Part 36 (2/2)

The next legislature materially changed the law. It abolished the general term and consolidated the two circuits, cutting out one of the judges--each court retaining the jurisdiction it had--and provided for appeals directly to the supreme court.

Then in 1886, the const.i.tution of the state was radically changed by a vote of the people so that the limitation on the number of judicial districts and number of judges was removed. The circuit court was abolished, the office of district attorney was abolished, and that of county attorney created. There was a prosecuting attorney for each district before. The legislature then created as many districts as was thought necessary, and as many judges to a district as were deemed sufficient to transact the business. This law is still in force. This became the new eighteenth judicial district, composed of the counties of Linn, Cedar, and Jones, with three judges.

The first district judge for Linn county after the adoption of the new const.i.tution in 1857, was Hon. William E. Miller, of Iowa City, and Isaac L. Allen, of Toledo, was elected district attorney--this in 1858.

Allen was afterwards attorney general of the state.

Judge Miller was well equipped for the position. With a thorough common school education, and having been a practical machinist when young, and with strong common sense, he had a naturally good judicial mind that had been improved by careful study and years of practice in the law. He came to the bench an intelligent, fair, and courteous judge. He resigned in 1862 and entered the Union army as colonel of the Twenty-eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He afterwards served as circuit judge and finally as supreme judge of the state. From the resignation of Judge Miller till January 1, 1867, the district bench was graced in its occupancy by Judge N. W. Isbell, C. H. Conklin, and N. M. Hubbard.

Judge Miller was a broad-shouldered, short, squatty fellow, and though a good lawyer and jurist, he was an indifferent advocate, and not particularly strong as a trial lawyer.

Judge Conklin was probably the most scholarly, accomplished and profound lawyer that ever sat on the district bench in this part of the state. His home was in Vinton, and while he lived among the people there he did not seem to be of them. He was a strong, tall, raw-boned man, always carefully dressed, with a most marked intellectual face, and he was certainly one of the most eloquent advocates that ever stood before a jury in eastern Iowa.

Judge James H. Rothrock, of Tipton, was elected judge in 1866, and served on the district bench till in February, 1876, when he was, by the governor, appointed to a seat on the supreme bench, which position he filled for over twenty years, when he voluntarily declined a further renomination. He, too, entered the Union army in 1862 as lieutenant colonel of the Thirty-fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served with credit till sickness compelled him to resign and come home. Judge Rothrock was not a learned man in the sense of having a college education or having possessed an extensive breadth of general reading in history or science, nor was he fluent of speech, or particularly adroit as a pract.i.tioner, but he possessed naturally good judgment, a most thorough common English education, a good knowledge of the law and its basic principles, a sound understanding, with an innate sense of justice. He was patient and even tempered, dignified, and kind. He made a splendid _nisi prius_ judge. His opinions were always plain, couched in good strong Anglo-Saxon, terse and sound, and will long bear the close and sharp criticism of posterity. Whenever he announced a principle of law, it was accepted without dispute as the law on the point involved. Judge Rothrock was a large man of fine physique, impressible presence, and very genial when off the bench.

The Hon. John Shane, of Vinton, succeeded Judge Rothrock on the bench of this district in 1876 and served till 1882, when he resigned on account of ill health. He possessed a much better education than did Judge Rothrock, and the scope of his general reading was not only broad, but judiciously directed. He loved the law for the very sake of it and never tired of investigating its ofttimes hidden mysteries. He was well liked as a judge, was convivial and sociable to a degree.

The judges who have filled the position on the district bench since Judge Shane's retirement are many and able, but can scarcely be said to belong to the olden time.

Of the few circuit judges that held court in this county, we can say that they graced the position they filled with ease, but they belong rather to the present time than to the past age. But Judges Yates, McKean, and Hedges will long be remembered by the older inhabitants as capable, learned, and upright judges.

In the palmy days of the lawyers and judges described, the law libraries were meagre and the books few. There are probably now a dozen law libraries in the county, any one of which contains more books than were in the county in 1860, and there are some that contain twice or three times as many. The practicing attorney was then thrown more upon his own resources, and compelled to depend more on his own power of a.n.a.lysis and discrimination than at the present time, which doubtless made them stronger, more self-reliant, and resourceful. And the judges were called upon to decide rather how the law should be than how it had been p.r.o.nounced to be by some other tribunal, which was no doubt strengthening to them.

CHAPTER XXI

_Chatty Mention of Bench and Bar_

The history of any community is not complete without a sketch of the members of the bar, for in the Temple of Justice every phase of human life is seen. ”Here one hears the cry for vengeance and also the kind pleadings for mercy.” The members of the bar, especially in the early day, understood public opinion and discovered what men truly were and not what they were reputed to be. At this early day the lawyers were the tribunes of the people. They were men of brilliant intellect and of intense pa.s.sions, and in trials which created universal interest in the spa.r.s.ely settled community they swayed the minds and hearts of their hearers in a remarkable degree. It was an age of oratory, and Linn county in that day had its quota of brilliant intellects who remained here for a shorter or longer period of time and in no small degree a.s.sisted in the upbuilding of the county and the state.

In order to make this sketch as brief as possible, and in an endeavor to picture the men as they were, we shall attempt to give a little of the humorous side of their characters and follow in the footsteps of Channing who said ”anecdotes are worth pages of biographies.”

Many of the early members of the bar were men of education and refinement, possessing a snappy humor that set courts and juries roaring. Many a long day's trial was brightened by some sally of native wit fresh from the frontier. These men were active in politics, were promoters of steamboat lines, stage companies, and paper railroads, who, in course of time, became legislatures, judges, and financiers.

They all labored for the upbuilding of the infant state, where they had invested all their surplus means, having faith in Iowa's future. In every way possible they tried to upbuild its infant industries.

Linn county was set off by act of legislature in 1837, while Iowa was then a part of Wisconsin Territory. In August Governor Lucas set off Johnson, Cedar, Jones and Linn counties in one legislative district.

The attorneys from Linn county who appeared at Iowa City at the July term, A. D. 1847, were Isaac M. Preston, John David and William Smythe, all of whom became noted lawyers before that body later. The judges on the bench at this time were three well known Iowa jurists: Williams, Wilson, and Kinney.

The first court was held at Marion October 26, 1840, presided over by Joseph Williams, who had been appointed to the judges.h.i.+p July 25, 1838.

At this term of court, according to the records, there were present District Attorney W. G. Woodward for the federal government, R. P.

Lowe, prosecuting attorney, H. W. Gray, sheriff, T. H. Tryon, clerk, and L. Mallory, marshal of the district. On the first grand jury sat Israel Mitch.e.l.l, founder of Westport, who had been appointed probate judge on January 16 of the previous year. The first justices in the county were: H. B. Burnap, John G. Cole, John M. Afferty, John Crow, William Abbe, and Israel Mitch.e.l.l. Some of the first county judges were: Norman Isbell, Dan Lothian, J. Elliott, A. H. Dumont, and J. M.

Berry.

During these early days there were two terms of court, one in January, and the other in June. The cases brought involved small amounts, but for the number of inhabitants of the county there was a great deal more litigation then than now. Some of the early lawyers in Marion and Cedar Rapids were: I. M. Preston, J. E. Sanford, N. W. Isbell, Isaac Cook, Henry Harman, William Smyth, J. J. Child, Joe B. Young, Dan Lothian, C. M. Hollis, J. David. N. M. Hubbard, R. D. Stephens, Tom Corbett, George Greene, Israel Mitch.e.l.l, D. O. Finch, A. S. Belt, John Mitch.e.l.l, G. A. Gray, and C. L. Murray.

Among the attorneys in practice during the early '50s in Cedar Rapids were the following: Henry Lehman, E. M. Bates, C. V. Tousley, J. J.

Child, R. G. Welcher, D. M. McIntosh, T. J. Dudley, Jr., A. Sidney Belt, and Dan O. Finch, the latter being also editor of the _Progressive Era_. In 1861 came J. Munger and N. R. Graham, and during the next year Edward Stark, who formed a partners.h.i.+p with A. S. Belt.

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