USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. I > Part 36
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prehension, retentive memory, a discernment remarkably active and rea- soning faculties eminently vigorous. His philosophical mind, in orig- inality and profundity of thought, was equaled by few. Had he occa- sion to investigate any subject, he was persevering in research and thorough in study. In conversation he was uncommonly instructive. In private life he was a genial companion-always tender and compas- sionate to the poor and always ready to relieve them-strictly temperate in his habits and entirely free from the vices into which mortals but too often are led. In short, truth, justice and gentleness, than which noth- ing can be more sacred and pure, mingled in his every act and char- acterized the man.
ISAAC W. WEBSTER.
Isaac W. Webster was a native of New Hampshire, born in 1819. He was well educated, and studied law with Benjamin F. Butler at Lowell, Mass. In 1848 he removed to Wisconsin and settled at Ke- nosha, where he continued afterwards to reside. There he com- menced the practice of his profession and continued it until his death. He was a lawyer of more than ordinary ability, and his inborn integrity and honesty were such prominent traits of his character that he com- manded the unbounded confidence of the community. He filled the office of postmaster and of district attorney of the county, and was three times chosen mayor of the city. In 1869 he was elected judge of the county court for four years, and in 1873 was reelected for a like term. Judge Webster took much interest in the political questions of the day, although never holding any civil office except such as were intimately allied to his profession. He was identified with the press, and for several years edited the Kenosha Union with great ability. He was a man of genial manners and popular address, and his death, which occurred August 4, 1875, was a loss to the whole community.
SAMUEL A. WHITE.
Samuel A. White was born in Franklin, Delaware county, New York, August 10, 1823; was graduated from Hamilton college in 1841;
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settled in Port Washington, Ozaukee county, Wisconsin, in 1845; ap- pointed postmaster in 1853; served in the assembly in 1857; was chosen county judge in 1861; in 1864-65 was assistant bank comptroller. About this time he became a resident of Whitewater, was a member of the board of regents of normal schools from 1865 until 1870, and in 1871 and 1872 was a member of assembly from Walworth county. His death occurred at Whitewater, March 4, 1878.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SECOND CIRCUIT, ITS JUDGES AND LAWYERS.
Originally the second judicial circuit was composed of the counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Jefferson and Dane. The growth of Mil- waukee has had such an effect upon the business of the courts that since 1882 the county of Milwaukee has alone constituted the second circuit. In 1887 the superior court of Milwaukee county was estab- lished; and in 1891 a law was enacted providing for the election of a second judge of that court. These measures being insufficient to af- ford all the relief necessary an amendment to the constitution was adopted in 1897 providing that an additional circuit judge may be elected for that circuit. The legislation had pursuant to this amend- ment has not taken effect at the time of this writing, so that but one circuit court is in existence in the second circuit.
That circuit has had seven judges in all-the first being Levi Hubbell, and the others, in order, A. W. Randall, Arthur Mac- Arthur, Jason Downer, D. W. Small, Charles A. Hamilton and D. H. Johnson.
The bar of the old second circuit was a very strong one, including as it did Madison, Milwaukee, Waukesha and Watertown. The Mil- waukee bar has long had a high reputation for ability. The names of' Arnold, Carpenter, Finch, Lynde, Miller, Ryan and others of the early days would honor the bar of any city. The bar of later times, too, is worthy the metropolis of Wisconsin, and compares favorably with that of the early days.
Sketches of the lives of Judges Hubbell and Downer appear in other chapters. Sketches of the lives of the other judges of the second cir- cuit follow.
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THE BENCH.
ALEXANDER W. RANDALL.
Alexander William Randall occupied a seat upon the bench but a few months, and that by executive appointment. On the first of Au- gust, 1856, he was appointed by Governor Bashford judge of the second circuit, in place of Levi Hubbell, resigned. His oath of office was filed September 10, 1856, and he continued to perform his judicial duties until the next April.
As brief as was his term, the manner in which his duties were per- formed won general approbation, and he would have been elected to the office by the people but for the large political majority and the personal popularity of the candidate arrayed against him.
A. W. Randall was born in Ames, Montgomery county, New York, October 31, 1819. He enjoyed a very thorough and complete academic education, and having adopted the profession of the law as his life pur- suit, was a diligent student of its elementary principles, and became well qualified for its practice. At about the time he attained his majority, in 1840, he settled in Waukesha, then called Prairieville, where he com- menced the practice of law, which he continued until it was interrupted by the necessity of devoting his time to the important civil offices which he was called upon to fill. While in practice he took rank with the ablest of the able lawyers in the metropolitan circuit, and if civil offices had not diverted him from his profession he would doubtless have been a most distinguished ornament to the bar.
Soon after he commenced practice he was appointed postmaster, which office he held for several years. He was elected, in 1846, to the convention which framed the first constitution for the state. His chief distinction, as a member of that body, was the introduction and suc- cessful advocacy of the resolution for the separate submission to a vote of the people of the question of colored suffrage. In this he was an- tagonized by a very large majority of the democratic party of the state,
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with which he had, before that time, been identified. Thereafter, for several years, he devoted himself exclusively to the practice of law and took no prominent part in politics, being regarded as too much of an abolitionist to be popular with either party.
In 1854, by an extraordinary local vote of the incipient republican party, in combination with some other elements, he was elected a mem- ber of the assembly for the year 1855. He now entered upon a political career, which, for nearly a quarter of a century, knew no political re- verses, and during a large part of which he was wafted on the waves of political success, and filled many of the highest official positions in the state and nation.
In 1855 Mr. Randall was made the candidate of the new republican party for attorney general, but it was not yet sufficiently crystallized to command success, and all its candidates were defeated, except the can- didate for governor, who obtained the office by a resort to the supreme court. His judicial services in 1856-57 have been noticed. In 1857 and again in 1859 he was the candidate of the republican party for governor, and upon both occasions was elected. For four years, until the first of January, 1862, he was the head of the executive branch of the state government. During the last year of his service, the first of the rebellion, his duties were new and highly responsible. The exec- utive office became the focus and headquarters of military activity. He proved equal to the occasion. As an organizer he had wondrous talent and as an administrative officer he was unsurpassed.
At the close of his term Governor Randall had a strong desire for service in the army. On visiting Washington, however, President Lin- coln induced him to forego his purpose and accept the appointment of minister to Rome. He went to the "eternal city," but such a life had no charms for him; he could not endure the sense of banishment when every arm was needed to strike a blow for his country. He resigned, in 1863, and on his return sought a military position. The President, however, again dissuaded him and prevailed upon him to accept the office of assistant postmaster general, which office he filled until 1865, when President Johnson promoted him to the head of the department,
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from which he retired at the close of the presidential term. He was the first citizen of Wisconsin to hold a cabinet office.
In 1869 he resumed the practice of the law at Elmira, New York, and continued to practice there until his death, August 26, 1872.
ARTHUR MACARTHUR.
The ancestors of Mr. MacArthur have been famous in Scotch ro- mance and history as the MacArthurs of Loch Katrine and Loch Arve. It is said that an island in Loch Katrine was consecrated as the burying place of the MacArthurs and that there the tombstones mark- ing the graves of those who bore that name and who were in the crusades can be found by removing the earth to the depth of a foot or two. Four of his relatives were participants in the battle of Culloden, two of whom died on the field.
The subject of this sketch was born in Glasgow, Scotland, January 26, 1815, and came to this country with his parents when a child. He was educated at Uxbridge and Amherst academies, in Massachusetts, and Wesleyan university, in Connecticut; his study of the law was prosecuted in New York, and his admission to the bar occurred in 1841. He first practiced in Springfield, Massachusetts, and in 1843 became public administrator of Hampden county and also judge advocate of the western military district of Massachusetts. He returned to New York city in 1845 and practiced law there until 1849, when he removed to Wisconsin, locating in Milwaukee. In 1851 he was elected city attor- ney and held that office one term. In 1855 he was elected lieutenant governor on the democratic ticket. That election resulted in a contest between the candidates for governor, with the result that Bashford, the republican candidate, was seated by the supreme court, though Barstow held the certificate of election. The title of Mr. MacArthur to the lieu- tenant governorship was not questioned. He, however, became in- volved in the controversy. Prior to the final judicial determination of the contest Barstow resigned, and the lieutenant governor, by virtue of the constitution, became governor. MacArthur not only took the office, but resolved to keep it; his contention was that the right to it
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was not a question for the courts, but that the certificate of the state canvassing board was final; he, being undeniably lieutenant governor, must necessarily, because of the resignation of the governor, succeed to that office. He held the office four days. One of his first official acts was to order that the arms and ammunition stored in the executive office by Barstow be removed from the capitol. After the supreme court determined that Bashford was elected and that the right to the office was a question for judicial determination, Bashford and his coun- sel went to the executive office and demanded of MacArthur that he surrender the possession of it. "Am I to understand," said he, "that if I do not surrender the office you will resort to force?" Timothy O. Howe, Bashford's counsel, said: "My advice is that Mr. Bashford hang his coat upon a nail and proceed to the performance of his guber- natorial duties. I would not, of course, advise him to lay violent hands upon so distinguished a gentleman as Governor MacArthur." After further talk Mr. Bashford said that unless Mr. MacArthur retired he would "probably be compelled to expel him by force," whereupon Mac- Arthur withdrew and resumed his duties as president of the senate.
In 1857 Mr. MacArthur was elected judge of the second circuit to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Hubbell; in 1863 he was re-elected. In 1867 he was a commissioner on the part of the United States to the Paris exposition. In 1869 he resigned the circuit judgeship, after thirteen years' service. On his retirement the bar of Milwaukee paid him the compliment of calling a meeting to express appreciation for his services, and made, by William Pitt Lynde, a pres- entation to him of a valuable set of law books.
In 1870 President Grant appointed Judge MacArthur an associate justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, which position he held for more than seventeen years, resigning in 1888, at the age of seventy-three. While in the discharge of his judicial duties he reported three volumes of the decisions of the court of which he was a member and aided in reporting a fourth volume.
During his later years Judge MacArthur devoted considerable attention to literature, having written "The biography of the English
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language, with notices of authors, ancient and modern;" "The his- torical study of Mary Stuart," an attempted vindication of her memory and character; "Essays and papers on miscellaneous topics;" a "His- tory of Lady Jane Grey;" a volume of "Lectures on the law, with special reference to the legal rules that regulate business in commerce, real estate, mortgages, trust deeds, and the property rights of married women;" these were delivered before a business college of Washington.
Notwithstanding his official duties and other engagements Judge MacArthur was actively interested in benevolent enterprises, having served as president of the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals and children; he was also president of the board of regents of the pro- posed national university. During his residence in Washington he was a social favorite, much given to dining out, and always ready in social converse. His death occurred at Atlantic City, New Jersey, August 26, 1896.
DAVID W. SMALL.
Judge Small came to Wisconsin from Pennsylvania, his native state. He was born at Frankfort, Philadelphia county, December 18, 1827. His early boyhood days were spent on a farm, the winter months being given to attendance on the common schools; he also attended the Moravian college at Nazareth for two years. At the age of eighteen he began teaching school, and at the same time read law with George Lear of Doylestown, Bucks county. After his admission to the bar, in April, 1850, he started for the west, and located at Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where he has since resided. In order to make up the de- ficiency between his income as a lawyer and his needs he engaged in surveying for a time; but the necessity for so doing was not long con- tinued. In 1862 he was nominated by the democrats as a candidate for district attorney, and was twice re-elected. In 1869 he was elected judge of the second circuit by 7,617 votes to 5,398 for Alpha C. May; in 1875 he was reelected, receiving 9,580 votes to 7,164 for Joshua Stark. He failed of a second re-election in 1881, the vote being 10,089 in his favor to 11,504 in favor of Charles A. Hamilton.
Me kr & od Publishers
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CHARLES A. HAMILTON.
Judge Hamilton is a grandson of the great Alexander Hamilton. He was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, July 23. 1826; educated, generally and professionally, in New York city, and was there admitted to the bar September 2, 1847. In 1851 he located in Milwaukee, and became a partner of the late J. E. Arnold; in 1858 he became a mem- ber of the firm of Emmons, Van Dyke & Hamilton.
In August, 1861, Mr. Hamilton entered the Seventh Wisconsin regiment as major, which left the state for Washington in September and became a part of the brigade which became known as the iron brigade: he subsequently became lieutenant-colonel; in 1862 he par- ticipated in General Pope's Virginia campaign, and commanded his regiment in the battle of Gainesville, where he was severely wounded. Before fully recovering he rejoined his regiment and took part in the engagements of the army commanded by General Burnside, including the battle of Fredericksburg. As a result of the wound received at Gainesville, Colonel Hamilton became unfitted for military duty and was mustered out in March, 1863, as permanently disabled. Returning to Milwaukee, he resumed business relations with the firm last referred to. After its dissolution he practiced alone until his election as circuit judge, which occurred in April, 1881, his term of office beginning in January following and continuing for six years. Besides serving in that capacity he was for some years a member of the board of regents of the state university.
Judge Hamilton's career upon the circuit bench met the expec- tations of his friends, and was creditable to him and the state. It is said of him by Joshua Stark, in chapter 31 of the History of Milwaukee County, "that he was a cultivated gentleman, a sound lawyer and an upright and conscientious judge. At the end of his term he retired in feeble health."
DANIEL H. JOHNSON.
Daniel H. Johnson, the present judge of the second judicial circuit, is one of the most brilliant as well as solidly judicial characters who have
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been identified with the bench and bar of Wisconsin. While making a broad reputation as a learned member of his profession, he has at the same time so stored his mind with the best literature of the world that his conversation and his writings remind one of the days when the choice minds of England were given over to high flights of fancy and philosophy, rather than to the turmoil of business and politics. Although, in the latter days, it has often been said that "conversation is a lost art," if this saying is to be accepted. Judge Johnson is certainly one exception to its general truth.
Judge Johnson is a native of Kingston, Ontario, where, or near which city, he was born on July 27, 1825. His father was a seasoned soldier under Wellington, and came to America as a British sergeant, serving in the war of 1812. At the conclusion of hostilities he obtained a homestead near Prescott, but afterward removed to a locality near Kingston and died about two years after the birth of our subject. Judge Johnson's mother was the daughter of a brave revolutionary soldier; so that, logically, he comes of good fighting blood. These facts, also, may account for his aggressive spirit, joined to one of charitable compromise.
Judge Johnson's early years were passed with an aunt near Kempt- ville, not far distant from his birthplace, where he obtained his first schooling. After teaching for a time, in 1844 (then but nineteen years of age) he turned his face to the new and invigorating west, taking a course of instruction at the Rock River seminary, Mount Morris, Illinois. In the summer of 1845 he found himself in the stirring region of the lead mines, of which Galena was the great center. Working as a miner and teaching as an educated gentleman were avocations grace- fully undertaken by the adaptable young man, and in the latter capacity he removed to Prairie du Chien in 1848. Here he commenced the study of law, and his persistent application, retentive memory and finely trained mind, incited by a high ambition directed toward a definite object, bore such fruits that in 1849 he underwent a successful examin- ation for admission to the bar.
Mr. Johnson at once commenced practice in Prairie du Chien and
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thus continued until 1854, when he entered a field in which he might have made as shining a mark as in that of the law; he purchased an interest in the Prairie du Chien Courier, and afterward became its sole proprietor, as well as editor. As a member of the journalistic profession for only two years he gained laurels of which an editor of many years' standing might justly be proud, the force and purity of his diction, as well as the strength of his character, earning him many friends and admirers. In 1856, however, he decided to return to the profession for which he had been specially trained, forming in that year a partnership with W. R. Bullock, a nephew of vice president Breckenridge. The firm of Johnson & Bullock, thus established, re- mained unchanged until the breaking out of the civil war, when the junior partner joined the confederacy, and Judge Johnson, as a whig and a republican, united with the forces of the north.
In 1860 Judge Johnson had been elected to the legislature, repre- senting the counties of Crawford and Bad Ax (now Vernon), and although an untried member, he was appointed to the position of chairman of the committee on ways and means, as well as being a member of the committee on education. During the fall of 1861 he again entered public life as assistant to attorney general Howe, dis- charging the duties of that position until May, 1862, when he was called to the south as a clerk in the paymaster's department. In November of that year he returned to Wisconsin, settling with his family in Milwaukee.
Since residing in the Cream City he has been associated, at different times, with the firms of Wyman & Johnson; Austin, Pereles & John- son; Rogers & Johnson; Markham & Johnson; Johnson & Rietbrock (1871); and Johnson, Rietbrock & Halsey, the third member of the last named firm being admitted in 1876.
In January, 1888, Mr. Johnson was elected to the judgeship of the circuit court over N. S. Murphey, the labor candidate. He was unani- mously re-elected in 1893, his present term expiring on December 31, 1899.
Since becoming a resident of Milwaukee he has been a leader in its
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public as well as legal affairs. He was a member of the convention called in 1867 to frame a new city charter, being chosen chairman of the committee on revision; in 1868 and 1869 he was again elected to the legislature, acting during his first term as chairman of the committee on education, and, during his second, chairman of the judiciary com- mittee. In 1872 his force as a thinker and his ability as a public speaker were recognized in a broader field by his selection as a delegate to the national convention which met in Cincinnati and placed Horace Greeley in nomination for the presidency. Since the split in the repub- lican party, occasioned by the so-called Greeley movement, Judge John- son has acted with the democracy, although his political views now, as then, are liberal and elastic. In 1878 he was elected city attorney for two years, and ten years later, as stated, was elevated to the bench.
As judge of the second Wisconsin circuit for the past decade he has become known far and wide for the clearness and breadth of his decisions, and the almost classic language in which they are couched. It is not too much to say, in fact, that there never was an occupant of this bench of more breadth of judicial and personal character or greater reserved force.
It may be added that the court over which Judge Johnson presides has four times a year a calendar of between four hundred and five hun- dred cases, and a weekly motion calendar of from thirty to fifty motions.
In literary circles his name has a national reputation. As a writer of short stories he is pre-eminent, his ingenuity, his freshness and lucidity of language and his grace of general treatment being qualities of especial notice. He has contributed to the exclusive columns of the Atlantic Monthly such stories as "Our Paris Letter," "Broke Jail," and general newspaper and periodical literature have for many years been enriched by his pen.
THE BAR.
JONATHAN E. ARNOLD.
Mr. Arnold was born at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, February 16, 1814; graduated from Brown university; read law in an office and took
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lectures at Harvard for one year. He removed to Wisconsin and settled at Milwaukee in September, 1836, where he practiced his profession and resided until his death. In 1840 he was elected a member of the territorial council, served during one session and resigned; he served as district attorney of Milwaukee county several years; was an unsuc- cessful candidate against General Dodge for Congress in 1841, and was again a candidate for representative in 1860, but was beaten by John F. Potter, a republican.
In politics Mr. Arnold was a whig so long as that organization was intact; after its disruption he acted with the democratic party, though during the civil war he made a number of speeches in favor of the main- tenance of the Union. His death, caused by heart disease, occurred in his office, June 2, 1869.
Mr. Arnold was of counsel for Judge Hubbell in the impeachment proceedings against him in 1853, and acquitted himself with great credit. Another of his important cases was the Bashford-Barstow con- troversy in the supreme court, involving the right to the governorship; associated with him in the case were Harlow S. Orton and Matt. H. Carpenter; on the other side (representing Mr. Bashford) were Timothy O. Howe, E. G. Ryan, J. H. Knowlton and Alexander W. Randall. The manner in which Mr. Arnold performed the duties of district attorney gave him a large reputation for his knowledge of criminal law; and subsequently, it has been said, a most important part of his practice was in defense of persons accused of crime, and often where his clients were in the most imminent peril. In these cases he acquired his greatest distinction.
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