Memoirs of Orange Jacobs Part 10

Ques. 'What is the object of your visit here?' This question was objected to, but I let it go in. 'I came,' she said, 'to persuade my aged father to go back and live with me in my eastern home, so that I could smooth his pathway to the tomb with a daughter's love and affection; but to my sorrow and astonishment, when I arrived I found him on trial for his life.' She was about to proceed, but the Court stopped her.

Then Judge Wyche said: 'I want to ask you one more question. I presume that it will be objected to and you need not answer until the Court permits you to do so. Taking into consideration all that you have stated and all that you may know in the past, as well as in the present, of your father, what is your opinion of his sanity?' 'We object,' came quick and sharp from Mr. Clark; but, as he did not arise to argue the objection, Judge Wyche made a clear and cogent argument in favor of the admisability of the testimony, admitting that the authorities were in conflict, but claiming that the better reason was in favor of its admission. In conclusion, he repeated the testimony of the witness and drew a brief but pathetic picture of her melancholly condition. His emotion seemed to intensify as he proceeded, until they became too great for utterance, and he resumed his seat amid the profound silence of the court-room.

"Frank Clark, who had watched this performance with the keen eye of an connoisseur, immediately arose to reply. He did not waste much time on the legal proposition, but addressed himself to the concluding portion of Judge Wyche's argument. He said the learned counsel for the defendant, had drawn a pathetic and melancholly picture; then with a voice trembling with seeming emotion, he asked: 'Did the learned counsel say anything about the poor, lone man who fell on yonder plain, pierced by many cruel shots, with no daughter near to receive his last blessing or to close his eyes, fast glazing in death?' Seemingly overcome with emotion, he resumed his seat, but no sooner had he done so than he put his hand to the corner of his mouth and said to the prosecuting attorney, in a stage whisper, distinctly audible in most of the room: 'I guess they did not beat us much in that game,'

"All of the older members of Bar in Western Was.h.i.+ngton were acquainted with I. M. Hall. He was probate Judge of King County for two terms, and for one term its auditor. He possessed what Bishop called 'a legal mind.' While he was well read in the elements of the law, after his admission to the Bar he had very little use for books other than Statutes, Blackstone's Commentaries and Kent's Lectures. His knowledge of Statutory law was comprehensive and wonderfully accurate, both in a historical and constructive sense. He often said that we were too much inclined to go far from home for our law; that we were fond of legal exotics. While reports were useful, their abuse was greater than their proper use. He claimed that their use had changed the members of the legal profession from a body of original and stalwart thinkers, to a body of sickly book-worms.

Their inquiry was not, what was the reason of the thing, but what had some Court said?

"It was a frequent saying of his that the princ.i.p.al difficulty that he met with in the practice of the law was to get the Court to see the law as it was; a difficulty that many of us, no doubt, have thought at times obstructed our success; but which, with that modesty and discretion so characteristic of the profession, we have failed to voice.

"Mr. Hall was the acknowledged wit of the Bar of Western Was.h.i.+ngton. I might give many instances of his ability as a wit, but one must suffice.

"It was the last day of a term of Court at Port Townsend. My practice was to read over the docket on the last day of Court in the presence of the attorneys, so that I could correct on my docket any omissions or mistakes. I was about to adjourn Court when Mr. Hall said he desired to have a demurrer heard. I told him to proceed. He made a brief yet clear and plausable argument in favor of the demurrer. It involved a point of statutory construction. When he had concluded, the opposing counsel rose to reply. I told him that I did not desire to hear him; that the point presented so ably by Mr. Hall was not new to me; that my mind was against the construction contended for, and that I would have to overrule the demurrer. Mr. Hall, who had arisen to his feet, and who was manifestly a little disappointed at the ruling of the Court, said that he would like to have an exception. I said: 'The Court will grant you an exception with pleasure; but,' I said, 'this very question has been up before my Brother Greene and my Brother Lewis, and we all agree in our views; now, you know that we three const.i.tute the Supreme Court, and, while I give you the exception with the greatest pleasure, I fear you will not make much by it.' He stood in a reflective att.i.tude for a moment, then said: 'May it please your Honor, I believe I will take the benefit of the exception, anyhow, for the tenure of office is very uncertain in this Territory.'

"I have heard the incident related with this sequel, that he took the case to the Supreme Court, that the Judges mentioned were all off the Bench, and the demurrer was sustained. I cannot vouch for the correctness of this sequel, however.

"Now, Mr. President and brothers, I owe you an apology for detaining you so long with this unsubstantial matter, this unwritten poetry of the profession. I am inclined to believe, however that the actual intellectual and moral tone of a given period, as well as the social status, has no truer index than its current anecdotes. Every new and formative community is marked with distinctive individualities. In the onward sweep of development and civilization, and in the largeness of population, individuality becomes fused in the general ma.s.s, and loses its salient characteristics."

From an address before the same a.s.sociation at its annual meeting in Ellensburg in 1902 I cull these extracts.

"Mr. Chairman:

"When I came to this city I was sent for by the President of this a.s.sociation and informed that Mr. Caton, on account of sickness in his family, could not be present on this occasion; and he asked the privilege of subst.i.tuting my name for that of Mr. Caton. At first I objected. But you who are acquainted with the persuasive eloquence of the President of this a.s.sociation can readily come to the conclusion that I finally consented. In the words of one of Lord Byron's heroes, 'Much I strove and much repented, And saying, I will ne'er consent--consented.'

"The particular point to which I desire to direct your attention is the pioneer lawyer. I think I know something about his characteristics. In the first place he was a good fighter.

His surroundings gave him inspiration in that direction. His environments were of the militant order. He was not only a good fighter, but he was a loyal fighter, and I must say from experience that he was a persistent fighter, for, after the judicial umpire had counted him out, and called the next bout, he wanted to fight on still. In the next place, he was a good reasoner, and I want to emphasize this point. He was so of necessity. He had no Reports. He had to rely on his remembrance of general principles; and he learned to reason from those general principles to his conclusions; and his success at the Bar depended upon the clearness of his statements and the cogency and force of his logic. The question with him was, what is the law? And he ascertained what the law was by reasoning from the general principles which he remembered, to the conclusion which he desired. If an attorney now-a-days is asked what is the law, I am afraid that it is too often the case, to use the eloquent language of the Supreme Court of this State, he seeks to find a case 'On all-fours.' He doesn't make any inquiry. He doesn't exercise his reasoning powers at all; he goes into the library and hunts after a case 'on all-fours'

with the facts of the case he has presented to him. The learned and honored Judge C. H. Hanford, who has just so excellently addressed you, has stated that the law is not an exact science.

I do not know but what I differ from the speaker in this regard. Every profession has connected with it two things: a science, and an art. The science consists of the principles upon which that art rests. Now I, as a lawyer, am prepared to maintain that the science of the law is just as accurate, just as complete, and just as reliable as any other science. As has been said, law in its practical operations is the application of principles to a certain condition of facts. There comes in the art. Where different judges differ, it isn't in the science of the law, it is in the art connected with that science.

"Now I am wandering a little. However, I was trying to show that pioneer lawyers were forced to do their own reasoning, to rely upon their own intellectual powers. Such, I understand, was the school in which Lincoln graduated; and such, I am happy to say, was the school in which the Honorable United States District Judge of this State (Judge Hanford) graduated.

(Applause.) And he has shown today, in the fine address which he has read, that he had good training in that school, and that he early learned to do his own thinking and to arrive at sound conclusions. I know all about him. I knew him before he was a lawyer. I knew him while he was studying his profession.

I knew also that there were very few books that he could command at that time. I think it is a good thing. I would say that a lawyer, a young man, should never be permitted to see a Report until he has practiced at the Bar for at least six or seven years. Then he would learn to do his own thinking and reason from the principles laid down in the fundamental works upon the science of the law. I have spent too much time upon that point, however.

"The pioneer lawyer as I knew him had a strong sense of humor about him. He had a strong sense of the ludicrous about him.

Circ.u.mstances contributed a great deal to the development of that sense in him. In early days there was no such thing as conventional usages. Every fellow had his own fas.h.i.+on and followed his own will. I remember a little incident connected with what I have just stated. When James McNaught, whom you all know, and who subsequently became attorney for one of the largest railroad corporations in the country, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, first came to this Territory, he was inclined to be a little 'dudish' in his dress. The first place he landed was at Port Townsend. He had a stove-pipe hat on his head--he was near sighted, and with his spectacles across his nose--went out to view the town, and, as is customary with people whose sight is thus affected, he always looked upward; and he was looking upward in Port Townsend as though he expected to gather a glimpse of the golden wings of a flock of angels hanging over that spiritual town. Well, everybody noticed it. He was the observed of all observers. The next time the paper at Port Townsend came out it was with the heading, 'Ecce h.o.m.o,' 'behold the Man,' and it gave a ludicrous description of that young attorney and his resplendent ability, notwithstanding his dude hat. Everybody read it. It was a fine introduction.

"When he came to Seattle the boys ran out to him taking him to be the advance-agent of some show, and said to him, 'Mr. when is your show going to be along?' 'What is it?' 'Has it got animals in it or not?' After that Mr. McNaught relapsed back into the barbarous habits that existed on the Sound at the time. There was more freedom between the Court and the Bar at that time than there is at the present time, more sociability.

Now the Court comes in at a certain time from his back-room connected with the Court House, where he has disappeared and shut himself up until the bailiff announces his coming, whereupon--I am speaking now of Seattle--everybody arises and gently bows, and the Judge takes his seat and is prepared with his judicial thunder."

For twenty years I have served as President of the King County Bar a.s.sociation. From January, 1897, to January, 1901, I served as Judge of the Superior Court of the State for King County. Although an octogenarian, I am still in the harness as an Attorney and Counsellor at Law.

I have now completed a general survey of my not uneventful life. I have written and collated it in my eighty-first year.

In conclusion a brief retrospect limited to our Country and Nation, may be allowable. Looking backward from a standpoint of review covering eighty years and more, and comparing the condition of the world with what it was on the second day of May, 1827--the day of my birth--with what it is now--I am greatly impressed with the fact that in intellectual and moral growth, in the advance of civilization, in material progress and human amelioration, as well as in increase of population and in the volume of business and in glorified inventive triumphs--as well as in religious beliefs, as shown in the subst.i.tution of _love_ for _fear_ as the true basis of obedience to G.o.d and His laws--the world has moved and is still moving forward to a higher and n.o.bler plane of civilization.

Steam, whose latent energies were then but little known, under the exploitations of science and inventive genius, became, and continues to be the chief motive power of the world. Electricity alone now disputes its dominion. While the light of ages comes streaming down the pathway of history, it illumes the present and enlarges the scope of human knowledge, yet it gives no prophetic insight, hence, which will be the final victor is unseen. The potential energy and force which practically annihilates time and s.p.a.ce by its fiery messages sent through the air or ocean westward, in advance of mechanical time and becomes the common and instant transmitter of intelligence--is fast developing into a motive force the full extent of whose tremendous power is as yet unknown.

It may equal, if not excel steam power and thus become the motive force of the world.

During the time covered by this brief retrospect, Mexico has felt the conquering power of the soldiers of the model Republic, its roll call has been heard in the Halls of the Montezumas--the northern boundary of Mexico has been deliminated, with territorial concessions to our Government--Texas released from the dominion of Mexico and made an integral part of the Union by annexation and subsequent admission as a state. The War of the Rebellion which threatened the territorial integrity and rightful authority of the Union after a heroic conflict--has been suppressed--peace and harmony have been restored and slavery, the irritating cause removed, by emanc.i.p.ation--and the Union today stands on a firmer, broader, and more enduring basis than ever before.

Peace has her victories no less renowned than war's. The silent influence of our inst.i.tutions has secured the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands--the gem of the Pacific and the outward bulwark of the Pacific States.

The war with Spain, occasioned by her treachery, and inspired by the desire to release the Cuban people from the rapacity and cruelty of her Spanish tyrant--resulted in the heroic and somewhat romantic naval battle of Manila Bay--the capture of the Philippine Archipeligo--and the expulsion of Spain from that group of Islands.

Eighty years ago the settlements with a few exceptions scarcely impinged on the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Mississippi River. Since that time they have crossed that mighty flow of waters--spread out over the fertile plain to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, and in after years they have extended over the mountains and here, in the sunny clime and fruitful valleys and balmy and healthful breezes of the Pacific Coast, the hardy pioneer has found a final home.

What a territorial basis for development--progress--empire! Already several millions of hardy, enterprising and patriotic freemen are scattered over this vast domain, and westward millions more are taking and will take their way in addition to the millions to the manor born.

With the constantly increasing and controlling power of the forces generated in the past, and, now successfully at work in the world and which will no doubt increase in number and in the grandeur of their results during the next eighty years--who can measure the coming power or comprehend the glory of the model Republic?

Pioneers, Was.h.i.+ngton, with all her grand resources--developed and yet to be developed--won by your privations, courage and patriotism, is your gift to the Union, to be consecrated to liberty, regulated by law, forever.