Springfield-Greene
County LibraryEarly and Recent History and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Representative Citizens
Chapter 13
Bench and Bar
by O. H. Travers
Part 2
SIX CONGRESSMEN.
Six members of the Springfield bar have served in Congress, namely: John S. Phelps, S. H. Boyd, H. E. Havens, J. R. Waddill, J. P. Tracey and C. W. Hamlin. All of these have, heretofore been spoken of except J. P. Tracey and C. W. Hamlin. Years ago Mr. Tracey came here from Cedar, county and became editor of the Springfield Patriot, of which the Springfield Republican is the successor. He was a clear and forceful writer. The practice of law was a secondary matter with him. Politics was his delight, and he was an intense partisan. He served one term in Congress and then resumed his work as editor.
Courtney W. Hamlin is now serving his sixth term, a longer period than any of the others served except John S. Phelps. He has always in Congress supported by voice and vote the policies of his party, and constantly grown in the esteem of his constituents. He is an accomplished politician and though strenuous efforts have been made from time to time to defeat him for the nomination he has always distanced every opponent he ever had. He was defeated in the election in 1904, but the securing of the nomination in every campaign during sixteen consecutive years is no mean tribute of respect and is an honor of which Mr. Hamlin is justly proud. [464]
W. C. Price, heretofore mentioned, was the first lawyer to be state senator from this district; John S Waddill was the next one, J. W. D. L. F. Mack was the third one, and he was a thoroughly honest man. He was a gentleman, "one of the olden school," and of him it may be said, "His word was as good as his bond." J. M. Patterson was the fourth. F. M. McDavid was the fifth. During his service he made a state wide reputation as an able and fearless legislator, entirely free from the influence of cliques and professional lobbyists and a careful guardian of the public interests. He has a striking and distinguished personality, and wherever he may be he has about him friends who rely implicitly in him. He was born December 11, 1863, in Montgomery, Illinois, and was educated in the common schools and at the high schools in Hillsboro. He came to Springfield in September, 1889, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1889. He was elected to the senate in 1902 and again in 1906. He was president pro tem of the senate in 1907 and chairman of the revision committee in 1909. He formed a partnership with E. A. Barbour in 1895. This partnership represents among other clients the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. Mr. McDavid has won for himself high standing as a lawyer, a citizen and a Christian gentleman.
Kirk Hawkins was the sixth and the only native Missourian that is a lawyer who ever represented this district in the senate. He was born at Ash Grove, Greene county, July 19, 1880. After attending school at Ash Grove and Drury College he was graduated from the law department of Michigan University in 1902 with the degree of Bachelor of Law. The same year he was admitted to the bar and afterwards formed a partnership with C. W. Hamlin which continued till 1909 since which time he has been in the practice of the law by himself. At the age of twenty-eight he was elected representative from Greene county to the Legislature and two years there after was elected from this district to the senate. During his legislative career he impressed himself upon the legislation of the state. In the lower house he was instrumental in obtaining the passage of the bill establishing the Springfield court of appeals, the bill establishing the second division of the circuit court of Greene county, and was member of the committee on the revision of laws, which committee produced our present revised statute. In senate he was the youngest member and was the author of our good roads law, as well as the law to protect fruit growers and shippers against commission merchants. He is also, author of the present state depository law, which saves to the state on an average of about fifty thousand dollars a year. Mr. Hawkins ingratiated himself into the favor of the people not only of this senatorial district but throughout the state as well, by the ability he displayed while a member of the general assembly of the state. [465]
The members of the bar who have been representatives from Greene county to the Legislature are John S. Phelps, D. C. Dade, F. M. Wolf, C. O'Day, V. O. Coltrane, W. R. Self, Kirk Hawkins, McLain Jones, C. Wright and F. T. Stockard. Captain Dade before the war and a few years after it practiced law successfully, but he gradually weaned himself from it and devoted his intellectual ability to the exploration of metaphysical questions. He was an entertaining and instructive conversationalist and never tired in talking so long as a listener gave him ear. He was a speaker of no mean pretention, using irony, ridicule and sarcasm with withering effect. F. M. Wolf is somewhat noted for the facility with which he changes his political affiliations. He is sometimes within the fold of one party and at other times he follows the shepherd of another fold. He is a good soul, however, and one cannot know him without liking him. His exterior, when his brow mars a thunder cloud, as frequently it does when he is cross examining a witness, would indicate that his disposition is such as his name implies, but this is quite a mistake, for on the inside he is as quiet and gentle as a lamb. He is as faultless in dress as a Beau Brummel and as polite as a dancing master. E. C. O'Day was a man of fine promise but he died early, before his mental power had time for that development which his friends so fondly expected. V. O. Coltrane who was elected in 1908 was honored as no member from Greene county has before or since been honored by election to the speakership pro tem of the house of representative. He was also on the revision committee, the most important committee of every session when the statutes are to be revised. By industry all his own he has built up a practice which brings him profit. He is a plodder and the law he knows, which is plentiful, he learned by toil, not by asking some one else. He is devoted to his profession and daily he adds to his legal lore a knowledge unknown by him on yesterday. The confidence business interests repose in him is attested by the fact that he is attorney for the Union National Bank, Drury College, Citizens Bank, the Mountain Grove Bank and the Springfield Security Company. McLain Jones has running through his veins some human Nature's best impulses. Many and oft are the times unseen and known by others, has he caused the sunshine of gladness to glow on cheek of sorrow. Fortune has dealt kindly with him and he now enjoys the reward of far sightedness in business venture. He is highly nervous in temperament, crisp in conversation and has a stream of the finest humor flowing through him. While he was in the Legislature he frequently wrote a letter to the Springfield Republican and the Leader expounding the Legislature in a style rich, rare and racy. He was not long at his post in Jefferson City until he was acknowledged as Springfield's friend and the speaker of the house always recognized him as "The Gentleman from Springfield." His true character may be best expressed in what he himself once said: "I believe in the great brotherhood and fraternity of man. I want to do what little I can to hasten the coming of the day when society shall cease producing millionaires and mendicants, gorged indolence and famished industry, truth in rags and avarice robed and crowned; when the useful shall be the honorable; when the true shall be the beautiful and when reason, justice, kindness and charity shall be enthroned as a queen adorated by all in this beautiful country of ours." [466]
Charles J. Wright is of English parentage and the proverbial tenacity of John Bull is one of his predominant characteristics. When he grasps a situation or a point of law he never lets go; he hangs on, and not infrequently he hangs when he has nothing to hang to. While in the Legislature, he fathered the bulk sales law and to his strenuous advocacy of it is due, in very large measure, its passage. Mr. Wright as a lawyer stands in the front ranks of his profession. He makes his client's case his own. He is strong in his attachments, and one whose friend he is, is not without a friend indeed. To his everlasting honor be it said he never took a drink of intoxicating liquor. F. T. Stockard is comparatively a young man. He deported himself with commendable circumspection in the Legislature and there is no reason why if he desire, he should not be returned.
George Pepperdine was made clerk of the United States district court by Judge John F. Phillips. It was an accomplished judge and jurist who appointed him and but little less of a jurist is the man appointed. Mr. Pepperdine came to Springfield from his native state, Illinois, where he was educated and admitted to the bar in 1889 and at once began the practice. Soon it was noised abroad that there was a new lawyer and an exceedingly brilliant one in town. In a little while he began to get some clients and. his presence was seen and his voice was heard in the courts. Not long after the old lawyers here who had grown gray in the practice, recognized him as one of their equals. Shortly he took his place at the head of the bar. His rapid development from a stranger in a strange land to one of the best known citizens and most prominent attorneys is almost phenomenal. Such unprecedented rise in popular favor could not be accomplished save by one into whose being had shone the light of genius. Of spotless integrity himself and as clean in purpose and intent as untrodden snow, he despises in others any conduct akin to questionable or disreputable practice. Open, frank, free and courteous in intercourse with brother lawyers, he carries with him their highest esteem. It can not be laid to his charge that he ever failed in performing to the utmost any duty owed by a lawyer to his client, for no phase of his case ever escapes his vigilant watchfulness, and he nurses it from its inception to its ending, fee or no fee, all the same, with studious care, follows it with fervor through every detail and at last plucks the flower of safety from the nettle of danger. In argument, before a court, he is forceful, he is powerful. So skillfully does he present the law and so logically does his forensic ability press it to the conscience of the judge that it is almost surprising that the court he addresses could ever rule against his contention. Before a jury Springfield bar never had his superior. In every movement, in every look he portrays the genuine orator, the finished, the polished advocate. His irony is as cutting as the slash of a Damascus blade, his sarcasm is as deadly as an early autumn freeze his pathos flows from the wells of human nature's deepest feeling; and often the jury that hears him yields to the influence of his impassioned appeal in the shedding of copious tears. His friendships are as strong as if they were forged on the anvil of divine love, and his heart ever beats in sympathy with the poor and oppressed to whom his bountiful hand ever gives abundantly. He is a great lover of books and has the largest, best-selected and most attractive library of any person in Springfield. [467]
George S., Rathbun, W. A. Rathbun and John Schmook have, in the order named, been made referees in bankruptcy by appointment from judges of the Federal Court. Col. G. S. Rathbun came to Springfield in 1884, and, though afflicted with defective hearing, which more and more, as time wore on estranged him from the companionship of his fellows, yet the warmth of his genial nature ran in swelling tide as in the days of his manhood's prime, and he soon won a host of true, admiring friends. He held the honor of his profession to be far above description and that none but those of highest character should be members of it. He made the "golden rule" the law of his life in its every relation. He was kind; he was benevolent; he was charitable. During our Civil war he wore the gray and returned from the conflict, on whose bloody fields he had bravely fought, distinguished with the rank colonel. His legal ability was unquestioned, and he had not long been here till the docket of the Circuit Court told the taking of his place as a lawyer of the highest standing. As a speaker he was captivating. He has left a name for integrity and honest dealing with his fellows that will long be held by those who knew him in reverent remembrance. He was a Northern man by birth and education, yet he was as thoroughly Southern in thought, action, habit and impulse as though he had been born and reared amid all the luxurious ease and refinement of the sweet, sunny South. W. A. Rathbun, son of Col. G. S. Rathbun, was commissioned, on his father's death, to succeed him as referee in bankruptcy. In many ways he is a chip off the old block. He was admitted to the bar in 1892 and practiced in connection with his father till the latter's death. He is one of the few to whom the good things of life come apparently with easy effort. Every enterprise he touches seems to yield him ready profit. He is careful, diligent and honest in every undertaking, and no client has ever had cause to upbraid him for negligence in his cause. He is warm-hearted and kind and as faithful to a friend as the sunshine to earth. Many a time the struggles over life's rugged road has been helped along and his pathway smoothed by his generous hand; and in this quiet, unostentatious manner may it not be said he is laying up for himself treasures in heaven?
After the change in judgeship of the Federal Court, John Schmook was appointed to the place held by Mr. Rathbun. He is comparatively a young man and one of excellent character. He was born and educated in Springfield and admitted to the bar here. Of German ancestry, the sturdy manhood and investigating propensity of that race is a part of his nature. He was born November 9, 1870, and his admission to the bar occurred January 16, 1892. Like other youngsters and some others not so young, he yielded to the spirit of adventure and took a wild goose chase to Oklahoma. Mr. Schmook does his own thinking. When he presents a legal question the point of view is all his own; he has gained it by his untiring efforts. He is as genial as the sunshine on a day of June and as honest as the day is long. [468-469]
THE BAR'S OLDEST MEMBER.
The oldest living member of our bar is John Maxwell Cowan. He was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, December 6, 1821. At that time Indianapolis consisted of four log cabins. He is the oldest living graduate of Wabash College, where he took his degree in 1842. He was admitted to the bar in 1844, and was for twelve years judge of the eighth judicial circuit, comprising seven counties. He heard Lincoln and Douglas in their celebrated debate for the senatorship of Illinois. D. W. Vorhees, Thomas A. Hendricks, Lew Wallace, the author of "Ben Hur," and many other distinguished men practiced in his court. He came to Springfield in 1888, signed the roll of attorneys, but never attempted to practice here. He is a wonderfully well preserved man. At the age of ninety-four he is apparently as vigorous as most men no older than seventy. His frame is erect and his step elastic. He has never worn eye glasses and has always abstained from the use of tobacco and intoxicating drink. What wondrous changes are wrought by the hand of time. There are now living but four men who were members of this bar twenty-five years ago—C. B. McAfee, James R. Waddill, H. E. Howell, O. H. Travers. The others, and there are many of them, have all gone to "The undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns."
The ones named above have all been written of in this article except Mr. Howell. He is a native of Wales and. came to America when he was five years of age and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1863. He graduated from the law department of Michigan University in 1866 and came immediately to Springfield, where he began the practice of law, in which he achieved success, and now, as the shadows of evening are falling on his life, he is enjoying the ease and comforts resulting from the accumulation of his earlier days of toil and struggle. The most important case in which he ever engaged —important in that it attracted widespread attention and stirred the wrath of the community to its profoundest depths—was the State of Missouri vs. Cora Lee, for the murder of Sarah Graham. In conjunction with Col. G. S. Rathbun and O. H. Travers, he defended Cora Lee. From the time of Cora Lee's arrest till her trial and acquittal the feeling of the populace raged and surged. George Graham, who was charged jointly with her, was take from the jail in the night by an infuriated mob and hanged to a tree. [469-470]
John O'Day is the first member of the bar to pursue the profession, having in view as the main object of life the amassing of wealth. In this his ambition was fully realized, for he died by far the richest man our bar yet had. In 1866 he began the practice comparatively poor. He rode the circuit, which custom was then in its decadence. When the other attorneys would be seated at night around a table playing euchre (that was the popular game of cards then) in a room where the hickory and black-jack logs blazed and crackled in an old-time fireplace and gave theirs friendly glow and warmth to cheer the happy abandon of those who were playing the game, John O'Day would be in the clerk's office writing the record in a case already tried or hunting among the decisions for a case to fit the one had for trial on the morrow. He was an indefatigable worker. He considered neither sunshine, nor storm, neither passable fords nor swollen streams; neither, summer's heated nor winter's snows, smooth roads or heavy ones, the sunlight of day or the darkness of night, when he was ready to go he went, and he always got there. To the gnawings of hunger and the calls of nature's sweet restorer balmy sleep he was alike oblivious. When he had a thing to do he did it. He was a man of large brain, fairly well educated, and profoundly learned in the law. In his earlier practice he was employed to represent the defendant in nearly every important criminal trial in southwestern Missouri, and the skill with which he managed his cases placed him among the leading criminal lawyers of the state. Later he drew away from the criminal practice and devoted his tireless energy to civil business. In 1870 he became connected with the Frisco Railway Company and rapidly rose to the positions of general attorney, vice-president and general manager. He was ambitious, politically, not in the way of holding public office, but in party control. For ten years he was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee and for six years its chairman, and his masterful leadership is responsible for Missouri sending an unbroken Democratic delegation to Congress in 1882. He was physically the very picture of perfect health and possessed to all appearances an iron constitution, but all at once he was stricken by the hand of death and died at the early age of fifty-eight. He sapped his life by over exertion. Then, "For what doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" Three of his brothers, James, Thomas K., and Edward C., all lawyers, all robust and vigorous, died before they had attained to the age reached by their brother, John. Nor are these the only members of the bar who died in early age or before they came to the prime of life. J. C. Cravens, T. H. B. Lawrence, Frank Warren, J. P. Ellis, Wirt W. Ellis, E. A. Andrews, H. J. Lindenbower, H. C. Young, H. C. Young, Jr., W. W. Merchant, A. H. Wear, V. J. S. Stillwagen, W. E. Bowden, C. F. Leavitt, J. H. Show, W. O. Mead, J. M. Patterson, Jr., George A. McCullom, B. B. Price, O. C. Kennedy, Sam Kneeland, Walter Moore, C. T. Noland, John R. Cox, Charles D. Rogers, Scott M. Massey, Al Tatlow, A. Harrington, James R. Vaughan, W. F. Geiger, George S. Rathbun, Jr., Smith Brown, Thomas W. Kersey, P. T. Simmons, J. T. Rice, J. A. Fink, Z. T. Murphy, Harvey Murray, Jefferson Brock, W. H. Davis, J. T. Terl, J. F. Hardin, H. W. Horn, George Ward, D. B. Delzell, J. F. Kenton, E. Y. Mitchell, J. R. Cox, D. C. Kennedy, — Cabell, James A. Wilson, J. B. Evans, Nathan Bray, C. W. Thrasher, Adial Sherwood, J. E. Mellette; Mrs. J. B. Dodson all died before their shadows were cast on life's declining slope. Six of these—H. J. Lindenbower, James O'Day, Jefferson Brock, Harvey Murray, J. F. Hardin and J. A. Fink—met violent death; they were killed by other men. But one of the slayers was punished. William Cannefax, who was charged with the killing of H. J. Lindenbower. He pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and was sentenced to the penitentiary for life. He was defended by J. C. Cravens, on whose advice he entered the plea that in all probability saved him from the gallows. Those charged with killing four of the others were tried and acquitted. It has never been found out who killed Judge Fink. [470-471]
LAWYER TURNS NOVELIST.
Frank S. Heffernan was the only member of the bar who ever sought fame in the literary world, except F. H. Sheppard, who wrote a book entitled "Love Afloat," but he wrote this before he was admitted to the bar and while he was a Lieutenant in the United States navy. He was a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis and was on the retired list when he became a lawyer. He did not practice long in Springfield and went for his health to Florida, where he lived for many years and died quite recently. Mr. Heffernan gave to the literature of his time "Romola," "Under the Palmetto" and "The Globe Trotter." These may all be found in the Carnegie library in Springfield. Perhaps the work of Mr. Heffernan's which has given him the widest distinction is his "Globe Trotter." The humor of that is unique and no one who knew Mr. Heffernan can read it without much enjoyment. Some of his touched of humor in it are as exquisite and original as his procedure once was in Stone county in the collection of a debt. He had a claim amounting to quite a large sum of money in favor of a St. Louis firm against some cattle men. He went to see the parties against whom he held the claim. They professed to have no money; but they had on hand a large number of cattle and promised payment when they sold them. This did not satisfy Heffernan. He went after the money and he was going to have it or know the reason why. This was before the days of railroads and telegraphs. He first thought of attaching the cattle, but he could not make the bond. He then had the probate judge to issue a writ of habeas corpus for the cattle. The sheriff took possession of the cattle under the writ and was preparing to produce their bodies before the probate judge when their owners produced the money that Heffernan went after; and Heffernan came away congratulating himself on the discovery of a new and expeditious way to collect a debt. Mr. Heffernan left one son, Talma S. Heffernan, who is practicing law and who possesses many of the characteristics of his father.
Val Mason has gained his reputation as a lawyer by hard and persistent effort. He is a man of strength in argument, and in trying a case his opponent always knows he has a wily and well-armed adversary. Some years ago George McLaughlin was admitted to the bar. He did not practice long and his name does not appear upon the roll of attorneys. He is a native of Springfield and was educated here. G. W. Goad and Peter Hilton, at one time together, produced a work on instructions to juries, but this was a compilation not productive of a fortune to the compilers and not very generally in use among the profession. Mr. Goad is still and, it is hoped for many years yet to come, will be an honored member of the bar. His unimpeachable honesty and integrity have gained the confidence of all who know him, and his unswerving fidelity to all matters entrusted to his care has resulted in a steadily increasing clientele.
W. D. Tatlow is a man who has impressed his personality on the community and established himself in the exalted estimation of his professional brethren. He is a profound lawyer, a tireless worker, a consecutive thinker in the examination of a case. From a poor boy, clerking in the office of the circuit clerk, he has risen to be one of the most reliable of Springfield's lawyers, and is enjoying a competency earned by his persistent toil possessed but by few members of our bar. His firm, composed of himself and E. Y. Mitchell, bears the coveted distinction of having received the largest fee ever paid to any lawyer or firm of lawyers in Springfield—one hundred thousand dollars. His partner, Mitchell, is devoted largely to politics, having acquired his liking for it when he was a page in the United States Senate. He was graduated in law in 1894, and in 1901 formed his present partnership. While he is a Democrat of the strictest sect, and urges the cause of a friend with persistency, he has never had any desire for office himself. Rather he would direct the course of others in the direction he believes to be right, and it is impossible to swerve him from his selected course. [471-472]
Thomas J. Gideon was not a showy man, but in his plodding, honest way he built a practice, mostly in the Probate Court, and in his office, that yielded him a handsome income, every dollar of which was fairly earned, and he died regretted and respected by a large circle of friends. He left two sons, lawyers, Waldo and Harry, both of whom possess in high degree the sturdy qualities of their father. Waldo is associated with his uncle, Gideon, in the practice, and Harry is now judge of the Probate Court.
One of the prominent lawyers of the bar is Edgar P. Mann. He came to Springfield after practicing eighteen years at Greenfield, Missouri. He was admitted practice December 21, 1881, and is now attorney for the Frisco Railroad Company and is in association with his son, Frank. C. Mann, and Bruce Todd, under the firm name of Mann, Todd & Mann. He is a gentleman of spotless private character and of the highest. standing as a lawyer. He is thorough in all the work he does and exact in every conclusion he reaches. His advice is safe to follow, for he gives it after a full understanding of the matter in hand, already having that mastery of the law which enables him to speak whereof he knows. He holds in highest regard the purity of his profession and looks with disdain on any act or any man that tends to besmirch it. His son, Frank C., is yet young in the law and in the ways of the world but he is studious and promising. His partner, Bruce Todd, is also comparatively a young man, and the fact that he is associated with E. P. Mann is enough to recommend him as a lawyer of reliability and a man of estimable character.
SPRINGFIELD'S GREATEST BOOSTER.
The history of the bench and bar would not be complete if it failed to mention the achievements of John T. Woodruff. He resigned his position as assistant general solicitor of the Frisco at St. Louis in 1904 and came to Springfield, where he was attorney for that company for the state of Missouri, in which position he continued till 1909, when he resigned. He was born in Franklin county, Missouri, January 6, 1869, and before going to St. Louis had been prosecuting attorney of Crawford county. Since his resignation as attorney for the Frisco he has devoted his energies largely to private enterprises in which he has financial interests. He organized the Springfield Trust Company and was its first president. He organized the United Iron Works. He formed a stock company and built the Colonial Hotel. He was instrumental in securing the location of the Springfield Normal here. The Frisco shops, at a cost of two millions dollars, owe their being here largely to his efforts. He is responsible for the Sansone Hotel. He has secured large amounts of money for Drury College, and is now chairman of its board of trustees. His desire for Springfield's improvement he built the Woodruff Building, the Frisco Office Building and the Fraternity Building. He has done more to enhance and hasten the material growth of Springfield than any man that ever lived in it. When other lawyers who came here before him are dead, when the reputation and fame for legal and oratorical ability now possessed by some are forgotten; when, in fact, we are all dead, the name of Mr. Woodruff will still live in the monuments that attest with silent tongue the adaptability of his genius. [473]
Born in Springfield, August 27, 1869, and educated in the public schools, Harry D. Durst has shown himself to be one of those who can by proper exertion rise from humble beginning to position of influence. At the age of fourteen he began to learn the trade of boiler maker and followed the occupation six years. During the time he studied law and was admitted to thin bar January 16, 1892. He was a second lieutenant in the Spanish-America war and at its close resumed his practice, which has been gradually growing in size and emolument. He has proved faithful to every trust and may be depended upon for reliability and honesty at any time and under all circumstances.
Thomas J. Murray is one of the many who have begun the practice of law and after awhile found other pursuits more congenial or more profitable. After following this procession with reasonably fair success for eighteen years, he quit and engaged in other pursuits. In 1897 he organized the Greene County Abstract Company and became its vice-president and general manager. Soon thereafter he became the chief executive officer of the company, which position he still holds. For one term he was probate judge of Greene county. He is a man of excellent and attractive disposition, and absolutely true to his friends. His present position—that of enjoying in ease the good things of life—has been won by him by the hardest kind of labor and the strictest attention to his own business and letting that of others alone.
Orin Patterson is one of the profoundest and clearest thinkers at the bar. He is analytical, logical, consecutive and exhaustive in his examination of a question, and when he determines his determination will usually stand review by the most searching criticism. His style of speaking is adapted more to argument before a court than advocacy before a jury. His brother, Otis, is much more of a hustler. He is a never-ceasing worker; and his indomitable energy is ever resulting in the acquisition of additional business as well as insuring faithful attention to that already on hand.
Born in Knox county, Missouri, January 19, 1859, A. W. Lyon came to Springfield in 1891, since which time he has drawn to him many clients, all of whom he has held by the performance of faithful service and to whom he has given. [474]
E. D. Merritt is a man who is tied to his friends and never for forgets not to let his enemy smite him on the other cheek. When the next smiting is in order he does the smiting himself. He is a clever fellow, and any confidence reposed in him is not misplaced. He is a good lawyer and nurses his client as though he were his own child.
W. H. Horine has given the untiring labor of many years to the building a practice which would place him in easy circumstances when the sear and yellow leaf of age would fall athwart his pathway. In this he has succeeded, and he is still traveling along in his old methodical way which adds to the volume of his business day by day.
M. C. Smith, a refugee from the grasshoppers and Republicanism of Kansas, came years ago to Missouri. He is a true, manly man, and since his coming here has established a reputation as a citizen of progressiveness and worth and a lawyer of the strictest integrity and dependableness. He was born in Hinds county, Mississippi, November 13, 1849, graduated from the Kansas State Normal, admitted to the bar in Yates Center, Kansas, in 1883, and came to Springfield in 1894.
Perry T. Allen is a lawyer whose reputation as one who wins his cases has extended far beyond the confines of Greene county and he finds employment in most important litigation in many counties in southwestern Missouri. He is full of vim and energizing force. He is well read in the principles of the law and is a ready and valuable speaker.
G. D. Clark deserves credit for having grown from the maker of tombs to one who knows the law. When he was in active practice he attracted the attention of by-standing lawyers by the expert manner in which cross-examined a witness. He served in the Union army during the Civil war, simply, in his own language, as a common soldier—never in the front rank during a charge nor in the rear rank during a retreat. He is one of the best-hearted fellows that ever lived, and whatever belongs to him belongs, also, to him who needs it.
G. M. Sebree stands among the leaders of the bar. His father was warden of the penitentiary during the administration of Governor Woodson, and G. M. lived with him during the time, and from 1876 to 1884 he lived on the farm where he was born in Howard county. Tiring of a farmer's life—and by far too many young men tire of this, the freest and most independent life one can lead—he became a student in Central College, and after five years there he went to St. Louis Law School, which he attended one year and was admitted to practice by Judge Amos Thayer, circuit judge in St. Louis in 1886. From there he went, to Marshall, Missouri, where he was in the law office of his brother, Frank P. Sebree, about a year, from which place he went to Higginsville, where he practiced til May, 1888, when he came to Springfield and practiced alone for four years, when he formed a partnership with W. D. Tatlow, which continued for three years, when he entered the firm of Sebree, Farrington, Pepperdine & Wear, which, six years afterward, dissolved, and he is now a partner of W. J. Orr. For ten years in his early practice he was attorney for a large number of jobbing houses in Springfield and attended in their interests most of the courts in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. He was attorney for the Bell Telephone Company and for seven years president of the Ozark Bell Telephone Company, a branch of the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company. He continued to act as president of this until it was absorbed by the Missouri and Kansas company, since when he has been the local attorney. He was one year president of the Springfield Club, and during his official term located the Pythian Home here, an institution which will, for all future time, so long as those now living are concerned, stand as a monument to the genius of George M. Sebree. He is a warm-hearted, friendly man, and through him runs a streak of dry humor. He is high-minded, very intelligent and is one of the remaining few whose life is characterized by the courtesy and chivalry of the old-fashioned southern gentleman. [475-476]
J. P. McCammon was born May 25, 1853, in Iowa and was graduated from Wesleyan University in 1887. He has the distinction of having read law in the office of Gen. J. B. Weaver, one-time candidate for President of the United States on the Greenback ticket. After he came to Missouri he continued his study in the office of Hubbard & Simmons and was admitted to practice in 1881. For anumber of years he was associated in the practice with J.T. White, but deeming other pursuits more profitable, he helped organize the Springfield Fidelity and Casualty Company, which was absorbed by the Southern Surety Company, now having its headquarters at St. Louis, where Mr. McCammon spends most of his time. From a poor young man, his insight into profitable business ventures has brought him, in his middle age, to the position of a capitalist and the guardian and investor of others' funds. He is a gentleman in the true sense of the word and straight, honest and clean in every transaction in which he engages.
Frank B. Williams was born near Golden City, Missouri, November 23, 1869, and was educated principally at Watertown, South Dakota, and was admitted to the bar in Arkansas in 1895. He obtained his diploma from the St. Louis Law School, came to Springfield and was elected probate judge in 1902. He served one term faithful to the duties the office imposed and is now city councilor of Springfield, having succeeded T. M. Seawell, the first person who ever held that position. He is in partnership with Matthew H. Galt, who was born in Carroll county, Maryland, October 9, 1881, on Sunday, which may, perhaps, have something to do with the divine like stream that flows through him. He graduated at the Maryland Agricultural College in 1889 and at the University of Michigan in 1904. He came to Springfield in 1907 and entered the practice at once. His firm is doing a good business and the two are gentlemen of high standing and hold prominent positions in their profession.
E. A. Barbour was born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, July 31, 1859, was educated at the State University of Arkansas and admitted to the bar in Springfield in 1884. Soon thereafter he and V. J. Stillwagen practiced together till the death of Stillwagen. He afterward formed a partnership with F. M. McDavid, under the name of Barbour & McDavid, and the firm is over twenty years old. Besides their attorneyship for the Missouri Pacific, they represent the Holland Banking Company. Mr. Barbour, like many other attorneys of our bar, has worked himself to a position of influence and high standing by hard and ceaseless toil.
Warren White, son of J. T. White, and Paul O'Day, nephew of John O'Day, are both young men with promising futures. They are assistant prosecuting attorneys to Sam M. Wear. Worthy they are from every point of the compass and from every angle in the circle.
Ernest McAfee, son of Judge C. B. McAfee, and a native here and to the manor born, is enjoying a practice largely of his own selection, which consists in cases of importance, involving great property interests. He possesses some of his father's admirable qualities and has taken him as his model of professional life, the which, if he strictly follow, will bring him fame and wealth.
Major W. M. Weaver is the oldest person living who was born in Greene county. He was admitted to the bar in 1874 at Mt. Vernon, Missouri, where he practiced till he came to Springfield, in November, 1898, where he continued in the practice for several years and is now enjoying the comforts which spring from the abundance of honest accumulation. He enlisted for service in the Mexican war on his seventeenth birthday and of the one hundred who went with him to Mexico he is the sole survivor. He was the second white child born in Greene county. He was never seriously sick, is a jolly, good fellow, ever as bright as a balmy spring morning and as gay and happy as a swain. [476-477]
J. T. White was born in Greene county April 22, 1854, and graduated from Drury College in 1878. He was reared on a farm, as great majority of the prominent men in American history were. He was admitted to the bar in 1882 and is a member of whom his professional brethren are justly proud. His private character is a model for all who wish to live a blameless life. He has never held a political office, but for five years was reporter for the St. Louis Court of Appeals; and to know what is decided in an opinion of which he wrote the syllabi it is not necessary to go beyond his writing. The gist of the opinion is so clearly set forth that its meaning is frequently more fully comprehended by a reading of the syllabi than by a reading of the opinion itself. Judge Goode once said that if he had his syllabi before he wrote his opinion in the case the opinion would be a more lucid one. He is a lawyer of distinguished ability, and his brief in the case against the James A. Burge estate by a boy who claimed Burge had given him practically all the estate plainly shows that in putting his case on paper for an appellate court he has no superior, if any equal, at the bar. His strongest forte in practice is in the argument of legal propositions before the court. He is a polished gentleman most obliging and accommodating in transactions with his fellows, social in disposition, kind of heart and true to his friends as well as to every trust reposed in him.
James A. Moon, commonly called "Dick," came upon this mundane sphere at Iowa City, Iowa, December 22, 1859, and graduated from the Iowa State University in 1880 and from the law department in 1882. He came to Springfield in 1888, where he has since practiced and by proper conduct and strict attention to business has made himself a practice that brings to him a comfortable remuneration. He has reared a son, Fred A., who is now associated with him in the practice and is city attorney of Springfield. He is a bright young man with a promising future.
CHARACTERISTICS OF OTHER LAWYERS.
Oscar T. Hamlin was born in Pickens county, South Carolina, August 5, 1866, and came to Missouri in 1869, or rather was brought here then. He was educated in the common schools of the county and at the Baptist College at Bolivar. After studying law in the office of his brother, C. W. Hamlin, at Bolivar, he was admitted at that place to practice, January 2, 1887. He came to Springfield July 2, 1889, and has since practiced his profession here, as a general practitioner appearing in all the courts. He has defended in many important criminal cases, notably the Bass case, where the defendant was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life imprisonment, which sentence was affirmed by the Supreme Court, but, on motion by the defendant's attorneys, the court reversed itself and discharged the defendant. He also assisted in defense of the mob charged with hanging and burning three negroes on the public square. The result of these cases has been stated on former pages. While not specializing, somehow or other Mr. Hamlin secures the most of the cases where damages are sought for personal injuries. In the prosecution of these cases he has been more than ordinarily successfully and has obtained judgment in large amounts and collected them for his clients. He is enjoying perhaps the most lucrative practice of any member of the bar. He is strictly attentive to business and each succeeding year finds his fortune greatly increased. [478]
Lewis Luster is one of the late acquisitions to the bar, having come here in 1909 from West Plains, Missouri, where, for six years he was associated in the practice with W. J. Orr. He became reporter for the Springfield Court of Appeals on his advent to Springfield and held the position, filling it with marked ability, till the political complexion of the court was changed by the election in 1912, when he gracefully stepped down and out. He was born at Brunswick, Chariton county, Missouri, and was practically reared in a printing office, his father being editor of the Brunswick News; land later he became foreman of the Howell County News, a Republican sheet established by his father, and while in the printing office he studied law, completing his course in the law department of the Washington University at St. Louis in 1902, after he had been admitted to the bar at West Plains. He is a lawyer of fine, ability and promise. He is a speaker of fascinating power and a gentleman of exemplary private character, with a future full of reward for studious application.
O. E. Gorman came into the world in Champaign county, Illinois, in 1867; was educated in the public schools and the University of Michigan and came to Missouri in 1888. He taught school for several years and was elected school commissioner of Lawrence county in 1891. He was admitted to the bar in 1896 at Springfield, where he is still in the practice, a partner of Judge J. T. Neville. He has achieved, during his practice, an honored name, an enviable reputation, an honest competency.
A man worthy to be remembered by those who come after us is George Grant Lydy, who for eight years was judge of the Probate court of Greene county and managed the affairs of the office in a way that reflected credit on himself. He was born April 20, 1865, at Mt. Gilead, Ohio, from the high school of which place he graduated, and after teaching school for several years read law and was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1889, and came to Springfield in 1890. In 1904-05 he served as grand master and grand representative of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Missouri. He holds exalted rank as a lawyer and a citizen.
U. G. Johnson is a most genial and entertaining companion. He can crack a joke and spin a yarn in delightful manner. He has been practicing law here since 1907, having come from Webster county, Missouri, where he was born December 10, 1874. He graduated from Drury College in 1903, with the A. B. degree, and took the degree of M. A. in 1905, in which year he was admitted to the bar.
G. A. Watson, the tallest member of the bar, the tallest man, in all probability, who ever was a member of the bar, standing six feet and four inches in his stocking feet, came to Springfield from Ozark, Christian county, in 1896. [479]
Before coming here he had been six years prosecuting attorney of Christian county and representative in the Legislature one term. He was born in Marshall county, Tennessee, August 28, 1850, educated at Lebanon, and admitted to the bar at Lewisburg, Tennessee, in 1877. He is an inimitable story teller, and many a time in traveling from Ozark to Forsyth in a wagon has he kept the gang in a roar of laughter all along the "mail trace" road. We were on our way to court. Twice each year we made this trip, and when Watson was along, as he usually was, there was no end of merriment in the party. There never was a better-natured man and a smile is always on his face. If he knew he were going to die right now he would still smile. He has been a pronounced success in life. From a youngster, struggling for fame and fortune, he has developed into one of the most distinguished practitioners at the bar and the president of a bank.
Leonard M. Hayden was born in Springfield, Missouri, March 25, 1880. He was educated in the public schools of Springfield and in Drury College from which he graduated in 1901,and graduated from the Kansas City School of Law in 1903, and at once began practice in Springfield, where his ability is recognized. His practice is on the increase and his careful attention to business will insure him success.
G. W. Goad is an admirable man, and is regarded by every member of the bar as a veritable brother. He was born in Carroll county, Virginia, September 19, 1863. He graduated from the law department of the University of Missouri in 1887, was admitted to the bar the same year at Clinton, Missouri, and came to Springfield, August 6, 1890. His practice has made him a good living, but, like many of the best lawyers, he has accumulated not much wealth. His deportment indicates his belief that "a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth."
W. J. Orr is, perhaps, the most thorough railroad lawyer at the bar. He has made the law applicable to railroads his life study; and he has been no intermittent student, but the glare of the midnight lamp has many a night gleaned across the pages of his study and the intensity with which he has applied himself caused the silver threads to spread themselves among the gold of his locks. He was born at Ashley, Pike county, Missouri, February 2, 1856, and was admitted to the bar, at Beverly Green, Pike county, in 1878. He went to Oregon in 1880 and returned to Missouri in 1885. He located at West Plains, Missouri, in 1890, and became at once attorney for the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railroad Company, which position he occupied till the road was taken over by the Frisco, in 1901, since which time he has been attorney for the Frisco in southwest Missouri and northeast Arkansas, and has his office in Springfield, where he located in 1914. He is a great admirer of Grover Cleveland, and if he should live forty years from now he will be voting for Grover Cleveland, just as some Democrats are still voting for Andrew Jackson. He is full of reminiscences concerning the earlier lawyers of southwest Missouri, and it is a pleasure to hear him recount them. [480]
J. T. DeVorss was born near Circleville, Ohio, April 3, 1866. His father died when he was ten days old and on account of his disposition he never was able to live with any one family more than four years. At the age of thirteen years he ran away from all families and lived with the cattle which he fed for his board, his board being furnished by the owners of the cattle. During the summer months he worked on the farm and attended the district school. He was so precocious that at the age of fifteen he taught school himself. By his industry and zeal he worked his way through Grand River College in two years and Missouri State University in five years and graduated from both institutions with high honors. He was admitted to the bar in 1888 and immediately began the practice at Gallatin, Missouri. In 1907 he moved to Springfield on account of the superior educational advantages he might have here for his children. In 1912 he formed a partnership with Dan M. Nee, and the firm does a good practice and is well established in the confidence of the bench, the bar and the public.
Edward G. Wadlow is a young lawyer of vim and energy and push. He was born at Ash Grove, Missouri, June 22, 1874, was educated in the common schools of Greene county and was admitted to the bar in Springfield in May, 1901. Among such legal lights as then shone and are now shining at the bar he has forged his way and his practice is yielding him far more than a mere living. He is a pleasant, agreeable fellow, unselfish, and he holds that the chief aim of one's existence ought to be in making others happy. And this is the true doctrine of the Christian faith.
Albert Sidney Cowden was born in Polk county, Missouri, October 6, 1862, and was named after the great Confederate general who was killed at Shiloh. He was educated at Morrisville College and the State University and graduated from the law department in 1888 and at once admitted, to the bar in Springfield where his practice has yielded him a competency. He is a good lawyer; he is a good man.
Nathan Bray, in his time, was one of the strong men of the bar. He formerly practiced at Mt. Vernon but many years ago moved to Springfield and formed a partnership with J. C. Cravens. His reputation and his ability as a lawyer added great prestige to the partnership and soon it had one side or the other of nearly all important cases in this and adjacent counties.
Henry C. Young was a conspicuous figure at the bar. For many years he and T. A. Sherwood practiced under the firm name of Sherwood and Young. They were brothers-in-law, Sherwood having married Young's sister. Mr. Young was a princely man in his deportment. In his office or in his home the visitor had always a royal entertainment. He was a lawyer of wide renown and in high standing and left his impression on his time.
Benjamin U. Massey was a lovable character. He was one of the young men who began practice here in early days. He was a lawyer of the highest class. "His life was gentle, and the elements so mixt in him, that Nature might stand up and say to all the world: This was a man." [481]
GONE TO OTHER FIELDS.
A large number of those who were members of the Springfield bar have bone elsewhere to continue the practice or engage in other pursuits; they are: Rufus Burns, now practicing in California; W. L. Atkinson, now preaching the gospel, somewhere; Captain Bates, whose whereabouts is unknown; Milton Gable, who has dropped out of the recollection of the most of us, as, also, have R. A. Druley, John White, J. B. Cox, J. O. Martin, Peter Helton, J. R. Creighton, Walter Crenshaw, D. W. Davis, J. B. Henslee, D. M. Coleman, Randolph Lawrence, G. W. Breckenidge, H. L. McClure. James Camp is in a soldiers' home in Kansas; J. R. Milner, T. A. Sherwood, Rufus Bowden, J. B. Tatlow are in California; R. L. Goods, B. B. Brewer, M. C. Early, F. M. Wolf are in St. Louis; H. E. Havens is farming in Cuba; J. R. Waddill, practicing in new Mexico; A. H. Julian, living on a farm north of Springfield; Thomas Moore, located at Ozark, Missouri; W. H. Winton once probate judge, now living at Morrisville, Polk county, a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church, south, once presiding elder of this circuit and a son-in-law of the famous Bishop Marvin; Walter Hubbard, son of Judge W. D. Hubbard, now in Chicago; Thomas B. Love, McGregor, now in Texas; R. V. Buckley, for many years practicing in Joplin, Missouri; A. A. Heer, now in Nevada; Samuel J. Salyer, now in the banking business at Humansville, Missouri; S. L. Craig, now in Springfield, in the real estate and abstract business; S. C. Haseltine, following the most delightful of all occupations—farming; S. A. Haseltine, now living in Kansas City; Vint Bray, in Springfield profitably engaged in mining and other business enterprises; —Morgan, in Greene county following the plow and turning the sod, thus causing two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before; W. G. Robertson, practicing at Muscogee, Oklahoma, where comparitively a few years ago, in his own expressive language, "the hand of civilization had not set its foot"; T. R. Gibson and M. B. Hart who are here meeting out the law as justices of the peace; J. r. Vaughan, engaged in business in St. Louis; S. G. Wood in the real estate business in Springfield; E. D. Kenna in new York City and one of the two lawyers in the United States who passes on the validity of bonds issued in this country and whose purchase is sought by European capitalists; J. C. Lane, following his profession in Oklahoma City; M. F. Patterson, J. C. Campbell, W. L. Hastin, H. C. Crow, somewhere under the canopy of heaven. Isaac E. Morrison is now in Springfield; C. T. Redding is practicing at Osceola, Missouri; Louis P. Ernst, farming in Greene county. He was at one time mayor of Springfield. Claude Jamison is in practice at Steelville, Missouri; A. F. Butts is making butter, selling eggs, turnip greens and other products of his Greene county farm; T. M. Seawell, formerly partner with O. T. Hamlin and city counselor for Springfield, a gentleman of refinement and culture and a lawyer of pre-eminent ability, is now practicing law at Little Rock, Arkansas, his native state; Ambrose Haydon is teaching in the University of Utah. Zazhra Taylor —Goodwin, who were here for a few years some two decades ago went somewhere.
There have been seven Pattersons at the Springfield bar. Two of these have sons, lawyers, namely, James M. Patterson and John A. Patterson. There are five Hamlins; two of these, O. T. and C. W. have a son each. There are four Gideons; one of these, T. J. Gideon, has two sons. Three Rathbuns, two, sons of Col. G. S. Rathbun; five O'Days, four brothers and one nephew to John O'Day and cousin to the other three. C. B. McAfee, J. A. Moon, Al. W. Lincoln, J. T. White, James R. Vaughan, E. P. Mann, T. J. Delaney, Nathan Bray, John S. Waddill, W. D. Hubbard, A. H. Wear, W. C. Price, H. C. Young, E. Y. Mitchell, T. A. Sherwood and F. S. Heffernan have given each one son to the profession.
The following members died since the war above the age of sixty years: John S. Waddill, John S. Phelps, W. C. Price, R. W. Crawford, A. M. Julian, D. C. Dade, B. U. Massey, T. J. Gideon, Felix Porter, T. Henry Jones, J. W. D. L. F. Mack, John Mack, R. A. C. Mack, James Baker, S. H. Boyd, John E. Murphy, W. E. Gilmore, George S. Rathbun, Edward Marcey, C. W. Thrasher, F. S. Heffernan, F. H. Sheppard.
The present active practitioners at the bar are P. T. Allen, E. A. Barbour, Addison Brown, A. S. Cowden, J. J. Collins, John T. DeVorss, Thomas J. Delaney, James B. Delaney, J. H. Duncan, J. B. Dodson, Jerry B. Fenton, Aaron A. Fineshriber, Matthew H. Galt, Orville E. Gorman, J. J. Gideon, W. G. Gideon, W. H. Horine, L. M. Haydon, Talma S. Heffernan, Kirk Hawkins, J. M. Harrall, H. E. Howell, M. B. Hart, O. T. Hamlin, C. O. Hamlin, Roy Hamlin,W. W. Hamlin, U. G. Johnson, McLain Jones, A. B. Lovan, G. G. Lydy, A W. Lincoln, H. T. Lincoln, W. B. Linney, T. J. Murray, J. H. Mason, E. D. Merritt, Edgar P. Mann, Frank C. Mann, J. A. Moon, Fred A. Moon, L. H. Musgrove, E. Y. Mitchell, Val Mason, Isaac E. Morrison, William C Murphy, Patrick Murphy, Emory Moffett, E. C. McAfee, J. P. McCammon, F. M. McDavid, J. T. Neville, Dan M. Nee, E. T. O'Bryne, Paul M. O'Day, John A. Patterson, Orin Patterson, Roscoe Patterson, J. O. Patterson, George Pepperdine, Alfred Page, —Page, Enoch L. Ragsdale, George D. Ragsdale, W. A. Rathbun, G. Sebree, M. C. Smith, W. R. Self, John Schmook, Fenton Stockard, James W. Silsby, Fred O. Small, W. D. Tatlow, O. H. Travers, J. B. Todd, J. T. White, Warren White, C. J. Wright, Edward M. Wright, J. C. West, G. A. Watson, Elmer G. Wadlow, John T. Woodruff, Sam M. Wear, S. G. Wood, Leonard Walker, Frank B. Williams, G. D. Clark, Thomas R. Gibson, W. J. Orr, J. C. Hayden, Howard Ragsdale, W. J. Mooneyhan, Roscoe Steward, A. W. Lyon, H. D. Durst, V. O. Coltrane, Lewis Luster, Argus Cox.
Thus have I written the bench and bar of Springfield and Greene county, and in the writing I did "nothing extenuate nor set down aught in malice." It has required time and research to obtain information concerning the earlier members of the bar, and much that I would like to know has been effaced by the hand of time. It is to be regretted that the space allotted is not sufficient for a fuller mention of the admirable traits of many of whom I have written and the setting forth of the good qualities of those whose names alone appear and of whom it would give me pleasure to write; but of necessity these must now remain unwritten—"the which if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." "But these are written that ye might believe" there is a bench and bar in Springfield. [482-484]
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