USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Racine > Racine, belle city of the lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 25
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MOOT MARINE COURT
"Marine law was disenssed during the long winter months at the Racine Exchange, then kept by the Raymonds, where there seemed to be an extra tribunal on marine laws. Many vessels laid up at the port and many of the captains wintered here and boarded at the Exchange. The 'court's' session lasted from the close of navigation until the Mackinaw Straits opened in the spring. JJack Brown seemed to be the chief justice. At all events, he knew not only every point of the compass on water but he knew just what the rights of a sailor were.
"In the spring of 1849 or '50, this court had just cleaned up a full docket. 'Chief Justice' Brown had been busy all winter and his court had sat every day. Along towards spring the docket was well cleaned up and then the crowd discussed the subject of when the Straits would open; what the freights would open at, and which Raeine vessel would arrive at Buffalo first. Well, the writer had an interest in the schooner Tempest and he thought he had about as fast a master as was on the lakes, and so he bet $200 on the Tempest outsailing the fleet from Racine to Buffalo.
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RACINE REEF LIGHTHOUSE (Three miles from shore)
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The Tempest, Outward Bound, Cherokee and two or three other vessels were loaded and the masters had all sails set ready to hoist. The mates were told to keep the crews in sight night and day while they, the masters, would look out for news of the Straits being open.
"The 'court' held that when a man had once been appointed master of a craft the owner had nothing to do or say about the vessel until she laid up in the fall and that the master was the sole director of the vessel in and out of port. The masters do- clared that they had the right to insure, hold all funds, give no trip sheet, or send in any statements until they settled up after the vessel went into winter quarters. They passed on the value and speed of craft, and thousands of dollars were wagered dur- ing the winter months, but no money was put up. This 'court' sat regularly each winter from about 1845 to 1855, and as Racine then had no place of amusement, the bar-room of the Racine Exchange was as full as the courts now are when one of the star cases is up in a justice court.
"At last the news came that the Straits were clear of ice, and at once all the sails on the vessels went up, and with a fair wind they were soon out of sight of port. Within twenty-four hours of sailing a heavy storm came on, fearful in character. Snow squalls were frequent all the day and fears for the safety of the fleet were felt by owners of the vessels. When the storm abated news of the loss of the vessels came in and it was a fearful report of the loss of life as well as of property. The Outward Bound had gone to the bottom with all hands on board. The Tempest was ashore on the Sleeping Bear, and what had be- come of the other vessels the writer has forgotten. But he recol- lects most distinctly that the Tempest was not the first vessel into Buffalo, and he also remembers that the Tempest threw over- board all the wheat, except 2,400 bushels, in order to get off and afloat, and that it cost the owners of the vessel nearly $4,000."
LIGHT HOUSES
The history of light houses in and about this port is inti- mately connected with that of the shipping and of the city itself. The light-house keepers were of a retiring avocation if not of that disposition, and their compensation was far from commen- surate with the responsibilities assumed. The first man to follow
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this calling in Racine was Amaziah Stebbins, who, on August 31. 1839, was placed in charge of the Root River light house, which was the first light house established in the port of Racine. It was located on the shore of the lake about twenty feet south of the south line of Seventh Street and almost exactly at the edge of the shore as it is at present, for at this point of the shore line the bank has not receded more than twenty or thirty feet. The light house was a round tower affair, built of brick, made by Benjamin Pratt, who was the first to engage in that industry in Racine. The walls were two feet ten inches thick at the bottom and two feet at the top. Its ontside diameter was sixteen feet eight inches at the base, and nine feet at the top. To the light from the ground measured thirty-four feet, and over all the struc- ture was forty feet high. Within was a spiral stairway, lighted by three windows at intervals from bottom to top. This structure and the land on which it stood was sold in 1866 to the firm of Blake & Elliott and finally passed into the hands of the junior member of the concern, James T. Elliott, who demolished it in 1876 and used the brick in the erection of a house that now stands on the corner of Lake Avenue and Seventh Street. The keepers were Amaziah Stebbins, August 31, 1839; Capt. JJohn T. Tro- bridge, February 2, 1846: Abner Rouse, May 8, 1849; Isaac B. Gates, April. 1853; John Fancher, March, 1857: Milton Moore, March, 1861.
The Government built a light house on the north pier in 1866, the material being briek, and placed a fixed white light in its tower. James MeGinty was the first keeper. In 1903 the light was removed to a steel tower at the end of the pier, which is forty feet high, and a fixed red light installed. The second keeper was Capt. Larry Basson: then came George Larson and Martin Knudson.
The Wind Point of North light house was built in 1880 and cost about $100,000. It has a white light, which flashes its warn- ings and assurances of watchfulness at intervals of every min- ute, and its fifth-order red light is arranged so that it may cover the Racine Reef. For foggy weather a siren horn of latest device is at the hand of the keeper. A tower for the main light shoots up in the air 112 feet and the red light is up 104 feet. Capt. Julius Peterson, in charge.
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NORTH POINT LIGHT-HOUSE, RACINE
WATER TOWER, RACINE
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Two miles east of the harbor is the Racine Reef crib or light house, the initial steps for the building of which were taken in 1899. The crib and pier were square in shape, built of brick and cement. Upon this foundation a skeleton steel tower was erected, at the top of which was a small deek for a lantern, carry- ing three cylindrical gas tanks, all above the water fifty-seven feet, and costing about $40,000. This light in course of time proved of but little foree in great emergencies, so that in 1905 the present light house was constructed at a great outlay of labor and money.
A few years ago, owing to the great danger to shipping that might be entailed by enrrents and seas running into the river during storms, the federal authorities built a breakwater out- side the harbor piers. On this structure a red light was placed thirty feet above the lake level, on a post. Since that time a tower was erected and with the pier light a range of light is formed for vessels approaching this port.
PIERS AND WAREHOUSES
An interesting phase of the development of lake shipping facilities in Racine was the building of the two bridge piers that were put in at the foot of Third and Fourth Streets, in connec- tion with warehouses at their shore ends for the receipt and storage of freight. The first one was built at Third Street about 1850 by Gilbert Knapp. Wm. A. Murphy and A. P. Dutton, under the firm name of Knapp, Murphy & Dutton, and extended into the lake about four or five hundred feet. Two rows of piles were driven into the lake bottom, and timbered and planked in the stanchest manner and tracks with band rails laid, on which cars for the transport of freight between warehouse and ship were run.
When these piers were projected, ship captains were skep- tical as to their ability to stand the strain of a boat's line in a lake swell, but were convinced later by demonstration that the piers were all right.
Of course they could be made no use of except when the lake was comparatively quiet; when a gale was blowing, a ship was obliged to lie off shore, in deep and safe waters; there were other times when it was unsafe to make the pier, but passengers and freight could be unloaded onto seows and taken ashore in comparative safety.
Photo furnished by Billings
CITY HALL
CHAPTER XV THE BENCH AND BAR
THE FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT - SKETCHES OF EARLY JUDGES -FIRST COURT IN RACINE COUNTY -THE FIRST LAW SUIT - MARSHALL M. STRONG-OTHER PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE RACINE BAR - NO DEARTH OF LAWYERS- PERSONAL MENTION - PERSONNEL OF THE PRESENT BAR.
The Counties of Raeine, Kenosha and Walworth compose the first judicial district and it is one of the original six circuits formed and defined by the constitution of the state in 1848. At that time it was composed of the Counties of Racine (which then included the County of Kenosha), Walworth, Rock and Green. Its limits remained as fixed by the constitution until the year 1871, when the twelfth circuit was formed and the Counties of Rock and Green were detached from the first circuit and placed in the new circuit.
The circuit courts have original jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal within the state not excepted in the constitution and not thereafter prohibited by law; appellate jurisdiction over all inferior courts and tribunals; a supervisory control over the same, with the power to issue writs, such as writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, certiorari, and others neces- sary to carry into effect their orders, judgments and decrees, and give them a general supervisory power over inferior courts and jurisdictions.
The first judge of the circuit court was Edward V. Whiton, who served as such from August, 1848, to June, 1853. During that time the circuit judges constituted the Supreme as well as Circuit Court. The separate Supreme Court was organized June 1, 1853, and Judge Whiton was elected chief justice, where he served with eminent distinction until his death in April, 1859.
Wyman Spooner served for part of the year 1853, after the separate organization of the Supreme Court. Judge Spooner was a native of Wooster, Mass., where he was born July 12, 1795. At fourteen years of age he went to Vermont and became an apprentice in a printing office. Some seven years later he com- meneed the publication of a weekly newspaper, which he con- tinued for nearly twelve years. He then began the study of
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law and was admitted to the bar in 1833. Nine years later he removed to Wisconsin and in 1843 settled in Elkhorn, Walworth County, where he resided until the time of his death. In 1846 he was elected judge of probate, which he continued to be until the Probate was merged into the County Court. In 1853 he was appointed circuit judge, which position he held until the elec- tion of Judge Doolittle. He was elected to the Assembly in 1850, 1851 and 1857, and was, during the term of 1857, speaker oï that body. He was elected state senator for the term compris- ing 1862 and 1863, was president of the Senate during the latter session and became lieutenant governor when Mr. Salomon succeeded to the executive chair. In 1863, '65 and '67, he was elected lieutenant governor and by virtue of that office presided over the Senate six consecutive years.
James R. Doolittle, of Racine, who administered the first circuit as snecessor to Judge Spooner, remained in office until elected to the United States Senate some three years later. Judge Doolittle was born in New York State, January 3, 1815, grad- nated from Geneva College, New York, studied law in New York City and was admitted to the bar of that state in 1837. There he also practiced, serving as district attorney of Wyoming County for a number of years. He removed to Wisconsin in 1851. and settled at Racine, where he continued in active practice until elected judge of the first eirenit, in 1853. He was a member of the "peace congress" in 1861 and was re-elected to the Senate in 1863, his term ending in 1869. At the close of his senatorial career Judge Doolittle entered upon the practice of his profes- sion at Chicago, although still continuing his residence at Racine. He was not only one of the distinguished men of the State of Wisconsin, but his reputation was nation-wide. Judge Doolittle stood as Racine's most eminent citizen, and his memory is cher- . ished in its archives.
C. M. Baker succeeded Judge Doolittle on the bench of the first judicial circuit and administered the high function one year. Ile was a native of New York, where he was born October 18. 1804. Hle began the study of law in the office of S. G. Huntington, at Troy, New York, with whom he remained until his admission to the bar some three years later. After practicing for some time in New York he moved west in 1838, locating at Geneva Lake, Walworth County, Wisconsin. In 1839 he was appointed district
SEN. J. R. DOOLITTLE
NICHOLAS D. FRATT
DR. J. G. MEACHUM
I. S. BLAKE
RACINE PIONEERS
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attorney of the county; was a member of the territorial council for the Counties of Walworth and Rock for four years, com- meneing in 1842, and was also a delegate to the first constitutional convention in 1846. In 1848 he was appointed by the governor as one of the three commissioners to revise and codify the statutes of Wisconsin, and in March, 1849, was elected by the Legislature to superintend the printing of that volume in New York. He was appointed to succeed Judge Doolittle in 1856, but declined ro- election upon the expiration of the term. During the Civil War he was judge and advocate under Provost Marshal I. M. Bean. in the first district of Wisconsin. Judge Baker died at Geneva in January, 1873.
The next judge of the first circuit was JJohn M. Keep, who remained in office two years. His successor was David Noggle, of Janesville, who having completed JJudge Keep's unexpired term was re-elected to that position. JJudge Noggle was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1809. He was ad- mitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Illinois in 1838, and in the following year located at Beloit, Wisconsin, where he en- gaged in the practice of his profession. In 1846, he was elected a member of the first constitutional convention from Rock County, and in 1854 was elected a member of the Assembly from the City of Janesville, to which place he had removed in 1850. To this position he was re-elected in 1857. In 1860 he was appointed chief justice of the territory of Idaho, which position after five years of service he was compelled to resign on account of failing health. He died at Janesville in 1879.
William P. Lyon, who eventually sat on the supreme bench, succeeded Judge Noggle in the first cirenit, continuing in that position for nearly six years. He was followed by Robert Hark- ness, for four years; Ira Payne, for part of one year; John T. Wentworth, for eight years; John B. Winslow, seven years, and Frank M. Fish and E. B. Belden, sketches of whom will be found in the second volume of this work.
FIRST CIRCUIT COURT IN RACINE
But little, if anything, of real interest relative to the early courts and cases of Racine County is of record, hence that phase of the subject can occupy but small space in this chapter. Dur- ing the territorial period the office of judge was, at best, by no
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means a sinecure, the mimerous and diversified conditions aris- ing, as is generally the case in the opening up of a new country, giving rise to much litigation. This created an endless amount of work for the judiciary during the earlier period of its exist- ence, it being almost impossible to estimate the length of time during which the courts would remain in session. This "is evi- denced in the fact that during the year 1842 the first and third districts were open during the greater part of the year." As a single instance we may refer to the records of the third district. which show that no less than 8,000 cases were disposed of from 1842 until the closing of the territorial government. Criminal cases also were particularly numerous during that period. But the local records are too obscure to warrant a detailed account of any of the proceedings.
It is known that Judge William C. Frazier convened the first session of court in Racine and Judge Charles E. Dyer is authority for the statement that "at the July term, 1838, of the District Court, Judge Frazier presiding, the court sat but four days, and only four days had been occupied by court in the three terms held during eighteen months." Who were the first jurors and first litigants cannot be said, as their identity is lost with the missing records containing their names.
THE FIRST LAW SUIT
As related by Judge Dyer, the first controversy brought to an issue in a court of law in Racine County grew out of a squirrel hunt. "Norman Clark and Marshall M. Strong, as the respective leaders, had chosen sides. On one side were Mr. Clark, Doctor Cary, Eugene Gillespie, and others; and on the other side were Mr. Strong. Charles Smith, Joseph Knapp, and others. It was arranged that all kinds of game should be hunted - a squirrel to count a certain number, a muskrat another, a deer head count- ing three hundred, and a live wolf one thousand. They were to obtain their trophies by any means, foul or fair. Clark and Gillespie heard of a deer hunter on Pleasant Prairie who had a good collection of heads. Appropriating a fine horse owned by one Schuyler Mattison, who was a stranger in town, they trav- ersed the snow drifts, found the hunter, and obtained their troph- ies. Meanwhile, Mr. Strong's party had heard of a live wolf in Chicago. It was sent for. Its transportation was secured in a
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Photo furnished by Billings
JUDGE CHARLES E. DYER Pioneer of Racine
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stage sleigh. But, while at a stopping place at Will's tavern a party of sailors with one Captain Smith at their head came out from Southport, and Captain Smith killed the wolf with a bottle of gin. Meanwhile, also, Mr. Strong went to Milwaukee and got a sleigh load of muskrat noses, which outcounted everything. The squirrel hunt was broken up. Mr. Clark had ruined Mr. Matti- son's horse and had to pay seventy-five dollars damages, and Mr. Strong brought suit against Captain Smith for killing the wolf with the gin bottle. Norman Clark was on the jury. Verdiet, six cents damages and costs."
But this had nothing to do with the courts of record. Mar- shall M. Strong, however, figured quite largely therein, and this is what Judge Dyer had to say of him, in an address before the Lawyers' Club of Racine, May 7, 1901:
" As senior at the bar in age and residence stood Marshall M. Strong. I wish you could have known him. He was an ideal lawyer and none excelled him in the State of Wisconsin. He was tall, though somewhat stooping; slender, and as clear-cut as a model in marble. His head and face were as purely intellectual as any I ever saw. His great eyes shining out of his pale face looked you through and told you that his mind was as clear and Bright as a polished scimiter. When he made manifest his intel- lectual power, in argument or in conversation, he made one think of the description on the old Spanish sword -'Never draw me without reason, never sheathe me without honor.' No matter what demonstration of opposing intelleet he encountered, he was as cool and impassive as a statue. In law and in every department of knowledge he was a philosopher. He was quiet, urbane, carnest, unimpassioned, and his logie was inexorable. I do not think I ever heard him laugh aloud, but his argument was so persuasive and his smile and gesture so gentle and winning that when once the listener yielded his premises, there was no escape from his conclusion. Discomfiture was foreign to him. He never exhib- ited depression in defeat nor exultation in success - a true rule of conduct for every lawyer. Once I saw him in a great case, when Matthew H. Carpenter swept the court room with a tor- nado of eloquence. He sat unaffected, self-controlled, betraying not an emotion, not a fear - only a cheerful smile of derision. Then he arose to reply, as confident as if he were presenting an ex parte motion, and before he finished Carpenter had not a leg
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to stand on. He had an interesting history and helped to found the state. He came to Racine in June, 1836, and was the first lawyer who settled in the county. Although educated in the law, he became on his arrival here a merchant and opened a country store with Stephen N. Ives, under the firm name of Strong & Ives. But he coupled law with merchandise until he abandoned the latter entirely. He tried the first law snit in Racine, which grew out of a squirrel hunt. In October, 1842, Mr. Strong took the editor's chair in the office of the Racine Advocate, which was established in that year, and at the head of the columns he put the stirring motto, 'Westward the Star of Empire Takes Its Way.' "I have said that he was one of the founders of the state. An act was passed by the Territorial Legislature in 1838 to establish the University of Wisconsin, which was to be governed by a board of visitors, and by the act he was made one of the board. He was a member of the Legislature in 1843 and was president of the council. Again he was in the Legislatures of 1845 and 1846, and during the latter session his dwelling house in Racine was destroyed by fire and his wife and two children perished in the flames. When this event occurred, both houses immediately adjourned, filled with sympathy and grief on account of the great calamity which had befallen their associate. Albert G. Knight was the messenger who conveyed the overwhelming news to Mr. Strong and Mr. Knight told me that during the entire journey from Madison to Racine, which it then took nearly three days to make, Mr. Strong scarcely uttered a word. Mr. Strong also was a member of the convention which convened on October 5, 1846, for the formation of a state constitution. He very ably and strenuously opposed some of the propositions embodied in that instrument, and after recording his vote against them he left the hall of the convention and returned no more. But he was heard from later. For, when the constitution was submitted to the people he took the stump against it and it was defeated by a majority of over six thousand.
"It was hardly to be supposed that a man with the tempera- ment and philosophical and judicial qualities of mind of Mr. Strong woukl excel at nisi prins before a jury. yet he did. He was simple in choice of language, cogent in expression and always argumentative. Therefore juries listened. He had an acute sense of right and wrong. I remember that one day when I was in need
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of clients, he came to my office and presented me to a very respect- able looking man, wearing a fine growth of black whiskers, who had been the victim of an assault at Union Grove and had thereby lost a handful of that handsome adorment. In my hesitation in bringing a civil action for damages, lest the case should fall within the principle of de minimus non curat lex, Mr. Strong argned with me very earnestly that no greater indignity could be offered than for one man to pull another's whiskers, and that the case was a clear one for damages. So, with courage serewed to the sticking point, I brought the suit and it resulted in $150 damages, from which I got a $25 fee.
"Mr. Strong was also a man of fine literary tastes and ac- complishments. During the Rebellion he wrote letters to Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton on the conduct of the war. When John Brown was hung he called a meeting on his own responsibility at the old court-house and made a speech in defense and eulogy of the old hero. When Ralph Waldo Emerson once delivered a lecture in Racine, which now is in his published works, Mr. Strong entertained him, and I recalled with pleasure the gratitude I felt upon being invited to meet Mr. Emerson. Thus he was a patron of literature and friend of humanity, as well as an ex- pounder of law. He died in 1864."
PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE RACINE BAR
Among the many brilliant men who graced and gave luster to the Raeine bar was Judge Charles E. Dyer, who was long a resident of Racine. He was an eminent jurist, a man of irre- proachable character, of courtly bearing and of thoughtful kind- ness. When but five years old he was brought by his parents to Wisconsin from Onondaga County, New York, where he was born October 5, 1834. His father, a physician, settled in Bur- lington, Racine County, and practiced his profession there a number of years. Young Dyer acquired the rudiments of an education in the district schools of Racine County, and, being of a studious disposition, stored his mind with a rich fund of knowl- edge that became of great use to him after he had chosen a pro- fession. When sixteen he went to Chicago and entered the office of the Western Citizen to learn the art preservative. Within a vear he was in the office of Rice Harper, clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and for some time thereafter applied himself
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