History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895, Part 69

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. cn
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago and New York, American Biographical Publishing Co
Number of Pages: 840

USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 69

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stature he was of medium height, with heavy, robust physique. IIe was of a nervous tempera- ment, and although ordinarily quiet in conversa- tion and mild-mannered, under stress of excite- ment his powerful voice expressed in a way that could not be mistaken, the intensity of his feeling and bis firmness and decision of character.

His last illness dated from the winter of 1885, when he was injured by a fall on an icy sidewalk. He had a strong constitution, but inability to take regular exercise affected his general health, though he was not confined to his home until a short time before his decease. On June 17, 1891, he suffered a stroke of paralysis, and on the 17th of the same month he passed away, universally honored and beloved.

On March 25, 1838, in Louisville, Kentucky, he married Miss Frances White, by whom he had two sons and four daughters, viz .:- Frederick, Harrison, Sarah E., who is married to Mr. James E. Patton, of Milwaukee; Ellen, Mrs. A. G. Van Schaick, of Chicago; Clara, now Mrs. Edward Eliot, and Frances, the wife of Mr. F. H. White, of Milwaukee. He also left twenty-two grand- children and one great grandchild. Mrs. Luding- ton died in 1873, and on June 7, 1875, he married Mrs. E. M. Tobey, who survives him.

HENRY CONRAD RUNKEL was born in the Province of Nassau, Germany, April 17, 1834, and was a son of George P. and Anna M. (Lemb) Runkel. His father, who served under the first Napoleon and commanded a company of cavalry, lived to be eighty-four years of age and spent the later years of his life at Mayence on the River Rhine.

Henry C. Runkel was seven years of age when the family removed to Mayence and received the major part of his education in that city. He attended first the public schools and later the School of Arts, leaving that institution to come to America in 1851. Landing in New York, in August of that year, he remained there a short time and then came to Milwaukee where he en- gaged in various kinds of employment and in teaching school until 1858. At that time he turned his attention to the study of law, and in 1862 was admitted to the bar. He began the practice of his profession in this city immediately thereafter, and drew about him a large circle of clients within the few years next succeeding. In 1877 he formed a partnership with Hon. R. N.

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Austin and in 1886 W. H. Austin was admitted to the firm. This partnership continued under the firm name of Austin, Runkel & Austin until 1891, when it was dissolved by the election of the senior member of the firm to the Superior Judge- ship. After the dissolution of this firm which for many years had been conspicuous at the bar, Mr. Runkel associated with himself his son, Albert C. Runkel, and under the firm name of Runkel & Runkel continued the practice up to the time of his death, which occurred June 27, 1895.

A conservative, careful lawyer, he achieved a large measure of success in his profession and won the kind regard of those who were brought into contact with him in the practice, and the im- plicit confidence of those who sustained to him the relation of clients. While giving close and conscientious attention to his practice, he served the public ably and faithfully in various import- ant official positions, and these public services covered a wide field, and differed materially, from time to time, in character. In 1858 he was elected a justice of the peace and served in that capacity until 1864. From 1860 to 1862 he was assessor of the city, and in 1868, 1869 and 1870, he repre- sented the ninth ward in the lower branch of the Legislature of Wisconsin. For twelve years he was a member of the city School Board, and in advancing the educational interests of the city was a potent factor during that time.

Interested actively in various fraternal organ- izations, Mr. Runkel was a prominent member of the Odd Fellows order, Knights of Maccabees, Sons of Hermann, the Druids, order of Harugari, Ancient Order of Workmen, American Legion of Honor and the Knights and Ladies of Honor. He aided in founding local lodges of each of these orders, and with the exception of two, served as presiding officer of each of these lodges, so that it may be said that few citizens of Milwaukee have had more to do with promoting the good work of fraternal societies.

Brought up a Protestant, he always affiliated with that branch of the Christian church, and was a Democrat in politics so far as the national issues are concerned. A pronounced opponent to pa- ternalism in government, and in sympathy in the main with the principles and policies of the Dem- ocratic party, he espoused the cause of the Dem-

ocracy with ardor, and wielded an important influence in the counsels 'of the party in the city and state.

During the later years of his life failing health compelled him to relax to some extent his elose apphcation to professional pursuits, and his win- ters were generally spent in Florida. He was married in 1855 to Miss Henrietta Carnarius, a native of Saxony, and ten children were born of this union, of whom one son and two daughters are now living. Mrs. Runkel died in 1877, and in 1878 Mr. Runkel married Elizabeth Von Thier- stein, a native of Switzerland, who had two chil- dren by a prior marriage, the youngest of whom, Fannie, he adopted as his own.

MATHEW II. CARPENTER was born on the 22nd of December, 1824, at Moretown, Washing- ton county, Vermont, the son of an eminent law- yer and citizen of prominence, and the parents, as if the spirit of prophesy were upon them-says a biographer who has written of him in "The Bench and Bar of Wisconsin"-named the child after the great English jurist, Mathew Hale Carpenter. When he reached the age of eleven years his mother died, and Paul Dillingham, afterward gov- ernor of the state, having charged himself with his education, Mathew became a member of his family at Waterbury.

In 1843 John Mattocks, being then the repre- sentative to Congress from that district, procured for young Carpenter an appointment as cadet in the military academy at West Point, and he was a classmate in the academy of Gen. Fitz John Porter and others who attained prominence in the war of the Rebellion. The weakness of his eyes made it necessary for him to resign his cadetship at the expiration of his second year, and returning to Waterbury in the summer of 1845, he entered upon the study of the law in the office of Mr. Dillingham. Two years later he was admitted to the bar at Montpelier, and soon after removed to Boston and finished his studies in the office of Rufus Choate.

In the spring of 1848 Mr. Carpenter was admit- ted to practice by the Supreme Court of Massa- chusetts, and the same year removed to Beloit, Wisconsin, where he opened an office. He was almost wholly destitute of means, and the begin- ning of his professional career was further embar- rassed by a recurrence of the disease of his eyes, which became so serious as to make it necessary

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for him to go to New York for treatment. For over a year he was almost wholly blind.

In 1852 he was a candidate for district attorney of Rock county. The election was contested, and the case was taken to the Supreme Court, where it was decided in his favor. While practicing at Beloit his ability impressed itself to a considerable extent upon the bar of the state, and he appeared in some important cases which attracted more than ordinary attention.

He removed to Milwaukee in 1856, and was for a number of years engaged in the intricate and embarrassing litigation arising out of the con- struction and consolidation of certain railroads in Wisconsin, and maintained the rights of his clients with great ability and persistency. His practice was now large, and as lucrative as his rather easy financial habits could make it ; and his fame was rapidly extending. When a case arose that in- volved the determination by the Supreme Court of the United States of the constitutionality of the Reconstruction Acts, Secretary Stanton retained him as one of the counsel for the government. His argument won for him general recognition as one of the foremost constitutional lawyers of his time, and it is scarcely extravagant to say that the civil governments existing to-day in eleven states of the Union rest upon the principle enun- ciated and supported by him on that occasion.

In 1876, for the first time, happily, in the his- tory of the republic, a cabinet minister, in the person of W. W. Belknap, secretary of war, was impeached before the senate of the United States for high crimes and misdemeanors in office. The respondent retained for his defense Jeremiah S. Black, ex-attorney general; Montgomery M. Blair, ex-postmaster general, and Mr. Carpenter. There could have been no higher compliment to Mr. Carpenter than the fact that his associates, who had stood for years in the very front rank of the American bar, resigned to him the entire management of the case, which he conducted to a successful issue.

The trial of the title to the presidency of the United States before the electoral commission erected for the purpose by special Act of Con- gress, was another occasion that enlisted the best professional talent in the Union. Mr. Carpenter was retained by Mr. Tilden to submit an argu- ment in favor of counting the votes of the Demo- cratic candidates for electors in Lonisiana, and he

performed the duty with the ability that he never failed to bring to bear upon questions of this important and delicate character.

Mr. Carpenter had been a Democrat from the time that he attained his majority, and in the election of 1860 supported Douglas for the presi- dency. Upon the attempt of the South to destroy the Union, without formally dissociating himself from that party, he gave his support to the war policy of the administration, and delivered a series of addresses in that behalf that were characterized by great eloquence and patriotic fervor. Subse- quently he publicly affiliated with the Republican party, and in 1869 was chosen to succeed James R. Doolittle in the senate of the United States.

At the expiration of his term he was nominated by the caucus of Republican members of the leg- islature for re-election, but was defeated by a com- bination of certain Republican members with the Democrats. In 1879 he was chosen to succeed Timothy O. Howe in the United States Senate, and took his seat again in that body, after an in- terval of four years.

His most conspicuous effort during his second senatorial term was, perhaps, his argument in the case of Gen. Fitz John Porter. Senator Logan, in a long and laborious speech, had reviewed the facts. Mr. Carpenter confined himself to the questions of law. With the impregnable logic and irresistible aptness of illustration that charac- terized him in dealing with legal issues, he com- bated the pending bill. The result was notable. The friends of the bill had a clear majority when the debate opened. After Senator Carpenter's argument they put forward their two ablest champions to reply. Both failed, and they did not deem it expedient to press the measure to a vote. The instances are rare in the history of legislation where a measure having the un- divided support in its inception of the members of the majority party reinforced by some mem- bers of the minority has been thus balked by a single speech.

In June, 1880, Senator Carpenter attended the Republican National Convention at Chicago, though not as a delegate, and addressed an open air mass meeting that was called to promote the nomination of Gen. Grant. But his health was greatly impaired, and he was not able to remain in Chicago to the close of the convention. In the campaign that followed, his condition made it ini-

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possible for him to participate. When Congress assembled in December he was in his seat, but his attendance was irregular, and it was evident that the inexorable disease from which he was suffer- ing was advancing rapidly to its dread consum- mation. The final scene was sketched with great power and pathos by Hon. Arthur MacArthur, in an address before the Wisconsin Association at Washington.

His death occurred on the 24th day of Febru- ary, 1881. The grief that it inspired knew no boundaries in geography or partisanship, and the rush of events incident to the approaching incom- ing of a new national administration could not benumb the deep sense of bereavement. that reached the remotest confines of the republic. At the next meeting of the judiciary committee of the Senate of the United States, the following resolution was adopted :

" During a period of nearly eight years' service on this committe, Senator Carpenter's great intel- lectual ability, profound legal learning and re- markable industry commanded the admiration of all who served with him, while his uniformly courteous, kind and agreeable manners won and retained their affection."

The bar of the Supreme Court of the United States assembled on the 8th of March. The dis- tinguished jurist and statesman, Allan G. Thur- man, of Ohio, was chosen to preside, and in tak- ing the chair delivered an address of high, if dis- criminating, eulogy, in the course of which he used this language, which could be justified on few occasions of like character: "I am well aware of the proneness to extravagance that has too often characterized eulogies of the dead, whether delivered from the pulpit, in the forum, or in the senate house. But I feel a strong conviction that, however exalted may be the praise spoken bere to-day, it will not transcend the merits of its ob- ject, or offend the taste of the most sernpulous and truth-loving critic.

Mr. Carpenter's whole career was honorable and brilliant. He was the architect of his own fortune and fame. He possessed the advantages of inherited poverty, and was thus in his youth thrown upon his own resources. He learned early the useful lesson of self-reliance, and the necessity of industrious self-exertion, receiving only such aid as his genial manners and bright and active mind gained from those generous

friends who perceived in his youth the germs which promised future distinction, and who were willing to extend a helping hand to struggling genius.

Mr. Carpenter possessed a fine person, was so- cial, pleasant and winning in his manners. As a speaker he was fluent, logical and eloquent, and possessed in a high degree the charm of manner and magnetic power over his hearers which are essential elements of popular oratory. He de- lighted and captivated popular audiences, but his oratory was not of the flowery and superficial kind. He was a man of learning and of thought. He not only pleased by his style and manner, but his reasoning convinced his hearers. His inde- pendence of thought and character sometimes led him to advocate that side of questions which was unpopular with the people or with his party, and he was fearless in supporting any cause which he undertook to advocate. He defended credit mobilier and back pay. He acted as one of the leading counsel for Gen. Belknap on his impeach- ment and trial before the United States Senate, and he appeared as one of the leading counsel for Mr. Tilden in the great contest for the presiden- tial office before the electoral commission. His nature was genial, kindly and generous; he had no malice in his composition, and he did not excel in that lowest order of intellectual ability which impels its possessor to the use of invective and vituperation. The taste for such displays of his intellectual power was wholly foreign to his na- ture, and perhaps fortunately beyond his ability. But in his whole public career, in the courts, in the senate, and in the popular discussion of polit- ical questions, he was animated in a large degree with a spirit of chivalry, tempered by the elevat- ing culture of . modern civilization, which throws a halo of honor and fame around the physical warfare of those knights of the middle ages who became famous for their prowess in battle and for their generous forbearance in the hour of victory.'"

On the same occasion that renowned lawyer, Jeremiah S. Black. said :

"The American bar has not often suffered so great a misfortune as the death of Mr. Carpenter. He was cut off when he was rising as rapidly as at any previous period. In the noontide of his labors the night came wherein no man can work. To what height his career might have reached if

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he had lived and kept his health another score of years, can now be only a speculative question. But when we think of his great wisdom and his wonderful skill in the forensic use of it, together with his other qualities of mind and heart, we cannot doubt that in his left hand would have been uncounted riches and abundant honor, if only length of days had been given to his right. As it was, he distanced his contemporaries and became the peer of the greatest among those who had started long before him.

The intellectual character of no professional man is harder to analyze than his. He was gifted with an eloquence peculiar to himself. It con- sisted of free and fearless thought wreaked upon expression powerful and perfect. It was not fine rhetoric, for he seldom resorted to poetic illustra- tion ; nor did he make a parade of clenching his facts. He often warmed with feeling, but no bursts of passion deformed the symmetry of his argument. The flow of his speech was steady and strong as the current of a great river. Every sentence was perfect; every word was fitly spoken ; each apple of gold was set in its picture of silver. This singular faculty of saying every- thing just as it ought to be said was not displayed only in the senate and in the courts; every where, in public and private, on his legs, in his chair, and even lying on his bed, he always 'talked like a hook.'

I have sometimes wondered how he got this curious felicity of diction. He knew no language but his mother-tongue. The Latin and Greek which he had learned in boyhood faded entirely out of his memory before he became a full-grown man. At West Point he was taught French and spoke it fluently ; in a few years afterward he for- got every word of it. But perhaps it was not lost; a language, for any kind of literature, though forgotten, enriches the mind as a crop of clover ploughed down fertilizes the soil.

hands full of a most multifarious practice he met political duties of great magnitude. As a senator and party leader he had burdens and responsibili- ties under which, without more, a strong man might have sunk. But this man's shoulders seemed to feel no weight that was even inconvenient. If Lord Brougham did half as much labor in quantity and variety, he derserved all the admiration he won for versatility and practice.

Mr. Carpenter's notions of professional ethics were pure and high toned. He never acted upon motions of lucre or malice. He would take what might be called a bad case, because he thought that every man should have a fair trial ; but he would use no falsehood to gain it ; he was true to the court as well as to the client. He was the least mercenary of all lawyers; a large proportion of his business was done for nothing.

Outside of his family he seldom spoke of his religious opinions. He was not accustomed to give in his experience-never at all to me. He firmly believed in the morality of the New Testa- ment, and in no other system. If you ask whether he practiced it perfectly, I ask in return : Who has? Certainly not you or I. He was a gentle censor of our faults; let us not be rigid with his. One thing is certain, his faith in his own future was strong enough to meet death as calmly as he would expect the visit of a friend. Upwards of a year since his physicians told him that he would certainly die in a few months ; and he knew they were right; but with that inevitable doom com- ing visibly nearer every day, he went about his business with a spirit as cheerful as if he had a long lease of life before him.

I think for certain reasons that my personal loss is greater than the rest of you have suffered. But that is a 'fee grief due to my particular breast.' It is enough to say for myself, that I did love the man in his life-time, and do honor his memory, now that he is dead."

He was not merely a brilliant advocate, learned The obsequies consequent upon the death of Senator Carpenter at Washington, and subse- quently in this city, were grand and imposing. Among the distinguished members of the com- mittee of the senate who escorted the body to Wisconsin was Roscoe Conkling, upon whom it devolved to formally transmit the sacred trust to the authorities who assumed the charge. On this occasion that distinguished gentleman in the law, and deeply skilled in its dialectics ; in the less showy walks of the profession he was uncommonly powerful. Whether drudging at the business of his office as a common-law attorney and equity pleader, or shining as leader in a great nisi prius cause, he was equally admirable, ever ready and perfectly suited to the place he was filling. This capacity for work of all kinds was the remarkable part of his character. With his made use of the following beautiful senti-

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ment, addressing Gov. William E. Smith : "De- Heubschmann interested himself actively in pro- puted by the senate of the United States we bring back the ashes of Wisconsin's illustrious son, and tenderly return them to the great commonwealth he served so faithfully and loved so well. To Wisconsin this pale and sacred clay belongs, but the memory, the services, and the fame of Mathew Hale Carpenter are the nation's treasures, and long will the sister states mourn the bereavement which bows all hearts to-day."

DR. FRANCIS HUEBSCHMANN, one of the early physicians of Milwaukee, who became espe- cially prominent in public affairs, and for years was widely known throughout the state, settled here in 1842, and was the first German physician in the city. He was born in 1817 in Riethnord- hausen, Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Germany. His father and grandfather were Lutheran ministers, and his mother was a sister of the distinguished scholar and theologian, W. M. L. DeWette, the second German translator of the Bible.

After being graduated from the Universities of Erfurth and Weimar, he studied medicine in Jena, receiving his diploma from that institution in 1841. Young, enterprising, active and ambitious, he looked about for a field for professional work, and reached the conclusion that in America he should find a land of splendid opportunities and good government, in which intelligent effort must be rewarded by success. Coming to this country in the spring of 1842, he stopped a short time with friends in Boston and then came to Milwau- kee, where he opened an office and at once began to practice his profession. Earnest, conscientious, and able he soon acquired prominence as a medi- cal practitioner, and was ready at any time to respond to calls for his services, whatever the condition in life of the patient.

Warmly sympathetic by nature he was noted in those days of his pioneer practice for his kind- liness and consideration, and many incidents are related of his charitable deeds and humane con- duct. The sick never appealed to him in vain, and the matter of compensation for his services was never taken into consideration when he was called upon to relieve human suffering. Not only were his prescriptions given and services rendered in scores of cases without charge but in many instances the money to purchase medicines was just as freely given to those in need of it.

moting the welfare of the city, taking the view that every citizen should contribute his share toward securing good government for the com- munity in which he lived. A movement being on foot at that time to have Milwaukee made a port of entry by act of Congress, his influence with his countrymen was brought to bear upon the sit- uation in a way which aided materially in bring- ing about the desired result, and when the con- summation of the project was celebrated, on the 22d of March, 1843, he was a conspicuous figure in the procession which was a feature of the dem- . onstration in honor of the event.

As early as 1843 he was elected a school com- missioner of Milwaukee and in this capacity he served eight years, aiding in every way possible, to promote the educational interests of the city. Believing that in this country the best interests of all classes of people would be subserved, and the most perfect type of American citizenship would be produced through the perfect amalgamation of native and foreign elements, he was an ardent champion of the right of foreign born citizens to participate actively in the government of the country, its states and municipalities. He there- fore brought to bear all the influences which he could command against the " Nativist" or "Know Nothing" movement which sought the abridge- ment of these privileges. Notwithstanding the opposition of this element of the population he was elected a delegate to the first Constitutional Convention of Wisconsin. Sitting as a member of that body he wielded an important influence in framing what afterward became in substance the organic law of the state, and in incorporating therein the guarantee of full civil rights to for- eign born as well as native citizens which became a feature of the constitution as finally adopted. It was at his instance that Moritz Schoeffer, the pioneer German editor of Milwaukee, came to the city, and started the Wisconsin Banner, long rec- ognized as an able champion of the rights of the German people, and a potent factor in advancing them to a high plane of American citizenship. In 1848 he was chosen a presidential elector from Wisconsin, and agam in 1852; and in 1851-52 he served as a member of the state legislature. Several times he was elected a member of the board of aldermen and in 1848 served as president of that

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History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895, Part 69

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. cn Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Chicago and New York, American Biographical Publishing Co Number of Pages: 840

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. cn
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Chicago and New York, American Biographical Publishing Co
Number of Pages: 840