USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > Spokane and the Spokane country : pictorial and biographical : deluxe supplement, Volume II > Part 4
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wieCullen,
Lon. Talilliam E. Cullen
N THE history of the northwest no name is regarded with greater honor and prominence than that of William E. Cullen, who remained for a number of years as a leading representative of mining law in this section of the country. He was also well versed on railroad and other branches of corporation law, his opinions coming to be regarded as authority upon questions rela- tive to those branches of jurisprudence. He rose to a position of dis- tinction because he wisely, faithfully and conscientiously utilized the powers with which nature endowed him, and among those who have left their impress upon the legal history of the northwest none have been more faultless in honor, fearless in conduct or stainless in repu- tation. He resided in Spokane for only a comparatively brief period but was a resident of this section of the state for many years. I
His birth occurred in Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, June 30, 1838, his parents being among the pioneer residents of that state. The ancestry is traced back in the paternal line to Scotland, whence the great-grandfather of Judge Cullen came to America, leaving the city of Edinburgh in 1768 to become a resident of the new world. He was a man of fine intellectual attainments and scholarly habits, was a Greek professor and in that connection was for some time a member of the faculty of one of the early colleges of Pennsylvania. He was the father of John Cullen and the grandfather of Thomas W. Cul- len, and the latter was the father of William E. Cullen of this re- view. Thomas W. Cullen engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods in Pennsylvania and was there married in 1837 to Miss Isabel Morrison. Thirty years later they removed to Ohio, where their re- maining days were passed, the father's death occurring when he had reached the age of seventy-seven years, while the mother passed away at the age of sixty. Their religious faith was that of the Protestant Episcopal church and their lives were ever in harmony with their professions.
William E. Cullen was reared amid the refining influences of a good Christian home and was the eldest in a family of six children, to whom the public schools of his native town afforded them their
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Don. William E. Cullen
early educational privileges. He afterward had the benefit of three years' study in what is now known as Kenyon College, a celebrated Episcopal institution at Gambier, Ohio. The west with its limitless opportunities attracted him, and following his graduation he went to Minnesota, where he was appointed superintendent of instruction for the Winnebago Indians, his uncle, Major Cullen, being the Indian agent for the entire northwest. Two years were devoted to that work but during that period he determined to enter upon the practice of law, hoping to find in it a more congenial and profitable field. The trend of his mind was naturally analytical, logical and inductive and he felt that there would be sustained interest for him in the prepara- tion and conduct of cases and in the solution of intricate and involved legal problems.
In 1860 Mr. Cullen entered the office of Judge E. Flandreau, at that time associate justice of the supreme court of Minnesota, and there continued his studies under most effective direction until 1862, when he was admitted to the bar. He shared in the experiences of frontier life during his residence in Minnesota, and served as second lieutenant in a company of state troops at the time of the Indian up- rising of 1862, which reached its climax in the fearful massacre at New Ulm. The company to which he was attached did active duty in suppressing the Sioux Indians, and when his military aid was no longer needed Mr. Cullen turned his attention to the active practice of law, opening an office at St. Peter, Nicollet county, Minnesota, where he became associated with Major S. A. Buell, a brother of General Don C. Buell. This connection was maintained until 1866, when Mr. Cullen started on the overland journey to Montana, travel- ing by ox team with a party that made the trip under command of Captain James Fisk and arrived in Helena in August.
Mr. Cullen at once opened an office in that city and soon gained recognition as a lawyer of wide knowledge and ability. His services were in constant requisition in the trial of cases and in counsel and he also took active part in shaping the early history of the district through political activity. He was chosen to represent the district in the legislative assembly, which at that time numbered but seven mem- bers and was the first to convene subsequent to the annulment of the laws of 1866. At later dates and on different occasions, when the country was more thickly settled, Mr. Cullen again represented his district in the territorial and state legislatures and was identified with the work of framing many of the laws which now have place on the statute books of the state and constitute a firm foundation for its present high legal and political status.
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Non. William E. Cullen
As the years passed Judge Cullen progressed in his profession until he occupied a position of distinctive precedence and promi- nence. In 1876 he became a partner of Colonel W. F. Sanders, one of the most distinguished members of the bar of the state. Later he was associated with George F. Shelton and afterward with Gov- ernor J. K. Toole, all distinguished representatives of the legal fra- ternity in the northwest. He likewise served as division counsel for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company from the time its line entered the state of Montana in 1881 until it was reorganized in 1897. As its chief representative in Montana he passed through many excit- ing periods in its history, from the time when General Grant drove the golden spike at Gold Creek, Montana, through its many vicissi- tudes, including in its later years the troublesome seizure of trains by the Coxey army and the great sympathetic strike of 1894, which com- pletely tied up its property, and finally through its passage into the hands of receivers and its final sale to the present reorganization.
Professional service, which also brought Judge Cullen into more than local prominence, was his work as general counsel for F. Augus- tus Heinze during the long legal contest which he waged with the Amalgamated Copper Company for many years at Butte, Montana, resulting finally in victory for his client. The judge was one of the organizers and a large stockholder of the Powell Sanders wholesale grocery company of Spokane.
The political offices which Judge Cullen filled were always di- rectly or indirectly in the path of his profession, being connected with framing or with the interpretation of the law. He was the first at- torney general of the state of Montana and also its first adjutant general. In politics he was a recognized supporter of the democratic party but felt that his professional duties should be precedent to all else and thus took comparatively little active part in political work. A contemporary biographer has written of him: "In his chosen field of mining law few men were his equals and he has left a deep imprint upon the mining laws and decisions of the country. His ability was recognized by the public and the profession and was the outcome of close study, thorough preparation of his cases, keen analysis of facts and the logical application of the law. Before a court or jury he entered easily and naturally into an argument; there was no straining after effect, but a precision and coolness in statement, an acuteness and strength in argument which few possessed, marked him as of a mind trained in the severest school of investigation and to which analytical reasoning was habitual. Such decisions as Black vs. Elk- horn Mining Company and Lewis vs. Northern Pacific Railroad
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Company, in the supreme court of the United States, were from their beginning great legal battles and were fought by him on points which were then new in the history of litigation then existing in this coun- try. For a period of twenty-one years he conducted for the Montana Mining Company, the owner of the famous Drum Lummon mine at Marysville, Montana, the bitter litigation existing between it and the St. Louis Mining Company of Montana, and in the end fell a victim to his ardor in fighting this litigation. The last trial of this case, in Helena, Montana, where he conducted it, lasted for a period of over three months, in the year 1905, and he wore himself out during the course of this trial, although on account of his rugged health the ef- fests of exhaustion did not disclose themselves for a long time to come and not until he was before the supreme court of the United States, in arguing this case for the Montana Mining Company in De- cember, 1907, when he was stricken down by an attack of heart dis- ease from which he never recovered.
Judge Cullen spent the last few years of his life in Spokane, to which city he removed with his family in 1899, and here entered into partnership with F. M. Dudley, under the style of Cullen & Dudley, a connection that was maintained until his life's labors were ended. He was always very devoted to his family, and his was a happy home life which had its inception in his marriage, in 1868, in Helena, to Miss Corlin V. Stoakes, who was a native of New York, a descend- ant of the Lawrence family and a daughter of Clarence B. Stoakes, for a long time a prominent attorney of New York city. Mr. and Mrs. Cullen became the parents of five children, of whom three are yet residents of Spokane. The mother of these children died on the 18th of January, 1911.
He considered no effort on his part too great if it would promote the happiness and welfare of his wife and children and his was a na- ture that shed around it much of the sunshine of life. His friends, and they were many, found him a most congenial companion and one, too, with whom association meant expansion and elevation. Death came to him in September, 1908, and thus passed from the scene of earthly activities one who had long been prominent in the northwest. Success and honors came to him in merited recognition of his personal worth and ability. He was recognized as the peer of the ablest mem- bers of the bar in this section of the country and his life was rich in all the traits of honorable manhood and citizenship.
100& Richardson
Judge William E. Richardson
UDGE WILLIAM E. RICHARDSON, who since the 1st of April, 1911, has been first assistant to the corporation counsel of Spokane and who has made a creditable record as judge of the superior court for the district comprising Spokane and Stevens coun- ties, is not only deserving of mention as a distin- guished lawyer and jurist of the Inland Empire but also as one of its pioneer settlers whose residence here dates from the days when the Indians were numerous in this section of the state and when the district between Walla Walla and the Idaho border was largely an undeveloped and unsettled wilderness. Judge Richardson speaks with authority upon many points relative to the history of this sec- tion. He was born in Lane county, Oregon, August 1, 1857, and comes of a family of English origin although long represented in America, its members in different generations taking active part in the wars in which the country has engaged. His great-grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution and his grandfather was a soldier in the Black Hawk and other Indian wars which constitute chapters in the history of the middle west.
His father, William C. Richardson, was born in Illinois and came across the plains in 1852, arrivng in Polk county, Oregon. He had made the journey with his father, who took up land in that district, while William C. Richardson, shortly after reaching his destination, turned his attention to carpentering. He established his home in Port- land and was there identified with building operations. He remained for fifty-eight years a resident of the Pacific northwest, passing away in 1910. Forty years before his wife had been called to her final rest. Her maiden name was Hester Craig and she was of Scotch descent. She was born in Arkansas and in 1852 started across the plains with her parents, both of whom died while en route. The death of Mrs. Richardson occurred in 1870 and she was survived by her two sons and two daughters: Frank Richardson, who is engaged in stock- raising in San Diego, California, and was for many years a deputy sheriff of Arizona; May, of Portland, Oregon; and Jennie, who is living in Newport, Oregon. The father by a second marriage had one daughter, Effie, who resides in Portland, Oregon.
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Judge William e. Richardson
The other member of the family is Judge Richardson, who pur- sued his education in the public schools of Portland, Oregon, where he spent his boyhood until 1871. He was at that time thirteen years of age and with his father and grandfather he traveled through this country from Polk county, Oregon, with a band of cattle. They came over the Cascade mountains through eastern Oregon and to the present site of Spokane through the Coeur d'Alenes to Bitter Root valley, where they remained for a year and a half. The country was a wilderness, with very few settlers between Walla Walla and the Idaho line. They heard that there were some falls on the Spokane river but were not sufficiently interested at that time to go to look at them. On this journey Judge Richardson rode a little buckskin pony all the way. There had been trouble with the Indians a few years before but things had quieted down and a delightful trip was enjoyed. There was no trouble, for Colonel Wright had thoroughly subdued the red men. In order to bring them into subjection and prevent further hostilities against the white race the colonel had collected all their ponies to the number of fifteen hundred and had driven them up to a bend in the river near the present site of Opportunity, where he shot them. That took the backbone out of the uprising and the Indians surrendered. In consequence thereof they always afterward regarded Colonel Wright as a truly terrible man. The Richardsons, grandfather, father and son, had made the trip into this country look- ing for good ground for stock. The farmers cultivated the ground for several years before they realized that the Palouse was good for any- thing at all, an old man named Calhoun, from Virginia, being the first to demonstrate the fact that the great Palouse country would raise wheat. After this Judge Richardson was graduated from the Christian College of Monmouth, Oregon, now the State Normal School, completing his course in 1882 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He thereafter divided his time between school teaching and carpenter work from 1882 until 1887 and on the expiration of that period he came to Spokane, where he began reading law in the office of S. C. Hyde. He prepared for the bar with characteristic thor- oughness and determination and was admitted to practice in 1890, after which he successfully followed his profession until elected judge of the superior court for the district comprising the two counties of Spokane and Stevens in 1896. He served for two terms and made an excellent record on the bench, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial and a clear exposition of the law demanded by the points in the case. He retired from office in January, 1905, and since that time has continued in the active practice of law, holding no other
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office until the Ist of April, 1911, when he was appointed first assist- ant to the corporation counsel of Spokane. While he continues in the general practice of law he largely eschews criminal law practice, confining his attention to the various branches of civil law, for which he is particularly well qualified.
Judge Richardson was one of the attorneys in the Colville valley drainage project and also in a similar project in the Kalispell valley. He has paid much attention to mining litigation and in that way at times has acquired interests in mining properties but has since disposed of them. He is interested, however, in irrigation enterprises and is now connected with what is known as the Whitestone irrigation proj- ect. Aside from his activity in his professon and in connection with business undertakings, he has been a recognized leader in political circles. His allegiance was given to the republican party until 1892, when he joined the populist movement. In 1896 he was elected on the people's party ticket, a fusion ticket of the populists and demo- crats, to the office of superior judge and for the second term was elected on a fusion of the two parties, his name being placed on the democratic ticket. He has always been a close student of political problems and questions and in that connection keeps abreast with many of the best thinking men of the age.
On the 19th of February, 1889, at Albany, Oregon, was celebrated the marriage of Judge Richardson and Mrs. Viola I. Miller, a daugh- ter of George Patterson, who was a pioneer of Oregon and came from Wisconsin to the Pacific coast in 1849, at which time he made his way to California. He afterward journeyed northward and died in 1908. Judge and Mrs. Richardson have two sons: Curtis, twenty- two years of age, who is now an architect of Spokane; and Hugh, who was born in February, 1898, and is still in school.
Judge Richardson is a Mason, holding membership in Spokane Lodge No. 34. He also belongs to the Woodmen of the World, the Inland Club and the Chamber of Commerce and his interests are broad and varied, bringing him into active connection with much that touches the general welfare of society at large. He has held to high ideals in his profession and has been found an able, faithful and con- scientious minister in the temple of justice, giving to his client the service of superior talent, unwearied industry and broad learning, yet never forgetting that there are certain things due to the court, to his own self-respect and above all to justice and a righteous administra- tion of the law, which neither the zeal of an advocate nor the pleasure of success permits him to disregard.
J. S. Lilley
J. D. Tilsley
N THE period of early manhood J. H. Tilsley be- came a resident of Spokane and in the years which have since come and gone has borne an important part in the work of progress and development here, his real-estate operations contributing in large measure to the growth and improvement of the city. Moreover, he has studied conditions of the northwest, has learned to recognize its possibilities and cast the weight of his influence on the side of advancement in all those lines that work for the permanent good of the Inland Empire.
Mr. Tilsley is a native of Newport, Kentucky, and he came from Greeley, Colorado, to Spokane. The conditions which confronted him here in that early period ere law and order had fully replaced the elements of lawlessness which are always a feature in a new community were astounding to the young man, for Greeley was a temperance town and possessed of those forces which work for munic- ipal advantage. However, the young man held himself aloof fron all those influences and activities that do not contribute to the best in manhood and citizenship and bent his energies to the performance of his duties as manager of the American District Telegraph Com- pany. He entered upon this position without previous experience in that line but close application and determined purpose enabled him readily to master the tasks entrusted to him and although at differ- ent times in his life he has met difficulties, hardships and almost un- surmountable obstacles, he has nevertheless persevered and his inde- fatigable energy and industry have at length brought him to a prom- inent position in real-estate and insurance circles. In both depart- ments of his business he has been accorded a large clientage. He is now especially interested in handling Greene's addition to Spokane, which he placed on the market in 1908. This is located on the north hill west of Monroe street and through his real-estate activities there many fine homes have been erected in that district, which has been converted into one of the attractive residence sections of the city. The greater part of the addition has already been sold and Mr. Tils- ley has been equally successful in his real-estate operations elsewhere.
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J. D. Tilsley
In his political views Mr. Tilsley is a republican and for one term served as deputy county treasurer under A. L. Smith. While he keeps well informed on the vital questions and issues of the day he has never sought political honors, preferring to concentrate his efforts upon his business affairs, which are of constantly growing volume and importance. He is a stalwart advocate and supporter, however, of all movements that tend to promote public progress in this section of the country. He has aided in many of the leading projects that have made Spokane a city and has by his honesty of purpose made a host of friends in all walks of life. He can be found in every movement that has for its object the advancement of the city, yet his work is always done in a quiet and unassuming way. He never fal- ters, however, until his purpose is accomplished and Spokane has benefited by the improvements instituted.
M. C. Thay
Milton Clark Gray
ILTON CLARK GRAY, one of the prominent M stock breeders of Whitman county, who is also well known in the real-estate circles of Pullman, was born in West Virginia on the 12th of April, 1856, and is a son of William Jesse and Mary Ann (Dague) Gray, also natives of West Virginia. The Gray family trace their ancestry back to the early colonial days, some of our sub- ject's forefathers having participated in the Revolutionary war. They were formerly residents of Pennsylvania, the grandfather, Mathew Gray, having been born and reared near Ryerson's Station, Greene county. His sons, including William J., responded to the country's call for volunteers and went to the front during the Civil war, thus maintaining the reputation for patriotism the family had long ago established. Agricultural pursuits always engaged the energies of William J. Gray, who passed away in 1872, when he was still in his prime.
The early years of Milton Clark Gray were marked by many hardships and privations. He was a lad of only sixteen years when his father died, but, being the eldest child, the operation of the small home farm largely devolved upon him, while he was compelled to ren- der the family further assistance by hiring out to the neighboring farmers. The wages for work of this kind at that period were very low, for money was scarce and many were seeking employment, so that the lad was compelled to serve many times from daylight to dark for the paltry sum of thirty-seven and a half cents a day. The succeeding eight years brought about various changes and lessened his responsibilities, so that in 1880 he was able to realize the ambition of his life and supplement his meager education by attending the Ohio Wesleyan University and Ada University. He was able to continue his studies in these institutions for two years and at the expi- ration of that time he again turned his attention to agricultural pur- suits in the summer, while the winter months he devoted to teaching in Ohio and Illinois. As he was enterprising and ambitious he care- fully saved as much of his earnings as possible and during four suc- ceeding years acquired sufficient capital to enable him to engage in
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Milton Clark Gray
business for himself. An opportunity was afforded him to become associated with Robert Burgess & Son, well known breeders and importers of fine stock at Wenona, Illinois. This proved entirely satisfactory in every way and he has ever since been engaged in this business. He remained in the vicinity of Wenona for four years, after which he went to Emporia, Kansas, still retaining a business connection with the Burgess company, however. Disposing of his interests in Kansas and Illinois six years later, he removed to Minne- sota, where he followed the same business until 1898. In the latter year he went to Nebraska, where he established a stock importing establishment that he operated until 1902, when he again disposed of his interests and came to Whitman county, where he has ever since resided. Mr. Gray has met with excellent success in his undertakings and, being a man of foresight and good judgment as well as unusual sagacity, he has directed his activities with intelligence, and his efforts have been substantially rewarded. To him is largely due the improve- ment of the horse stock in the Pacific northwest. In addition to his large and well established importing business he has acquired exten- sive holdings in real estate, owning about four thousand acres of fine grain land in British Columbia and Alberta. Of recent years he has been investing quite heavily in property, although he still continues to engage in the stock business.
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