USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. I > Part 43
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the scandalous frauds of the infamous "Tweed ring," in order to rescue the city from that band of public robbers. Governor Salomon was chairman of the committee of legislation which drafted and urged the adoption of the necessary measures for the overthrow of the common enemy.
Mr. Salomon's parents and ancestors belonged to the Lutheran church, in which religious faith he was brought up, but has not ad- hered to any church organization in the United States, his mind being inclined to great liberality in religious and political opinions. He has not belonged to any secret societies, but has been a member of many charitable and friendly societies. He was one of the founders of the German legal aid society of New York, and was president of it from 1875 to 1888. That association has given gratuitously most valuable legal aid, as well as assistance, to over one thousand poor persons, mainly to Germans, for the first twenty years of its existence, and after that to the poor and distressed people of all nationalities.
Governer Salomon's friends maintain a deep and abiding attach- ment to him, and thousands of people in Wisconsin have never ceased to regret the day when he was induced to depart from a state which would have been so glad to pour out its highest honors upon him. His abilities, his fine presence, his excellence in all which makes a man useful to the public and dear to his friends will be always remembered by those who had the happiness to be intimately familiar with Edward Salomon.
JOSHUA STARK.
Among the hopeful young men who came to Milwaukee during the first twenty years of its existence was Joshua Stark, a descendant of a family well known in New England, where he was born at Brattleboro, Vt., August 12th, 1828, the son of Rev. J. L. and Hannah G. Stark, both of whom were natives of Bozrah, Connecticut. They removed to Can- ajoharie, New York, in the spring of 1839, and three years later to the village of Mohawk, in the county of Herkimer. While here resident the son pursued preparatory studies at the academy in Herkimer and
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Joshua Stark
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later in Little Falls, New York, and entered Union college, Schenectady, in the spring of 1846, joining the sophomore class. From January, 1847, to January, 1848, he was employed as a tutor in the family of Ed- ward C. Marshall, in Fauquier county, Virginia; but the love of learning and ambition for success were so strong upon him that he pursued his studies during this time and kept up so well that upon examination he was permitted to resume his standing and graduate, in 1848, with his class. In the fall of that year he made arrangements to go to west Maryland to teach a classical school, but because of the unexpected death of an elder brother was induced to forego that purpose and to enter the law office of J. N. & D. Lake at Little Falls, New York. While applying himself to his legal studies with the industry that has ever been a characteristic of his life he was compelled to devote a por- tion of his time to other work as a means of maintenance and was for a time an assistant instructor in an academy, village clerk and town superintendent of schools. He was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of New York, at the general term at Watertown, in July, 1850.
While revolving in his mind the question of location, the suggestion was made that the west was the proper place for a young man of energy and brains; and after due consideration he concluded to adopt Horace Greeley's advice before it was given. With a few books and a little money he set forth in the fall of the year last named with Milwaukee as the point of destination. Proceeding by rail to Buffalo, thence by boat to Detroit, across Michigan to New Buffalo by rail, the rest of the jour- ney was made by boat, and terminated on October 6th. By the advice of people he had known in early youth, he did not locate immediately in Milwaukee, but proceeded to Cedarburg and formed a partnership with F. W. Horn, the expectation being that the acquaintance of that gentle- man would bring business, which the legal knowledge of the junior partner would enable him to properly transact. Like many other the- ories, this proved a failure when reduced to practice, or rather a la- mented lack of practice, for the clients failed to come. A long and weary winter ensued, relieved not even by the presence of his partner, who was absent in the state legislature. Mr. Stark had more courage
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than cash, and when he saw that the practice of the firm was not suffi- cient for the payment of board, he indulged in some deep reflections as to the best course to pursue. That winter he devoted his leisure time, which comprised nearly every hour, to the study of the German lan- guage and in making up the deficiency he felt in knowledge of chancery practice and the principles of equity jurisprudence. He successfully overcame the difficulties of the German language, of which he soon be- came a master, and soon became so well grounded in the knowledge of that language that even the Germans themselves would not suspect his origin from his speech. So fluently did he read and speak German that at the Fourth of July celebration held at Milwaukee, in 1852, he was chosen by the Germans to read the Declaration of Independence in German in preference to the selection of one of their own number.
Mr. Stark moved to Milwaukee on May 19th, 1851. He soon won such standing among the people that in the spring of 1853 he was elected to the office of city attorney, holding the position for one year and serving to the satisfaction of the people. In November, 1855, he was chosen as the democratic representative of the first ward of Mil- waukee to the legislature, for the session of 1856. He was made chair- man of the committee on judiciary, and a member of the committee on banking, and, although the second youngest member of the body, was chosen the speaker pro tem., in which capacity he presided during a large portion of the adjourned session in the fall. During the regular session the gubernatorial contest between Messrs. Bashford and Bar- stow came before the legislature and the supreme court. Mr. Stark re- fused to join in any resistance to the decision of that court, and ma- terially aided in preventing a serious collision of opposing parties.
Near the opening of the regular session a communication from the holders of scrip issued by the state "for the construction of the Fox and Wisconsin river improvement had brought to the notice of the legis- lature the fact that the improvement company, to which the state had in 1853 transferred the improvement and the congressional grant of land in its aid-upon condition that said company should pay the in- debtedness of the state incurred on account of the work-had neglected
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to comply with this condition, and had permitted coupons for interest to be protested for non-payment, and the credit of the state to be seriously prejudiced." The matter was referred to a select committee of the as- sembly, of which Mr. Stark was chairman. Charges of other delin- quencies and misconduct on the part of the improvement company were presented during the session, and were referred to the same committee. The committee soon discovered that the questions involved were too important and complicated to be disposed of upon a superficial exam- ination, and on its recommendation it was instructed to investigate the subject thoroughly during the recess and report at the adjourned ses- sion of the legislature to be held in October of the same year.
As the result, the legislature passed a bill reported by the commit- tee, at the October session, by which the prompt payment of the in- debtedness of the state in question was fully secured and the abuses complained of were corrected. In this matter Mr. Stark, as the active and efficient head of the committee, and the author of the bill referred to, rendered a service of great value to the state and exhibited a high order of ability as a legislator.
In 1856 Congress made a grant of land to the state of Wisconsin for railroad purposes, and the disposition of these lands was one of the leading questions under discussion in the adjourned session. The scandals that grew out of those matters need not be referred to here, ex- cept to make record of the fact that Mr. Stark came out of the whole matter untouched by any taint of acceptance of railroad bonds, and that his share in all the transactions was shown to have been honorable and above suspicion by the committee of investigation in 1858.
In the fall of 1860 Mr. Stark was again called to a position of public responsibility by an election to the office of district attorney, which he held through 1861 and 1862. At the outset of his term he found the course of criminal justice blocked by a conflict of opinion between the judges of the municipal and the circuit courts. The municipal court had only been established in 1859, and there was no express statute di- recting to what court indictments found therein should be sent for trial, when removed upon affidavit that the judge was prejudiced. Certain
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indictments had been so removed to the circuit court of Milwaukee county for trial.
When these indictments were moved for trial in the circuit court Mr. Stark was met by defendant's counsel with the objection that the circuit court had no jurisdiction, since, as was contended, the statute only authorized the removal of criminal indictments from the municipal court to another county, and not to another court in the same county, for trial. This disagreement of the judges arrested all prosecutions for high crimes, and threatened serious consequences. In this dilemma Mr. Stark applied immediately to the supreme court for a mandamus to com- pel the circuit judge to proceed to the trial of the indictments in ques- tion. The matter was pressed to a speedy hearing, the important con- stitutional question involved being ably argued by Mr. Stark. The re- sult was an early decision sustaining the jurisdiction of the circuit court and commanding its judge to proceed with the hearing of the cases.
In 1862 Mr. Stark, as district attorney, was enabled to perform a service to the public of no small value. In that year the state supreme court, all the judges concurring, held in a case that was appealed from Milwaukee county that the act of the legislature, passed in 1854, requir- ing railroad companies to pay into the state treasury a percentage of their gross earnings, in lieu of taxes, and exempting their property used for operating their roads from taxation, either general or local, was uncon- stitutional and that all taxes throughout the state, which were affected by the omission of such railroad property from the tax rolls, pursuant to said act, were void by reason of such omission. The decision affected the taxes of several years, and threatened to be very embarrassing in its consequences. Mr. Stark, as district attorney, representing the losing party, moved for a rehearing, and so vigorously attacked the decision, urging the application of the doctrine of stare decisis, upon the strength of an unreported decision of the supreme court, in 1855, sustaining the act, that the judges were constrained to order a rehearing, and upon further consideration to confirm the constitutionality of the act in ques- tion.
In 1873 Mr. Stark undertook for the city the revision and consolida-
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tion of its charter, with its numerous amendments, covering a period of twenty-one years, and also of the general ordinances adopted during a longer period. This work was mainly done out of business hours. When completed, his services were further required to frame amend- ments proposed by the city council, making changes of a radical char- acter in the municipal government. The whole task was of the most exacting character, requiring great legal knowledge, untiring patience, severe labor and sound judgment; and the manner in which it was com- pleted by Mr. Stark showed him to be the possessor of these diverse re- quirements.
Any recital of Mr. Stark's public labors that did not give prominence to his work in connection with the public schools of Milwaukee, and do full justice thereto, would be very incomplete. In September, 1871, he was made a member of the school board for the seventh ward. In June, 1873, he was compelled to resign the position because of outside work, but resumed it in April, 1874, and continued steadily in the work until the summer of 1884. In the spring of 1875 he was elected presi- dent of the board and held the office by successive elections until the close of his connection with the schools. His thorough education, early experience in school work, and sound business sense, made him of great use to the schools, and enabled him to administer his duties to the best interests of all concerned.
As president of the school board Mr. Stark was ex officio a member of the committee on high schools and of the board having control of the public library. He gave an efficient and earnest service to both of these important institutions. He kept a vigilant eye upon the entire school system while at its head, and had no small influence in directing the policy and work of the board. It was, therefore, with no small degree of regret that the public learned early in 1884 that, in obedience to the demands of his private affairs, Mr. Stark was compelled to sever the connection he had so long held with the public schools. There was not only no lack of private expressions of regret at this decision, but the general feeling took such public action and shape that the recipient thereof could but feel that his willing services had been ob-
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served and appreciated. When his decision was made known to the board, its opinion of his work was expressed in a series of resolutions. The teachers of the schools felt that in the departure of Mr. Stark from the board they had lost one of their most valued advisors and truest friends. They united in the preparation of a series of resolutions which, like those of the board, were handsomely engrossed and framed before presentation. In this expression of their feelings the teachers declared that in his retirement from the board the public school system of the city had "lost one of its strongest and ablest supporters; one whose character and attainments made him a most worthy champion, and whose enlightened judgment and broad views constitute him one of the foremost advocates of every true educational reform. Espe- cially have you deserved and secured our confidence and esteem through your unflagging efforts to ennoble the work of the teacher and lift it to the dignity of a profession." Mr. Stark was also tendered a testimonial reception at the normal school building, where teachers, members of the board and many others met him, and in short and pointed speeches touched upon the value of his school work. He was also presented with a life membership in the national teachers' associa- tion. The evening of June 9th saw at the Plankinton Hotel an even more marked and general tribute to the retiring president, in the shape of a banquet tendered Mr. Stark by prominent educators and profes- sional and business men generally.
Mr. Stark has served the people in many ways other than those enumerated above. He was one of the charter members of the Young Men's association of Milwaukee and also of the Milwaukee Bethel union, and one of the directors of each of these institutions through a number of years. In 1883 he was elected president of the Milwaukee bar association, which position he held for many years. He has had an active part in various associations for the advance of music, art and edu- cation, where his fine natural taste and culture have been made instru- ments for the general good. He was for some years a director in the Milwaukee musical society, and is yet one of its contributing members. In 1885 the legislature provided for the creation of a commission to
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examine all candidates for admission to the bar, with the exception of the graduates of the law school, appointments to the commission to be made by the judges of the supreme court. Mr. Stark was one of the original appointees and was continued a member of the commission by annual reappointment until 1896. A firm advocate of "civil service re- form," Mr. Stark has for years desired the abolition of the "spoils" sys- tem of politics, and after the legislature authorized by enactment in 1895 the formation of a civil service commission for the city of Mil- waukee his appointment by the mayor to a membership of that com- mission for the full term of four years was but a fitting tribute to his efforts in behalf of good government. This commission is composed of four members who serve gratuitously.
Although Mr. Stark was not in the military service during the war of the rebellion, he loyally gave his aid to keep alive the courage and patriotism of the north, attending war meetings, and doing all that lay in his power for the good of the cause.
Among the important suits in the law courts with which Mr. Stark has been connected mention may be made of the case of the Northern Transit company vs. the Grand Trunk Railway company, in which he was associated in the defense with G. W. Hazelton. The action was brought to recover $250,000 damages for breach of contract for inter- change of traffic during the years 1879 and 1880. Upon the first trial the jury assessed the plaintiff's damages at something over $112,000. The verdict being set aside as excessive, a second trial was had, lasting nearly five weeks. Mr. Stark went to work upon the second trial with a determination to work down to the facts of the case. By a thorough scrutiny of plaintiff's books of accounts and documents during the progress of the trial he was able to demonstrate that the greater part of plaintiff's pretended losses were fictitious, and the recovery was reduced to less than $10,000, including interest.
Mr. Stark's preference has always been for the department of equity, and in that branch of the practice he has been mainly employed, and has therein won his chiefest victories .. The well-known cases of Noesen vs. the Supervisors of Port Washington, 37 Wisconsin, 168; Odell vs.
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Rogers & Burnham, 44 Wisconsin, 136; and 61 Wisconsin, 562; and Wells vs. McGeoch; State of Wisconsin vs. McFetridge et al., and the suits brought to determine the construction of the wills of the late Thomas M. Knox, 59 Wisconsin, 172; and N. B. Caswell, 63 Wisconsin, 529, are among the most important litigations upon which he has ex- pended his best energies during the last twenty years. All of the above named cases have been before the supreme court of the state, whose re- ported decisions bear testimony to the difficulty and importance of the questions involved and the industry and ability displayed in their dis- cussion.
In addition to the natural substratum of ability, without which the success which Mr. Stark has obtained could not have been possible, he is endowed with the quality of thoroughness and a persistent energy that fears no labor. When his services are enlisted in a case he works upon it day and night, if necessary, without regard to the pay that is to be secured or the amount that may be involved. He is shrewd and astute, and no case can be so complicated but that he will solve it. "He understands bookkeeping and figures better than a bookkeeper." He is especially strong in equity cases, is a great reader, and yet regards law as a science that cannot be learned altogether from books. He pre- pares his cases with the greatest care, and before going into court under- stands all the dangers and possibilities which he may be called upon to confront. As a man and citizen he possesses the highest regard of all who know him. His personal life is without reproach, and his home and family relations are of the happiest and most harmonious character. His generous deeds are performed without ostentation, but in abun- dance, and there are many whose loads have been lightened and way made more peaceful and secure because of his hearty sympathy and generous aid.
DAVID G. HOOKER.
May 12, 1888, Judge George H. Noyes, of the superior court of Mil- waukee, presented to the supreme court the memorial of the bar of Mil- waukee concerning the death of David G. Hooker. Judge Noyes' ad- dress, except the opening paragraph, is given:
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"David G. Hooker was born in Poultney, Vermont, on the 14th of September, 1830. In his twenty-third year he graduated from Middle- bury college, and after reading law for some time at Middlebury, Ver- mont, he was admitted to practice in 1856. Coming to the city of Mil- waukee in this latter year, he continued his residence there until the time of his death on the 24th of March of the present year. While he re- mained in general practice, he was at different times associated with some of the most eminent members of the bar of that city. Among them F. W. Pitkin, afterwards governor of Colorado; H. L. Palmer, now president of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance company, and Luther S. Dixon, ex-chief justice of this court. He was city attor- ney of Milwaukee from 1867 to 1870, and its chief magistrate in 1872 and 1873. In 1878 he became the general counsel of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance company, devoting the whole, as he had for many years before a portion, of his time to the interests of that com- pany. This position of great trust and responsibility he held until the time of his death. Such, in brief, is the outline of his professional and public life.
"It was my fortune to have been associated with Mr. Hooker in business for the four years immediately preceding his retirement from general practice. It was at a time when long experience had ripened him into the learned counselor. With me it was at the beginning of professional life. From the first day of my acquaintance with him he was to me an elder brother, a model man and counselor. Such always he continued. No disparity in years or wisdom ever cast a shadow be- tween him and his younger associates at the bar. To all he was the same kind, patient, and unassuming adviser. His genial smile lit up his open, friendly countenance alike for the old and the young, for the wise and the inexperienced.
"Gentle and retiring by nature, Mr. Hooker loved not legal war- fare for its excitements and its conflicts. He waged it in sincerity for its results, and in fidelity to his clients. He entered the court room not as one who hastens to the fray, but as one laden with a duty to discharge and equipped to discharge that duty well. Once in the arena, he soon
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lost himself in his cause and displayed the strong abilities he possessed as an advocate before court and jury. His honest face and candid words carried conviction where the tongue of the orator would have been of no avail.
"Though successful in the conduct of causes in court, Mr. Hooker excelled in safe and judicious counsel. Deliberate in coming to his con- clusions, he expressed them when formed with brevity and great pre- cision, and adhered to them with the tenacity of strong conviction. Re- flection and firmness were predominating qualities. With these ten- dencies of mind, there were no hasty opinions or ill-considered advice given by him. In his specialties of real estate and insurance law, to which in later life he devoted himself, he became a master. On ques- tions of title and investment, ranging through an almost limitless field of inquiry, and involving the statutes and decisions of many states, he became unquestioned authority. It will be to his imperishable credit that the vast securities of that great insurance company which he so ably counseled and faithfully served are without a flaw in title, and will stand secure as adamant whether in periods of panic and depression or amidst the fluctuations of time and credit.
"Briefly I have spoken of the lawyer and citizen. What may I add of the man? Others of the bench and bar have told, and others still will tell, in fitter words than I can command. how just and kind he was; how sterling and noble his qualities of heart and mind; how gentle, modest, yet firm, his nature; how generous and loving as father and husband; how excellent a friend; how genial a companion; how consistent a Chris- tian; how peerless a man. Let me adopt as my own the tenderest of such expressions and the highest and sincerest of such eulogies and leave them here as a slight tribute to the one so greatly loved and hon- ored by all who knew him."
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