USA > Wisconsin > History of the bench and bar of Wisconsin, Vol. II > Part 34
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is widely esteemed as a man of the strictest integrity of character, and is an honor to his family and the community in which he lives.
SAMUEL ALBERT HARPER
was born January 9, 1853, at Hazel Green, Grant county, Wisconsin. He died March 19, 1898, at his home in the capital city of his native state. His parents were both Virginians and were descendants of the oldest families of that state. The father, Moses A. Harper, the son of a college president, was a man of superior mind and high ideals. The mother, Hester Lewis, who survives her distinguished son, is a woman of remarkable strength of character and brilliant mental endowment. She comes of a family of lawyers who attained eminence in the profes- sion. Her father, Charles Lewis, was in his time a leading member of the Virginia state bar. Her brother, Charles F. Lewis, won high rank in his profession early in life, was chosen circuit judge and for many years served on the bench with great distinction. Two other brothers, Norval and William, while yet young men, were recognized as lawyers of commanding ability. At the breaking out of the war of the re- bellion they enlisted upon opposite sides and lost their lives fighting under different flags-at the beginning for each of a great professional career.
Back of Samuel A. Harper, therefore, the ancestral lines were strong in character, brain and courage. Though born upon the old home farm near the little village of Hazel Green, many miles from a railroad sta- tion, he had the constant inspiration of a cultivated home and a daily example of beautiful life in his talented parents.
It became manifest, not only to the family but to all who came in contact with him as a mere child, that he was possessed of a mind of the very highest order. Before he had passed a dozen summers he had read everything in the home library, and knew well the books of the neighborhood. He was eager for scientific knowledge; he could quote the English classics and was already knocking at the door of the dead languages. He outran his classes and became the companion of the teacher in study. While yet but a boy he became a teacher of boys. He loved to acquire learning; he loved to impart it to others. With
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all his love for books, with him books were not all of life. Living in the country he always had with him and always appreciated the value of that "Knowledge never learned at schools" which is the country boy's birthright. The seed time and the harvest, the budding and the blossom, the flowers, the flight of birds, the changing seasons, the chemistry, the life, the laws, the secrets of nature, written in all her varied language, he loved and studied by the running brook and in the quiet woods.
While this boy had taught and earned and saved until he was sure of his college training, in September, 1875, he entered the University of Wisconsin, selecting the modern classical course of study. Here he took and maintained the highest rank in his classes, quickly winning the confidence, admiration and affection of faculty and fellow students. Strong limbed, lithe and active, he took great pleasure in athletics, and spent much of his spare time at the gymnasium. But little past the middle of his course it was his great misfortune to sustain a severe physical injury while exercising, which interrupted his college course and came near terminating his life. For two years he was unable to resume his studies, but in 1880 returned and entered the law department of the university from which he graduated with distinction in 1881. He was admitted to the bar at the circuit for Dane county, the supreme court of the state, and the Federal court for the western district of Wis- consin in June of that year.
A recurrence of the troubles resulting from the injury received at the university prevented him entering upon the practice of his profes- sion until 1885, when he became a member of the law firm of LaFol- lette and Siebecker, at Madison, Wisconsin. The practice of this firm was a large one and the senior member having been elected to Con- gress in 1884, Mr. Harper was at once pressed into active service. He brought to the work a general knowledge which for scope and exactness has been possessed by few men in any generation. He brought. besides, a mind stored with legal learning, strongly grounded in the great principles, and so trained and disciplined as to enable him to command all of his resources instantly. His power of memory was remarkable: He seemed never to have forgotten anything which he
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had read, heard or seen. He knew men at a glance and read them as an open book. In the office, as a counsellor, while he was quick to de- termine a matter submitted, no client who followed his advice ever complained. In the preparation of a case for trial, Mr. Harper was un- surpassed. Drafting the pleadings was his delight. His rare dis- crimination in the use of language, his clear mental vision, his wonderful ability in marshaling at once his comprehensive knowledge of the prin- ciples of law, the rules of pleading and the decisions of the courts, made his pleadings a work of perfection, in matter and a model in legal dic- tion. While he shrank from the trial of cases in the court in the first years of his practice he mastered this nervousness and came ultimately to enjoy this part of the work, and indeed to excel in it. He was gifted in the powers of exposition. His fine analytical mind reveled in a knotty legal problem, and its elucidation to the court was an intellectual enjoyment both to the lawyer and the court.
Mr. Harper was United States district attorney for the western dis- trict of Wisconsin from 1890 to 1894. His record for good work has never been excelled. He tried a large number of hotly contested cases each session of the court. He won every case for the government but two, and in those two cases there were disagreements. He will be re- membered by the members of the profession as one of the best lawyers of his brief time.
The character of Mr. Harper had a subtle charm difficult to portray. It is felt rather than understood by those who knew him intimately. One characteristic, however, stood above all others, and that was his enthusiasm. He impressed his friends as one who had been dipped in the fountain of eternal youth, and always kept the freshness of mind, the eagerness and boundless enthusiasm of a boy, together with the maturity and deliberation of manhood. This enthusiasm, this youth- ful quality, made him a most happy companion. He could be as inter- ested in aiding a child to work out a prize puzzle in a newspaper as in the great political struggle in which he was involved. This youthful quality placed him in perfect sympathy with children, and made him a favorite with them. A multitude of the children of Madison knew him as "Uncle Sam." They were his frequent and welcome guests.
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He had no question as to whether life was worth living. He loved it, regarded it as a precious gift, and enjoyed it in that spirit. While he prized life so highly, he took no care of his health. His restless, eager intellect and high strung nervous organization led him to continued exertion and constant expenditure of effort, regardless of time to eat or sleep, or thought of necessity for rest and recuperation. Keenly alive to the humorous, anything from a commonplace pun to the most brilliant scintillations of wit fell spontaneously from his lips, making him the life of every company. But his wit was always without sting or coarseness. He had a cleanliness of thought, a purity of nature, that would have befitted the highest womanhood, but which was none the less a consistent part of his perfect manliness.
His love of knowledge was a part of his individuality. No matter what the subject, his mind was always alert, observant, and, at the same time, reflective. He found everybody interesting, and drew information from the dullest. Under the spell of his interest and sympathy the most silent and timid became talkative, and opened their conversational pow- ers like flowers their petals to the sun. Time was not to Mr. Harper when in the company of congenial people, and he believed with one who said that the best of life was conversation. He understood hu- manity perfectly, but had no disposition to criticise it unkindly. He always took the most liberal view of his opponent's attitude, and never entertained personal hostility. He was chivalrous toward women, gen- erous toward men.
Mr. Harper considered all men equal. The aspirations of the least of his friends for the most obscure political preferment aroused his interest as much as the larger ambitions of more distinguished men. He had high ideals of public life and worked for their realization in the present generation; though just to all, his political sympathies were with the plain citizen. He was bitterly opposed to the use of politicalinfluence for private gain, and feared not to attack the highest who was so guilty. This sometimes brought abuse, which served but to spur him to greater efforts to abate the evil he opposed. Though otherwise well fitted for public speaking, he had a nervous dread of it which he overcame, how- ever, in the last few years of his life. He addressed the republican league
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several times during his presidency, and made campaign speeches for his party.
Though he sometimes impressed people otherwise, Mr. Harper was by no means an impulsive man. His action was always controlled by wise judgment. But under pressure he could focus his quick mind upon a proposition or a situation, and arrive at an almost instantaneous decision. When not pressed to an immediate conclusion, he was in- clined to deliberate and consider too long, and to be dilatory in action. But no matter how or when arrived at, his friends relied upon his ulti- mate judgment in affairs of importance with unquestioning confidence. Much of his strength as a politician lay in his power to sit in judgment upon plans placed before him. A course of action having been decided upon, his mind never lost sight of a point in the game. Won or lost, he accepted the result philosophically and with the satisfaction that it had been played well and fair. He believed in the ultimate triumph of clean political methods. He was himself an example of a practical, effective political worker whose every thought and action would bear most scrupulous scrutiny.
If Mr. Harper's life had any one distinguishing characteristic it was affection. He loved his family, he loved children, he loved his friends and clung to them. Once people came within the radius of his heart warmth, they never again left it. The whole wealth of his nature was the property of his friends, and their interests were his. He was generous, steadfast, pure. In the words of one of his friends, "his loss is not tem- porary, but long."
"Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"
BURR W. JONES.
Burr W. Jones, professor in the Wisconsin law school since 1885 and author of a treatise on the law of evidence, was born at Union, Rock county, Wisconsin, March 9, 1846, and is a son of William and Sarah M. (Prentice) Jones, natives respectively of western Pennsylvania and western New York. The father died in 1855, and the mother after- ward married Levi Leonard, a pioneer of Rock county. They now
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HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN. 363 reside at Evansville, in that county. Our subject had one sister, who is now deceased.
Burr W. Jones spent his early life on a farm and afterward attended the Evansville seminary. He then entered the university of Wisconsin, from which he was graduated in 1870, and the following year finished the law course of that university. To defray part of his expenses at the university he taught school during winter months. After leaving the university he entered the office of Colonel William F. Vilas. In the winter of 1871-2 he began the practice of his profession at Portage, Columbia county, Wisconsin, and a short time afterward formed a part- nership with Alden S. Sanborn, of Madison, who was later elected county judge. This partnership lasted a number of years, after which Mr. Jones practiced alone until 1874. Since that year he has been at different times associated with General A. C. Parkinson and F. J. Lamb, and his present partner is E. Ray Stevens.
In 1872 Mr. Jones was elected district attorney of Dane county, on the democratic ticket, which position he held four years. In 1882 he was elected a member of Congress for two years, from the old third congressional district, which had always been hopelessly republican. In 1884 he was renominated, but was defeated, his party being in the minority; but he ran largely ahead of his ticket. Although in Congress but a single term, the record shows that he took an active part in de- bates and public business, and part of the time, during the long illness of the chairman, he was the acting chairman of the important commit- tee on war claims.
For some years Mr. Jones served as city attorney of Madison, and for the past thirteen years he has been one of the faculty of the law department in the university of Wisconsin, and is now lecturer on do- mestic relations and the law of evidence and public corporations. Dur- ing his connection with the law school he has been a general favorite with the large number of young lawyers under his instruction.
Mr. Jones was married in December, 1873, to Olive L. Hoyt, a daughter of L. W. Hoyt, late of Madison, and to this union has been born one child, Marion Burr.
Except during the time Mr. Jones was in Congress he has always
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364 HISTORY OF THE BENCH AND BAR OF WISCONSIN.
devoted himself to his chosen profession, and has won the reputation of being one of the leading lawyers of his state. His experience and skill as a trial lawyer have led to his frequent employment in the trial of important cases, some of which have attracted wide attention and involved large amounts of money. Of late years he has prosecuted and defended many negligence cases, and was connected with the long liti- gation of Angle vs. the Omaha Railway company, which extended through a period of nearly fifteen years in the federal courts. He was' associated with Chief Justice Fuller before the latter was appointed to the bench, in the proceedings at Washington before the departments, for securing title to the lands included in the Wisconsin Farm Mortgage company's grant, and was also one of the attorneys for the defense in the celebrated roster case. He has devoted a great deal of time to the active work of the trial court and is recognized by his brothers in the law as one of the ablest trial lawyers at the bar. Especially is this true in the matter of the examination of witnesses, a duty which most often falls to him when he is associated with others in the trial of cases. But his practice is by no means confined to the trial courts. Few have a better standing or are given more respectful attention in courts of last resort.
In the preparation of his treatise on evidence, which has recently been published, Mr. Jones displayed those qualities of logical reasoning that have made his career as a lawyer and a lecturer upon legal subjects a success. The work, which was published in 1896, is issued in three volumes and has had a large sale. It has been very highly commended by the judges and reviewers in this country, Canada and England, and is used as a text book in several law schools.
In political campaigns Mr. Jones has been in great demand as a campaign speaker and has often delivered public addresses on other occasions. He was the chairman of the Wisconsin democratic state convention in 1892, and his name has often been mentioned in connec- tion with the democratic nomination for governor and other public honors; but he has not encouraged these suggestions. After his first public connection with politics, Mr. Jones always acted with the demo- cratic party until the campaign of 1896, when, in common with many
P.M. Saboa ratollette
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others, he refused to accept the platform of the Chicago convention. He was a delegate to the national democratic convention at Indianapo- lis and was chosen by the delegation to present the name of General Bragg as a presidential candidate. Although Mr. Jones has been drawn into some prominence in political affairs, he has generally declined po- litical promotion, and his tastes are those of the lawyer and student.
He has always been devoted to the interests of his city, and hardly any measures of importance to the community have been inaugurated during the last twenty years with which he has not been identified.
He is now chairman of a state tax commission, lately appointed to examine the laws relating to taxation in the state of Wisconsin and to report thereon to the legislature.
EDWIN B. KELSEY.
Edwin Bolivar Kelsey was born in Perry, Wyoming county, New York, May 13, 1825; learned the printer's trade at Mt. Morris, Living- ston county, and became foreman of the Daily Advertiser office in Roch- ester. In 1848 he located at Waukesha (then Prairieville), Wisconsin, and after preparation was admitted to the bar. He removed to Montello, Marquette county, where he practiced law and engaged in other busi- ness. He served in the assembly in 1853, and in the senate in 1855 and 1856. His death occurred February 12, 1861.
Mr. Strong has written: "Mr. Kelsey had fine native talents and good education, and developed such qualities as a lawyer as, if his life had been spared and he had confined himself to the profession, prom- ised to secure for him an elevated standing at the bar. He was a man of sanguine temperament, noble, kind, generous, large-hearted and de- voted to his friends, whom he was always ready to serve."
.ROBERT MARION LA FOLLETTE.
Robert Marion LaFollette was born in the town of Primrose, Dane county, Wisconsin, June 14, 1855. When six years of age his parents moved to Argyle, in a neighboring county, where his time was divided between working on a farm and attending a district school. 'In 1873 the family moved to Madison, and here he attended a private academy
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preparatory to entering the state university, where he was admitted to the freshman class in September, 1875. His early college work was characterized by his activity in the debating societies, and in literary work as editor and joint-owner of the university press. In his junior year he was elected by the Athenean society as its orator in junior ex- hibition. In his senior year he represented the university in the inter- state contest, at Iowa City, Iowa, winning the prize on his oration, "Iago." This literary masterpiece, combined with its faultless elocu- cion and delivery, established his reputation as a writer and orator. He took his diploma with the class of '79 and entered the law school in the fall of the same year, which he attended only one term, completing his law studies in an office. He was admitted to the bar in 1880, and in the fall of the same year was nominated and elected by the repub- licans district attorney of Dane county. This office he filled with such conspicuous ability that at the following election in 1882 he was re- chosen by his county, notwithstanding formidable opposition and the fact that the average plurality against his ticket was over a thousand. The severest strain upon the powers of a member of the legal profession comes in the trial of cases. Tested thus as a master of the points of his cause, in quick perception, and close discrimination in examination of witnesses and the gift of exposition to court and jury of the law and facts involved, Mr. LaFollette is pre-eminent. In the year 1881 he formed a partnership with Robert G. Siebecker under the firm name of LaFollette & Siebecker. In 1886 Samuel A. Harper became a member of the firm which was then known as LaFollette, Siebecker & Harper. The reputation earned by Mr. LaFollette as a lawyer, together with the popularity and friendships attaching to a winning and genial person- ality, brought him before the people of the capital district as the most desirable candidate for Congress, and in 1884 he was nominated and elected congressman of the third district. He was the youngest man in the 49th Congress, being but twenty-nine years of age when his term commenced. He was re-elected to his seat in Congress, and again, in 1888, and was unanimously renominated by the republicans of his dis- trict in 1890, but in the political revolution ensuing upon the introduc- tion into Wisconsin state politics of compulsory education issues, made
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one of the numerous candidates defeated, his district thereupon losing not only a faithful and tireless representative but one of unimpeachable private and public character. Among his speeches in Congress winning him wide commendation are more particularly his discussion on the river and harbor bill of 1885; his reply to Speaker Carlisle's speech on the Mills bill; his defense of the Lodge election bill; his advocacy of the constitutional power of Congress to tax manufactured compounds deleterious to health; and his speech in endorsement of the tariff bill of 1890. As an orator his style is simple and direct, his vocabulary copious and Anglo-Saxon, his argument inductive, and thought clear; backing this is the gift of oratory, a voice musical and magnetic and the taste and discrimination of a trained literary mind.
Upon his retirement from Congress Mr. LaFollette entered upon the practice of his profession as the senior member of the firm of La- Follette, Harper, Roe & Zimmerman. This partnership was dissolved in 1894, since which time he has practiced alone, and by his ability, sterling integrity and honesty has won the confidence and respect of the people and placed himself in the foremost rank of the legal pro- fession in his native state.
Although his large law practice makes him a very busy man, Mr. LaFollette has taken a prominent part in Wisconsin state affairs, and has ever stood as an outspoken and fearless champion of the rights of the people. He is the acknowledged leader of the movement for "pure politics" in Wisconsin, and his masterly addresses on representative government delivered before the faculty and students of the university of Chicago and the university of Michigan, as well as on many home platforms, have made a profound and lasting impression upon the public mind.
In 1880 Mr. LaFollette married Miss Belle Case, of Baraboo, Wis- consin, who had been his classmate in the university, and to whom, upon graduation in 1879, was awarded the Lewis prize for the best commencement oration. In addition to her university training Mrs. LaFollette also took a full course in the Wisconsin university law school, and was the first lady to receive a diploma from that institution. She has proven herself a most worthy and inspiring sharer of the hon-
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ors, trials and responsibilities of her husband's professional and political life. The home is brightened by a charming daughter and two little sons.
JOHN W. LEARY.
John William Leary, formerly of the Dane county bar, was born at New Diggings, LaFayette county, Wisconsin, May 25, 1858. Eight years later his parents removed to Blue Mounds, Dane county. His early life was a desperate battle to obtain the support needed for his mother and his younger brothers and sisters and an education for him- self. But he fought manfully, and was enabled to attend a high school in 1882-83, and in the fall of 1883 to enter the state normal school at Platteville, from which he was graduated from the advanced course in 1886. He next engaged in teaching, and in 1889 was graduated from the college of law of the state university. He opened an office in Madi- son, secured clients and a good standing at the bar. In 1890 he was elected district attorney and re-elected in 1892. His service in this po- sition was faithful and satisfactory to the public. A few months before his death, which occurred at Madison February 10, 1897, he formed a partnership with L. B. Murphy. What Mr. Leary became he achieved by hard work; if life and health had been spared his attainments would doubtless have kept progress with his years.
WILLIAM C. LEITSCH.
William C. Leitsch, mayor of Columbus, was born in the city over whose public affairs he now presides, on May 31, 1867. As a boy he was studious and industrious, receiving his education in the business world, in the public schools of his native city, at the Northwestern university, Chicago, and the university of Wisconsin, Madison. For seven years he was a traveling salesman for Chicago establishments, being connected with the well-known houses of G. Becker and Kuh, Nathan & Fischer Co., wholesale clothing establishments. This busi- ness experience and practical training are of great assistance to him in the management of his legal affairs.
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