This little sketch is dedicated to my brother lawyers who have passed to the realm of the beyond, and also to those who are yet on this side of the Great Divide.My reward is the loyalty of my brethern, to the profession and to each other, and the hope they will struggle to keep this bar above reproach and crown it with true service and dignity the profession commands.
May, 1939
C. J. Garlow
I N D E X
Historic Sketch of Nebraska - - - - - 1, 2, 3 Platte County - - - - - - - - - - - - 3, 4, 5, 6 Comments, What is Law - - - - - - - - 7, State Judicial History - - - - - - - 9, The Courts - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9, Court Houses - - - - - - - - - - - - 10, Cases Shown on First Docket - - - - 11, Early Court History - - - - - - - - 13, Lynching of Wilson - - - - - - - - - 15, Murder of Mrs. Dumpkey - - - - - - - 17, District Judges - - - - - - - - - - 18, County Judges - - - - - - - - - - - 18 a. Clerks of District Court - - - - - - 18 b. The Bar - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 19 to 122.
Albert, I. L. ............... 78 Albert, Warren .............. 116 Backus, W. B. ............... 64 Brindley, Charles ........... 70 Breen, John ................. 100 Bowman, George G. ........... 40 Camp, Joseph T. ............. 44 Clerks of District Court .... Cookingham, F. M. ........... 66 Cornelius, William N. ....... 45 County Court Judges ......... Crawford, _______ ........... 61 Cunningham, Richard ......... 62 Davidson, __________ ........ 72 District Judges ............. Dougherty, Jesse L. ......... 107 Drake, R. P. ................ 71 Duffy, Pat C. ............... 81 Flory, Robert ............... 112 Fuller, Bayard .............. 60 Garlow, Camden J. ./......... 56 Geer, W. S. ................. 39 Gerrard, Leander ............ 21 Hampton, Dr. W. A. .......... 69 Hensley, William N. ......... 41 Higgins, John G. ............ 30 Hobart, I. W. ............... 88 Howard, Edgar ............... 80 Howard, Findley ............. 93 Hunter, Henry D. ............ 117 Hurd, Maynard ............... 68 Jiranek, Joseph L. .......... 104 Kauffman, Harold W. ......... 119 Kilian, J. N. ............... 75 Kummer, Arthur .............. 105 Latham, Lyman R. ............ 74 Lecron, Robb ................ 110 Lightner, Louis ............. 82 Long, Grover ................ 98 Luckey, Emil ................ 102 Martin, John C. ............. 64a. McAllister, William A. ...... 32 McAllister, Stephen ......... 34 McElfresh, Clarence H. ...... 91 McFarland, John M. .......... 50 McKillip, P.E. .............. 73 Millet, Byron ............... 35 Millet, Nelson ............. 24 Naylor, ________ ............ 44 O'Rourke, Pat ............... 65 Pattison, A. B. ............. 20 Pinckney, E. A. ............. 27 Post, Alfred M. ............. 37 Reeder, George .............. 95 Reeder, James G. ............ 51 Schmid, Marvin .............. 115 Sheldon, Charles H. ......... 113 Spear, Frederick L. ......... 121 Speice, Charles A. .......... 25 Speice, W. I. ............... 89 Sternberg, William .......... 94 Stires, J.D. ................ 67 Stone, Clarence ............. 109 Sullivan, John J. ........... 46 Tedrow, W. H. ............... 54 Theilen, Charles J. ......... 97 Wagner, August .............. 85 Wagner, Milton .............. 111 Walker, A. M. ............... 59 Walker, Lowell .............. 94b. Walter, Otto ................ 101 Wells, _________ ............ 59 Whitmoyer, Moses ............ 28 Willis, Charles ............. 72 Woosley, Charles A. ......... 77
1. HISTORIC SKETCH OF NEBRASKA, PLATTE COUNTY, THE PLATTE COUNTY BAR, AND JUDICIARY.
March 23, 1939.
The author of this sketch promised his fellow lawyers to write a sketch of the bar from the organization to date, to the best of our recollection and information.
It appeals to us that we should give a sketch of the beginning of our political existence as a state and county as a sort of a foundation and background for the courts and bar.
Nebraska, as a part of the Louisiana Purchase, was organized as a territory, and recognized as a political division in 1854, after the 4th attempt, by Stephen A. Douglas.
Franklin Pierce was then President of the United States and territories.
On August 2, 1854, he appointed and commissioned Francis Burt, a resident of the small town of Pendelton, S. C. as governor for the territory. Mr. Burt accepted the appointment and on the 11th of September, 1854, with his son and a few neighbors who wanted to make their home in Nebraska, left Pendelton and traveled by stage as far as St. Louis. Mr. Burt became very sick on his way and was obliged to spend some days in a hospital in St. Louis, but as soon as able, took a boat up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and arrived at Bellevue on the 16th of October 1854, a very sick man. He at once took the oath of office but died on the 18th of October, having been governor for only two days. The
2. territory had a population of 2,732, exclusive of Indians.
Thomas B. Cuming, became acting governor, and appointed an escort of four to accompany the body back to Pendelton, S. C., allowing each escort $2.00 per day for expenses.
Governor Burt was a man of high qualifications and one of the great men of his state and the nation as well as one of the leading planters of the south.
His successor- Mr. Cuming, if history be true, was a bold, shrewd, man and of a rather checkered career.
Population October 15, 1855, 4,494 exclusive of Indians, nearly doubled in one year.
The second governor of Nebraska was Mark W. Izard a democrat from Arkansas who arrived in Omaha, Feb. 20, 1855 and relieved Mr. Cuming. The first five governors of Nebraska were all democrats because there was a democratic president and only one of that number was a Nebraskan. In 1861, after Lincoln was elected president, the first republican president, after Nebraska became a territory, appointed Alvin Saunders, of Omaha who held office until 1867 when Nebraska became a State.
In 1868, David Butler, was elected governor on the republican ticket and only for the things that occurred when he was governor do we refer to him at all, but it may be interesting to some members of the bar, without having to dig up too much history to know something of Butler, for generally, he is given rather a hard name but the facts are, he must not have been so bad because with all that his enemies could do against him and to have him impeached, it took some republican votes- his impeachment being for using State money. If he did, it was all paid back and with
3. all that was said and done against him, he still seemed to have a lot of friends and had the confidence of practically all the people, at least enough to elect him to the legislature from Pawnee County, his home in after years, but from this one misfortune- the very word "impeach", will keep the name of our first governor alive longer than that, perhaps, of any other name in the history of Nebraska. Such names as John M. Thurston and W. R. Kelly, the two greatest railroad attorneys we have ever had in the west and a few others will live because of their connection with an enterprise that will live. Also, Sterling Morton, of Arbor Day fame.
TO OUR OWN TERRITORY Separation of Dodge County into Dodge, Colfax and Platte
This brings us now to our own territory and community. The first legislature of the State met in 1855 and Dodge County, of which Platte and Colfax were then a part, was represented by Munson H. Clark and the lower house, by Eli R. Doyle and J. W. Richardson.
This session of the legislature, according to historic facts, was one stormy session.
In 1856, Dodge County, of which we were a part, was divided in three parts- Dodge, Colfax and Platte and at that time Platte County included a territory lying west of Monroe and was called Monroe County, but after the division it was annexed to and became a part of Platte County and Monroe County was swallowed up.
This county was one of the first parts of the territory in the State to be inhabitated [sic] and those
4. laying the foundation were practically all from Columbus, Ohio. The early political history of Platte County showed a tense rivalry for offices which seems to have come down from generation to generation but it may be easily accounted for when we consider the men who first came and settled this country and started the developments would naturally want to hold the reins of government and to develop as they thought best, rather than to be interfered with by any outside parties.
The first county organization was under the commissioner system. Three persons were elected to the office of commissioner and one was made chairman. After they had met and organized then they proceeded to the apointment of other officers to be appointed by them. The first commissioners were Thomas S. Arvis, George Spaulding and Gustavis Becher.
The first Clerk of the District Court was John Seibert, who was also County Clerk. The population at this time, of the State, was about 25,000 exclusive of Indians.
At an election had in 1858, Vincent Kummer was elected County Treasurer, and E. W. Toncray, sheriff. C. B. Stillman, Register of Deeds, and A. B. Pattison, County Judge.
May we digress a little at this time and state that the writer personally knew nearly all of the founders of our community and the officers first elected. We can not pass them without comment and if there are other persons who have been in this county for fifty or sixty years they will corroberate [sic] what we are about to say of the founders of our colony.
We do not believe any new country was ever founded, settled and governed by a higher class of men,-
5. many of them educated,- men of high standing with a full knowledge of the hardships and dangers they encountered and endured. These men stood shoulder to shoulder and fought their enemies and difficulties with the determination to succeed and to leave to their children and who might follow in their footsteps and possess the lands so dearly secured, a solid foundation on which to build.
There are several of these names engraved on our new court house and to these names let us recall men we personally knew. Such men as the Korths, the Henrys, the Naylors, Speice, Moran, Murphy, Rickleys, Gerrard, Schroeders, and many others with whom we did not have such acquaintance, but one of the nobelst [sic] of all these early settlers was Father Ryan, a dear old catholic priest, who followed the U.P.R.R.Co., in its building and did more to keep the men under control and in good behavior than all others combined. The hardships he endured are such as can well be imagined following the gang he did and encountering the dangers and hardships.
In all the official records of the pioneer days and till the passing of the first generation we do not know of a single dishonest act or a dishonest charge made against any of them. They were hard-headed, fearless men, bent on doing their duty as they saw it.
From the first organization of the county, eighty-four years have gone by,- two and a half generations. The first generation has entirely passed and an awful inroad made on the second. The memory of our oldest residents may be able to draw the curtain back and gaze in imagination upon the pioneers who were responsible for our farms and the business ties which bind our memory and vision to the past. We see the sturdy farmer, mechanic, doctor, banker, lawyer and merchant and
6. those in other lines of duty, welding the chain of community which ties and makes things worthwhile and is the foundation for our success and prosperity.
This county reached a period in its existence which we believe put it the first or at least among the very first in wealth and prosperity in the State of Nebraska. As a little history which is not generally known, but which the writer learned through a service to the government. During the World War period your author was appointed by president Wilson as attorney for the government and as a part of our duties it became necessary to see about the financing of which we were called upon in the war work. It became necessary to ascertain the wealth of the farmers as well as the business men in order to make proper requests for doing our part to win the War. A careful survey and appraisement of all of the property belonging to and occupied by farmers was a separate part of the work. When the work was completed an average was taken of the wealth of the farmers and it was found to be $35,000.00. A condition that is almost beyond belief but actually existed. Today-well, we wish we could not think what has happened, but it is different. Aside from the wealth that our people possessed, we can boast of one of the finest class of people that could be found. We ever have been and are proud of our neighbors, the high class of business, professional men and men in other lines of business.
NAMES SELDOM LIVE There are thousands of great and modest men who are not in a political game and have no notorious record or anything of state or national importance, whose names are soon forgotten.
We have read the history of the great trials by Black and Erskine, trying to find something that
7. would show greater thought and ability in their legal work which showed an ability of a superior nature over the good lawyer of today, but we have failed to distinguish that greatness we had been led that exists.
In our judgment, there have been few lawyers of greater legal ability than our own John M. Thurston.
W. R. Kelly and John L. Webster- all lived to reasonable ripe age and always struggling to climb higher in the profession.
We have had on our own supreme court bench many very able judges- the equal of any to be found in any state, and whose decisions will live beyond the age of the youngest of the practioners [sic] of today.
No abler judges have presided anywhere than those who have presided in our own district. How fortunate we have been,- Men of high qualifications and having a high respect for their duties and honest obligations, and sense of administering the most sacred duties given to man-
WHAT IS LAW. What is law- from whence did it come?
At an uncertain period there lived a great Hebrew named Moses- who was one of God's chosen and no doubt one of the greatest men of all ages. God trusted to him to hand down to man the rules upon which man must recognize to make life worth living.
If we accept the holy writ and the historic fact as passed down to us by Josephus, the greatest
8. historian of the Jewish people, we see him with people at the foot of Mount Sinai, preparing to ascend that high and most difficult mountain that he might commune with God and then on his two tablets, write the laws as communicated by God.
These are found in the works of Josephus, and they cover about twenty five pages of a book the size of the Nebraska Reports, though it seems unbelieveable, there is not a principle of our civil and criminal law not covered.
So Moses received the law from God- and Moses passed it on and the Greeks and Romans to the younger nations and from there to us.
How simple and yet how incomprehensible and after all it is more or less the conscience.
Some great writer says, in defining law:
"Her seat is the bosom of God,
Her voice is the harmony of the world,
All things in heaven and earth do her homage,
The weakest as feeling her care and
The strongest not exempt from her power."From those tablets, written by Moses, which lay down the rules for man's guide- We are now struggling to keep up with, and are compelled to spend thousands of dollars for printed opinion of what those rules mean when applied to different violations, and these opinions are not always in harmony with the spirit of the law as laid down by Moses.
The greatest weapon of legal advocacy is that of right- of teaching clients that the law is not founded upon a rule to win an injust cause.
9. The glory of our profession shall never be smoked out be tricksters or trickery. Our calling is the noblest of all and we should uphold the principles. Ever bearing in mind the source and spirit of the law. It is the noblest of all professions and should be nobly, justly, carefully and charitably administered. It is up to the lawyers to make it respected and the lawyer looked upon as honest and upright in his interpretation of the law.
STATE JUDICIAL HISTORY. The first appointment as a foundation for the judiciary of the territory was the appointment, by President Pierce, of Fenner Ferguson of Albany, N. Y., who was appointed October 12, 1854. Mr. Ferguson at once moved to Bellevue, then the claimed capitol of the State and he resided in Bellevue with his family until his death which occurred Nov. 16, 1859. He only held the office of Chief Justice for two years and was elected a delegate to congress.
The associate justices were appointed about the same time and were E. R. Harden of Georgia and James Brodly of Indiana. These judges were also the judges of three judicial districts traveling around from place to place to hold district court. There were only three members of the supreme court until toward the latter part of the '80's, when it was increased, to seven.
THE COURTS. It might be of some little interest to know that in 1860 the population was estimated to be 28,826. The first district court held in this
10. county, so far as the records show, was in 1859 at which Chief Justice Jospeh [sic] Augustus Hall of the supreme court presided. Court was held in a log cabin covered with slough grass located near where 7th street and what is now 22nd or 23rd avenue, and a room for the jury was provided at one of the hotels.
After the slough grass roof failed to shelter the old log court house a "fine" brick building was erected on 9th and Idaho Streets in the southwest block of Columbia Square. Peter Becker had the contract.
The brick were manufactured north of the Jacob Ernst farm, and were so soft a prisoner had no trouble to dig his way out with a pocket knife.
This court house served the people till 1920.
The first public prosecutor, as he was called at that time, was Robert Moreland, who, according to historic stories, was some character. Just before his appointment he had been prosecuted for assault, and the grand jury which was called regularly once a year at that time found a "true bill" against him, but we find no record of the prosecution or that anything happened by reason of the indictment.
Judge Hall died soon after his appointment and was succeeded by William Pitt Kellogg who was succeeded by his uncle, William Kellogg from Peoria, Illinois.
11.
CASES OF FIRST DOCKET. The first case we have been able to find on the records of Platte County is
Nebraska Territory
vs.
David Anderson.The charge was assault and battery.
Date July 18, 1865.
One would have to have known Dave Anderson to appreciate the charge.
When the writer first knew him he was an aged man, a little snappy dried up Englishman who lived in the west part of the city. He was really a fine old gentleman with plenty of pep- engaged in the cattle and pony business, and a man looked up to for he was considered one of the keen traders. He passed away many years ago.
The next case was,
The State of Nebraska,
vs.
P. MurrayIn 1870, when the first docket was called, eleven cases were set down for trial.
The first case on the call was
Nathan W. Wells,
vs.
Edward Wells, et al,which involved an estate of 3,840 acres of land,
12. valued at $63,000.00. A pretty good case at any time.
The second civil case was that of
Hapgood, Young & Co.,
vs.
Francis A. Hoffman.Hapgood, Young & Co., was a wholesale establishment in Omaha. Francis A. Hoffman was a merchant here, for many years. The attorneys who represented the case were L. Gerrard for plaintiff, John J. Redick, for the defendant. The attorneys interested in these cases for trial were:
L. Gerrard, John J. Redick, Augustus Miller, Charles A. Speice, J. L. Spaun, A. H. Adams, Brown and Leebar.
All these attorneys except Gerrard and Speice were non-residents.
Pat Murray, was one of the first litigants and he was a valuable asset to a lawyer from the time he came until his death. The presiding judge at this term of court was Alonzo Crounse.
13.
COURT HISTORY. It would seem that the regular terms of the district court commenced at number 54, docket A, beginning in 1870 and from that time on until about 1876, Samuel Maxwell was judge of what was then the sixth judicial district, composed of eleven counties, Howard, Hall, Merrick, Platte, Colfax, Dodge, Saunders, Seward, Butler, Polk and Hamilton.
The record also shows that from March 1876 to 1883, George A. Post was Judge. Docket A. begins with number 54 and runs to 756 both inclusive. Prior to this time we have been unable to find a complete docket and it may be that the earlier docket is either in Dodge county or Colfax. However, a search by the officers there has failed to discover the early record. It might be of interest to the members of the bar to know the character of cases that were brought in the early days of the county, as we are all aware that the class of litigation varies according to business, condition of the times and the class of inhabitants. Also with business changes as different classes of business increase the line of litigation will likewise change.
Strange to say that at that early period, when there were few women in the country, there should be the domestic trouble there was in later times when there would naturally seem much more cause for dissatisfaction.
For many years in the early litigation of this county, there were two characters that follow through every term of court and many times several cases. These two names are Patrick Murray and John Rickley. John Rickley was in more than one
14. line of business but the cause of litigation we could not take time to cover, deeming it of not enough importance.
There were practically no settlements of cases. When they were put on the docket it meant a fight and that continued for many years, even until the time of the practice of the older members of the present bar. We can remember the time when it would have been unwise and almost dangerous for an attorney to have suggested an adjustment of differences because of the suspicion that the attorney was either "weakening" or that he had been "bought off" by the other side. That was a very common expression among the ignorant and litigeous parties. However, we are happy to say that there is more confidence in the legal business and more of a disposition on the part of the litigants to take honest advice and to give and take in adjustments, which usually beats a law suit.
The records show that there was a great deal more criminal litigation in the early times than at the present and as amusing as it may seem in some terms of court, the entire list of criminal cases were for assault and battery and resisting officers.
From the beginning of Platte County to the present time, according to the best information and the records, there was never but four case of lynching and never but one of straight out murder. The lynching case is as follows, as the story comes to us from an authentic source.
Some time in the latter part of the '60's, soon after the Union Pacific Railroad had built its track to this,- the pioneer place,- and was
15. building westward, the Company was securing the wood for the fuel for their engines from timber that was growing along the north bank of the Loup River, between where the Union Pacific Railroad bridge crosses the Loup River and just below where the wagon bridge now is.
All the property that is now occupied by the City Park and the Country Club was heavily timbered by cottonwood, elm and red cedar and all of which was destroyed many years ago. A part of the men who were cutting and hauling the wood were working under a man by the name of Wilson. (The first name we are unable to learn). Several persons were employed chopping and hauling to the railroad track and among them was a man by the name of Grant, whose first name we are also unable to ascertain.
There grew up a bad feeling between Wilson and Grant and one day Wilson demanded of Grant to measure the wood that had been cut and corded and Grant told him he wasn't prepared to do that kind of work and that Wilson himself should do that. Wilson then became abusive and a quarrel arose between the men and Wilson told Grant if he didn't obey orders he would shoot him. Grant did not obey orders and Wilson shot and killed Grant. This, of course, caused a riot among the citizens and workmen. At this time Charles Stillman was coroner and John Browner was sheriff. Wilson was arrested and put in the old wooden jail which was located on 7th street at about where 22nd avenue now is and after he was put in jail he became very angry and abusive and made threats that when he got out of jail he would fix some of the rest of them like he did Grant. This threat so enraged the workmen and the prisoners that they took the law in their own hands and raised quite a crowd of men and went to the jail.
16. John Browner, the sheriff, was sitting in a little room in the wood building with a couple of revolvers lying on the table and the men demanded that he give them the key to the room in which Wilson was locked up and after he had refused one of the men succeeded in getting behind Browner and before he had time to use his guns, or make any attempt to, his arms were pinioned to his sides and held in such a grip that he couldn't get away while the other men immediately broke in and took Wilson out, threw a rope around his neck and started to a cottonwood tree which was located about one block south of the old brick court house and the men traveled faster than Wilson could go and he was dragged some distance through the snow which lay heavy on the ground.
When they got him to the tree and ready to hang him they discovered there was no man in the crowd who could tie a hang-man's knot, so they sent for a man by the name of Herman Cook, a blacksmith. Cook came to the rescue and tied the knot around Wilson's neck, then the men threw the rope over a limb and pulled Wilson up and let him hang until he was dead. The cottonwood tree was cut down only a few years ago.
After he was dead he was cut down and something was said about what they would do with the body and the crowd concluded that it would be unnecessary to go to the trouble and expense of a burial so they dragged him down to the Loup River which was frozen over, cut a hole in the ice and threw him in and nothing was ever heard of him thereafter.
This history comes to the writer from an old gentleman who was then living here and at the time was but a small boy, but his father was one of the men who was in the crowd that ended the existence
17. of Wilson. The author of the story had been told the history of the hanging several times by his father and seemed to have a clear recollection of the incident.
The exact point where Grant was shot can not be located but according to the story it was between where the wood was being chopped and hauled and the railroad track and as it is described to the writer, must have occurred near where 7th street now is and perhaps not far from 27th avenue.
One murder case was that of Charles Dumpkey which occurred about 1888, who murdered his wife and attempted to murder his daughter-in-law, who were living on a ranch owned by R. M. Winslow, about three miles northwest of the city. The writer was called in the evening by the sheriff to go to the place with the county attorney who, at that time, was John M. Gondring. The murder had not been committed over an hour before we were at the place and there found the old lady lying on the floor beaten to death with a club and the daughter-in-law lying on the bed beaten over the head until she was a mass of blood.
Dumpkey made his escape as soon as he did his work and was found two days thereafter near Shady Lake when he was being hunted by a large number of men. He gave himself up and was taken to jail and locked up. Court being in session shortly thereafter, the case was set for trial and the attorneys on both sides prepared for the trial. Stephen McAllister was defending and the county attorney and your author for the prosecution. Early in the morning the attorneys were notified that there would be no trial and when
18. asked why, the sheriff said that Dumpkey had hanged himself with his suspenders, so ended that case.
There was another shooting and death in the county sometime prior to that but it was shown to have been accidental and there were no prosecutions. With this record there are few counties, we believe, that show as clean a slate.
There was one very interesting cattle rustling case tried here about 1888 or '89 brought here from Greeley County, on a change of venue and since the parties reformed after the conviction, we will not mention any names.
Three other murders were committed in this county, as follows:
One was by Nick Gentleman, a resident of Platte Center, how, on the 5th day of December 1900, while crazed from drink, shot and killed one Soren Olesen. He was prosecuted by William O'Brien, then county attorney, assisted by John Gondering, past county attorney, and A. M. Post and Dolozel of Fremont. He was defended by Reeder, Albert, McAllister and Cornelius. He was tried in Feb. 1901 and on the 21st of February, found guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced to the penitentiary for 19 years.
The next was the murder of Peter Mostek by Peter Kozial who struck Mostek over the head with a club and from which he died soon after. Case was prosecuted by C. N. McElfresh, county attorney, assisted by Otto Walter, ex-county attorney and defended by Louis Lightner and Willis Reed. Defendant was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to from one year to not more than 16 months in the penitentiary.
The next was a case of the State against Sylvester Higbee. In this case Higbee killed Thomas Czarnek by shooting him in the head with a
18 B. shot-gun and from which he died immediately. Higbee, pleaded guilty of murder in the second degree which plea was accepted and he was sentenced to 15 years in the penitentiary at hard labor.
These four murders are the only ones we call to mind and the only ones we think were ever committed in Platte county, except:
It is related by the original pioneers that a man was killed south of the Loup River by an Indian, but if so, the Indian was never apprehended and we can not vouch for this.
18.
JUDGES OF THE DISTRICT COURT. In making this list we can not vouch for the correctness of the dates as the records are uncertain. We will give these names and the dates of the Judges as they occurred. The first Judge to preside was in
1859 to 1870: Augustus Hall, of Bellevue, Nebr. After him William Pitt Kellogg. William Kellogg, the uncle of William Pitt Kellogg.
These three judges were judges of the Supreme Court but at that time their duty was to preside over the districts.
1870: Alonzo Crounse, Omaha, Nebr.1870 to 1876: Samuel Maxwell, Fremont, Nebr.
1876 to 1883: George A. Post, Columbus, Nebr.
1883: A. M. Post, appointed to fill vacancy.
1884 to 1891: A. M. Post, Columbus, Nebr. elected.
1891: A. M. Post, elected to Supreme Court.
1887: William Marshall, appointed.
1891 to 1898: William Marshall, elected and served to his death.
18. 1891 to 1895: John J. Sullivan Elected to Supreme Court.
1898 to 1899: I. L. Albert appointed to fill vacancy of Judge Marshall.
1899 to 1915: Conrad Hollenbeck, elected to Supreme Court, died soon thereafter.
1899 to 1904: J. T. Grimison
1904 to 1908: James G. Reeder.
1908 to 1919: George H. Thomas.
1915 to 1928: Frederick Button appointed to fill vacancy of Judge Hollenbeck and elected 3 terms thereafter.
1923 to present time: Louis Lightner.
1928 to present time: Frederick L. Spear, appointed to fill vacancy of Judge Button.
18 a.
COUNTY JUDGES From organization of County to the present time.
A. B. Pattison - Nov. 24, 1857 - Appointed by County Commissioners.
Issac Albertson - Jan. 7, 1861 - Elected
N.? W. Toncray - Nov. 11, 1867 - Elected
I. N. Taylor - Dec. 13, 1869 - Elected
John G. Higgins - Nov. 13, 1871 - Elected
John J. Sullivan - Jan. 12, 1884 - Elected
C. A. Speice - Jan. 27, 1886 - Elected
H. J. Hudson - Feb. 13, 1888 - Elected
W. N. Hensley - Jan. 1891 - Elected
J. N. Kilian - Jan. 9, 1896 - Elected
?. D. Robinson - Jan. 1898 - Elected
John Ratterman - Jan. 1902 - Elected
John Gibbon - Jan. 1917 - Elected
W. I. Speice - Aug. 1, 1931 - Elected
18 b.
CLERKS OF THE DISTRICT COURT
From Organization of the CountyJohn Siebert - from 1870 to ?
H. D. Hudson - 1870 to 1874
Francis G. Becher - 1874 to 1877
John Stauffer - 1877 to 1881
C. A. Newman - 1881 to 1884
G. Heitkemper - 1884 to 1886
Depty. Gus SpeiceC. B. Speice - 1886 to 1900
Depty. Walter B. Henry, Joe S. Wells, and Chas. SegelkeC. M. Gruenther - 1900 to 1919
Depty. Lottie BecherEthel Gossard - 1919 to 1925
Depty. Ed GrafEdward F. Graf - 1925 to 1939
Depty.Clarence Gates - 1939 to
Depty. Rose Novicki
19.
THE BAR This brings us to the Bar which we believe will be of greater concern than the historic facts leading up to its infancey and growth.
Realizing that when the writer has passed to that realm of somewhere,- there will be no other member of the bar that knew every attorney, with the exception of two or three, that ever belonged to the bar of this county, we feel it our duty to leave a picture, as best we can in a short sketch, of the generation that is gone and those with us, as they now are, with hope that may grow wiser and better as they go forward.
The foot prints of our professional ancestors fast fade from our mind, but after all, it falls to the lot of the legal profession to preserve peace and make the country safe from chaos.
When we came to this city and began the study of law, the first attorneys were still living and in active practice, except A. B. Pattison and Nelson Millet. As to A. B. Pattison, the first, we have been unable, except from records, to learn anything of importance of him.
Following is the order of time and practice as we best can ascertain.
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