USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 51
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The associate justices who were on the bench with Judge Fisher during his tenure of office were : John W. Kingman, Joseph M. Carey. E. A. Thomas, Jacob B. Blair and William Ware Peck. In 1877 the Legislature sent a memorial to President Hayes, setting forth that Judge Peck was extravagant, that he had continued a terni of court in Uinta County for sixty-five consecutive days, etc., and asking that he be removed and "some person of practical legal ability" appointed in his stead. The petition was ignored and Judge Peck remained as the presiding judge of the Third District until Governor Hoyt came into office, when he was succeeded by Samuel C. Parks.
James B. Sener served as chief justice until July 5. 1884. The associate justices with him on the bench were: Jacob B. Blair, William Ware Peck and Samuel C. Parks. On July 5, 1884. John W. Lacey began his term as chief justice. The associate justices then were Jacob B. Blair and Samuel T. Corn.
William L. Maginnis succeeded Judge Lacey on July 6, 1887, and served as chief justice until October 1, 1889. Willis Van Devanter then became chief justice and held the office until the admission of Wyoming as a state in 1890. Dur- ing the period from July 6, 1887, to the admission of the state, the associate justices were : Samuel T. Corn, M. C. Saufley and Clarence D. Clark.
The United States attorneys during the territorial period, in the order of their succession, were as follows : Joseph MI. Carey, Edward P. Johnson, J. J. Jenkins. Edward P. Johnson, C. H. Layman, M. C. Brown, J. A. Riner, Anthony C. Campbell and Benjamin F. Fowler.
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION
Article \' of the constitution adopted by the people of Wyoming on November 5, 1889, provides that "The judicial power of the state shall be vested in the senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, in a Supreme Court, district courts, justices of the peace, courts of arbitration and such courts as the Legislature may. by general law, establish for incorporated cities or incorporated towns."
Section 4 of the same article provides that "The Supreme Court of the state shall consist of three justices who shall be elected by the qualified electors of the state at a general state election at the times and places at which state officers are elected; and their term of office shall be eight years, commencing from and after the first Monday in January next succeeding their election ; and the justices elected at the first election after this constitution shall go into effect shall, at their first meeting provided by law, so classify themselves by lot that one of them shall go out of office at the end of four years and one at the end of six years and one at the end of eight years from the commencement of their term, and an entry of such classification shall be made in the record of the court signed by them, and a duplicate thereof shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state. The justice having the shortest term to serve and not holding his office by appoint- ment or election to fill a vacancy, shall be the chief justice and shall preside at all terms of the Supreme Court, and, in case of his absence, the justice having in like manner the next shortest term to serve shall preside in his stead. If a vacancy occur in the office of a justice of the Supreme Court, the governor shall appoint a person to hold the office until the election and qualification of a person to fill the unexpired term occasioned by such vacancy, which election shall take place at the next succeeding general election."
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THE SUPREME COURT
Under the constitutional provisions above quoted, Willis Van Devanter, Her- man V. S. Groesbeck and Asbury B. Conaway were elected justices of the Supreme Court at the first state election, September 11, 1890. Judge Van Devanter drew the short term, by virtue of which he became the chief justice. He resigned after a short service and was succeeded as chief justice by Judge Groesbeck. His resignation caused a vacancy on the bench, which was filled by the appointment of Homer Merrill, to serve until the next general election. In 1892 Gibson Clark was elected for the remainder of the unexpired term.
Judge Willis Van Devanter was about thirty-one years of age when he was elected to the Wyoming Supreme Court. After his resignation from the bench he practiced law in Wyoming until 1910, when he was appointed by President Taft to the position of associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, which office he still holds.
Chief Justices-Following the system set forth in the state constitution-i. e., the justice whose term is first to expire serves as chief justice-the following have served in that capacity since the State Government was first established, with the year each entered upon the duties of chief justice : Willis Van Devanter, 1890; Herman V. S. Groesbeck, 1890; Asbury B. Conaway, 1897; Charles N. Potter, 1899; Jesse Knight, 1903; Charles N. Potter, 1907; Cyrus Beard, 1911; Richard H. Scott, 1913; Charles N. Potter, 1915.
Associate Justices-Each of the above was elected as an associate justice and became chief justice by virtue of the system of rotation in office. Homer Merrill, of Rawlins, was appointed by Governor Warren as associate justice, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Van Devanter, and was succeeded by Gibson Clark in 1892. Samuel T. Corn was elected associate justice in 1896 to succeed Judge Groesbeck, but resigned before the expiration of his term and never became chief justice. In 1918 the Supreme Court consisted of Charles N. Potter, chief justice ; Cyrus Beard and Charles E. Blydenburgh, associate justices. Judge Blydenburgh was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Richard H. Scott, who died late in the year 1917.
DISTRICT COURTS
Section 10, Article V, of the state constitution provides that "The District Court shall have original jurisdiction of all causes both at law and in equity and in all criminal cases, of all matters of probate and insolvency, and of such special cases and proceedings as are not otherwise provided for. The District Court shall also have original jurisdiction in all cases and of all proceedings in which jurisdiction shall not have been by law vested exclusively in some other court; and said court shall have the power of naturalization and to issue papers therefor. They shall have such appellate jurisdiction in cases arising in the justices' and other inferior courts in their respective counties as may be prescribed by law."
Section 19, Article V, reads as follows: "Until otherwise provided by law, the state shall be divided into three judicial districts, in each of which there shall be elected at general elections, by the electors thereof, one judge of the Dis-
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trict Court therein, whose term shall be six years from the first Monday in Janu- ary succeeding his election and until his successor is duly qualified.
"Section 20. Until otherwise provided by law, said judicial districts shall be constituted as follows :
"District number one shall consist of the counties of Laramie, Converse and Crook.
"District number two shall consist of the counties of Albany, Johnson and Sheridan.
"District number three shall consist of the counties of Carbon, Sweetwater, Cinta and Fremont.
The constitution also conferred on the Legislature the power to increase the number of judicial districts from time to time, such increase not to cause the removal of any judge from his office during the terms for which he was elected, and provided that the number of districts and district judges should not exceed four until the taxable valuation of the property of the estate should exceed $100,000,000.
At the first state election, held on the 11th of September, 1800, the following district judges were chosen in their respective districts: First-Richard H. Scott, of Sundance; Second-John W. Blake, of Laramie; Third-Jesse Knight, of Evanston. Judges Scott and Knight afterward served upon the bench of the Supreme Court.
Richard H. Scott was born in Minnesota in 1858; graduated at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., in 1880; studied law and located in Sundance in 1886. He was a member of the constitutional convention in 1889; was elected judge of the First District in 1890 and served as district judge until 1906, when he was appointed to the vacancy in the Supreme Court caused by the death of Judge Knight, and was elected at the general election in the fall of that year. In 1910 he was elected for a full term, but died in office before the expira- tion of that term.
Jesse Knight was born in Oneida County, N. Y., in 1850. He was edu- cated in the schools of his native county and at the age of seventeen went to live with an uncle at St. Peter, Minn. Two years later he went to Omaha, Neb., where he found employment as clerk in a store. In 1871 he came to South Pass City, Wyo., as an employee of Sidney Ticknor and the next year he was appointed clerk for the Third Judicial District. While serving as clerk of the court he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1877. He began practice at Evanston and in 1888 was elected county attorney. In 1890 he was elected judge of the Third Judicial District and served until 1897, when he was appointed associate justice to take the place of Asbury B. Conaway, whose death occurred on Decem- ber 8, 1897. In 1898 he was elected for a full term of eight years and remained on the bench until his death in April, 1905.
By the act of February 9, 1893. the Legislature divided Wyoming into four judicial districts, to wit: First-The counties of Laramie and Converse; Sec- ond-The counties of Albany and Natrona; Third-The counties of Carbon, Uinta, Sweetwater and Fremont: Fourth-The counties of Johnson, Sheridan, Crook. Weston and Bighorn (when organized).
Under the provisions of the act, Governor Osborne appointed William S. Metz of Sheridan, judge of the new Fourth District. This was not satisfactory
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to some of the people of Johnson County, who instituted proceedings to have the act creating the district declared unconstitutional. On April 24, 1893. the Supreme Court handed down an opinion upholding the act and the appointment of Judge Metz, who served until the election of 1896, when he was succeeded by Joseph L. Stotts of Crook County.
No further changes were made in the judicial districts of the state until March 1, 1913, when Governor Carey approved an act of the Legislature provid- ing for six districts. This was made necessary by the creation of several new counties by the preceding Legislature. The Seventh Judicial District was created by the act of March 2, 1915. Since that time the districts have been as follows : First-the counties of Goshen. Laramie, Niobrara and Platte; Second-the coun- ties of Albany and Carbon; Third-the counties of Lincoln, Sweetwater and l'inta : Fourth-the counties of Johnson and Sheridan ; Fifth-the counties of Big- horn. Hot Springs, Park and Washakie: Sixth-the counties of Converse, Fre- mont and Natrona : Seventh-the counties of Campbell, Crook and Weston.
District Judges-Following is a list of the judges in each of the judicial dis- tricts from the time the state was admitted in 1890, with the year in which each was elected or appointed :
First-Richard H. Scott, 1890: Roderick N. Matson, 1906: William C. Ment- zer, 1912 (still in office at the beginning of the year 1918).
Second-John W. Blake, 1800; James H. Hayford, 1895 (appointed to the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Blake) : Charles W. Bramel. 1896; Charles E. Carpenter, 1902; Volney J. Tidball, 1912 (still in office ).
Third-Jesse Knight, 1890: David H. Craig. 1898; John R. Arnold, 1916 ( still in office ).
Fourth-William S. Metz. 1893 ( appointed when the district was established ) ; Joseph L. Stotts, 1896; Carroll H. Parmelee, 1901; James H. Burgess, 1916.
In the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh districts the judges are respectively P. W. Metz, Charles E. Winter and E. C. Raymond, each of whom has held the office since the district was established.
MUNICIPAL COURTS
By the act of February 15, 1905. the establishment of a Municipal Court in each incorporated city or town of the state having two or more justices' precincts was authorized. The judges presiding over such courts are known as police justices and are appointed by the mayor, with the consent of the council. The term of office of these police justices is the same as that of the other appointed officers in the same city or town. Previous acts relating to Municipal courts were re- pealed by the act of 1905. At the close of the year 1917 there were twenty-five towns and cities in the state that had Municipal courts in accordance with the above mentioned act.
UNITED STATES COURTS
Section 16 of the act of July 10, 1890, admitting Wyoming into the Union, provides : "That the said state, when admitted as aforesaid, shall constitute a judicial district, the name thereof to be the same as the state, and the Circuit and
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District courts therefor shall be held at the capital of the state for the time being, and the said district shall, for judicial purposes, until otherwise provided, be attached to the Eighth Judicial Circuit. There shall be appointed for said dis- trict one district judge, one United States attorney and one United States marshal. * There shall be appointed clerks of said courts in the said district, who shall keep their offices at the capital of said state. The regular terms of court shall be held in said district, at the place aforesaid, on the first Monday in April and the first Monday in November of each year. The Circuit and District courts for said district, and the judges thereof, respectively, shall possess the same powers and jurisdiction, and perform the same duties required to be performed by the other Circuit and District courts and judges of the United States, and shall be governed by the same laws and regulations."
John A. Riner was appointed United States district judge; Louis Kirk, clerk ; Benjamin F. Fowler, United States attorney ; and John P. Rankin, United States marshal. The first term of court was held at Cheyenne on Monday, November 3, 1890, in the room used by the house of representatives two years before. The following venire was presented to the court, from which the "twelve good men and true" constituting the first Federal grand jury in the State of Wyoming were selected : E. R. Hurd, foreman, J. D. Nott, E. T. Beltz, Charles Berger, A. H. Hord, F. Bainforth, J. J. Underwood, Gus J. Lehman, Hubert Crofts, Patrick Sullivan, George Gearhard, A. Swanson, G. Gailey, David Fitzgerald, John W. Gray and V. Baker.
At this term the following attorneys were admitted to practice in the United States courts : John C. Baird, A. C. Campbell, W. P. Carroll, Edmund J. Churchill, Frank H. Clark, Gibson Clark, John M. Davidson, Willis Van Devanter, Hugo Donzelmann, Thomas M. Fisher, Benjamin F. Fowler, Frederic S. Hebard, John W. Lacey, Edgar W. Mann, E. S. N. Morgan, Charles N. Potter and W. R. Stoll.
Judge Riner has held the office of United States district judge since the estab- lishment of the court in 1890. The other officers of the court at the close of the year 1917 were: Charles J. Ohnhaus, clerk; Charles L. Rigdon, United States attorney; Daniel F. Hudson, United States marshal.
THE WYOMING BAR
Since the Territorial Supreme Court of Wyoming was organized in the spring of 1869, quite a number of the lawyers who have practiced in the courts of the territory and state have made reputations that extended beyond the state boun- daries. It would be almost impossible-and it certainly would be inexpedient- to attempt to give extended mention of all the attorneys who have left their in- press upon the legal history of Wyoming, but a chapter upon the Bench and Bar would be incomplete without some notice of representative lawyers who helped to establish the courts and worked for the elevation of their profession, as well as "to secure the administration of justice.
Among the early lawyers of Wyoming, perhaps James R. Whitehead is en- titled to be mentioned as "the trail blazer and pioneer lawyer," as he has been re- peatedly called. He came to Cheyenne in the summer of 1867, two years before the territory was organized, and opened his law office in a small tent on the banks of Crow Creek, near the point where that stream is now crossed by West Seven-
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teenth Street. He built the first business structure in Cheyenne, the "Whitehead Block," on Pioneer Avenue, not far from Sixteenth Street. He was secretary of the meeting held at the city hall on September 27, 1867, to consider the question of a territorial organization, and was a member of the council in the first Terri- torial Legislature in 1869. In 1875 he was selected to compile and arrange for publication the laws of the territory. For a time he also had a law office in Hart- ville. "Judge" Whitehead, as he was often called, died in Denver on March 4, 1918, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. D. V. Barkalow, at the age of ninety years.
W. L. Kuykendall, a brother-in-law of James R. Whitehead, was born in Clay County, Missouri, in 1835, and received his education in a log school house in Platte County of the same state. He removed to Kansas in 1854; served in the Confederate army during the Civil war; came to Wyoming (then a part of Dakota Territory) in 1865, and it is said he took the first homestead in what is now the State of Wyoming, near Cheyenne in 1867. He was the first probate judge of Laramie County ; commanded the expedition to the Big Horn Basin in 1870; was elected a member of the Territorial House of Representatives in the Legisla- ture of 1871 ; was interested in the settlement of the Black Hills country from 1875 to 1880; engaged in the cattle business in 1882; served as city clerk of Cheyenne for three years ; foreman of the Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company ; secretary of the democratic state central committee in the first political campaign after the state was admitted in 1890, and was the author of "Frontier Events of Early Western History." He died in Denver on March 8, 1915.
One of the best known of the early attorneys was William W. Corlett, who was born at Concord, O., April 10, 1842. He was attending school at Cleve- land when the Civil war began in 1861, when he enlisted in the Eighty-seventh Ohio Infantry. His regiment was captured at Harper's Ferry, Va., and he was paroled. After being exchanged he enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Ohio Battery, which was sent to Arkansas and served in that part of the country until the end of the war. Mr. Corlett then took up the study of law and in 1866 he was admitted to the bar immediately after he graduated at the Union Law College of Cleve- land, O. On August 20, 1867, he landed in Cheyenne and soon afterward formed a partnership with James R. Whitehead under the firm name of Whitehead & Cor- lett. Later he was the senior member of the firm of Corlett & Stevens, and still later was associate with the firm of Riner & Lacey. In 1869 he was defeated by S. F. Nuckolls for delegate in Congress at the first territorial election, and the next year was appointed postmaster at Cheyenne, which position he held for about three years. From 1870 to 1876 he was the prosecuting attorney of Laramie County and in 1876 was elected delegate in Congress. He was one of the active practicing lawyers of Cheyenne for many years ; was a member of the city council at different times ; served on the school board; was chairman of the commission to revise the laws of Wyoming in 1885, and wrote an account of the early days of Cheyenne, but it was never published. He died at Cheyenne on July 22, 1890.
Edward P. Johnson, who succeeded Joseph M. Carey as United States attorney for the Territory of Wyoming in 1871, was born at Greenbush, O., August 21, 1842. During the Civil war he served in the Ninety-third Ohio Infantry, which was engaged at the battles of Perryville, Ky .; Stone's River, Tenn .; the military operations around Chattanooga, especially at Missionary Ridge, and was with Sherman on the Atlanta campaign of 1864. After the war Mr. Johnson
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entered the law department of the University of Michigan, where he graduated in March, 1867, and after a short residence in Denver he came to Cheyenne. In 1869-70 he was prosecuting attorney of Laramie County, and when Joseph M. Carey was appointed associate justice, Mr. Johnson was appointed United States attorney. This office he held for about seven years, after which he was again elected prosecuting attorney for Laramie County. In 1879 he was elected to the Upper House of the Territorial 'Legislature, but died on October 3, 1879, a short time before the Legislature was convened. Mr. Johnson was a lawyer of excel- lent ability and was a man of strong personality. Johnson County is named in his honor.
Stephen W. Downey, one of the early lawyers at Laramie, was born in West- ernport, MId., July 25, 1839. He received an academic education, after which he studied law and in 1863 was admitted to the bar. About that time he enlisted in the Union army and served to the close of the war. He then practiced his profession in his native state until 1869, when he came to Wyoming. In 1871 he was elected a member of the Council in the Territorial Legislature ; was elected to the same office in 1875 and again in 1877. In 1878 he was elected delegate in Congress, defeating E. L. Pease.
John W. Blake was born at Bridgeton, Me., in 1846, and was educated at Dartmouth College. He then entered the service of the United States Govern- ment, and in 1869 located at Chicago. In 1875 he became a resident of Laramie, Wyo. He served two terms as prosecuting attorney of Albany County and in both branches of the Territorial Legislature. In 1886 he was president of the Council. Not long after that he formed a partnership with Melville C. Brown, which lasted until the admission of the state, when he was elected the first judge of the Second Judicial District. This office he held until his death at his home in Laramie on February 25, 1895. One who knew him said: "On the bench he was every inch a judge; divested of the toga he was in all respects a man."
William R. Steele came to Wyoming soon after the territory was organized, from New York City, where he was born on July 24, 1842. He had received a good education and been admitted to the bar in his native state, and during the Civil war won distinction as a staff officer in the Army of the Potomac. In 1871 he was elected to the legislative Council and the following year was chosen delegate in Congress to succeed William T. Jones. He was reelected delegate in 1874.
Melville C. Brown, who was president of the Wyoming constitutional con- vention, was born near Augusta, Me., in 1838. Before he reached his majority he went to California. During the Civil war he was employed as a mechanical engineer in the mines at Boise, Ida., and in 1863 he was elected a member of the Idaho Legislature. In the fall of 1867 he located at Cheyenne and began the practice of law. From 1874 to 1877 he was prosecuting attorney of Laramie County. He then removed to Laramie, Albany County, and practiced there until the state was admitted into the Union. In 1878 he was appointed United States attorney for the territory, which office he held for about three years. He was a delegate to the republican national convention of 1880; was chosen presi- dent of the constitutional convention in 1889: was appointed United States district judge for the Southern District of Alaska in 1900; practiced law in Seattle, Wash., from 1905 to 1908, and then returned to Laramie.
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Homer Merrill, who served for a short time as one of the associate judges of the Wyoming Supreme Court, was born at Rochester, N. Y., in 1846. He studied law in his native city and was there admitted to the bar soon after he was twenty-one years of age. In 1872 he came to Wyoming, locating first at Laramie, where he practiced about two years, when he removed to Rawlins. He was for ten years the prosecuting attorney of Carbon County, and in 1880 was appointed supervisor of the United States census for the territory. When Judge Willis Van Devanter resigned from the Supreme Bench in 1890, Mr. Merrill was appointed to the vacancy and served until the next general election.
Samuel T. Corp, who was appointed an associate justice of the Territorial Supreme Court by President Cleveland in 1886, was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, in October, 1840. His early education was acquired in the local schools, and in 1860 he graduated at Princeton College (now Princeton Univer- sity) of New Jersey. He then entered a law office at Nicholasville, Ky., and in 1863 he was admitted to the bar. After practicing a short time at Lancaster, Ky., he went to Carlinville, Ill., where he was elected state's attorney in 1872 and held the office for eight years. In 1886 he was appointed an associate justice for the Territory of Wyoming. After about three years on the bench, he retired and began the practice of law in Evanston. In 1896 he was elected to the Wyo- ming Supreme Court, but resigned before his term expired and removed to Utah, where he is still living.
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