USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volume V > Part 18
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once summoned as a witness at a trial in Wales, and the character of his expert testimony was such as to have an important effect on Eng- lish practice, and attracted attention all over the British world. At the trial, Dr. J. Batty Tuke, the most eminent authority on insanity in England, was enthusiastic in his remarks about the testimony, saying "You have accomplished in thirty minutes what we have been trying to do without success for twenty years," and he was also congratulated by the court officials and attorneys. This was the first time in English courts that the American method was used by the judge, and it was the direct result of the testimony given by Dr. Kempster, as stated by Dr. J. Batty Tuke, who was present at the trial, as well as by the lawyers who conducted the case. This precedent established a distinct advance in the trial of insane persons who had been accused of crime, and its adoption was made the subject of favorable comment in English psy- chological journals and in the Continental press of the day.
Dr. Kempster is an associate author of a two-volume work on the causes of emigration from Europe. In 1891 the United States Gov- ernment had appointed him to examine and report upon the causes of emigration from Europe, with special reference to the exodus of the Jews from Russia. With others he made a thorough investigation of the whole subject, while traveling extensively in Russia and the other European countries, and his investigations were the subject of the work just mentioned. The report, full of interesting material, was trans- lated and republished in France and England, and copious extracts from it found entrance into Russia, although the Russian government "officially" prohibited the introduction of the report into that country. After the completion of this report he was requested by the Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, to undertake a second mission abroad for the purpose of inquiring into the means employed by foreign governments to check the introduction of cholera and other dangerous contagious diseases into their dominions, and to prevent, if possible, any such dis- ease from being carried into the United States during the continuance of the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, cholera being at that time epidemic in parts of Europe. The inquiries took the investigators over the routes usually traveled by former cholera epidemics, which were carefully studied, and a map prepared. The examinations through the Mediterranean and Asiatic countries disclosed the fact that there was no quarantine worthy of the name at any of the far eastern places where it was most needed, and from which cholera and the bubonic plague spread over the earth. Following this investigation, a report upon "the International Dissemination of Cholera and Other Diseases," containing an account of the conditions seen, was published by the United States Government in 1893. In this work was outlined a method of international quarantine, which would prevent these dangerous dis- eases from spreading beyond the limits of those countries where they
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originate. As a result, the methods of quarantine introduced for the year 1893, prevented cholera from invading the United States during that time, although the disease appeared in several of the European ports where intending passengers to the Columbian Exposition were detained, under the quarantine regulations imposed. No vessel could unload passengers in the United States which did not have a clean "bill of health" from the American consul at the port of sailing, counter- signed by a surgeon detailed for that purpose, who was a member of the United States Marine Hospital Service, and under the immediate orders of the surgeon general of that corps.
In 1894 Dr. Kempster was nominated health commissioner by the Mayor of Milwaukee, with the view of placing the health department under Civil service rules. This appointment was immediately antago- nized by all the powers and elements of corrupt and inefficient citizen- ship. An epidemie of smallpox existed at this time, and the aldermen who opposed civil service methods or any other methods but their own, took every opportunity to obstruct and hinder the commissioner and health department from taking proper and effective means to check the spread of the disease. A few aldermen went so far as to publicly harangue the people, inciting them to resist the orders of the health commissioner in his attempts to carry out the plain provisions of state and municipal laws. Their acts and words resulted in mob violence, which was openly commended by them, and which lasted several days, during which time the health officers were violently attacked and forei- bly driven away from quarantined houses, through which the mobs walked, thus causing a rapid spread of the epidemic, and seriously affect- ing the business interests of the city. These damagogues formed a com- bination in the council, obtained numerous injunctions, intended to pre- vent the proper care of smallpox patients, and began what they called "impeachment" proceedings, resulting in a long so-called trial, which lasted for several weeks before a "packed" committee of the common council, some of the most active, outspoken and bitter opponents of the commissioner being selected to "try" the case. The whole pro- ceeding was a farce, or worse. The most competent expert witnesses from other cities, as well as from Milwaukee, gave testimony as to the value of the system employed by the commissioner to check the spread of the epidemie, but those gentlemen were dismissed with a sneer. The result was a foregone conclusion even before the farce of a trial began, and the committee of the common council reported in favor of removing the commissioner from office, which report was speedily rushed through the - common council. Legal proceedings were at once commenced by the commissioner for a review of the lawless acts of the common council. and in furtherance of such proceedings he obtained an injunctional order from the Superior Court, ordering and restraining the common council from in any manner interefering with the commissioner in the discharge
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of his duties or molesting him in his office until the further order of the court. Notwithstanding such injunction and order, and in open defiance thereof, by direction of the common council and some city official, the police forcibly ejected the commissioner from his office. In order to defeat the ends of justice and prevent a renewal by the court of the mock trial proceedings, every conceivable obstacle was interposed by the common council that was possible, but to no avail; the circuit court finally decided that the proceedings of the common council in attempting the removal of the commissioner were unlawful, null and void, and that the commissioner had been unjustly and illegally removed from his office. Although the commissioner was excluded from his office by force, for the space of one year, during which time it was occupied by another person, selected by the common council, the Supreme Court of the state affirmed the decisions of the lower court, whereupon Dr. Kempster resumed charge of his office, and in an action brought therefor, which was taken to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, that court held that the commissioner was entitled to the full salary for the entire time during which he was unlawfully and forcibly dispossessed. Meanwhile the state legislature passed a "civil service act" which provides that all employes of the city must pass an examination held by the Civil Service Commis- sion, and this is now on a permanent basis. .
Probably no single official experience in this state was more signficant than that of Dr. Kempster in the office of health commissioner in Mil- waukee. For that reason the details of his fight to retain office have been properly reviewed at length. During his administration arrangements were made for taking daily analysis of milk, and of the city water, these improvements resulting in lowering the infant mortality. A laboratory was provided for this purpose and the office of Analyst and Bacteriologist created. For the first time in the history of the city the bakeries and candy manufactories were regularly inspected and thoroughly cleaned. All other sources of food supply were regularly inspected and supervised. The result brought about a lower death rate for the entire city, and placed Milwaukee on a parallel with the healthiest cities of the United States. Also during his term as health commissioner which continued until 1898, was inaugurated a systematic inspection of the sanitary condition of the schools. These investigations disclosed imperfect ventilation, and in sev- eral buildings the escape of sewer gas, defects which were at once cor- rected. A system of co-operation between the teaching force and the health department was established, and this resulted in checking the spread of contagious diseases, the correction of unwholesomeness, and was an important factor in increasing the general health of the entire city. As a municipal officer Dr. Kempster also advocated legislation for prevent- ing of unnecessary noises, for the abatement of the smoke nuisance, and for prevention of a contaminated water supply, by proper disposition of the sewage, which for years had been discharged into the lake within
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a mile of the intake. His recommendations have since been verified and adopted by a commission appointed for that purpose. He formulated plans for the disposal of the city garbage and for a more perfect super- vision of all matters affecting the health of the citizens.
Dr. Kempster for a number of years was professor of mental dis- eases in the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has taken an active interest in school and literary affairs, and has delivered several addresses on general literary topics, among which may be men- tioned : "A Study of the Mental Epidemics of the Middle Ages;" "Was Hamlet Insane?" "Personal Experiences in the Dominions of the Czar;" "Education in Russia;" memorial addresses on the occa- sion of the funeral exercises for President Garfield and President Mckinley ; Memorial Day addresses ; and among other contributions to Civil war literature, he is author of "A History of the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac;" a study which places many old facts in a new light and is considered an actual addition to the literature and the sub- ject. Dr. Kempster has found delight and recreation in literary and kindred pursuits, in spite of the activity which his professional work has involved. He has devoted time and study to the collection of books illustrating the origin and growth of printing and engraving, and has a number of books, engravings and prints illustrating this subject, among them being some of great rarity-such as Albrecht Duerer's "The Knight, Death, and the Devil," "Melancholia," the series "The Life of the Virgin," eighteen pieces, "The Sword Hilt," "St. Christopher," and others. His collection of engravings, and of coins which illustrate the progress of coinage from about 700 B. C. and many specimens and photographs illustrating anthropology, the development of the art, and many kindred subjects, is probably the finest owned by any individual in the state of Wisconsin. The doctor is enthusiastic on all matters per- taining to the history of the Civil war, and spent more than twenty years in collecting material for his history of the "Cavalry in the Army of the Potomac."
Dr. Kempster is a member of Wolcott Post, G. A. R. and of the Mili- tary Order of the Loyal Legion, of which he was elected commander in 1901. He also holds membership in the Society of the Army of the Potomac and other military organizations. He is a member of the American Medical Association and of numerous minor associations and societies of the profession. He has served as president of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Alpha Mu Pi Omega fraternity. He is affiliated with Masonry, and with other benevolent and literary bodies.
On December 2, 1892, Dr. Kempster married Frances S. Fraser. of Milwaukee, daughter of William Shillaber Saunders and Sarah (David) Saunders, both of Massachusetts.
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COLONEL JOHN G. CLARK. The life and works of John G. Clark, long a resident of Lancaster, Wisconsin, and identified with many of its most worthy public enterprises all the years of his connection with the com- munity, are of such an order that a detailed account, were such avail- able must prove of the utmost interest to all who have any knowledge of the man; but failing to present such a record, substitution is made of as full and complete an account of his active career as may be had. Long years of service in the legal profession have brought him honors in plenty, and his public service has been of a quality and character such as to place and hold him high in the esteem and regard of his fellows, who have long recognized in him all those admirable qualities that make for the highest type of citizenship and render the possessor a most genuine friend of the people. His military career alone would have shed sufficient lustre upon his life for one individual, but it is characteristic of the man that in what- ever field of activity he finds himself, there shall be employed the noblest attributes of his nature. Born in Morgan county, Illinois, on July 31, 1825, Colonel Clark is the son of Thomas Pye and Isabelle Clark, and it is particularly fitting that in a sketch of this nature mention be made of the parents and ancestry of the subject.
It may be said at the outset that the father of the subject bore the patronymic of Pye at birth, and maintained that name until his mar- riage with Isabelle Clark, when by act of legislature, he assumed the name of his wife, instead of following the usual custom. Thomas P. Clark, then, was born in Pemberton near Wiggin, Lancashire, England, on June 26, 1781, and was but fifteen years old when he came to America in company with an elder brother. He first stopped in Pennsylvania, working upon a farm in summer and attending school in winter. Later he went to New York City, then a budding metropolis, and entered the employ of a mer- cantile house, where he spent several years. Naturally a man of very independent character, he decided to go into business on his own responsi- bility and fixed on Havana, Cuba, as the field for his future operations. While enroute with his stock in trade, the ship was seized by pirates and everything was lost except some fine silks which he was able to conceal upon his person. The lives on the captured ship were spared and the men were landed upon the island of Cuba. He spent several years fol- lowing his disaster clerking in a store at Havana, then returned to the states, to Augusta, Georgia. It was there he married Isabella Clark, who was born in that city on January 11, 1786. In 1822 they moved westward stopping one winter in Tennessee, arriving the next year in Morgan coun- ty, Illinois, settling on a farm where the Lancaster attorney and public man was born. Here he acquired a very large tract of land involving himself very largely in debt for that purpose ; and then, when everything was so promising, the panic of 1837 came and in the payment of his debts, lands, personal property, everything was lost. The family then moved to Missouri, locating near Marion College, in Marion county, in order
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that the children of the family might have better educational advan- tages. The father was unusually well educated, considering the times and opportunities, and he was ambitious that his four sons be similarly or better equipped for their struggle with the world. Here followed several uneventful years in which the senior Clark devoted himself to agriculture in which he was always greatly interested and became a local authority. But farming in a new country such as Illinois then was without means of transportation or markets must necessarily grow irk- some to one of his restless energy, and it is in no wise surprising that when the excitement caused by the discovery of gold in California spread over the country he determined to go there. In 1850 he went to New Orleans to fit out an expedition but in the midst of it was stricken with cholera and died in the course of a few hours. The widowed mother died in the same year. The children of these parents were as follows: William, Thomas C., Charles I., and John G. The first born, William, died in California of which state he was for many years a resident. Thomas was educated for the medical profession, and is said to have lost his life while serving as a surgeon in the Confederate army which he joined under compulsion. Charles I. went to Texas in 1853 or 1854, and was there pressed into the Rebel service, although himself a Union man in principle.
John G. Clark as a youth possessed that independence of spirit that caused him to early seek his own maintainance, and he began in a hum- ble way, taking employment as a day laborer. While yet under twenty, he gave up work and entered Marion College, near the family home in Missouri, and in September, 1845, entered Illinois College at Jackson- ville, Illinois, and two years later was graduated from that institution. It is but fair to him to say that during his college career he further . manifested his naturally independent nature by discharging part of his college expenses through performance of janitor work and teaching. but when he was graduated he still owed a considerable part of his course which he later paid with generous- interest.
Returning to Missouri, he found that he could not earn a living wage as a teacher and no other suitable labor presented itself. He accordingly, in 1847, went to the lead regions of southwestern Wiscon- sin which were then in a flourishing condition. After trying his hand as a miner for two years, except during the winter months when he taught school, he engaged himself to James E. Freeman, a government surveyor, and departed with him and his men for the northern part of the state of Wisconsin. Although he went out as a man of all work. opportunity had nevertheless knocked at his door. Surveying northern Wisconsin because of its numerous lakes and obstruetions was difficult work calling for a great deal of triangulation, and Freeman was greatly pleased to avail himself of his knowledge of higher mathematics. Soon Freeman placed in his hands a solar compass with the use and adjust-
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ment of which he directly became very expert and was then placed in charge of a party. Such was the beginning of his career as a surveyor, a calling which he followed for several years on his own account working in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. In the course of this work he encountered every hardship that could be imagined in con- nection with the wilderness work of this order. Twice in his surveying experience did he winter in the near vicinity of Lake Superior, without shelter beyond such as might be provided by a chance gathering of pine boughs when quitting work for the night. These hardships came to be lightly regarded by himself and his men, and it is undeniable that many dormant qualities of good were fostered and brought into action by the contact with rough and rugged nature in the wilderness in which their duties called them. It is probable that Colonel Clark in his day as surveyor explored and surveyed as much virgin territory as any man in Wisconsin who might be named. He located a portion of the state line between Missouri and Iowa in 1852 and surveyed the adjacent lands, and many other government contracts were carried out by him with zeal and accuracy.
The public service of Colonel Clark began in 1853, when he was appointed Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court of Grant County. In the following year he was elected clerk of said court and succeeded himself in 1856 and again in 1858. In 1860, so well had he acquitted himself in his minor office, and so capable did he show himself, he was the choice of his party for state legislature, and he was still serving in that office when all lesser interests became engulfed in the War of the Rebel- lion. It may be assumed that he was one of the first to offer himself to Wisconsin and the Union. When the first call was made for volunteers he went to Madison to enlist, expecting to become a member of the second regiment of Wisconsin Infantry, but upon the earnest request of the Governor who desired his services and had other plans in view for him, he deferred enlisting at that time. He was not to be kept out of the service very long, however, and on the 14th of June, 1861, he was commissioned and went to the front as first Lieutenant and Quarter- Master of the Fifth Wisconsin. In this capacity he passed through all the experiences of his regiment from that time until May, 1863. He took part in the Seven Days battles in June, 1862, in the battle of South Mountain in the following September, and in the battle of Antietam a few days later. He also participated in the battles along the Rappahan- nock in the following December, and in May, 1863, in the battle of Fredericksburg at that sanguinary part of the field known as Marye's Heights. In May, 1863, he was appointed by Secretary of War Stanton to the post of Provost Marshal of the Third District of Wisconsin, with the rank of Captain of Cavalry, headquarters at Prairie du Chien, an office he continued to hold until February 19, 1865, when he was com- missioned Colonel of the Fiftieth Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, of
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which he took immediate command with headquarters at Jefferson City, Missouri. This regiment was scattered with other troops over some half dozen counties and for a while Colonel Clark had command of all. In July the Fiftieth Wisconsin was ordered to Fort Leavenworth and there Colonel Clark came for the first time in aetual personal touch with all of his regiment, which had previously served in companies or sub- divisions wherever needed. Shortly after this he was sent with his command to the upper Missouri to do service on the frontier, controlling the Indians and performing other duty for which his men had not enlisted and which they were loath to perform. All were anxious to return to their respective vocations, and the colonel and his men felt with every reason that an injustice had been done them. It is unde- niable, however, that the excellent standing of the regiment at head- quarters with regard to drilling, discipline, etc., was mainly responsi- ble for this state of affairs, and while the Colonel resented the unjusti- fiable continuance of duty on the part of his regiment, he was also pardonably proud of the splendid reputation that had made such con- tinued duty desirable. However, he and his regiment were mustered out June 19, 1866, and the irksome duties ended.
While elerk of the court, Colonel Clark had improved his leisure time reading law and shortly prior to his enlistment had been admitted to the Bar; and in 1867, shortly after his return to civil life, he opened a law office in Laneaster. . Since that time he has been continuously engaged in the practice of law in Grant county except for some four years as Federal Judge of Oklahoma, to which office he had been appointed by President Harrison. The opening up and settlement of Oklahoma gave rise to many new and difficult questions of law and many questions were carried for review to the supreme court of the United States. Analysis of the decisions of the latter court will show that the decisions of Judge Clark were invariably affirmed and upheld by the highest court, a matter of justifiable pride and satisfaction to him.
For a number of years Colonel Clark served as mayor of Lancaster. and also gave some years of service as chairman of the town and county boards. While chairman of the town board the construction of the railroad through this part of the state was carried on, and he at that time was most active in the interests of the eity, assuming responsibil- ities of a financial nature, it is said, that must have ruined him had failure attended the plans of the railroad people. He is known to be the practical builder of the first iron bridges and school houses that have been erected in Grant county, and while mayor of the city of Lancaster, he aeted as chairman of the committee that secured, and superintended the construction of one of the first and best county asylums for the insane to be built in the country.
In 1874, Colonel Clark was a candidate for the nomination for Congress by the Republican party, of which he was one of the organiz-
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ers in 1853 and 1854, and of which he has all his life been an active member.
Colonel Clark has distinguished himself by having held the office of the Master of the Masonic Lodge, Lancaster Lodge No. 20, for fifteen years, a most unusual record. He is a member of the G. A. R. and has been a member of the Odd Fellows since 1861, and served that order as Grand Master. He also served as Grand Representative to the Sov- ereign Grand Lodge for a number of years.
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