USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 76
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JOHN J. ORTON was born in the town of Brookfield, Madison county, New York, April 25, 1812. His father, Harlow N. Orton, was a mem- ber of the medical profession, and in the year 1817 removed with his family to the town of Cambria, Niagara county, New York, as one of the pioneer settlers on that part of the Holland purchase. Here in the dense forests and among the Indians, the pioneers built their log cabins and made their "clearings," and as they were mostly New Eng- land people and valued education, they soon had good common, or district schools. It was in one of these that he received the rudiments of his edu- cation. At the age of eleven years he became a clerk in a dry goods and drug store at Albion, Orleans county, New York, and remained with his first employer until he became interested in the business as partner at the age of eighteen years. In his young manhood he was a great lover of music, both vocal and instrumental, and officiated as the organist of the Presbyterian Church of Albion, and also played on many other instruments. He was also for several years super- intendent of the Sunday-school, a thoughtful, studious young man, carefully preparing himself for the busy life which was awaiting him. When the old Orleans County Bank failed he was ap- pointed as agent, " or commissioner" to close up its affairs and occupied other positions of trust and responsibility, always acquitting himself with credit. Having partially fitted himself for college while engaged in business, he disposed of his inter- ests and finished his course of preparation at Mid- dlebury, Vermont, entering then upon a classical
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
course at Yale College, at the end of four years graduated with honor, afterward read law and was admitted to the bar in the city of New York.
He then formed business connections with Hon. Isaac Sherman, to manage the entire lumber inter- ests of Deroitt & Company, of Albany, and located at Buffalo, New York, there to buy and forward all the lumber of that market. This ven- ture proved to be a very profitable one, and at the end of a few years Mr. Sherman became a banker and broker in New York city, and urged his friend and partner to join him in the business.
Mr. Orton had only two brothers, Myron H. and Harlow S. Orton, and had not seen them since his childhood. They were both living in Milwaukee, and he decided to make them a visit. Upon his arrival here he became much impressed with the city and its future prospects and made a number of investments which soon demanded his personal attention. Deciding to make this city his home, in 1850 he became a member of the firm of Orton, Cross & Orton, engaged in the practice of the law.
By the investments spoken of above he laid the foundation of a very large fortune, but out of them arose the long litigation that occupied his attention for many years, a contest which has become a part of the legal history of the state of Wisconsin, and which ended in his final triumph and complete vindication. Of that contest Mr. Orton once wrote :
"In my operations I was compelled to take what is called here the . Humboldt property ' on some advances I had made upon it, in default of payment. This property lies about three miles north of the city court-house, on the Milwaukee river, and consisted of a water-power, dam, mills. etc., and a large tract of land. The incident referred to grew out of a lease of part of the water by my grantors to one J. A. Noonan and his partner, P. McNab. I bought this property in 1852, and soon afterward Noonan commenced a litigation with me on account of this lease, which lasted about twenty-five years. This was the first law suit I had had with any one. I soon found I was engaged with a mammoth litigant, one who meant my ruin in a series of vexatious lawsuits. * In the meantime suits had multiplied between us to over a score. * * * I have conquered, after a contest of a quarter of a century, and over one hundred lawsuits, in which
between forty and fifty lawyers have been pitted against me, and thirty-six opinions written in the Supreme Court of the state."
This extended litigation was ended only a short time prior to his death, and his final success was a source of great comfort to him, as it was evidence that he was in the right. Mr. Orton conducted his own cases, and in every turn and movement showed himself in possession of unlimited re- sources in legal knowledge and skill, and a will that was like adamant. In his very first argu- ment before the Supreme Court of Wisconsin it has been said by one competent to speak, "he measured lances more than successfully with his adversaries, gaining a legal point in the decision that ultimately saved his property and laid his most formidable foes in the dust."
From that time on his suits were all brought and defended by himself in person, no matter what the array of counsel against him. His style of legal oratory was peculiar. It had all the clearness and precision of statement that marked the best efforts of the Wisconsin bar, combined with a certain amount of wit and humor, which won for him confidence and marked attention.
Regarding these suits brought against him as wholly vexatious and annoying, he not only chafed under them but chafed back. None could hear him without feeling that he was a man gigantically wronged, one fighting because he was obliged to fight. He invariably carried the sym- pathies of the jury and audience with him, and if defeated at a given point he had this encourage- ment to fight on.
Mr. Orton had also a large practice in his pro- fession outside of his own suits, and some very important cases, ranking among the able men at the bar of this city and state. There was so much in the bearing and character of John J. Orton that was never understood, and so much more that was misunderstood by the people among whom he for so many years lived, that any mention of his life would be incomplete that did not touch upon the change that was wrought in him by sad circum- stances, that would have changed the gentlest soul that ever lived.
When he first settled in Milwaukee he con- sidered himself permanently located, and having been prosperous in business he hoped to spend the rest of his life in happiness, and brought to his home one whom he had long loved, a daughter of
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one of the first families of New Haven county, who was beautiful in her girlhood, and upon whom no shadow had been cast when he met and won her love. Upon the peace, purity and manifold blessings of the marriage relation as the founda- tion, he had built all the hopes of his future life. He was a faithful member of the church, and a well-established member of society. But alas ! there fell upon him suddenly the revelation of an unfortunate infirmity in his newly made wife, and that, with the knowledge of the deception that had been practiced upon him in repayment for his love and trust, came like the breaking of the anchor chains that had held him fast in the harbor of peace and hope, letting him drift into a strange and stormy career so unlike his former self. He was divorced, but the harm had been done. The effect upon the life of John J. Orton was instan- taneous and terrible. For awhile he abandoned the practice of the law, worked early and late, and immersed himself in business that he might drown other thoughts. He became gloomy, hard and harsh where he had been cheerful, liberal, genial and generous. When he forgot his troubles, turmoils and cares, he was the finished scholar, the polished gentleman, and genial friend, and read classics and modern authors and loved to discuss questions of science, literature and art. These unfortunate events occurred soon after he came to Milwaukee and were known to but few, and scarcely remembered by those most familiar with his early history.
The outspoken openness of Mr. Orton's charac- ter in youth is dwelt upon with the tenderness of recollections of olden days in the "Class Letter" of his Yale College associates for 1885, wherein it is said, in connection with the announcement of his death: "We all knew and loved John Orton in col- lege. He was of ardent temperament, frank and out- spoken in his address, of genial, kindly nature, social in his disposition, and capable of strong at- tachment to his friends. He was, even in college, a marked character for his independence of spirit. He was the oldest man of the class, and often, in a pleasant, jocose way, would assume the role of paternal guardianship over those of the class with whom he was the most intimate. He was accus- tomed to addressing them as · Soboles,' to indi- cate their youthful verdancy, as compared with his larger experience of life. When our college days were ended, and a group of us had come
together for the last time in one of our rooms to have a good talk before the final parting, John Orton was with us, and with no one of the group was the last hand-shaking and the last farewell more hearty and prolonged than with him. We saw but little of him from that sad day."
The severe honesty of his early life was preserved through the after years, and no charge of dishon- est dealings, or of departure from strict justice or integrity could be advanced against him in any of his business rel.itions. Of his legal qualifica- tions, it has been well said : " As a lawyer he must have subscribed, mentally at least, to the ancient oath of English barristers: Present noth- ing to the court in falsehood, but make war for our clients." He did make war for them, and in that aggressive, earnest and stormy way that gen- erally brought victory. As a lawyer his mind was intuitive and far-seeing. He founded all argu- ments upon the immovable rock of natural law, and many of his pleadings in cases of wrong and oppression wreaked upon the poor and weak, by the rich and strong, were considered of the high- est order. His industry was great. He possessed a deep knowledge of books, while his memory was comprehensive and accurate. While the style of composition employed in his legal papers was generally bold, it was always scholarly, always clear and able, and often beautiful and elo- quent. He would always take cases where the poor had been wronged, without fee or hope of re- ward, and fight them through with unexampled vigor and almost universal success. His secret charities were numerous, as those who stood close to him can well testify; and in behalf of those who were struggling with some injustice that threatened to overwhelm them, he put forth the most vigorous efforts of his life, never retreating until the wrong had been righted, or the last method and means of procedure had been ex- hausted.
The end of Mr. Orton's busy life came quietly on the evening of Saturday, January 24, 1885. He had been in good health until about a month before his death, when he was taken with erysip- elas, which neither the skill of his physicians, nor the loving and devoted attentions of his wife and daughters could deter from its fatal work. News of his death was received with sincere mourning by his large circle of friends, and especially by the many poor and lowly, whom he had quietly helped
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with his means, or whom he had defended against those who had marked them as easy prey. The funeral services were held at the family home on Mason street, and the remains were borne to their last resting place in Forest Home cemetery, by leading members of the Milwaukee bar, while among the many mourners present from other parts of the state were all the members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, of which Mr. Orton's brother, Hon. Harlow S. Orton, was an honored member.
May 16, 1864, Mr. Orton again united in mar- riage with Mrs. Lucinda Keith, born in Newberry, Vermont, January 9, 1834. Her parents were both of English descent. At the age of nine years Mrs. Orton, with her parents, became residents of Bos- ton, Massachusetts, where she was educated. This union proved a great blessing to Mr. Orton, and while his life was blighted by his first marriage it was made truly happy by the last, proving that often man's last days are his best. This union was blessed with two daughters, Ada C. and Eva M., to whom Mr. Orton was greatly attached.
JAMES G. JENKINS was born at Saratoga Springs, New York, July 18, 1834, the son of Edgar Jenkins, for many years a well-known business man of New York city, and, on the ma- ternal side, a grandson of Reuben H. Walworth, the last chancellor of the state of New York. He was educated in his native state, read law in New York city and was admitted to the bar in that state in 1855. Two years later he came to Mil- waukee and has ever since been identified with the bar of this city and state. A Democrat in his political affiliations, he long since became conspic. nous in the councils of his party, having been its candidate for governor of Wisconsin in 1879, a candidate for the United States Senatorship in 1881, and a delegate to numerous important national and state conventions. In social circles he has been, as at the bar and in politics, an inter- esting and familiar figure. He was married in 1870 to the only daughter of Judge Andrew G. Miller, first judge of the United States District Court in Wisconsin, and his home has been nota- ble among Western homes for its atmosphere of culture and refinement. In 1893 the University of Wisconsin conferred upon him the degree of LL. D.
It is with the career of Judge Jenkins as lawyer and jurist, however, that we have to do chiefly in
this connection. When he began the practice of his profession in Milwaukee he found here a bar second to none in the Western states. Wisconsin has been peculiarly fortunate from early terri- torial times in receiving a large number of learned young lawyers, who afterward became emminent and illustrious in the profession, and who have moulded a system of jurisprudence marked and distinguished in the legal annals of the country. With such a bar as Milwaukee then possessed, Judge Jenkins received lessons of wisdom and experience beneficial to him all through his future career. About six years after his arrival here he was elected attorney for the corporation of the city of Milwaukee, the duties of which office he discharged with ability and success for four successive terms. After retiring from that office he entered with new zeal and greater energy into the practice of his chosen profession, and soon drew around him a large clientage, which he held until his promotion to the bench. As a lawyer he took a marked and leading position. His practice was confined to no particular branch of law. In his studies of the law he did not neglect the pur- suit of general knowledge, and his researches in that direction were used as an aid to the study of bis profession. He was a student of literature, and of the liberal arts, and also a student of the forms of government and the constitutions under which governments exist. By this means he ac- quired a certain intellectual grace from every kind of refinement in belles lettres and the arts, to aid him in his profession, in which he became distin- guished by his discernment in the difficult prob- lems which he met, and his arguments at the bar were polished and refined in language; so that as an advocate he possessed the learning and research of the lawyer, and as a lawyer he was gifted with the ability and skill of the advocate, one of the distinguishing traits of the great members of the profession. Following ancient examples and in- structions, he sought for the origin of things, and left no field uncultivated from which he could garner lessons in wisdom and philosophy, and apply them to the changing conditions of things which surrounded him. Absolutely free from the cunning arts of the trader in his profession, he was a lawyer in every sense of the word, and in his practice he possessed the delicate sense of ethics which distinguish the members of a noble calling from those who basely degrade it for the
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purposes of trade. His loyalty and devotion to his client were unbounded, and in his duties to him he never faltered. He has been engaged, during an active professional life in many of the leading cases of the state. One of the cases was celebrated during the war, entitled Broadhead vs. the City of Milwaukee, 19 Wis. p. 24, an action brought to restrain the city of Milwaukee from issuing bonds to raise money to pay volunteers during the war. The case was carried to the Supreme Court and the position of Judge Jenkins asserting the constitutionality of the act author- izing the corporation of the city of Milwaukee to issue bonds and to raise money to pay bounties to volunteers who had enlisted for the suppression of the rebellion, was sustained.
In 1885 President Cleveland tendered him the position of associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, which honor Judge Jenkins respectfully declined.
In 1888 he was appointed United States Dis- trict Judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, with the unanimous approval of the bar of the district, which position he held until in 1893 he was appointed to the position of judge of the United States Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, to fill the vacancy caused by the resigna- tion of Judge Gresham who had been appointed Secretary of State of the United States. For this position he was abundantly qualified by reason of the experience and learning gained in an active, earnest and honorable practice of the profession of the law, a profession which is broader in its reach than all of the other learned professions. The struggle for justice leads the lawyer into every branch of human learning-theology, philosophy, history, the arts and sciences-and from the lawyers who follow these lines judges should come. The search for justice leads to the divine, for justice is the mistress and queen of virtues. Jus- tice is an attribute of God, and the justice of man is only like unto God's when seasoned by mercy. The earnest and the conscientious lawyer is in a constant struggle in the depths of wisdom, seek- ing the way, the truth and the right. The expe- rience gained in these researches qualifies him for the bench, and from the bench comes the rules of conduct which should govern us in our transactions with our fellowmen. These rules are derived from the divine law, and from the constitutions and statutes of a nation.
There has been little in the history of Judge Jenkins' judicial life different from the life of other judges upon the bench and bar. His pro- motion from district judge to that of circuit judge of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, has largely changed his duties from those of a nisi prius judge to those of a judge of a Court of Appeals. The United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Judicial Circuit is composed of Associate Justice Harlan of the Supreme Court, Judge Wood of Indiana, Judge Jenkins of Wisconsin and Judge Showalter of Illinois. The circuit comprises the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
The causes heard by him have been important, involving large amounts, but attracted no especial public interest, with the exception of one case of national importance, the Farmer's Loan & Trust Company vs. The Northern Pacific Railway et al. This was an action to foreclose trust mort- gages for one hundred and forty million dollars. Upon application of the plaintiff, receivers of the trust property were appointed by the court. The foreclosure proceedings were commenced at a time of great financial depression throughout the whole country. There was a rapid decrease in the values of properties, and the commercial world was hourly filled with the 'news of the bankruptcy of persons and corporations. Busi- ness depression was universal. The transpor- tation of freight and passengers over the rail- ways in the United States decreased one-half. The application for the appointment of receivers was made in the usual way under the law and rules of the court, and receivers were appointed without opposition of and by consent of the defendants. Upon an examination of the property, the receiv- ers reported to the court a monthly loss in busi- ness of about fifty per cent., and that it was necessary to reduce the salaries of the officers and employes of the company from ten to twenty per cent. The schedule prepared by the receivers was to take effect on January 1, 1894. The re- ceivers, having learned of threats that the employes connected with the labor organizations of the country intended to strike, an injunctional order was obtained against the leaders and all the em- ployes forbidding them " from combining and conspiring to quit, with or without notice, the service of said receivers with the object and intent of crippling the property in their custody, or em- barrassing the operation of said railroad, and from
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
so quitting the service of said receivers, with or without notice. as to cripple the property or to prevent or hinder the operation of said railroad, and generally from interfering with the officers and agents of said receivers or their employes in any manner, by actual violence or by intimi- dation, threats or otherwise, in the full and com- plete possession and management of the said railroad and of all the property thereunto per- taining, and from interfering with any and all property in the custody of said receivers, whether belonging to the receivers or shippers or other owners, and from interfering, intimidating or otherwise injuring or inconveniencing or delaying the passengers being transported or about to be transported over the railway of said receivers or any portion thereof, by said receivers, or by inter- fering in any manner by actual violence or threat or otherwise preventing or endeavoring to prevent the shipment of freight or the transportation of the mails of the United States over the road operated by said receivers, until the further order of this court."
This injunctional order was issued on the 19th day of December, 1893. On the 22d day of De- cember, 1893, upon a supplemental petition, the court issued a supplemental injunctional order, embodying the provisions of the first writ with the following additional clause : "And from com- bining or conspiring together, or with others, either jointly or severally, or as committees, or as officers of any so-called labor organization, with the design or purpose of causing a strike upon the lines of railroad operated by said receivers, and from ordering, recommending, approving or ad- vising others to quit the services of the receivers of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company on January 1, 1894, or at any other time ; and from ordering, recommending, advising or approving by communication or instruction or otherwise, the employes of said receivers, or any of them, or of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, to join in a strike on said January 1, 1894, or at any other time, and from ordering, recommending or advising any committee or committees, or class or classes of employes of said receivers, to strike or join in a strike on January 1, 1894, or at any other time, until the further order of this court."
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