USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. I > Part 58
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Under these conditions, what else might be expected than the suc- cessful and accomplished lawyer? What but the advocate, whose skill is admitted because hundreds of times demonstrated in contests with
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the best professional talent in the state and in adjoining states? What but loyalty to causes entrusted to his care, loyalty to the courts in which these causes have been tried, and to the law? In all these re- spects the character and attainments of Mr. Flanders are verities in the history of Wisconsin's bar. As a member of one of the strongest firms in the state he has been engaged in the trial of many strongly contested and important cases, both civil and criminal. Space forbids mention of more than a few of these. In 1889 he assisted the district attorney of Ashland county in the prosecution of the assistant cashier of the Hurley Iron Exchange bank, Phelps Perrin, and E. W. Baker, on the charge of the larceny of forty thousand dollars. In a series of five trials, each lasting from three to five weeks, Perrin was convicted and was finally sentenced to five years' imprisonment. Baker was twice convicted, the first conviction having been set aside by the supreme court. He was also sentenced to five years' imprisonment. The Mil- waukee Dust Collector case, involving the titles to patents worth some two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, was tried by him for the plaint- iff. During the progress of the litigation a very large sum of money was paid into court as royalties by the defendants. He has also suc- cessfully defended the city of Ironwood, Michigan, in the United States circuit court for the northern district of Michigan, in a case involving the validity of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of its bonds. The judgment there obtained has been affirmed in the federal court of appeals.
Mr. Flanders has recognized that every member of society owes it the special duty of devoting some portion of his time and talents to the advancement of the public good by discharging such official duties as his fellow-citizens may call him to perform. Accordingly he has given of his time and ability as a member of the school board of the first ward, having served during the years 1875-1877. In the latter year he also served as a member of the popular branch of the state legis- lature. It was on the floor of that body that the writer first heard Mr. Flanders speak. The impression then made of his ability as an orator is not yet effaced. A fine personal appearance was supplemented by a clear, resonant voice, an articulation that was charming, a vocabulary
Geoswiller
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that was rich and responsive to the demand, and matter that was pertinent to the subject under discussion. Twenty years of culture and experience have added much to the large capital with which he was then endowed and have produced the James G. Flanders of to-day.
In political affairs Mr. Flanders has usually acted with the demo- cratic party. In 1896 he was a delegate at large to the national demo- cratic convention. His views of public affairs did not coincide with the action of that convention and he declined to be bound by it. Subsequently he was a delegate at large to the convention of gold democrats at Indianapolis.
Though a member of the Milwaukee, Country and Deutscher clubs, Mr. Flanders' engagements and home attachment do not permit him to give much time to social affairs, independently of those in which his family are participants.
His religious affiliations are with the Episcopal church, and he is a regular attendant upon the services at St. Paul's.
Mrs. Flanders, formerly Mary C. Haney, is the daughter of Robert Haney, one of the early hardware merchants and pioneers of Mil- waukee. Mr. Flanders became united to her in marriage June 18, 1873. They have three children-Charlotte Bartlett. Kent and Roger Y.
GEORGE PECKHAM MILLER.
George P. Miller, the second son of Benjamin Kurtz Miller* and Isabella (Peckham) Miller, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Oc- tober 12, 1858. He is a grandson of Judge Andrew G. Miller, who was federal judge in Wisconsin from 1838 to 1872, and of George W. Peckham, who was a prominent lawyer of his day of Albany, New York-a brother and a partner of Rufus W. Peckham, for many years one of the judges of the court of appeals of the state of New York. He is a second cousin of Rufus W. Peckham, one of the present justices of the supreme court of the United States, and of his brilliant brother, Wheeler H. Peckham, nominated a justice of the same court by Presi-
*Since the first forms of this volume have gone to press Mr. Miller's death has occurred (September 12, 1898) at his home .in Milwaukee. A biography of the de- ceased will be found on page 428.
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dent Cleveland. As his father, both grandfathers and many other relatives have been lawyers and judges, he may properly be said to belong to a legal family. He certainly was born and reared in a legal atmosphere and probably inherited his legal tendencies, if not his talents.
George P. Miller received a thorough mental training. His father, who had always been a successful lawyer and well to do, spared neither pains nor money on his education. He was first carefully drilled in the primary and academic branches, after which he enjoyed a complete class- ical course at Pennsylvania college, Gettysburg, from which institution he was graduated in 1877. Upon his graduation he intended going into business and the late Alexander Mitchell promised him a position in the Wisconsin Marine & Fire Insurance Company bank as soon as its new banking building, then in course of construction, was com- pleted. In the meantime his father proposed a trip to Europe and a term at a German university. The effect of this European trip and a few weeks at a German university had a great influence on the entire life of this young man, because they resulted in his determining to study law. His father suggested that he continue his studies in Germany, which he did. studying law and the philosophy of law at the German universities at Göttingen and Breslau from 1877 to 1880, when he took the degree of Juris utriusque Doctor, at Göttingen. He then re- turned to Milwaukee and entered the office of Finches, Lynde & Miller, of which his father was a member, and in the following year was ad- mitted to the bar at Milwaukee.
From the very first his father's partner, the brilliant trial lawyer. Henry M. Finch, was interested in him and allowed. him to assist him at every trial in court and in all professional matters in the office until his death in 1883. The subject of our sketch thus enjoyed excep- tional experience and training and Mr. Finch remained his warm friend and did everything to advance his interests and position in the legal fraternity. At this time the law firm of Finches, Lynde & Miller enjoyed in the highest degree the respect and confidence of the commu- nity, and its large and wealthy clientage. In three years. 1883 to 1885. Henry M. Finch. Asahel Finch and William P. Lynde died, leaving
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Benjamin Kurtz Miller, who had devoted himself to the office and coun- seling department of the business of the firm, as the sole surviving partner. These deaths forced George P. Miller and his brother, Ben- jamin Kurtz Miller, Jr., to the front, and at once they were entrusted with some of the most important litigation in the state. Many lawyers doubted whether these young men, one twenty-eight and the other but twenty-six years of age, could hold the large and profitable business of Finches, Lynde & Miller. With the aid of their father, who was a man of great ability, they not only kept the business of Finches, Lynde & Miller, but increased it. They continued to maintain the same high standards in morality and business methods adopted by their father and the other members of the firm of Finches, Lynde & Miller. Their professional engagements so increased that in 1890 they admitted George H. Noyes and in 1895 George H. Wahl into the partnership. and the name of the firm was changed to Miller. Noyes, Miller & Wahl.
The most prominent characteristic of George P. Miller is that he combines the practical sense of a business man with the knowledge and experience of the lawyer. He has been successful in both respects, and that he is engaged as counsel by many of the great corporations and in much of the heavy litigation, shows how he is regarded by the public. He never regards a lawsuit as anything but a means to an end and that every controversy should be regarded as a question of finance, so that a favorable compromise is to be preferred to an expensive litiga- tion. A lawsuit with him is a battle. Its object, not the battle itself, but its financial results; not the settlement of abstractions, but secur- ing financial returns as speedily and cheaply as possible; not absolute justice but by settlement or litigation the largest financial return to the client.
Mr. Miller is a democrat by conviction and inheritance. He is con- nected with many clubs and societies. He was married in 1887 to · Laura A. Chapman, daughter of T. A. Chapman, Milwaukee's great merchant, and this union has been blessed by two daughters.
In conclusion the writer cannot do better than to quote the words of one who has long known Mr. Miller as a man and a practitioner:
"Although still a young man, he has already attained a leading 40
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place at the bar. He is endowed with keen and exact powers of analysis and great readiness in devising means to ends. In the solu- tion of legal problems, his methods are those of the German university and include not only the critical examination of current authorities, but also an historical investigation into the development of the law.
"Mr. Miller's exposition of legal problems and complicated ques- tions of fact is remarkable in its clearness; he has the power of arrang- ing and stating involved facts and figures so clearly that their relations cannot be misunderstood. Within the last few years Mr. Miller's prin- cipal work has been done within the equity jurisdiction, and he was particularly prominent in the litigation involved by the Northern Pacific railroad receivership. Among other prominent cases in which Mr. Miller has taken an active part are those regarding the validity of the bonds of the city of Watertown and of the city of Milwaukee."
BENJAMIN KURTZ MILLER, JR.
B. K. Miller, Jr., the eldest son of Benjamin Kurtz Miller and Isa- bella (Peckham) Miller, was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on June 6, 1857. He attended as a youth the best schools of his native city and was graduated in 1877 from Pennsylvania college, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He returned to Milwaukee and studied law in the office of Finches, Lynde & Miller and was admitted to the bar in 1880. After the death of his father's partners in 1885 he and his brother. George P. Miller, became members of the firm of Finches, Lynde & Miller, who, with their father, constituted the sole members of that firm. The fact that the business of the firm was increased after 1885 is sufficient evidence of the ability of the subject of this sketch. The business of the firm became so large that in 1890, George H. Noyes, and in 1895 George H. Wahl were admitted as members of the firm.
B. K. Miller, Jr., is not only a good lawyer, but is literary in his tastes. His intellectual interest is not confined to legal questions, but embraces all philosophical and scientific subjects. It can be said there is no branch of knowledge in which he is not somewhat informed and is considered one of the best informed men in Milwaukee on general as well as philosophical subjects. He owns the largest and best selected
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library on political economy in the state. For the last ten years he has taken a vacation each second year and visited every known country in the world. He is a great traveler and is as much at home in China, or in South America, as in his own country or Europe. He is a man of very quick perceptions, generous and a good business man. He is unmar- ried. In politics he is independent.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
The following mention of some of the members of the Milwaukee bar who, after spending a few years in legal practice as such, removed and gained honorable distinction elsewhere, is from chapter 32 of the History of Milwaukee County, that chapter being from the pen of Joshua Stark:
Burr W. Griswold, who came from New York in 1849 and was for three or four years associated with Francis Randall, returned to New York about 1854 and was for years a member of the distinguished law firm of Blatchford, Seward & Griswold.
Orlando L. Stewart tried the west a few years, beginning with 1850. In 1856 he was associated with Francis Bloodgood, practicing as the firm of Stewart & Bloodgood. Later he returned to New York, where his career has since been highly successful.
Wheeler H. Peckham, of New York, was law partner with Mr. Bloodgood in 1859. After a brief residence in Milwaukee he too re- moved to New York, where his distinguished professional labors as prosecutor of the Tweed ring, and in many other celebrated cases, have given him national fame.
Wallace Pratt came to the Milwaukee bar early in 1857. In 1858 he was associated as partner with Ephraim Mariner. Early in 1859 he be- came a partner with John W. Cary, and a few years later was a member of the law firm of Ogden & Pratt. About 1870 he removed to Kansas City, and there became prominent and successful as attorney for railroad and other corporations.
Nelson C. Gridley, after practicing law in Milwaukee several years, being for a time associated with Matt. H. Carpenter, removed to Chi- cago, where he has since been engaged in successful practice as a patent lawyer.
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Edwin L. Buttrick practiced law in Milwaukee from 1855 to 1862 and was a member of the firm of Butler, Buttrick & Cottrill. He en- tered the army in the fall of 1862 as lieutenant colonel of the twenty- fourth Wisconsin, and was later colonel of the thirty-ninth regiment. After the war he took up his residence in West Virginia, where he has been prominent as a lawyer and a citizen.
John B. D. Cogswell was a member of the Milwaukee bar from De- cember, 1857, for several years. His ability as a lawyer and as a public speaker gave him, during the few years of his residence a prominent position at the bar and in business and political circles. During the years 1862 to 1867 he held the office of United States district attorney. Not long after he returned to Massachusetts, where he had formerly resided, and has since served in the legislature of that commonwealth.
Cushman K. Davis, now serving his second term in the United States senate, representing Minnesota, read law with the firm of Butler & Winkler in Milwaukee, and was there admitted to the bar and began practice, removing from there to St. Paul about 1865.
James MacAllister, born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland, studied law at the Albany law school, and after spending several years as prin- cipal of one of the public schools of Milwaukee entered the legal profes- sion in February, 1865, and continued in practice for nearly ten years. A decided preference for literary pursuits led him, in 1874, to accept the position of superintendent of schools, which he held until 1883, with the exception of an interval of two years. In 1883 he was selected by the board of education of Philadelphia to superintend the public schools of that city, and after several years' service in that position he was hon- ored by appointment to the position of president of the Drexel institute of that city, which position he now holds.
Henry H. Markham became a member of the Milwaukee bar in February, 1867, and practiced law there with his brother, George C. Markham, until 1878, giving special attention to causes in admiralty with marked success. For necessary change of climate he then re- moved to Pasadena, California, and has since been honored with a term as governor of that state and also a term as representative of his dis- trict in Congress.
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