterward served as a judge of the supreme court of appeals of Virginia.
Miles Poindexter supplemented his preparatory course, pursued at Fancy Hill Academy in Rockbridge county, Virginia, by study in the Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, in both the academic and law departments. He won his B. L. degree there upon his graduation in June, 1891, and, attracted by the opportunities which he believed the northwest furnished, he came to Washing- ton in the fall of the same year, reaching Walla Walla on the 10th of October. There he at once opened an office and entered upon the practice of law and had given substantial evidence of his ability to win him election to the office of prose- cuting attorney of Walla Walla county in November, 1892. He continued in prac- tice as a public official or as a private member of the bar at Walla Walla until October 10, 1897, when he removed to Spokane.
For six years Judge Poindexter filled the office of assistant prosecuting attorney of Spokane county, in which connection he ably defended the public interests and gave further proof of his comprehensive knowledge of the law and his ability to correctly apply its principles. He continued in that office until November, 1904, when he was elected judge of the superior court of the district and remained upon
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the bench until nominated for congress in the newly created third district at the primary election held September 8, 1908. He was regularly elected to the sixty- first congress and in the primary held on the 13th of September, 1910, his popu- larity was indicated by the fact that in a ballot cast for United States senator he received sixty-seven thousand, seven hundred and fourteen votes against twenty- six thousand, eight hundred and forty-six cast for Thomas Burke; fourteen thou- sand, five hundred and eighty-one for James Ashton; three thousand, nine hundred and twenty-four for John E. Humphries; and one thousand, nine hundred and seventy-five for L. R. Freeman. On the 18th of January, 1911, he was elected United States senator by the Washington legislature by a vote of one hundred and twenty-six to eleven and took his seat on the 17th of April following, his term to continue until March 3, 1917. His previous experience in the house well qualified him to take up the added duties that devolved upon him when he came to the high- est law-making body of the nation. His work speaks for itself. He has stood fearlessly in defense of principle and while his course has naturally awakened the opposition of those holding different views, his personal popularity remains un- shaken and wherever he goes he wins friends.
In June, 1892, Senator Poindexter was married in Walla Walla to Miss Eliza- beth Gale Page, of that place, a daughter of Thomas and Frances L. M. (Gale) Page. They now have one son, Gale Alett, who is attending the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, as an appointee of Congressman W. L. La Follette.
FREDERICK H. HAUPT.
Frederick H. Haupt, cashier of the First National Bank of Ritzville, has been a resident of Adams county for the past ten years. He was born in Mankato, Minnesota, on the 15th of December, 1863, and is a son of John C. and Dora A. (Funk) Haupt. The parents were both natives of Germany, whence they emi- grated to the United States in the early '60s, locating in Minnesota. They were pioneer settlers of the latter state, and resided there during the period of the early Indian troubles, when the safety of the citizens was in doubt from day to day in the more sparsely settled portions of the country. Upon their arrival in Minne- sota they first located at Mankato, remaining there until 1866, when they removed to St. Paul.
Frederick H. Haupt was a child of three years when his parents removed to St. Paul, to whose public schools he is indebted for his education. He was a most in- dustrious, independent little lad, who was very anxious to become self-supporting. so at the age of nine years he began selling newspapers. As he was enterprising and businesslike he made a success of the undertaking and later established a route, that he managed for five or six years. This was a pretty big undertaking for a youth of his years, as he had both morning and evening papers, and occupied the greater part of the time when he was not in school. His student days were termi- nated at the age of eighteen years, in 1881, and he became a telegraph messenger, later working in an insurance office. In 1882 he obtained a position as clerk in the Second National Bank of St. Paul, where he remained for three years. He next became identified with the Bank of Minnesota of St. Paul, entering their employ in
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1885 and continuing in their service until their failure on the 22d of December, 1896. He continued to be connected with this institution, however, being retained in the service of the receiver until the first of March, 1902. After the affairs of this concern were adjusted, Mr. Haupt came to Adams county to take the position of cashier in the Bank of Lind, entering upon his duties on the 15th of March, 1902. The entire charge of this enterprise devolved upon him, but that he was equal to the responsibility is evidenced by the long period of his service. On the Ist of January, 1910, he severed the connection and removed to Ritzville to take the po- sition he is now holding. During the period of his connection with banking affairs in Adams county, Mr. Haupt has become recognized as an efficient and entirely trustworthy man, whose reliability can at all times be depended upon.
In 1889 Mr. Haupt was united in marriage to Miss Louise Rausch, a daughter of J. C. Rausch, one of the pioneer settlers of Mankato and the Blue Earth valley, Minnesota, and for many years a close friend of the Haupt family. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Haupt, Frederick, whose birth occurred in 1897.
During the latter seventeen years of his residence in Minnesota, Mr. Haupt was a member of the national guard, being sergeant of Company D, First regiment. This was one of the crack militia regiments of the United States, and was awarded second prize in a competition between one hundred and thirty regiments held at Washington, D. C., in 1887. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order, and holds membership in the Lind lodge, No. 147, F. & A. M., and was treasurer of the organization during the period of his residence there. He now belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star at Ritzville, and he is also identified with the Com- mercial Club of this city and the Inland Club of Spokane. His political support he gives to the republican party, and during his residence in Lind represented his ward in the local council. Mr. Haupt's life has never been characterized by any unusual events or exciting experiences, but is very similar to those of the majority of American citizens, who comprise the nation's strength, and faithfully discharge the duties of life as they see them to their country and their families.
LEVI G. ADAMS.
Levi G. Adams, who is the president of The Adams Leather Company, which is located at Nos. 172-174 South Post street, Spokane, was born in Newton, Illinois, on the 8th of June, 1864. He is a son of William and Caroline (Vanderhoof) Adams, who passed away in 1905 and 1898, respectively.
Until he was sixteen years of age Levi G. Adams was a pupil in the public schools of Newton, Illinois. During these years he displayed many of the qualities which have since characterized his life. After leaving school he learned the shoe- maker's trade in his father's shop and remained his father's able assistant for four years. Subsequently he removed to Maroa, Illinois, where he was employed for four years before going to Springfield, Illinois, and engaging in the shoe-findings business. For eight years and a half he followed this occupation and during that time became thoroughly acquainted with the various details of the shoemaking business. For the first four years of his residence in Springfield he was also employed by a large leather firm and had ample opportunity to put into practice the principles
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which he had learned in his father's shop and also to make a study of the more re- cent and advanced ideas of the business. He next removed to Minneapolis, where he again engaged in the leather and shoe-findings business, this time associating himself with J. H. Martin as his partner. For nine and a half years they con- ducted this enterprise and during that time they also established a similar concern in Spokane. In 1907 Mr. Adams removed to this city and has since been the presi- dent and manager of The Adams Leather Company, having dissolved his partner- ship with Mr. Martin, who assumed full control of the Minneapolis house.
Mr. Adams was married in Maroa, Illinois, to Miss Ida A. Moyer, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Moyer, on the 18th of March, 1884. To their union two chil- dren have been born, both of whom are associated with their father in business, Glenn L. and Mary Helene. The death of Mrs. Adams occurred on the 11th of March, 1911.
In politics Mr. Adams is a republican and in religious faith is a Congregational- ist, holding membership in the Congregational church of Spokane. He is a mem- ber of the Inland Club and for twenty years has held membership with the United Commercial Travelers. He has worked diligently and persistently for success, knowing that effort, intelligently applied, ultimately means prosperity. He has thoroughly acquainted himself with the various details of his business and because of his knowledge, his force of character and industrious habits has accomplished what he set out to do, making continuous progress in the business world until he is now at the head of an extensive and prominent commercial concern.
JOHN M. CANNON.
John M. Cannon, who has been engaged in the practice of law in Ritzville, Adams county, since the fall of 1909, during which time he has manifested the public spirit that would make him an acquisition to any community, was born in Juneau county, Wisconsin, on the 18th day of April, 1869. He is the third son of James and Elizabeth (Noonan) Cannon, and is of Irish descent, his grandmother, who lived to attain the age of one hundred and eight years, well remembering much of the history of Ireland for a century.
Although born in Wisconsin, Mr. Cannon was reared on a farm in Iowa, receiv- ing his earlier education in the country district school, and later at the School of the Assumption at Cresco, lowa, and at the Cedar Valley Seminary and Osage high school of Osage, lowa. After attaining manhood he entered the University of Minnesota, and graduated from the law department of that institution with the class of 1896. Upon his graduation he was admitted to the bar of Minnesota and soon thereafter to the bar of the state of lowa, and established an office at Cresco, Iowa, where he continued in the practice until 1905. He then moved to St. Paul and as- sociated with James Manahan, where he practiced law under the firm name of Manahan & Cannon. This firm was active in the progress movement which re- sulted in the two cent rate passenger fare on railway lines, in greatly reducing the freight rates, and in the final pass of the reciprocal demurrage acts of Minnesota. It was this firm, also, that started the original suits against the Pullman Sleeping Car Company for the reduction of berth rates which ultimately resulted in the es- tablishment of a different rate for upper and lower berths.
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In 1909 Mr. Cannon formed a copartnership with Judge W. W. Zent, for the practice of law in Ritzville. This partnership was terminated about a year later when Judge Zent moved to Spokane, and Mr. Cannon took over the business of the firm. Since locating at Ritzville, he has been connected with much important liti- gation and in every instance he has acquitted himself in such a dignified, able and scholarly manner as to not only call for the admiration of the colleagues, but of his opponents. Mr. Cannon is generally recognized as one of the capable representa- tives of his profession in this section, and in addition to his large private practice, he is also attorney for the Northern Pacific Railway Company, in Adams county.
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