USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. I > Part 52
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Mr. Smith procured the passage of several acts, among which was one that must be regarded as one of great practical importance. It was the law authorizing the school lands commissioners to loan from the school and other trust funds of the state, to the city of Mil- waukee, money for the construction of the water works of the city, then about to be undertaken. This plan of making several questions answer each other, and all for the public good, was originated by Mr. Smith and had the advantage of providing for the use of state funds then lying idle by a loan made perfectly secure; and also of furnishing money to the city at a time when its credit was not as good as at present, of
*Some clerk of the assembly who could not make up his mind to sanction an act so contrary to his idea of proper legislation, added under a general rule which gave him authority, another section, which, although he did not know it, was an absurdity. "This act shall take effect from and after its passage." It obviously could not take effect until the day of election. which would be in November, by which time it must take effect under the constitutional provision.
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increasing the school fund and promoting the water works. This plan was opposed first as a novelty, but before the end of the session its advantage was so clearly seen that its supporters were largely in the majority. Mr. Smith also strongly supported the law making an an- nual appropriation of ten thousand dollars for the university of Wiscon- sin, in addition to the funds it already possessed. He had previously suggested and ardently supported the legislation conferring the right to vote on the soldiers without the state.
Mr. Smith might have spent a large portion of his time in public station had he followed the wishes of those about him instead of con- sulting his personal choice and his love for the work of his profession. In 1859 he was nominated for state senator by the republican conven- tion of the sixth district, but was constrained to decline the honor be- cause, as he said to those who had thus honored him by their choice, "there are confided to me in professional and various capacities rights and interests of other persons which demand my whole time and atten- tion. I am not at liberty to neglect or lay down those trusts at this time, and I cannot fulfill them consistently with that devotion to public interests which should be exacted from a senator representing one-half of Milwaukee county." In 1876 he was tendered the appointment of United States district attorney to succeed Judge Levi Hubbell, resigned, but declined to accept. When Judge Miller and afterwards Judge Howe retired from the bench of the United States court of the eastern district of Wisconsin, Mr. Smith was upon both occasions urged to ac- cept the place, as he was also urged to become a candidate for the supreme bench of the state upon Judge Ryan's death. In 1881 it was the almost unanimous wish of the bar and public that he should accept a republican nomination or become an independent candidate for circuit judge to succeed Judge Small, whose term was to expire that year. In all these cases he not only refused to take any step toward the fulfill- ment of the general desire, but, on the contrary, prevented his friends from using his name in connection with the position.
Mr. Smith has been connected with the social and business life of Milwaukee in many ways other than political or legal, only a portion of which can be mentioned in this summary of his life's labors. He has
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been vice president of the Wisconsin Humane society, and an active worker for that noble organization; was the first president of the Mil- waukee Chess club; in 1851 he was secretary of the Young Men's asso- ciation, a society founded for the advancement of education and culture, and that laid the foundation of the great public library now under city control. Mr. Smith was president of and a large stockholder in the Cream City Street Railroad company, and through that corporation and others has made his energies, ability and means contribute to the growth and development of Milwaukee's material interests.
That Mr. Smith almost from the day of his first appearance at the bar of Milwaukee until he retired in 1888 held a commanding position and was engaged in an extended and lucrative practice, goes almost without the saying, in view of the outlines of public usefulness and public confidence given above. His clients were among the leading men and firms or corporations of Wisconsin, and he has been con- nected with some of the most important and intricate cases recorded in the legal history of the state. While it would be impossible to mention all these within the brief compass of this sketch, reference can be made to one or two. One of these grew out of the controversy be- tween the stockholders of the old Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien Rail- road company and the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad company, in which the latter great corporation was enjoined from absorbing and destroying the former company until the rights and interests of its. stockholders were protected in a satisfactory and equitable compromise.
The vast pecuniary interests involved in this case greatly enhanced Mr. Smith's reputation at the bar, and led to retainers in some of the most important litigations of the period.
The genius of no lawyer can supplant hard work, and it did not with Mr. Smith. He studied his cases thoroughly and he studied both sides, and was therefore prepared to meet any point of argument which might reasonably be expected from an adversary. A mention of several im- portant litigations with which he has been connected should be added to those already referred to. He was retained in behalf of the defend- ants, in 1875, in a number of the prosecutions commenced by the United States against persons charged with violations of the revenue laws.
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These cases were of much importance to the parties interested, and at the time attracted great attention. The results were generally unfavor- able to the defendants, but his clients were entirely satisfied with the strenuous and able efforts of Mr. Smith, and his partial successes were regarded as victories, considering the odds against which he had to con- tend. His practice in revenue cases had, before this, been extensive, and his knowledge of that department of professional labor was ex- haustive. For several years he was a partner of Joshua Stark, and they conducted among others a litigation involving the management of the Sentinel company, in which case they won a signal triumph and much credit also.
But no case in Wisconsin has for many years been the subject of more wide attention from business men than the action brought by Daniel Wells against Peter McGeoch, both of Milwaukee, to recover a very large sum of money which the plaintiff claimed he paid by reason of the defendant's misrepresentations to him. This was popularly known as "the lard case," all members of the bar know its history. The principal defense was that the transactions between the parties were il- legal, because they were in violation of the Illinois statutes forbidding what is understood as "corners," and the defendant claimed the subject of the controversy to be money gained by the parties in one successful corner and lost by them in the lard corner. The case was decided in the lower court in favor of the defendant upon this ground, and argued before the supreme court on appeal, the principal question being whether the illegality mentioned constitutes a valid defense. The case was begun in 1883, and was very voluminous, and required almost con- tinuous labor from the counsel. The brief drawn by Mr. Smith ex- tended over nearly a hundred printed pages, and although lengthy (as it was exhaustive) was considered by attorneys as a model for method of arrangement, logical statement and perspicuity.
The case of Wells vs. McGeoch was decided by the supreme court in favor of the plaintiff and a judgment was rendered on his behalf through which he collected over $250,000 from McGeoch. Soon after that re- sult was accomplished, Mr. Smith being much in need of rest, went with his two daughters and others to Europe, where he traveled in Eng-
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land, Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, Austria and Italy, re- turning to Milwaukee in November of the same year, 1888. This trip he greatly enjoyed, it having satisfied his curiosity to see cities and works of the old world which he had long desired to know.
Soon after his return he entered into negotiations which resulted in the sale in the spring of 1890 of the property of the Cream City Rail- way company. The proceeds of this sale divided in equal proportions among all the stockholders, gave to them a satisfactory profit. It re- leased Mr. Smith from the management of the road, which had been for about twelve years upon his shoulders, and which he was pleased to lay aside when the investment had been converted into money. He had given much time and attention to the duties at a very moderate compensation, and regretted not only the loss of time from his profes- sional pursuits, but the fact that to so many persons he was known not as a member of the bar so much as president of the railroad.
The position Winfield Smith held as president of the Cream City Railroad company came to him by a natural sequence of circumstances and was unsought and undesired. He bought some stock in the road by way of patronizing a public enterprise and was elected a director. The company was not prospering as well as the stockholders could wish. His efficiency as a director was quickly recognized; a change of man- agement was desired, and the burden of executive responsibility was shifted to the shoulders of Mr. Smith. When he assumed control in 1878 the stock was worth but sixty to seventy cents. It afterward ap- preciated to upwards of one dollar and sixty cents, and the stock- holders may be taken for good authority that much of the credit for this gratifying appreciation belongs to their former president.
With the portion of the money obtained from the sale of the prop- erty of the Cream City Railway company Mr. Smith acquired an inter- est in the Menominee Falls Quarry company and in the Milwaukee & Superior Railway company; about one-sixth of the whole of each. He was elected president of each of those corporations and the result has been continual labor and care of a degree of which he had no anticipa- tion. The railroad, running from Granville, in Milwaukee county, to Sussex, in Waukesha county, twelve miles, has been lately extended
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nine miles further westward to North Lake, and its construction has created for Mr. Smith a large amount of labor, including many and troublesome details.
In March, 1895, he went with his wife and younger daughters to the Mediterranean, stopping at Gibraltar for a three weeks' tour in Spain and to Tangiers, thence going to Italy. Later they spent a couple of months in Switzerland, and as much more in France. Called by busi- ness, he returned to Milwaukee, leaving his family in Paris. After a winter of work, he sailed again in March for Naples and rejoined his family in Rome.
In May he started north and in June, with his family, met his eldest daughter who had arrived there from Boston with her husband, Dr. N. W. Emerson, whose health was much broken down. After some rest in the Isle of Wight they traveled together through England; the doctor, quite recovered, returned in the fall, and Mr. Smith and his family, after a month's trip to Holland, started for the United States; after paying a number of visits to more intimate friends they arrived in Chicago in January, 1897.
Mr. Smith hastened to resume his labors in Milwaukee, which have ever since occupied his attention.
When in 1888 he started for Europe he formed a partnership with Mr. Rosendale in the practice of law, which continued for some time, but before Mr. Smith started the second time for Europe it had been dissolved and he had abandoned the practice of law, sending most of his books to the office of his younger son, who is engaged in the profession in Seattle, Washington.
Politically Mr. Smith was of democratic antecedents, but when he came to the full consideration of the great questions confronting the people of America in his early manhood and saw the wrong and the dangers of slavery, he made his choice according to the dictates of pa- triotism and conscience. He gave a reason for his change of faith and set it forth ably and fairly in a letter to his old legal instructor, Mr. Christiancy, bearing the date of September 20, 1856.
Being opposed to slavery, it was impossible for Mr. Smith to be anything but an earnest and outspoken friend of the Union cause when
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war was declared by the slave-holding power, and to labor in all possible ways for the success of the north. He was vice president of the first committee organized in Milwaukee for the support of the war. He had fully arranged to enlist and go to the field of actual service when the demand was made upon him by Governor Salomon that he should go to Madison and give the same loyal and needed service in another line of duty. But he did not confine his activity to that labor. He was constantly laboring at all seasons and in many ways for the Union's good, urging enlistments, and looking after the families of those who were left behind. His war speeches were among the best and most effective of any of those delivered in the west.
In addition to his speeches, Mr. Smith made continual use of the pen, and the republican press of the state during war days could fur- nish many evidences of that fact, in editorials and communications. He was also author of a vigorous and keenly humorous ballad, which showed McClellan to the world in a humorous light-a versification that found great favor at the time, but whose authorship was known to but few.
The qualities of manly resolution and intellectual strength which belonged to the father and of culture and refinement that were the pos- sessions of the mother, have united to produce in the son a character and bearing that have won him admiration and friends and enabled him to secure and retain the public confidence and respect that he has for so many years held. The superior education which through opportunity, application and a deep thirst for knowledge Winfield Smith has gained has supplemented his natural gifts, and much of the force and polish of his writings and forensic efforts may be attributed to his familiarity with classic models and the literature of ancient as well as modern times. Among his mental characteristics may be mentioned keen discernment of the meaning and measure of things about him, determination to ac- complish whatever he undertakes, self-reliance, an independence of thought and action, and an imagination fervid, and yet tempered with good judgment. With an analytical mind he reached his conclusions by the way of logic. Taking nothing for granted, he demands a reason for every proposition that is submitted to his understanding. He does
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not form his opinions suddenly or from impulse. His beliefs are the fruits of experience or ripened and intelligent study, based upon all the facts than can be brought to his knowledge. A fine natural orator, he has been called to the public platform upon many important occasions, and has ever acquitted himself with honor and to the gratification of those whom he addressed. During the last ten years Mr. Smith has given much thought to religious subjects, looking at them in a much broader way than in the earlier part of his life and gradually releasing himself from the ties of dogma and from adhesion to sectarian doctrine. He has moved with those who have freed themselves from the shackles of beliefs which were once considered an essential part of religion, and he yields reverence to those fundamental principles which are calculated to secure the welfare of men as well as the favor of Deity.
His married children are widely scattered, residing in Seattle, Chi- cago, Boston and in England, and he looks hopefully to a day when, resting from his present labors, he may again devote time to their so- ciety and to the pleasure of travel.
He has visited most parts of the United States and a large part of Europe, but always finds enjoyment in going further or renewing his acquaintance with famous places and famous works of art and science.
CORNELIUS I. HARING.
Cornelius I. Haring, secretary of the state bar association, was born on the 4th of April, 1860, at New City, Rockland county, New York. His father, Dr. I. C. Haring, one of the best known physicians in Rock- land county, and his mother, Sarah (Tallman) Haring, are both mem- bers of old Holland families* who emigrated to New Amsterdam in the middle of the seventeenth century.
*The official records of Rockland county, New York, show that the soldier, Jan Pieter Haring, of the Peninsula of Horn in Holland, was the great-grandson of patriot John Haring who distinguished himself in many ways in Holland's battles for freedom against Spain, and whose acts of heroism are so vividly described in Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic. Jan Pieter Haring, the ancestor of the American branch of the Haring family, emigrated from Holland to this country in the year 1660, and settled on Manhattan Island and owned a farm of one hundred acres in what is now the heart of New York city. This Haring farm extended from the Bowery Lane westward beyond Bedford street and included both sides of Broadway from about
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Mr. Haring received his early education in the public schools near his home. After the necessary preparation he entered Rutgers college, at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and graduated therefrom in 1881. He was a member of the college societies of Delta Upsilon and Phi Beta Kappa; was president of his class and of the glee club, business man- ager of the college paper, and captain of the football team. After graduating from Rutgers he entered the law school of Columbia col- lege, was graduated in 1883 and admitted to the bar of New York im- mediately after. He came to Milwaukee in 1884, and was first asso- ciated with Joshua Stark in the law. In 1887 he went into partnership with Adolph Herdegen. Upon the death of that gentleman, the fol- lowing year, he formed a partnership with Edward W. Frost, under the firm name of Haring & Frost. Later, Charles E. Shepard came into the
Waverly place down to a line near Bleeker street. In 1673-4 Jan Pieter Haring was one of the Schoepens to govern the "outside people" on Manhattan Island beyond the then little city of New York, called New Orange. Subsequently many members of his family held many positions of honor and trust in the legislature and on the bench. Orange county, for the first twenty-five years from 1701 to 1726, sent but one representative to the Colonial general assembly; during that time, with the exception of seven years, that representative was chosen from the Haring family.
On July 4th, 1774, at a meeting of the freeholders of Orangetown the Orangetown Resolutions, consisting of seven articles, were drawn up and adopted, which contain the germ of the great principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence. John Haring and Peter Haring, with three others, were appointed a committee for this town to correspond with the city of New York to conclude and agree upon such measures as should be found necessary. John Haring was the chairman of the committee and himself drew the Orangetown Resolutions.
The fifth article of the resolutions of this meeting formed a part of what was known as the "non-importation agreement," which was adopted by the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, October 20th, 1774; this non-importation article was sub- sequently ratified by the several colonies and was one of the overt acts that precipi- tated the revolution.
In April, 1775, John Haring was chosen delegate from Orange county, "south of the mountains," to the Provincial Congress and elected president of the same. In 1783-85 and '87 John Haring was chosen delegate from "south of the mountains" to the constitutional convention at "Po' Keepsie."
The Orange county judgeship seems to have been held almost exclusively by members of the Haring family from 1717 to 1788. It is not surprising, therefore, that the subject of this sketch, having descended from such an honorable and prominent family, should have certain attributes of character and mind which would make his success at the law a foregone conclusion-and he has not disappointed the expectation of his friends .- Men of Progress, of Wisconsin.
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firm, and the name became Shepard, Haring & Frost. Upon the re- moval of Mr. Shepard to Seattle, the firm became again Haring & Frost, and so remains. He has succeeded in building up a large general practice, and is considered one of the leaders among the younger mem- bers of the profession. He is regarded as well qualified in the manage- ment of corporation and probate matters and in carrying on commercial litigation and in settling and adjusting insolvent cases.
Mr. Haring earned his first professional money by defending the anarchist, Paul Grottkau, in civil suits.
He is a republican on principle, but never sought or held a political office. He is secretary of the Milwaukee bar association and of the state bar association, and he is also secretary of the Lawyers' club; member of the committee on amendments to the law of the state bar association, and is a member of the Deutscher club. He belongs to Plymouth Congregational church.
CHARLES DIETZ MANN.
Charles D. Mann, junior member of the firm of Rogers & Mann, has earned for himself a substantial reputation at the bar. The son of John E. Mann, judge for so many years of Milwaukee county, he has given special attention to equity cases and probate matters, and his success in these fields has been remarkable.
Mr. Mann, as his name indicates, is of German descent, his mother, Catherine Dietz, being of an old and prominent New York family, some of whose members were politically intimate with Martin Van Buren. Both his paternal and maternal ancestors were settlers of Schoharie, N. Y., where Judge Mann was born, March 4, 1821. He came to the west and to Wisconsin in May, 1854, locating in West Bend, and here, on October 15, of the same year, was born Charles D. Mann.
The boy remained in this locality until he was thirteen years of age, the greater portion of which period his father had been serving his constituents as judge of the third Wisconsin circuit. In 1867 the family removed to Milwaukee, where both professional opportunities
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and educational advantages were greater and broader. Here Charles added to the education which he had acquired in the public schools of West Bend a thorough course in the Milwaukee high school, from which he was graduated in 1872. He also enjoyed private instruction, as well as a business training in the hardware store of R. Haney, a pioneer in that branch. After being thus occupied for about a year, he removed to St. Paul, Minn., and engaged in various lines of busi- ness.
When twenty-one years of age, however, Mr. Mann had fully de- termined what his course in life was to be, and, returning to Milwaukee, at once began the study of his profession in the office of Carpenter & Smiths. This practical and invaluable experience and training was fol- lowed by a course in the Albany law school, from which he graduated in 1878, being admitted to the bar both at Saratoga, New York, and at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1879. He then re-entered the office of Car- penter & Smiths, and was in the employ of D. G. Rogers for one year before he became his partner, in 1882. For sixteen years, therefore, this fortunate professional connection has continued, and conscientious, hard work has made the firm strong and prosperous.
Mr. Mann has never sought office nor held it. Originally he was a democrat, but is now what may be termed an independent in politics. In religious belief he is an Episcopalian, and, although not identified with charitable or benevolent societies, is a member of such social or- ganizations as the Deutscher and Iroquois clubs. In a word, he is a refined, successful lawyer, social and domestic in his tastes and habits, spending most of his time outside of his business hours with his family. On August 22d, 1883, he was married to Sarah S. Mersereau, of Owego, New York, and they have two children-Gertrude Mersereau and Cath- erine Mann, the latter being born on her grandfather's seventy-fifth birthday.
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