CHARLES CLINTON NOURSE

Charles Clinton Nourse
Photogravure by Elson, Boston
From Photograph by Edinger

Autobiography of
Charles Clinton Nourse

Prepared for use of Members of the Family

CONTAINING THE INCIDENTS OF
MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS' PRACTICE AT THE BAR
IN THE STATE OF IOWA

PRIVATELY PRINTED
MCMXI

Copyright 1911
BY CHARLES CLINTON NOURSE

THE TORCH PRESS
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

Ancestry and Early Life

Des Moines, Iowa, May, 1908

To Master Joseph Chamberlain,

Dear Joe:

I promised your father that I would write you a long letter containing in detail something of a biography of myself. He assures me it is not intended for publication, but only for your perusal and for such friends of the family as may now or hereafter deem it interesting to know something of those of the family who have preceded them.

In Washington county, in the state of Maryland, near the little stream of Antietam creek, where was fought one of the memorable battles of our Civil War, there is located a quaint, old fashioned village called Sharpsburg. The inhabitants of the village and neighborhood were in a large part Germans or of German descent.

On one corner of the public square there still remains, in fairly good repair, an old fashioned stone dwelling house. In this house on the first day of April, A.D. 1829, I was born, as were also my two older brothers, Joseph Gabriel and John Daniel, born respectively June 25, 1826, and November 30, 1827. This stone house at one time belonged to my grandfather, Gabriel Nourse, who was the son of James Nourse. The ancestors of the latter are given in a book now in the possession of your mother, entitled James Nourse and his Descendants.

In the basement or first story of this stone building my father taught school about the time of the birth of his three boys, given above. At that early day the people of the village and surrounding country were not supposed to be very highly educated. If children were taught to read and write indifferently and something of arithmetic, at least as far as the single rule of three, their education was supposed to be sufficient for the practical purposes of life. My father has related to me that when he first commenced teaching in the village, in the presence of such a company as usually assembles around a country store, a wise man of the village explained to his admiring hearers that the cause of the changes of the moon resulted from the fact that the earth came between the sun and the moon and hence obstructed the light in such a way as to produce the new moon and the various changes until the full moon. My father rashly attempted to suggest that the wise man was mistaken, for the obvious reason that the moon in its first quarter could be seen in the heavens at the same time as the sun could be observed, and it was impossible that the moon could be partially darkened by the shadow of the earth. The wise man was rather mortified by this exposure of his ignorance, but did not acknowledge his error, but angrily reproved a young man for presuming to differ with him.

In this stone building also my grandfather, Gabriel, died in April, 1839, and was buried in the village churchyard. This stone house is still standing at the date of this writing, and the basement room where my father taught school is occupied as a store-room for vending relics and curiosities gathered from the battle-fields of the neighborhood.

Three miles from the village of Sharpsburg, on the Virginia side of the Potomac river, there is another quaint, old fashioned village called Shepherdstown. Here my mother, Susan Cameron, was born October 25, 1803, and was married to my father, Charles Nourse, June 10, 1825. Here in this village my mother died October 10, 1835. There is still standing in this town the old Methodist church, surrounded by a village churchyard, where will be found modest tombstones marking the graves of my mother, and of many of her brothers and sisters, and also her mother, Susan Cameron, who died at Shepherdstown, Virginia, July 20, 1855. My mother's father's name was Daniel Cameron, born in Scotland, October, 1753. His wife was also of Scotch descent. Her family name was Clinton, which name was bestowed upon me, and in honor of my grandmother and to please her I have always been known in the family by the name of Clinton, my first name being Charles, so named after my father. My father, Charles Nourse, was born at Frankfort, Kentucky, April 15, 1801.

Several years before my mother's death my father had removed from Sharpsburg to Frederick City, Maryland, where he taught school for several years, and while living there, to-wit, August 9, 1833, your mother's mother was born.

My recollections of my mother are not very distinct, as I was only six years old at the time of her death. Only one incident of my early childhood I call to mind very clearly. I had been induced by my older brothers and some neighbor boys, whilst playing in the market square at Frederick City, to attempt to imitate them in the use of chewing tobacco, which resulted in making me very sick. Whilst lying upon the trundle bed in the room upstairs of the house where we resided, I vomited very freely, and as I lay back upon my pillow, pale and weak from the effort, I remember a kind face of one stooping over me and sympathizing deeply, not knowing the cause of my illness, and I remember how guilty I felt at being the object of so much undeserved sympathy.

The last two years of our residence in Maryland we lived at a little village at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains called Burkettsville, and during part of these two years my grandmother Cameron kept house for us and had charge of her four grandchildren. I remember her very distinctly, the most affectionate and patient woman it was ever my fortune to know.

In February, 1841, my father, with his four children then living, took the old fashioned stage-coach at Boonesboro, Maryland, crossing the Allegheny mountains, coming on to Wheeling, crossing the Ohio river, and thence via Zanesville and Somerset, Ohio, to the little village of East Rushville in Fairfield county, Ohio. After teaching school in East Rushville during the summer of that year, my father with myself and sister Susan removed to Lancaster, the county seat of Fairfield county, Ohio, leaving my two older brothers as heavy clerks in country stores—my brother Joseph with a man named Clayton and my brother John with a man named Paden, in two separate villages in the county of Fairfield. My father taught school in Lancaster, Ohio, for four years, I think most of the time for a compensation of $300 a year. As this sum was hardly sufficient to support him and his two children at a respectable boarding house, it became necessary for me to relieve the situation and to start out in the world for myself. My first attempt was in a country store at East Rushville with a man by the name of Coulson. After four months heavy clerking with this man, he failed in business and sold out his stock of remnants, and I returned to Lancaster to my father. After a few months I again attempted to do business in support of myself, and I hired out to another village store-keeper, without any fixed compensation further than that I was to have my board and clothes for my services. My duties consisted of weighing out groceries, taking in eggs, butter, and feathers, and packing and preparing for shipment the butter and eggs, for which there was not sufficient local market. I also sold goods through business hours, made fires both in the store and for the family, sawed wood, milked the cow, and in the fall and winter fed, curried, and cared for a half dozen horses that were shipped in the spring for the eastern market. At the end of sixteen months of this kind of service my employer advised me and also my father that I would never make a merchant. I had positively refused to conform to his instructions in doing business in the manner in which he thought was most for his interest. He was engaged also at that time in buying leaf tobacco that was raised in the Hocking hills, for which he paid about one-third cash, one-third on short time, and one-third in goods out of the store. He had three prices or more for nearly everything he had to sell, depending, of course, on the character of his customer and the kind of pay he was to receive. For instance: his cash customers, of whom there were very few, received four pounds of coffee for a dollar. His long credit customers, of whom there were many, received three pounds of coffee for a dollar, whilst his trade customers, especially those who took goods out of the store for tobacco, received two and a half pounds of coffee for a dollar. It was not easy for a young boy, or as young a boy as I was at that time, always to understand the exact standing of the customers, and it was necessary to watch carefully the old man who was proprietor of the store, who indicated by signs upon his fingers, which I too frequently misunderstood, just exactly how much coffee for a dollar a customer was entitled to. One remarkable incident of the manner in which my employer did business I remember very distinctly. During the day our little store was crowded with customers who had sold tobacco to our employer and had to take their pay in part out of the store. A young man by the name of Johnnie, who was a year or two older than myself and a favorite with the proprietor of the store, had during the day sold to a German woman a large red and yellow cotton handkerchief for the sum of thirty-seven and a half cents that was marked twelve and a half cents and had cost us eight and a third cents. The next day she returned with one of her neighbors who also had to take her pay out of the store for tobacco, and she wanted another of those red and yellow cotton handkerchiefs, which Johnnie sold her of course at the same price. In the evening Johnnie and myself had to go over to the old gentleman's residence before we retired for the night and attend family prayers. During the evening the old gentleman recited Johnnie's exploits in selling those cotton handkerchiefs for three times the marked price, and then chuckled gleefully, praising Johnnie for his success and how he would make a merchant, but that I would never learn; and then turning to his eldest daughter he said: "Hand me the bible, dear, we will have prayers."

Whilst living with this old gentleman I became thoroughly disgusted with mercantile life, as I then saw it and witnessed it, and cast about in my own mind seriously to know what I should do for the future. I realized that I neglected my opportunities whilst attending school under my father's instructions, and I resolved, as far as I could under the circumstances, to supply the omission. I got out my old Kirkham's grammar and my arithmetic and algebra, and spent many of my nights after the store closed in study. At the end of sixteen months of this life I returned again to my father, who was still at Lancaster. During the last year that I lived at Lancaster I assisted my father in his school, teaching the younger children, and still to a limited extent pursuing my own studies.

In the fall of 1844 my father determined to remove to Kentucky, leaving my sister Susan, your mother's mother, with Mrs. Catherine Sumner, a most excellent Presbyterian lady with whom my father had boarded for several years during his stay in Lancaster. My father first stopped at Millersburg, Bourbon county, and took up school, but only remained there a few months, having in the meantime heard of a vacancy in the position of principal of the public school in Lexington. Having secured this position at a salary then of only $600 a year, we removed to Lexington in the early part of 1845.

I became one of the assistant teachers in this school at a salary of twenty dollars a month for the first year, but subsequently was promoted to the position of first assistant at a salary of thirty dollars per month, and continued to occupy that position until the fall of 1849, when I secured, by courtesy of the city council of the city of Lexington, the favor of entering the law school of Transylvania University, the city having a number of scholarships in that institution at its gratuitous disposal. During the four years that I taught school as an assistant in the city school, I still pursued my own private studies at night, reciting to my father in the morning before school hours, until about the year 1848, when I had saved money enough from my meager salary to procure some text books of the law, and commenced reading law. In the meantime I had formed the acquaintance of a young lawyer, Abraham S. Drake, who became a very devoted friend of mine and superintended my reading, giving me such instructions as were necessary. My situation as a teacher in the public school in Lexington was very trying upon my health. I had an average of about fifty small children in a small room not more than twenty feet square, about six hours a day except Saturday, and had to occupy myself with my private studies when I ought to have had the privilege of and needed exercise in the open air. I had some satisfaction, however, in the success of my scholars, making it a specialty to teach them the art of reading well and reading aloud, an art which in the subsequent years I have found our public schools are sadly neglecting. I hope, dear Joe, you will succeed while you are going to school in learning to read, that being a neglected and almost a lost art in this day and generation.

In August, 1846, my father returned to Lancaster, Ohio, and married Miss Hetty Herron, an adopted child of Mrs. Catherine Sumner's with whom my sister Susan had been living. Returning to Lexington, he continued teaching until 1850, when he removed to Millersburg, Kentucky.

In the fall of 1849 I entered the senior class of the law department of Transylvania University, and in March, 1850, graduated and received my diploma from that school. My preceptors were two very able judges of the supreme court of Kentucky, to-wit, Judge Robinson and Judge Marshall. I had first taken up the idea of becoming a lawyer during my residence in Lancaster, Ohio, where I frequently spent my Saturdays in attendance upon the courts, listening with great interest to the speeches and discussions of the eminent men who constituted the bar at that place, among them Henry Stansbury, afterwards Attorney General of the United States, Thomas Ewing, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury of the United States during General Harrison's administration, Hocking H. Hunter, afterwards one of the judges of the supreme court of Ohio. Whilst residing in Lexington, Kentucky, I pursued the same course, visiting the courts whenever opportunity offered, hearing such men as Henry Clay and Thomas F. Marshall, and other distinguished lawyers of Kentucky, arguing their cases.

In the meantime I had joined the Methodist Episcopal church on probation, and made the acquaintance of Miss Rebecca A. McMeekin.

In the spring of 1850, after my graduation in the law department of Transylvania University, I determined to visit Ohio. I had some idea of settling in that state, as my two brothers who remained in Ohio were then in business in Fairfield county, my oldest brother Joseph having commenced the mercantile business on his own account at New Salem, Ohio, and my brother John had commenced the practice of medicine in the village of New Baltimore in the same county. Before leaving Lexington, however, I felt it due to myself and to Miss McMeekin to explain to her my frequent visits to her house. I wrote her a letter telling her of my hopeless condition financially and of the uncertain prospects of my success in my profession, but protesting my affection for her and my good faith in the attentions that I had paid her, and asking her to decide our future for herself. She made no reply in writing, but in my next visit to her she simply expressed her faith in my ultimate success in my profession, and her entire willingness to risk the future, so that when I left Lexington for Ohio, which I did in April, 1850, I was simply engaged to be married.

When I arrived at Lancaster I entered the office of John D. Martin, an eminent lawyer of that place, in pursuance of a previous correspondence with him. He had been a particular friend of my father and an assistant to him in his school during my father's residence in Lancaster in 1842-3. He already had his nephew, Charles Martin, as an assistant in his office and could not offer me any compensation or any work. After two months I found it necessary to do something to replenish my exhausted finances. I first took a select school in Millersport a small town on the canal a few miles north of New Baltimore. After teaching here for three months I took the winter school in New Baltimore at a salary of $30 a month. In the meantime, through the acquaintances of my brother Joseph, located at New Salem, and my brother John, located at New Baltimore, I became known throughout that part of the country as an embryo lawyer. Although not admitted regularly to the practice of law, in the courts of record, I had the right to practice before the justices of the peace of the county, and during that summer I tried some seventeen cases before these inferior courts. I still continued my studies of the law, using very frequently a book known there as Swan's Treatise, compiled for the benefit of the justices of the peace of the state by Judge Swan, of Ohio. This book also contained many references to the supreme court decisions of the state, and I was accustomed after school hours to walk to Lancaster and borrow these reports from my friend, Mr. Martin, frequently taking them home and using them upon the trial of my cases, which always occurred on Saturdays when I had no school.

During my stay in Ohio, I read carefully and with much profit to myself, the daily reports of the proceedings of the state convention that was then forming a new constitution for that state.

Many eminent lawyers were members of the convention, among them Mr. Stansbury, afterwards Attorney General of the United States, and Mr. Raney, afterwards Judge of the supreme court of the state of Ohio. Occasionally the learned men of the convention indulged their sense of humor, and among other incidents of the debates I recall the following:

Among other members of the convention there was an uneducated man by the name of Sawyer. Mr. Stansbury, of the committee on the judiciary, reported a provision relating to the powers of certain courts, authorizing them to issue writ of habeas corpus, procedendo, quo warranto, and mandamus.

Mr. Sawyer objected to these Latin terms being in the constitution on the ground that many of his constituents could not understand the meaning of such terms and he wanted the committee to put the words into English language, and also asked for an explanation of the meaning of these words.

Mr. Stansbury very courteously explained that the difficulty was not in the use of the terms proposed, but it was because his friend did not understand the nature of these writs. For the benefit of Mr. Sawyer he explained their meaning, but suggested that the use of any English terms or words would not make the character of the writs any better understood to those who are not familiar with the law. He said that the literal meaning of the words "habeas corpus" was to have the body, and the writ was issued in case any one complained of being illegally imprisoned, or restrained of their personal liberty, and was intended for the purpose of having the body of the person in whose behalf the writ was issued brought before the court, in order that the cause of his restraint or imprisonment might be inquired into and its legality or illegality be determined; that to call the writ, a writ to have the body, would not make the term any more intelligent than to use the words "habeas corpus."

That the word "procedendo" simply meant to proceed or go ahead, and was a name of a writ that was issued by the appellate court to an inferior tribunal, authorizing them to proceed in accordance with the opinion of the appellate court. Out of respect to the character of a man who had become famous in the west, of an early day, he would suggest to his friend Sawyer that this writ might be called a writ of "David Crocket," as it was a favorite motto of that individual to "Be sure you are right and then go ahead."

That the literal meaning of the words "quo warranto" was, "Why do you do it?" It was a writ issued by some superior court to an inferior court or tribunal, corporation or officer, to ascertain by what authority they exercised certain powers; that the only term in English that would express the particular character of the writ would be the words, "Why do you do it?"

The writ of "mandamus" was a writ issued by the court commanding some inferior tribunal or officer to do and perform certain duties which were required by law and which he had refused to perform. That the only words in the English language that would properly define the character of this writ would be, "Do it, damn you."

It is not necessary to add that Mr. Sawyer gave the convention no further trouble in regard to the Latin names of these writs.

CHAPTER II

Early Experiences in Iowa

In the spring of 1850 I had determined to seek a location for the practice of law in some western state. I first thought of migrating to Oregon, but gave up that idea for the reason that I feared if I traveled that far from my intended I might never have the means to go back to Kentucky to claim her. So, finally, I fixed upon the idea of removing to Iowa. Before deciding this important question, however, I wrote to my intended wife explaining to her the situation and again calling her attention to the uncertainties of the future. As she was two years older than myself I felt that it was hardly justice to her to insist upon our engagement if she felt that my future was too uncertain. I received in answer to this letter a kind assurance that her faith would not fail, and she cited that beautiful passage of scripture containing the answer of Ruth to Naomi: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."

The spring of 1851 I returned to Kentucky for a short visit, my brother Joseph having loaned me fifty dollars in money and trusted me for a new suit of clothes. In the meantime my father had removed to Millersburg, Kentucky, and commenced teaching there, a branch of what I think was known as Johnson's Military Academy, the principal school being at Blue Licks, Kentucky, in charge of James G. Blaine, afterwards a republican candidate for President of the United States. The lady he afterwards married also assisted my father, and received visits from Mr. Blaine on Saturdays and Sundays. It was whilst residing here that my sister Susan became acquainted with your grandfather, William Vimont, whom she married in January, 1853.

Old Stone House on Public Square,
Sharpsburg, Md.
Birthplace of Charles Clinton Nourse

It was the latter part of May, 1851, when I started west "to grow up with the country." We had then no railroads reaching the Mississippi river from the east, and I took the steamer at Louisville, Kentucky, for St. Louis, Missouri. At St. Louis I took the steamer for Iowa, not yet determined as to my landing. The waters of the river were at flood tide, and on our passage up we saw frame houses floating past us. I landed in Burlington the last day of May, and stopped at the Barrett House. I was not acquainted with a single person in the state of Iowa, had no relative, kindred, or friend to whom I could apply for advice or assistance. After a hearty dinner I retired to my room, took a chair, put my feet up on my trunk, and held a consultation with myself. The question before the house was, what to do next. I had with me a general letter of recommendation from Professor Dodd, then president of Transylvania University, and a particular friend of my father, and another from Dr. T. O. Edwards of Lancaster, Ohio, an ex-member of congress from that state, and also my letter as a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and my diploma signed by the law faculty and trustees of Transylvania University. After proper consideration I inquired of the landlord of the hotel where I could find a Methodist preacher, as I was satisfied there must be such a person in the city. He directed me to the parsonage. I called upon the minister and made his acquaintance, the Reverend Mr. Dennis, who afterwards obtained some notoriety as a pastor in Kansas at the time of the Kansas troubles. He was a tall, white haired man of pleasant countenance and affable manners. I showed him my papers and told him my object in calling upon him was, through him, to make the acquaintance of some of the leading lawyers of the city from whom I could obtain information and determine what part of the state I would attempt to locate in. At that time the supreme court of the state of Iowa was in session in Burlington, consisting of Joseph Williams, Chief Justice, George Greene and John F. Kinney, justices. Mr. Dennis informed me that the judges were boarding at the same hotel, the Barrett House, and he made an appointment to go with me to their consultation room that afternoon and introduce me. We made the visit and I found the judges of the court very cordial, and at their request I produced my diploma from the law school, told them who I was and where I was from, and that I desired some information in regard to the best possible location for a young attorney. They requested me to call at their courtroom the next morning at the opening of the court, and they would have me admitted to the practice of law in their court and throughout the state. The next morning I went to the court, and at the request of Judge Kinney, Mr. Dickson, of Keokuk, who was then in attendance at the court, made a motion for my admission to the bar, and suggested the appointment of a committee to examine me as to my qualifications. The Chief Justice announced that an examination was unnecessary—the court had already examined the applicant and was entirely satisfied with his qualifications, and requested me to come forward and take the oath of office, which I did. I made the acquaintance of the clerk of the court, then "Old Timber," as we afterwards called him, his real name being James Woods. That evening Judge Kinney asked me to take a walk with him, and told me he had a brother-in-law, Augustus Hall, living at Keosauqua, Iowa, who was desirous of having a young lawyer associated with him in his office, and if I would go to Keosauqua he would give me a letter of introduction. I ascertained that the stage fare to Keosauqua would be six dollars. Upon taking an inventory of my pocket-book I found I only had about eight dollars left of the money my brother had loaned me. I had with me two trunks, one full of my law books, the other containing my clothing, etc. I interviewed the landlord and told him my situation financially, and proposed to him that I would leave my books in his custody as I was still uncertain where I should settle, and leave my bill unpaid, if agreeable to him, until such time as I could send for my books. He readily agreed to the arrangement, but proposed that I should take my books and he would risk my sending the amount of my bill, which, however, I declined to do. The next morning Judge Kinney called me to one side, kindly suggesting that it was not unusual for young men to visit Iowa for the purpose of locating who were short of funds, and he would be glad to loan me a small amount if I would accept it. This kindness I also declined. I had no doubt that he had been advised by the landlord of my situation, and he was kind enough to attempt to help me.

The next morning I took the stage-coach for Keosauqua, but owing to the condition of the roads, and particularly of Skunk river, I was taken to Keokuk where I had to stay all night. After paying my bill the next morning I found I had only twenty cents left. The next day the stage-coach took me to The Divide, as we called it, as far as Utica postoffice in Van Buren county, and there left me. The hack that should have taken me from there to Keosauqua had already gone before our arrival. I could not stay here all night because I had no money to pay any bill, so I left my one trunk in charge of the postoffice to be sent to Keosauqua the next day on the hack, and I started to walk, then about ten miles, to reach Keosauqua. I had not walked far before I found that I had sprained my ankle slightly in jumping from the coach that morning. The walking became very painful, but I managed to reach Keosauqua about sundown that evening. The first building that looked like a hotel or public house was a frame building that stood southeast of the court house. The high waters of the Des Moines river had flooded the lower part of the town, and I found this house was a boarding house, at that time full of guests. I inquired for the lady of the house and took my seat on a bench on the porch near the front door. Presently the lady of the house appeared, and looking at me very inquiringly wanted to know who I was, where I was from, what was my business, and where I was going. I was a sorry looking subject, having waded through the mud for ten miles, and I presume I looked as I felt—very tired. I gave her my real name, told her I had no business, that I did not know where I was going, and that I had come from Keokuk that day. She told me her house was full and she did not believe she could accommodate me with a night's lodging. I then asked her very politely for permission to remain upon the porch until I was sufficiently rested so I could go further down town and obtain lodging, but I asked her about the town, its population, and about the high waters. The lady turned out to be Mrs. Obed Stannard, the mother of Ed Stannard, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, and a very successful business man of St. Louis. She was a good talker, and after conversing with her about twenty minutes I got up to leave, thanking her very cordially for her kindness in permitting me to rest on the porch. She relented and told me she thought if I would stay that she could find accommodations for me. I told her no, that I could not put a lady to any inconvenience when it was unnecessary and I must go, so I left and went down to the front street in the town to the Keosauqua House, kept then by "Father Shepherd," as we always called him, with whom I boarded until after I was married in 1853.

Keosauqua, at that time, as indeed it has been ever since, was a small town of about 1,500 inhabitants, the county seat of Van Buren county, located on the Des Moines river. It possessed one of the best bars of the state, and among its inhabitants were men who afterwards became distinguished in the history of the state. The men more actively engaged in practice were George G. Wright, for many years afterwards a judge of the supreme court of the state, Joseph C. Knapp, judge of the district court of that district and afterwards United States District Attorney, and Augustus Hall, afterwards a member of congress from that district and appointed by Mr. Buchanan United States District Judge in Nebraska. The courts of this county were also visited by J. C. Hall, afterwards one of the judges of the supreme court. The pastor of the Methodist church at that time was Henry Clay Dean, who afterwards became chaplain of the United States Senate, and a notorious political orator. One of his converts was Delizon Smith, who had been an infidel lecturer and prominent politician in the state, and was afterwards elected for a short term to the United States Senate from the state of Oregon. The next year after I settled in Keosauqua, Henry Clay Caldwell, then a student in the law office of Judge Wright, was admitted to the bar, and after the Civil War was appointed United States District Judge and afterwards United States Circuit Judge, being located during his official career as judge at Little Rock, Arkansas, now retired by reason of age and continued service, and residing at Los Angeles, California.

The state of Iowa at that time in its politics was democratic, and the democratic party numbered a majority of about two hundred in Van Buren county. Delizon Smith, however, had failed to obtain a nomination by his party for the office of Governor, and had organized what was called "The Young Democracy of Van Buren County," numbering about two hundred voters. This left the party badly demoralized in the county, and in August, 1852, I had so far succeeded in making the acquaintance of the people of the county that I was elected on an independent ticket to the office of county attorney, which then paid a salary of about three hundred dollars a year.

After I had boarded with Father Shepherd for a few weeks I received from my brother Joseph a small remittance. I sent for my books that I had left at Burlington and took Father Shepherd, the landlord, into my confidence, told him my situation financially, and paid my bill up to that date. Father Shepherd at that time was himself a justice of the peace, and his hotel was the stopping place of most of the people who acted as guardians and administrators, and who attended once a month sessions of the county court that then had jurisdiction in probate matters. I told Father Shepherd of my desire to make the acquaintance of these officials as they visited his hotel from time to time, and that his pay for my board depended largely upon my success in business, and I asked him to be my friend, and at least let people know why I was there and what my proposed business was. He became my fast friend and helped me to make very many valuable acquaintances. Father Shepherd was the father-in-law of Delizon Smith, and a leader of the faction known as the "Young Democrats" of that county.

Early in the spring of 1853 I received a letter from my then intended wife, suggesting that my success in business she thought gave sufficient promise for the future, and that it was not necessary for us to wait longer. Accordingly I got together one hundred dollars in money, made a trip around the river to Louisville, Kentucky, and thence via rail to Lexington for the purpose of realizing something of the deferred hope. We were married on the 15th of April of that year, my father in the meantime having removed from Millersburg to Winchester, Kentucky. I made him a visit in company with my bride and had the pleasure of meeting there my sister Susan and her husband, William Vimont, your mother's father and mother. Before going to Kentucky and claiming my bride I purchased from the Reverend Daniel Lane a house and two lots in Keosauqua at the price of three hundred and fifty dollars, and borrowed fifty dollars from Thomas Devon to make the first payment. I had also attended several auction sales and bought some chairs and tables, a cook stove and a few dishes. My wife's mother had packed a feather bed, some pillows and bed clothes, and quilts of the old style in a store box, and we returned to Iowa the latter part of April, 1853. The expense of my trip and marriage left me only two dollars of the one hundred dollars I had when I started for my bride. We arrived in Keosauqua on Sunday in a slight April shower. On Monday we proceeded to the house I had purchased, which was in need of repair. We whitewashed the walls and my wife washed the windows. The next day we made a bill of about forty dollars at the store for additional house-keeping facilities. I bought a sack of flour and a ham of meat, and on Tuesday evening we took tea at home. It was the first home I had had (in the proper sense of the term) since we left Maryland, and when we sat down at our own table to drink our cup of tea and eat the new made biscuit baked by my own wife, I could not repress the tears that came to my eyes, and I thanked God for the mercy that he had bestowed upon us.

In the fall of 1853 I made a trip west through the southern tier of counties, attending the courts at Davis, Appanoose, Wayne, and Decatur counties. I made the trip on horseback with a pair of saddle-bags that contained my necessary baggage.

From Bloomfield I was accompanied by several attorneys of that bar, and at Centerville two or three additional lawyers joined our party. The counties west of Centerville were very sparsely settled and the road consisted merely of two paths worn by the horses and wagon wheels on the prairie grass. In Wayne county we applied at one settler's house for accommodations for the night, but the housewife informed us that her husband was away from home, had gone to mill, and that she had nothing in the house to eat save a little bacon. She said if we would remain she would entertain us with such accommodations as the place afforded. The corn was hardly yet ripe enough to feed our horses, but she told us if we would select the ripest and use some salt in feeding we were welcome to do so. We also, at her request, plucked some of the softer ears of the corn, and these she grated upon a large tin grater, and frying some of the bacon in her skillet she made cakes of the grated corn and fried them in the fat. She also gave us a cup of good coffee, and with the appetites we had acquired in our day's travel we made a very hearty and palatable meal.

When bedtime came she made some kind of a bed upon the floor. The next morning we had a breakfast of the same corn and bacon and coffee. The lady made a very reasonable charge for our entertainment, and she had no reason to doubt the sincerity of our compliments upon our fare, as the avidity with which we had eaten what she had supplied gave full evidence that we had appreciated our entertainment. The next morning we rode into Corydon, the county seat of Wayne county. The only hotel in the place was a small one and one-half story frame house, with a shed addition for kitchen and dining hall.

Our bed room was the upstairs, and our beds were in two rows, with our heads under the eaves and our feet touching each other in the center of the room. We had no separate apartment or separate beds, our wearing apparel furnishing the pillows.

The court was held in a frame school house on the public square. The boundaries of the public square were ascertained by a lot of wooden stakes or pegs. There was no general store in the place for the sale of goods. An enterprising peddler with two large peddling wagons came through with us from Centerville and erected a large tent in the center of the square for the display and sale of his goods, and whenever the court was not in actual session his store was opened for business.

Judge Townsend, of Monroe county, was the judge of the court.

From Wayne county we went to Decatur, the peddler also keeping us company with his itinerant dry goods establishment. During this trip I made the acquaintance of very many young men who afterwards became distinguished as lawyers, legislators, and judges. The only lawsuit in which I was consulted was a slander case tried in Wayne county. The suit was brought in behalf of a young woman for damages because of words spoken against her reputation by the defendant. Amos Harris, a lawyer from Centerville, was engaged as attorney for the defendant. When the case was about to be called for trial Harris expressed his wish to have my advice in regard to the course to be pursued, and at his request I retired with him to the shady side of the school house for consultation. He told me that his client was a man of some property and that the plaintiff had some witnesses who would testify clearly and positively to the slanderous words spoken by the defendant of and concerning the young lady. He said his client really had not injured the reputation of the young woman at all because nobody believed any thing that he said as he had a very bad reputation for veracity. He said they could make no defense whatever, as the girl's character was good, and he was afraid of a large verdict for damages against his client, and asked me if I could think of any way that he could help his client out of the difficulty. I asked him if he could prove that nobody believed what his client said on account of his bad character. He said yes, there were plenty of persons that would testify to that, but he could not see how that was any defense. I told him it was no defense against the slander, but it might be proved with advantage in mitigation of damages, provided his client would be willing that he should undertake to do so. He called his client out and explained to him the situation as I had advised, and asked him if he was willing to save his money at the expense of his reputation. The fellow winced, but finally consented that Harris might make the proof. I suggested that as the plaintiff's witnesses were all friendly to the young lady Harris might on cross-examination prove by them that they did not at the time or ever believe the slander that the defendant had uttered against the plaintiff, and that they had never repeated it to anyone except accompanied by their statement of their belief that it was all false, and Harris introduced several other witnesses to prove the bad reputation of his client for truth and veracity. The plaintiff's attorneys objected and the court first hesitated to allow the witnesses to so testify, but upon the suggestion that it was the best thing for the plaintiff's reputation, and that as nearly the whole population of the county was there upon attendance of the court, it was better to clear up her reputation by this testimony than to give her money to heal her wounded feelings, the court finally took this view of the case and permitted the evidence to go to the jury in mitigation of damages. The jury found a verdict in favor of the plaintiff against the defendant for the sum of only twenty dollars. The young woman went home with her character thoroughly vindicated and her reputation restored, and the only one unhappy over the result of the trial appeared to be the attorney for the plaintiff, who was undoubtedly expecting a handsome recovery as the only means of compensating him for his professional work.

From Decatur county I returned home, having learned much of the country and its people, and having made many interesting acquaintances among the members of the bar.

And now I must tell you something of my political career, which properly begins at about this date. I had been made chairman of the county committee of the fast dissolving organization known as the whig party. In the fall of 1854 I was a candidate for re-election as county attorney. We had nominated a county ticket of two candidates for the state senate and four representatives, what we then called the anti-Nebraska whigs. James W. Grimes was the candidate for Governor of the state. The democratic party had passed what was called the "Kansas-Nebraska Bill," containing a clause repealing the Missouri Compromise measure, adopted in 1820, that prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude in the territories of the United States, acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. This had resulted in the partial disorganization of the democratic party throughout many of the northern states. I had left Kentucky because of my opposition to slavery, and especially to what I regarded as the baleful influence of that institution upon the white population. I had settled in Iowa because it was a free state and because I felt that the opportunities for success in life would be greater than in a slave state. I had observed whilst in Kentucky that fixed conditions of political, social, and business life made the success of the young man, depending only on his own energies and abilities, always doubtful and difficult.

Upon my defeat as prosecuting attorney in 1854, at the suggestion of the members elected to the legislature from Van Buren county I went to Iowa City in their company at the beginning of the session, and through their influence I was elected clerk of the house of representatives of the state of Iowa. I found this position of great advantage and help, not only pecuniarily, but I made the acquaintance of public men of all parties during the session. Afterwards in 1856-7 I was elected secretary of the senate of the state.

In 1854, at the dissolution of the old whig party there existed a political organization in many of the states of the Union called "The Know-Nothings." It was a secret political organization, having for its principal doctrines opposition to the Roman Catholics and to the foreign-born citizens of the United States. I refused to affiliate with this "Know-Nothing" organization for the reason that I did not believe in secret political societies or organizations in this country, and I did not believe in making the religious faith or affiliations of any man a test for office, neither did I believe that anyone should be excluded from the confidence and respect of his fellow men because of the place of his birth. As county chairman of the expiring whig party I issued to the people of Van Buren county a circular stating my position and declining to call any convention to coÖperate with the "Know-Nothing" organization. I did this for the further reason that the opposition to the extension of slavery into the territories was becoming every day more and more pronounced in the northern states of the Union, and the nucleus of what was afterwards the republican party had already been formed in many of the northern states.

It may be interesting to you to have the history of how Henry Clay Dean became a democrat, and how a little thing may change the destiny and fortune of a man in this life. In the fall of 1854 the Methodist annual conference for Iowa met at the city of Dubuque. It was the custom at that early day for the members of the conference to become guests of the citizens of the locality where the conference had its meetings. Dean was then a member of the conference, and had been receiving and filling regular appointments as a pastor. At Dubuque resided Honorable George W. Jones, then a democratic United States Senator from Iowa. Jones maintained a good table and was a good liver, and his wife an excellent, hospitable lady. In assigning the members of the conference to the different citizens, Dean was assigned as the guest of Senator Jones and his wife. After the conference had been in session a few days, the "Know-Nothings" having been secretly organized in the city of Dubuque became very active in obtaining the names of the Methodist ministers attending the conference, and in initiating them into their order. Among other names presented and favorably acted upon was that of Henry Clay Dean, my former pastor and friend. After he had been elected and the time appointed for his initiation a few nights hence, one of the over zealous ministers represented to Brother Dean that as he had now been elected a member of the "Know-Nothing" organization it was not proper for him to continue to be the guest of and accept of the hospitality of the wife of George W. Jones, who was a Roman Catholic. Dean was an enormous eater, and the suggestion that he should give up his nice boarding place greatly offended him, and he denounced the suggestion as bigotry and presumption inexcusable. He at once went to Senator Jones and told him of the proposition that had been made to him and the cause of it, and denounced the "Know-Nothing" organization in most uncompromising terms. The Senator was pleased with Brother Dean's zeal in the matter, and induced him on the succeeding Sabbath to preach a sermon on "Know-Nothingism" and to denounce it from the pulpit. Dean was a man of more than ordinary ability, with a wonderful command of language. Upon the adjournment of the conference Senator Jones wrote to Judge Knapp at Keosauqua stating the situation and suggesting that Dean be employed in the political canvass against the "Know-Nothings" that fall, and be encouraged in his opposition to that order. Dean returned to Keosauqua, and I had a long conference with him upon this matter. I knew that he had been engaged several years before that in collecting the most learned and effective arguments in favor of protective tariff as delivered in congress from time to time, especially from whig members from the state of Pennsylvania. I also knew that he had preached some of the bitterest sermons against human slavery that I had ever heard from the pulpit or from any source, and I urged upon him that he could not consistently coÖperate with the democratic party because of his views in regard to the tariff and because of his opposition to slavery. I pointed out to him that the organization of the republican party was then proceeding in most of the states and that his feelings, sentiments, and views would be better expressed by the position of that organization; that the "Know-Nothing" party was a mere temporary passion and would effervesce and disappear in a short time, and that his efforts in opposition to them would be wholly unnecessary and gratuitous. But he was too wroth and anxious for his revenge against those who suggested that he decline the hospitality and good dinners of Senator Jones. He accordingly entered the canvass, and that fall there being the election in Virginia in which Henry A. Wise was a democratic candidate for Governor and was opposed by the "Know-Nothings," Dean with letters of recommendation from Jones and Senator Dodge and other leading democrats of Iowa went to Virginia and entered the political canvass in favor of Wise and in opposition to the "Know-Nothings." Wise was elected, and Dean then went to Washington City. With the influence of Dodge and Jones and the Virginia delegation he was elected chaplain of the United States senate, and thereafter, and especially during the Civil War, he made himself notorious as a democratic orator.

Without observing the exact chronology of events, it would be well here to recite certain facts and incidents that had a material influence upon my mind, and determined my action in regard to the question of human slavery. While residing in Kentucky and boarding in the family of my friend, Abraham S. Drake, I had frequent conversations with him in regard to the subject. He was at that time decidedly opposed to the institution, regarding it as morally wrong and detrimental in its effect upon the white as well as the slave population of the state.

Slavery at that time existed in Kentucky in its most modified and humane condition, but the system itself and the law gave to the slave owner a power over the slave that was too frequently abused. One instance I recall that made a powerful impression upon my mind. On a beautiful Sabbath morning in the early part of the summer I was taken sick, while in attendance upon religious services at the Methodist Episcopal church, and was compelled to leave the church and go home, soon after the singing of the opening hymn. On the way to my boarding house I passed near what was known as the "Watch-house" or headquarters of the police, and was shocked to hear the cries of a negro woman who was maid to some wealthy mistress, who had become offended at her that morning, and had sent for the police and given orders that her servant be taken to the police quarters and given a certain number of lashes, administered in expiation of her offense.

The contrast between the quiet worshipers at the church and their seeming devotion, and the horrible cries that filled the air from the unfortunate negro slave woman was a comment upon the injustice and brutality of the institution, that made an impression upon my mind that has never been erased.

In 1853 when I went to Kentucky for the purpose of being married I was the guest of my friend Drake for several days. While sitting upon the veranda one evening one of his children was playing upon the lawn in front of the house, with a little negro tot two or three years of age. He called my attention to the colored child, stating that that was his "carriage driver" and that he was a child of one of the negro women that his wife had inherited a few years before, and he remarked that the child was worth then $600. I reminded him of our former conversation and discussion in regard to slavery and expressed my surprise that he would have any pleasure in calculating the money value of this child. He informed me that his views on the subject of slavery had undergone quite a change, and upon investigating the subject he was satisfied that the Bible fully justified the institution of slavery, and he thought it was right morally as well as legally to own and enjoy the possession of such property. I said but little in response to these arguments, but could not but reflect and be convinced that it was pecuniary investment that had its baleful influence upon the conscience of my friend and perverted his moral sense, and this was only to me an additional reason for hating the institution.

When returning from Kentucky with my bride we stayed over a day at Louisville, as my wife desired to visit some old friends and former neighbors who had resided near them in Lexington. We accordingly made a call upon her friends, and while sitting in the parlor conversing about old times a colored woman about the age of my wife came into the room, and greeting us begged to inquire of my wife in regard to her husband, it appearing from her story the family had moved from Lexington to Louisville about two years before, and that the woman had been separated from her husband, who still resided in Lexington and was the property of another party. In the meantime the slave woman had given birth to a child, and amid her tears told how she longed to see her husband and have him see her young babe. The interview was cut short when the slave woman was remanded to the kitchen, and the cheerful recall of pleasant reminiscences became rather sad. The family insisted upon my wife and myself remaining to dinner and pressed upon us with great earnestness their hospitality. My wife was disposed to accept of the invitation, but having only been married the week before, I was not prepared to accept of the hospitality of people who separated a husband and wife thus ruthlessly, and I retired with thanks, and we took our dinner at the hotel.

After I settled in Keosauqua, Iowa, I became a subscriber to and a constant reader of the New York Tribune, and in due time also read with much interest that wonderful book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, called Uncle Tom's Cabin.

During the winter of 1857, whilst I was secretary of the state senate, I enjoyed the pleasure of hearing Wendell Phillips deliver his lecture upon the "Lost Arts." At the close of his lecture Hon. J. B. Grinnell, then a member of the state senate from Poweshiek county, rose in the audience and requested Mr. Phillips to give us his views upon the subject of slavery, and especially called his attention to the fact that Mr. Phillips had been represented by the public press as favoring a dissolution of the American Union. Mr. Phillips courteously complied with the request, and proceeded to say that when the constitution of the United States was formed it contained within its provisions, as he believed, the germ of human liberty. That the declaration of American independence had declared that all men were entitled to the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He said that he was in favor of the development of this germ to its fullest extent; that the constitution of the United States might be compared to a box in which was planted an acorn; the acorn would grow in the very nature of things and become an oak, but whether or not the box in which the acorn was planted was sufficient to contain the development and growing germ, he could not say. He was not concerned in regard to the safety of the box, but he was anxious that the germ should develop and that the tree should grow. That whether or not the constitution of the United States could survive the development and growth of this germ of human liberty that had been planted therein, he could not say, and upon that question he did not feel any very great anxiety; all he had to say in regard to the matter was that he was in favor of the growth of the germ, and he believed that the acorn would grow and ought to grow.

Wendell Phillips was one of the most eloquent and graceful public speakers it was ever my privilege to listen to. I had expected from his reputation as a reformer and abolitionist to hear a man with loud voice and vehement gesticulation, but instead he proved to be mild, quiet, self-possessed, delivering his utterances in the clearest, mildest, and most persuasive tones, commanding the respect of his audience and almost fascinating them with his words.

During the same session I also had the pleasure of hearing at Davenport, Iowa, a lecture from Horace Greeley, the great editor of the New York Tribune. I was greatly disappointed in Mr. Greeley's lecture. As a writer I knew him to be the clearest and most incisive in his utterances. His manner on the platform and his speech were those of a drony, sing-song, intonating Episcopal minister, devoid of life and spirit.

The general assembly of 1854-5 elected George G. Wright, then of Van Buren county, Norman W. Isbell, and Wm. G. Woodard, judges of the supreme court of the state to fill the vacancies caused by the expirations of the terms of Judges Williams, Kinney and Greene. At this session also occurred the first election of James Harlan as United States Senator. Mr. Harlan was not permitted to take his seat under this election, for the reason that at the adjourned joint session at which he was elected the senate as an organized body with their president, Maturin L. Fisher, had not participated in the election, but had previously adjourned the session of the state senate. Mr. Harlan was again elected in the session of 1856-7, and his right was recognized by the senate.

In the summer of the year 1856 a republican convention was called for the state to be held at Iowa City, for the organization of that party, in sympathy with other state organizations of like name and principles. As the sole surviving official of the old whig party of Van Buren county, I called a county convention to meet at Keosauqua for the purpose of appointing delegates to the state convention to be held at Iowa City. I wrote a letter to my friend, H. C. Caldwell, asking him to write a letter to Judge Wright and urge upon him the propriety, as he could not be present at this county convention, of writing a letter endorsing and encouraging the movement. Judge Wright declined to write any such letter, and simply wrote to Mr. Caldwell that he hoped we were doing right in calling the county convention.

I was present at the county convention and started the movement with such enthusiasm as we were able to awaken. Delegates were duly appointed, but the attendance at Iowa City required of them an overland trip of some seventy-five miles.

I then owned what was called a "democrat wagon," having two seats, and a small gray mare and mustang pony. With this team and wagon, when the time came, I furnished the transportation for the delegation, and Van Buren county was represented in the state convention by Abner H. McCrary, our state senator from Van Buren county, Dr. William Craig, George C. Duffield, and myself. I had the honor also to be appointed one of the secretaries of this state convention. This was the first republican state convention held in the state, and was the beginning of the political organization that has ever since, with the exception of a period of four years, controlled the legislation and policy of the state of Iowa.

The first national republican convention met at Philadelphia in the fall of 1856 and nominated General John C. Fremont as its candidate for President. I took an active part in the campaign in Iowa that ensued. At the request of the central committee of the state I spent several weeks in canvassing Davis county. Many of the settlers in the southern tier of townships, both in Van Buren and Davis counties, instead of finding themselves in a slave state, in the state of Missouri, were really citizens of the free state of Iowa. It was much easier to ascertain the true southern boundary of our state than it was to remove the prejudices of the benighted citizens who had by mistake settled in Iowa, so when I went into Davis county in 1856 to make republican speeches opposed to the existence and extension of slavery in our free territory, I met with small encouragement. We were courteously called "black republicans," and frequently designated as "damn black republicans." At one point where I had an appointment to make a political speech I found an audience assembled that had armed themselves with rotten eggs, with the intention of driving me out of their locality. It so happened that the year before most of these men had been indicted for libel in accusing their school-master of burning down a school house in the township, notifying him publicly to leave the county or suffer mob violence. A civil suit was also instituted against them for damages. I had been employed by them and succeeded in getting them off with the reasonable sum of eight hundred dollars, for which they were truly grateful, and when they found that I was to be the "black republican" orator advertised for the occasion, they generously assured me that if it had been anybody else they would not have permitted him to speak, but as I had stood by them in their trouble I might go on and say just what I pleased. They were a warm-hearted, hot-headed, impulsive set of men. Just how many converts I made during the two weeks that I was engaged in speaking in Davis county I cannot say. We had no republican organization in the county, and the leading men who took any active part in politics in opposition to the democratic party were running Bell and Everett as their candidates. Davis county, at the ensuing election, gave Fremont electors only two hundred and fifty votes, and the vote in the state of Iowa stood as follows: Fremont, 43,954; Buchanan, 36,170; Fillmore, 9,180.

CHAPTER III

Removed to Des Moines

The practice of law in Van Buren county did not prove very remunerative. The district court met only twice a year. The business of the term sometimes occupied only two or three days, seldom beyond one week, and never beyond two weeks.

During the time I had continued to reside in Van Buren county one of the most important cases in which I was retained was a contest over the legality of a will in which the deceased had made a bequest of a small tract of land to the Methodist Episcopal church, organized out on what was called "Utica Prairie." The will provided that the land should be sold by the trustees of the church and a fund created out of which should be paid so much a year to the missionary cause and so much to the support of the minister. The remainder should be expended by the trustees in erecting a house of worship. The trustees of the church had not been incorporated, and the heirs sought to set aside the will on the ground that there was no legal capacity in the trustees to receive the bequest, and on the further ground of the uncertainty of the beneficiaries under the will. I was retained in the case in behalf of the trustees, and had them immediately adopt articles of incorporation and file the same as provided by the statutes of the state. I filed an answer in the case, setting forth with particularity the character of the Methodist Episcopal church's organization, with proper averments as to the certainty of the continued existence of the beneficiaries under the will. The case was tried upon demurrer to this answer, and upon appeal to the supreme court of Iowa the will was sustained. The opinion of the court is fully reported in the case of Johnson et al. vs. Mayne et al., Trustees, 4th Iowa, 180.

Charles Clinton Nourse
From an air brush copy of an old photograph
loaned by D. W. Nourse, Kenton, Ohio.

I charged and received from the trustees the sum of $200 for my services in the case, being the largest amount that I received in my practice from any one case during the seven years I remained in Keosauqua.

The railroad up the Des Moines valley from Keokuk had been located some three or four miles north of the town of Keosauqua, and I saw no immediate prospect of any improvement or growth in the town. Added to these discouragements, my wife and myself in the fall of 1857 were both taken down with the fever and the ague. On advice of our physician we made a visit to Kentucky and also to Ohio to visit our relatives, hoping by some means to escape or shake off the dreaded disease, but the more we shook the stronger the ague kept its hold. I had during that year (1857) been employed by Edwin Manning, the commissioner of the Des Moines River Improvement, to represent the interest of the state in certain suits commenced against him by the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company, for the purpose of compelling him to certify to the company certain lands belonging to the state under the grant of congress, made for the purpose of aiding in the improvement of the navigation of the Des Moines river, the company claiming that they were entitled to certain of these lands at the rate of $1.25 per acre for moneys expended in the building of locks and dams upon the river, which expenditure had been certified by the state engineer. The general assembly of the state of Iowa was to meet for the first time in the city of Des Moines on the first day of January, 1858, and I went to Des Moines in company with Mr. Manning at that time for the two-fold purpose of calling the roll of senators upon the organization of the senate, that being my duty as the secretary of the past session, and also to look after the interest of the state in the settlement that was then to be made between the state and the Des Moines Navigation Company, the supreme court having decided the suit, to which I have referred, in our favor. I found Des Moines to be a thriving young city of something less than five thousand inhabitants, but with great expectation for the future as the permanent capital of the state of Iowa. I was introduced after a few days' stay in the city to Judge W. W. Williamson, an old time lawyer with a good collecting business, who offered me a full partnership in his business, and I finally determined, after transacting the business I had in Des Moines, to return to Keosauqua and dispose of my affairs there and remove to this city, which I finally did, and on the 6th day of March, 1858, with my wife and household goods and the ague, we came to Des Moines.

About a year or more before we left Keosauqua I had traded off the house I had first purchased in the village for a very beautiful home that had been built by L. J. Rose. It had about a full block of ground well planted with young fruit trees and vines and shrubbery and rose bushes. The house was well located on the hill in the northwest part of the village, and my wife as well as myself had become fondly attached to the place. During our five years of residence we had many friends in the town, and we found it hard to leave them. My wife shed many tears at the thought of leaving the place, but the largest amount that my practice had yielded in any one year whilst in Keosauqua was $800, and I was satisfied that our best interests would be promoted by our new location. The location of the permanent capital of the state at Des Moines, and the fact that our supreme and United States courts would be located there, and that it would necessarily become a railroad center and build up and become one of the chief cities of the state, had attracted many other young men of the profession. Within twelve months before the time I settled in Des Moines probably a dozen well educated, enterprising young lawyers had preceded me. The result was a fierce competition and struggle for business, every young man realizing that it was a question of the survival of the fittest, and that his success depended upon himself. Before arriving in the city I had secured a small house of two rooms and a shed kitchen on Sixth street, at a rental of twenty dollars per month. We moved our goods into this house on Saturday, and on Sunday morning after a light breakfast both my wife and myself went to bed with the ague. The chill was succeeded, of course, by the usual high fever, and in the middle of the afternoon we were delighted by a call from an old acquaintance, a girl that had been raised at Keosauqua and who had married Mr. R. L. Tidrick, of Des Moines. She made us a cup of tea, and we came out of the fever encouraged and contented.

The first two years of my practice in Des Moines were not remunerative. In addition to our earnings we spent $1500 in our living, having saved that amount from the proceeds of the property that we disposed of at Keosauqua.

In the fall of 1859 I took an active part in the political campaign that resulted in the election of Samuel J. Kirkwood for Governor and the defeat of Augustus Ceasar Dodge, former democratic Senator from Iowa. As I had become interested in and contemplated taking an active part in the politics of the state and nation, I occupied my leisure time in more serious and thoughtful consideration of the grave questions that were soon to confront the nation. I read with great interest and studied with great care the debates between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln that had taken place in the state of Illinois, and the struggle between those parties for a seat in the United States senate. I also read with some care and great interest the great questions that had divided those who had framed the constitution of the United States. I became thoroughly grounded in the theory that our fathers in forming our national constitution had established a government with all the essential attributes of sovereignty. Whilst there is a limitation upon the subjects over which the government should exercise jurisdiction, yet within the sphere over which it might exercise any power it was absolutely sovereign and supreme; that the constitution was not a compact or treaty between sovereign states, but that it was a government, deriving its powers directly from the people, with power to make its own laws and through its courts to interpret and administer its own laws, and through its executive and his appointees had the power to execute its own laws; that the relation between the national government and the individual was direct, with power over his person and his property so far as it was necessary to assert and maintain its jurisdiction; and that it collected and disbursed its own revenues, enlisted and maintained its own armies, built and maintained its own navies, and that its constitution and laws, by the very terms of its organization, constituted the supreme law of the land. That the assumption that it was a mere treaty between the sovereign states, from which any state might at any time secede at its pleasure, was an erroneous assumption, and inimical to our national existence and prosperity. I found upon examination of the decisions of the supreme court of the United States that these views of our national government and its powers had been fully sustained by the supreme court of the United States by the most eminent jurists of the land. Particularly I studied with great care the decisions of the supreme court of the United States, and the opinions of the Chief Justice Marshall of that court, delivered in the early history of our government.

The same fall of 1859 I made a trip through Warren, Madison, Dallas, Guthrie, and Union counties, at the request of the republican state central committee. They furnished me with a covered buggy and pair of horses, without any expense to myself, and loaded me down with a lot of political campaign documents which I undertook to distribute, making political speeches also at the county seats in each of the above named counties.

In crossing from Winterset over to Redfield one afternoon I found the road becoming very obscure, and a smoke arising from some burning prairie northwest of me so darkened the way that I became apprehensive of losing my road. There was no settlement in sight and no one from whom I could inquire the way. While I was seriously pondering upon the difficulty, a half dozen or more fine short horn cows crossed my path ahead of my team and I thought the safest way out of the difficulty would be to follow the cows, as they probably knew better than I where we were going. I had not followed these cows more than a few hundred yards before the owner of them appeared. He was a young Quaker about thirty years of age, named Wilson. I told him who I was and what my business was and he cordially invited me to go home with him. He lived in a small board shanty, one large room and an attic, situated under the hill. After sheltering his cows in a shed-barn covered with hay he took me to his house. I thought the chances for accommodations rather meager, but I noticed that he had a small yard fenced in front of his house, with a path of flagstones from the gate to the door, and on either side was planted quite a show of flowers and rose bushes. As we neared the house a very handsome young Quaker woman, his wife, with a little girl about three years of age, appeared at the door. Inside it was neat and tidy. The little Quaker wife prepared us a supper of snow-white biscuits and a plate of beautiful honey. She told me that they had attended the county fair that day and had taken a premium upon their honey. I spent a pleasant evening discussing politics with Mr. Wilson and supplying him with political speeches and documents, which I urged upon him to distribute among his neighbors. When bed-time came I climbed a ladder to the attic in which there was just room enough under the shingles for a clean sweet bed where I had a delightful night's rest. After a good breakfast in the morning, Wilson accompanied me on my way. We soon came to a well-beaten road and I found I was on what was called "The Quaker Divide." Near a large Quaker meeting house we met one of Mr. Wilson's relatives, a fine looking old fashioned Quaker gentleman, to whom he introduced me, and I stated my business. I had an interesting interview with the old Quaker and also supplied him with a number of congressional speeches, and before I left him he looked at me very earnestly and asked, how much pay I received for the work I was doing. I told him nothing for my own services, but my team and buggy were furnished by the state central committee free of charge to myself. At first he appeared a little incredulous that I should be working for nothing and traveling at my own expense, but after further talk with him he seemed to have every confidence in me and remarked very earnestly, "Thee must be a very good man to do this work without pay." I told him we must all "cast our bread upon the waters," and possibly it might return to us after many days; that this would indeed be a poor world if none of us were willing to make some sacrifices for the good of the country. I bid the two Quakers an affectionate good-bye and went on my way much gratified. The prairie was dotted here and there with comfortable, well kept homes. It was a beautiful October morning, what we then and always called in Iowa "Indian Summer." A slight haze rested upon the horizon, and here and there the ripening corn gave a glow and variety to the landscape. I was deeply impressed with the beauty and glory of my adopted state of Iowa, and I thought then, as I afterwards expressed the thought in my centennial address at Philadelphia. "When in the plentitude of His goodness the Divine Hand formed the great meadow between the Mississippi and Missouri, and the finger of Divine Love traced the streamlets and rivers that drain and fertilize its almost every acre, He designated it not for the place of strife, but for the home of peace and plenty, and intended that the ploughshare and pruning hook should here achieve their greatest triumphs."

In the fall of the year 1859, I bought from Dr. William P. Davis a quarter acre of ground just north of Bird's Addition in the city of Des Moines, having upon it an old square frame house without foundation or cellar, which I afterwards repaired and moved into with my family. My wife's sister Julia had been with us during the summer and became engaged to be married to Mr. John Alexander Woodard, a bachelor who had been engaged in the mercantile business and failed in the hard times of 1856. He was then clerking and selling goods for Mr. Reuben Sypher. I thought it prudent and made condition with Mr. Woodard that he should make it a part of the marriage contract with my sister-in-law that he would purchase from Mr. Sypher in part payment of his wages the lot on the corner of Fourth street and Crocker, and build them a house thereon. He readily agreed with this proposition, and the deed was made to Julia E. McMeekin, and the marriage took place on the first of December following, and a house was built on the lot the ensuing summer, where they had their home for many years free from any annoyance from his creditors. When the bankrupt law took effect after that, I obtained for him a discharge in bankruptcy from his old debts.

In 1860 I was chosen by the republican state convention of Iowa one of the thirty-two delegates that represented our state in the great national convention that met at Chicago and nominated Abraham Lincoln as its candidate for President. I attended that convention and had the honor of being one of the eight original Lincoln men of the delegation, and voted for Mr. Lincoln on every ballot. That convention was perhaps the greatest and most important that was ever convened in the history of our nation. The entire New York delegation was urging the nomination of William H. Seward. I was opposed to Mr. Seward's nomination, first, because I preferred Mr. Lincoln and had the most unbounded confidence in his honesty and patriotism, and secondly, because I disliked many of the men who were urging Mr. Seward's nomination. The reputation of Thurlow Weed and that class of New York politicians created in my mind a distrust, and I felt that we had arrived at a crisis in our national history where we should take no chances.

After the nomination of Mr. Lincoln at Chicago the republican state convention met at Iowa City. I was a candidate before the convention for nomination for the office of Attorney General of the state. Only three of the delegates from my own county voted for me in that contest. My principal opponent was John A. Kasson of Des Moines. He had been chairman of the republican central committee of the state for the current year, and without my knowledge had been secretly corresponding with various republicans of the state, soliciting their support for the nomination, and secretly hiding the fact from me, and professing to be my friend and in favor of my nomination. Mr. H. M. Hoxie, also one of the delegates of that convention from Polk county, had been a secretary of the state committee and was also secretly working for and with Mr. Kasson for my defeat. I had many warm friends and supporters in the convention, particularly from Lee and Van Buren counties and the southern part of the state, and many from other parts of the state with whom I had formed a personal acquaintance whilst filling the offices respectively of clerk of the house and secretary of the senate. There were three other candidates for the nomination besides Mr. Kasson and myself, and I received the nomination on the third ballot.

After my return home I arranged my affairs so as to make an extensive canvass of the state. I exchanged a small tract of land I had in the western part of Van Buren county with Mr. Manning for a covered buggy and harness and a pair of horses, and in the latter part of September arranged a series of appointments, the first of which was at Newton, in Jasper county. As my team was somewhat unaccustomed to the road I started one Sunday afternoon and drove east as far as Mitchellville, and stayed all night with my friend Thomas Mitchell of that place. On Monday morning I started early for Newton. I filled my satchel with political documents and occupied my time during the drive in trying to arrange my speech. I never wrote out my speeches or attempted to commit anything to memory. My plan was to study the subject thoroughly that I proposed discussing, and simply arrange the order of its presentation. While absorbed in this work I reached Skunk river, drove up on the causeway to the bridge, which at the entrance of the bridge was about six feet above the level of the surface of the ground. As my off horse put his foot upon the first plank of the bridge it proved to be loose and the plank flew up, striking the shin of the other horse. At this my team became frightened and commenced backing to the south of the causeway, and for a moment I apprehended that I should be precipitated over the causeway with the horses and buggy falling upon me. I collected the reins hastily in my left hand, seized the whip, yelled to the horses, struck the off horse violently with the whip, using my left hand at the same time to draw them around onto the road so that they would not take me over to the other side of the causeway. I felt the near hind wheel of the buggy falling over the embankment, but the horses sprang forward, unfortunately breaking the axle, and as I brought them around into the road I stepped out of the buggy, threw the lines onto the wheel, and let them run. They did not run more than one or two hundred yards before the lines, which had caught in the wheel, wound them up, and the lines being strong it stopped them. I followed hastily, detaching the horses from the buggy, tied them to the trees, then walked about two miles to a farm house where I engaged a farmer with his farm wagon to take my buggy to Newton and to lend me a saddle upon which I rode one horse and led the other. In this way I reached Newton for late dinner, and taking my broken buggy to a blacksmith engaged for its immediate repair, as it was necessary for me to take the road again early next morning to meet my next appointment, which was at Grinnell, in Poweshiek county. I had a small audience that afternoon at two o'clock in the court house, and made them a short speech, appointing another meeting for 7:30 that night.

The next morning my vehicle was in good order and I took the road, reaching Grinnell in good time for my meeting, which was at night.

In arranging my appointments I reached the Mississippi river at Clinton. Crossing the river I drove over to Mt. Carroll, Illinois, for the purpose of a day's rest and to visit my relatives at that place. I found there my aunt, Ann Austin, and her two boys, also her oldest daughter, married to a man by the name of William Brotherton. Mr. Brotherton and the two boys were ardent republicans, and being advised of my coming, they had advertised me for a speech on Saturday night. I spoke to a crowded house for nearly three hours amid great enthusiasm. The next day, Sunday, the county central committee waited on me and insisted that I should arrange a week with them and speak at various points in their county, which I necessarily declined to do.

On Sunday afternoon I drove north to a little mining village called Elizabeth where my aunt, Sarah Nourse, a maiden sister of my father, was then living and teaching school. I stayed all night at this town of Elizabeth, and my aunt entertained me during the evening until nearly eleven o'clock with an account of the various propositions of marriage she had had from some half dozen bachelors and widowers, all of which she had declined, giving as an all-sufficient reason for it that her suitors were not men of education and sufficient intelligence to make companions for her, and she suspected them of wanting what little money and property she had.

The next day, Monday afternoon, I drove to Galena where I remained all night and heard the cheering news of the result of the state elections of Ohio and Indiana, both states giving handsome republican majorities. This really assured the success of Mr. Lincoln at the approaching November election.

The next morning, Tuesday, I crossed the Mississippi river at Dubuque, having had an appointment to speak in Dubuque that day. It so happened that the democrats had prepared for a grand democratic rally that day, at which Mr. Douglas, their candidate for President, expected to be present. At the suggestion of my friends I stayed over until the next day. I was anxious to hear Mr. Douglas, and attended his meeting, which was well attended by his followers and friends. I could not but feel sorry for and have some sympathy with the man when he came upon the platform to speak. He had of course heard the news of the result of the elections in Ohio and Indiana, and knew that the hopes and aspirations of his life were forever blighted. Douglas was called "the little giant," and he truly was a brave man. He stood before the audience, knowing that his fate as a candidate for the presidency was forever sealed, but he never flinched or gave any evidence whatever of his disappointment. I wished to hear Mr. Douglas, not because I expected to hear anything new, for I had studied well his speeches and knew his views upon the subjects about which he was to talk, but I wished to study his method and manner, for I knew he was an experienced man upon the platform. He never spoke a sentence without first inhaling a full breath. He made his sentences short and never uttered a word when his lungs were exhausted. He always expressed himself in clear and concise language, and I think never changed the construction of his sentences or attempted their construction after he had commenced their utterance; hence there was no confusion, no hesitancy, and no exertion of the voice beyond what he anticipated when he began his utterances. I learned much from his manner of speaking, and after that tried to practice his art and skill in the management of my voice, and I think with some success, for during that canvass I frequently met our republican speakers with their throats inflamed and bandaged and so hoarse that they scarcely could be heard, whilst during the seven weeks that I was engaged in speaking, I spoke on an average once or twice a day without any difficulty or hoarseness or inflammation in my throat. I frequently relieved my voice by dropping into a conversational tone, finding this much easier for myself and much more agreeable to my hearers. I indulged frequently in anecdotes and amusing illustrations, and endeavored not only to convince the people by arguments but at the same time to entertain them.

I remained at Dubuque and spoke in the German theater on Wednesday night. The republicans, of course, were enthusiastic and joyous. The result of the elections in Ohio and Indiana had aroused and confirmed their hopes of success. I spoke from the stage of the theater for three long hours. I interspersed my remarks with frequent anecdotes that were received by the audience with shouts of applause. At one time after the general applause had partially subsided, some gentleman near the orchestra box was seized with a second paroxysm of laughter, and actually rolled off his seat to the floor shouting and screaming with delight. The entire audience arose to their feet, looking over the heads of those in front to see what had happened. I beckoned to them to please be seated, that it was only one of the new converts that was shoutingly happy. This awakened another round of laughter and applause, and I think everyone, unless it might have been some disappointed democrat present, was uproariously happy.

It would not be profitable to undertake to give an account of my many meetings during that canvass. I traveled about fifteen hundred miles, spoke in more than fifty counties of the state, continuing my labors up to the night before the November election.

One incident I recall that probably is worth recording: I spoke at Glenwood, in Mills county, to a large audience of ladies and gentlemen, and after discussing the political issues of the day I told them that there was a matter of a personal nature that I had not yet mentioned and that I would communicate to them in confidence: that I had been nominated by the republican state convention as their candidate for Attorney General of the state, that after my nomination I was somewhat doubtful as to the course I ought to pursue, whether or not it would be best to stay at home and trust to the strength of my party, or whether I ought to go over the state and discuss the political questions of the day and let the people know and hear for themselves what manner of man I was, that they might judge for themselves as to my competency to fill the important office for which I was a candidate. That in all cases of doubt or difficulty I had made it a rule to consult my wife, and I laid the matter before her, asking her advice as to what she thought it was best for me to do; that she immediately decided that I must go and speak to the people and let them see and hear me, adding that I could trust the people, that the people of Iowa beyond question knew and appreciated a good man when they could see and hear him. The audience shouted their applause at this conclusion of my address, and when I came down from the platform many friends came and shook hands with me, and especially the ladies, assuring me that the decision of my wife was correct.

The result of the election is a matter of history. Mr. Lincoln received the electoral vote of Iowa by some fifteen thousand majority, as did also every candidate on the republican ticket, including myself. At the close of my first term I was renominated and re-elected without opposition.

The duties of my office as Attorney General of the state consisted in advising the Governor and state officers when called upon by either of them for my opinion, and also when requested by that body to give my opinion to the general assembly, also to represent the state in all criminal cases appealed to the supreme court of the state. Our supreme court at that time met twice a year; to-wit, in April and October, in the city of Davenport, Iowa, and my duties required me to attend there during the sessions of the court. The judges of the court, a reporter, and myself, and most of the attorneys visiting the court from time to time, boarded at the Burtis House, an excellent hotel kept by Dr. Burtis at that time. It made up a pleasant party, and it was rather a pleasant episode in my professional life. The only important opinion I was called upon to give to the general assembly was as to the constitutionality of the proposed law providing for the soldiers' vote. The supreme court of Pennsylvania had held a similar statute under their constitution to be unconstitutional and void. I examined the question carefully, because it was one of great importance. So many of our loyal voters in the state were absent from the state as soldiers in the Civil War, and there was a great danger that those who sought to embarrass the prosecution of the war might place in control of our state affairs men inimical to the cause of the Union and nation. I gave an opinion to the legislature that the proposed law was constitutional. It was passed and afterwards sustained by the unanimous opinion of the judges of our supreme court, and from that time forward there was no question about the political status and conduct either of our state legislatures or our representatives in the national congress.

Soon after the opening of the Civil War the legislature of Iowa was called together in extra session, and enacted a law providing for the issuing of $800,000 of war defense bonds to be sold for the purpose of providing means to equip and muster into service the troops to be furnished by Iowa for the national cause. It also provided for three state commissioners with authority to put these bonds upon the market and sell the same at the best rate they could obtain. A number of other states in the Union had also provided for the issuing of bonds and the raising of means to arm and equip their soldiers. Hence when these commissioners went to New York for the purpose of putting our bonds upon the market, no desirable bids could be obtained. Our Secretary of State, Elijah Sells, had been ordered or requested by Governor Kirkwood to take these bonds to New York in order that they might be ready for delivery in case of sale. There was danger to be apprehended that the commissioners might attempt to hypothecate these bonds, or pledge them for a loan of money. The bonds bore eight per cent interest per annum, and they would constitute a great prize if the money sharks could get hold of them and sell them at any price they might bring in a money market then flooded with similar paper. Being advised of the situation, I accompanied the Secretary of State to New York, at my own instance and expense, for the purpose of advising the Governor and commissioners that under the law they had no authority to pledge or hypothecate these bonds, but could only sell them in the manner expressly provided by the statute. I had an opportunity of giving this advice, which I did very readily in New York, and I had the satisfaction of seeing the bonds brought back to our state and sold at a fair price to our own people.

My salary as Attorney General was one thousand dollars a year and a contingent fund of four hundred dollars additional each year. My official duties occupied about one-half of my time, and I continued in the general practice, except as to criminal cases, which yielded me about fourteen hundred dollars additional, making my income during these four years about twenty-eight hundred dollars which was rather more than any state officer or even judge of the supreme court received at that time.

Upon the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln in 1860 John A. Kasson, the man whom I had defeated for the nomination of Attorney General of the state, went to Washington City and secured the appointment as Second Assistant Postmaster General, which position he held until the fall of the year 1862, when he secured the nomination for congress from the republican congressional convention of this, the then fifth congressional district.

Upon the election of Mr. Lincoln in 1865 for his second term, I became an applicant for the position of United States District Attorney, putting my application in the hands of Senator Harlan. I also had letters from all of our members of congress and from Senator Grimes favoring my appointment. Mr. Kasson claimed that the appointment fell in his congressional district and he was entitled by courtesy to nominate the person who should receive it. Mr. Withrow, who was still a personal and political friend of Mr. Kasson, came to me personally and stated that if I would write to Mr. Kasson and signify my willingness to receive the appointment as coming through him, that Mr. Kasson would have the appointment made. I accordingly wrote to Mr. Kasson, stating that if he was disposed to recommend my appointment upon considerations of my fitness for the office and without reference to any supposed personal obligations to favor his political aspirations for the future, that I would be willing so to receive it. Upon receiving this letter, Mr. Kasson immediately went to the President and presented to him the name of Caleb Baldwin, of Council Bluffs, stating that Senator Harlan had been consulted and had agreed to Mr. Baldwin's appointment. Mr. Harlan, upon being advised of what Mr. Kasson had done, immediately went to the President, and at his request the appointment was suspended. On the 14th day of April ensuing, Mr. Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson, the Vice President, succeeded to the presidency. I immediately requested Mr. Harlan to pursue the subject of my appointment to the office no farther, and there the controversy dropped. I have regarded my disappointment in this matter as rather fortunate than otherwise, as I was not in harmony with the administration of Andrew Johnson and should not have cared to have held office under his administration.

Pending the presidential election the people of Iowa were fully advised as to the threats that were made that in case of Mr. Lincoln's election the southern states would secede from the Union. They were also fully aware of the fact that the then national administration was doing all it could to encourage the southern politicians who were uttering these threats. The position of Mr. Buchanan's administration was that the constitution of the United States conferred on the National Government no power to coerce a state, or, in plain terms, to preserve the nation and prevent its disintegration. The fact that civil war might be inaugurated and was threatened in case Mr. Lincoln was elected was well understood and duly considered. The people of Iowa indulged in no feelings of hatred toward the people of any state or section of the Union. There was, however, on the part of the majority a cool determination to consider and decide upon our national relations to the institution of slavery, uninfluenced by any threat of violence or civil war.

After the election of Mr. Lincoln and the call for troops to aid in putting down the rebellion, I visited Washington City for the first time in my life. The rebel troops occupied the entire country between Richmond and Manassas and menaced the national capital. On the Saturday before the battle of Bull Run, so-called, I went in company with some friends in a carriage as far as Fairfax Court House. I saw there a number of Union soldiers that had been wounded the day before in the artillery engagement with the rebel general, Beauregard. I returned to Washington Saturday night and arranged with General Curtis, then our member of congress from Iowa, to go out in the morning by rail to the place of the anticipated battle. I remained at Alexandria until after noon on Sunday with the hope of getting transportation on the railway. We could hear the booming of the cannon during the afternoon. I remained in Alexandria till about two o'clock. On finding the expected transportation on the railway delayed and doubtful, I returned to Washington. About midnight we received news of the disastrous results of the engagement that day. The next morning, Monday, I started home on an early train, as my professional engagements that week required my presence in Des Moines. During the great struggle that followed for the preservation of our nation I spent much of my time and all of my income in traveling over the state and attending public meetings, and made frequent addresses in behalf of the Union cause. I did not enter the volunteer service as a soldier or officer of the Union army for the reason that I was satisfied I could do more good to the cause in the position I then occupied as Attorney General of the state. I did at one time apply to Governor Kirkwood for a military appointment as a major in the Third Iowa Cavalry. He very bluntly told me that he did not think he could spare me from the place that I then filled, and he did not think it good policy to spoil a good lawyer for the sake of making a poor soldier. I had no military education and no knowledge of military affairs, and my health was such that I could not have been of any use to the service except in a position where I could take better care of myself than was possible as a soldier in the ranks.

CHAPTER IV

Resumes the Practice of Law

At the close of my second term of office, to-wit, January, 1865, I resumed the practice of law. The firm of Williamson & Nourse, which had existed since my settlement in Des Moines in 1858, had taken into partnership Jacob M. St. John, formerly of Keosauqua, Iowa. As I now had to depend entirely upon my practice for my income I dissolved partnership with Messrs. Williamson and St. John and commenced to practice alone.

In the fall of 1865 Judge Gray, the judge of our district court, died, and Governor William M. Stone, without any solicitation upon my part, at the request of a number of the members of the bar of Polk county, October 16, 1865, appointed me to fill the unexpired term of Judge Gray, deceased. The salary of this position at that time was only $1300 a year, and I accepted of it after considerable hesitation. At the first term of court I held in the city of Des Moines it became my duty to try a number of cases for a violation of the laws of the state prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors, except beer or wine made from grapes or other fruit grown in this state. This wine and beer clause of the law had been adopted by the legislature by way of an amendment to what was called the Maine law that had been enacted by the legislature at its session in 1854-5. A number of saloons had been established in Des Moines and licensed to sell native wine and beer, but in fact they all sold whiskey and other spirituous liquors. The grand jury had indicted some seventeen of these saloons as public nuisances under the law. The courts in Iowa prior to this time had adopted the policy of imposing slight fines upon these saloons about once a year, thereby establishing the very worst and the most reprehensible kind of a license. The sheriff and other officers of the county, elected by the people from time to time, were largely under the influence of these saloons and their patrons. When I called the first of these cases for trial it became necessary to fill up the jury panel from the bystanders, and when the sheriff called the name of a person that he directed to take a place upon the jury, I accidentally noticed that the next case for trial was a case against a defendant of the same name of the person called into the jury-box. I privately called the sheriff to my side and asked him if the person that he had placed upon the jury was the same person as the defendant in the next case, accused of a like offense of the one we were to try. After some hesitation he said he thought he was the same person. I told him that was not a proper discharge of his duties, that he must fill up the panel of the jury with good, law-abiding citizens, and not from those who stood charged with crime on the records of the court. He suggested that I should excuse the juror. I told him no, the mistake was his and not mine, and that he must correct his own mistakes, that he should go to the juror himself and tell him and have him stand aside, and that he must be very careful whilst I presided in that court not to make any more such mistakes. The result was that he filled up the panel with good law-abiding citizens, and that defendant and sixteen others were tried and convicted within the next ten days. I did not pass sentence upon any of the defendants until all the trials were completed. In the meantime I was visited by a number of temperance men who felt anxious to know what character of sentence I was going to give to these persons. I told them it was not proper for me to receive any suggestions out of court, and if they had any to make it must be made in open court in the presence of the defendants themselves or their counsel. I did, however, give the matter very grave and serious consideration. This law in its spirit and in its letter was intended to prohibit the sale or establishing or keeping a place for the sale of intoxicating liquors, other than the wine and beer excepted by the provisions of the law. The slight fines that had theretofore been imposed for this offense had simply been tolerated, and amounted in practice to a system of licensing these violations of the law. I felt it my duty to do something that should prohibit what the law prohibited. After the trials were all over I had the defendants all brought into court and gave them my views concerning the law and concerning the duty of every good citizen to obey and observe the law strictly and in good faith; that this law existed upon the statute books by the same authority as the law that protected them in their persons and in their property, and that the disregard of it was simply to set at defiance the authority from which all our laws eminated. The man who kept the poorest and meanest of these saloons I fined only the sum of one hundred dollars, stating as a reason therefor that the witnesses upon the trial had said they were ashamed to be seen in his saloon and hurried away as soon as possible; that probably the class of men of whom he was making drunkards were not our most valuable citizens. I graded the fines against the others of the sixteen according to the class of persons I thought they were injuring, and the highest fine I imposed was five hundred dollars, against the man who had taken the trouble to prove in the trial that he kept a most respectable resort and that none but the very best citizens of the city were in the habit of drinking at his bar. This action upon my part not only created an excitement locally, but the news of it spread rapidly throughout the state and a number of our district judges followed my example.

Charles Clinton Nourse
From an air brush copy of an old photograph loaned by
D. W. Nourse, Kenton, Ohio

When I assumed the duties of judge of the district I found the dockets much crowded with cases that had been delayed, chiefly because of the unnecessary consumption of time by attorneys in the trial of their causes. For instance, one case in Polk county that involved only the question of the identity of a calf worth three or four dollars had occupied two weeks of the time of the court in its former trial. When I called the case for trial a number of attorneys suggested to me that the case would probably consume the balance of the term, and they might as well dismiss their witnesses and continue their causes. I told them that they were probably mistaken as to the time that would be occupied in the trial of that case. The first witness in behalf of the plaintiff was a timid young girl about fourteen years of age, a daughter of the plaintiff. She told in a simple straightforward way what she knew about the marks on the calf that her father had claimed, and her belief that it was her father's calf. The attorney for the defendant unfortunately was somewhat under the influence of liquor, and putting both heels up on the trial table, he leaned back and in a very rude, aggressive manner addressed the young girl, saying, "I suppose you put in about all of your time examining the calves on your father's farm, don't you?" I immediately reproved the attorney and asked him if he had any questions to ask the witness in regard to the marks upon the calf or its identity. He replied in a haughty manner that he supposed he could examine the witness in his own way and ask his own questions. I immediately told the witness to stand aside and asked the plaintiff to call the next witness. The attorney then said he had not cross-examined the witness and wished to do so. I merely remarked that I had given him an opportunity to do so and he had not improved it, and he could save his strength for the next witness. The result of this kind of discipline was that the case was tried within two days instead of two weeks, and the great calf case was disposed of. I only give this as a specimen of the reforms that I tried to introduce into our courts.

In the most of the counties of our district, which embraced seven at that time, we had no court houses. My first court in Warren county had to be held in the old Methodist church. It had been the custom to fill the aisles and the space about the altar with saw-dust, with one table as the trial table for the attorneys, and four or five rickety chairs. This saw-dust when it became heated, as it did in the winter time from the large stoves used in heating the room, filled the air with very fine particles of dust that often settled upon the lungs of the members of the bar and the court, and was itself injurious to health. After impaneling the grand jury on the first day of the term at Indianola I announced that the court would adjourn until Tuesday and that the sheriff would clean the room of this sawdust and furnish matting for the aisles and the place about the platform, and also furnish an additional table for the use of the attorneys and a dozen good substantial chairs. The sheriff informed me in open court that the board of supervisors had refused to furnish such conveniences, and probably would not allow the bills if he should purchase these articles. I advised him that it was his duty to obey the orders of the court, and to present his bill to the supervisors and if they failed to allow the bill to take his appeal to the district court and I would see that he recovered judgment and got his pay. Sufficient to say that the next morning the matting was laid, the table and chairs were furnished in good order, and I never heard of any difficulty about the allowance of the bills by the board of supervisors. I pursued the same policy in Madison and several other counties of the district, and never heard that I lost favor with anybody because I insisted on having a decent court.

On the 3d of March, 1866, at a subsequent term of the court held in Warren county, Mr. Thomas F. Withrow, an attorney of the Polk county bar and my neighbor, came into court one morning just before noon in company with John A. Kasson, then a representative in congress from this district and a resident of the city of Des Moines. Mr. Withrow filed with the clerk of the court a petition for divorce in behalf of Mr. Kasson's wife, and asking for a divorce on the grounds that Mr. Kasson had been guilty of adultery. To this petition Mr. Kasson filed an answer admitting his guilt, and both parties asked for an immediate hearing of the cause. I dismissed the jury then impaneled and announced that the court would not adjourn but remain open for business, asking the clerk and sheriff to remain, and that the bystanders and others were at liberty to retire. I read over the papers carefully and told Mr. Withrow that I could not grant the petition upon the answer; that if he had any evidence it must be produced in open court as I must be satisfied of the existence of the facts alleged in the petition. Mr. Withrow said he had the letters of the defendant written to his wife from time to time, fully acknowledging his guilt, and he would return to the hotel and get his satchel containing these letters and produce them in open court if I required it. Mr. Kasson then begged of Mr. Withrow not to produce those letters, and turning to me said he would himself be a witness as to the facts and thought that ought to be sufficient. I told him I could not grant a divorce that would have the appearance of being granted merely upon the consent of the parties, that I wished to be satisfied fully that there was no collusion in the matter between himself and wife, and that he was in fact guilty as charged. He assured me that there was no collusion, that the charge was actually true and that the facts actually existed as charged against him. At this he broke down and professed almost to cry, and I told Mr. Withrow to prepare the decree of divorce. It was accordingly prepared, reciting that it was granted upon evidence of the truth of the allegations of the petition, and I accordingly signed the decree.

Upon my return to Des Moines at the close of the session, the legislature then being in session, I was waited upon by one or more members of the general assembly, suggesting that there was a rumor that the divorce of Mr. Kasson's wife had been procured and granted simply by consent of parties, and they proposed to introduce a bill for an act to prevent such divorces in the future. I explained that the rumor was entirely unfounded and that the divorce had been granted upon satisfactory evidence offered in open court. I recite these facts at some detail because of their importance with reference to results, and what occurred that fall, 1866.

Mr. Kasson was a candidate for re-nomination to congress. The opposing candidate was General G. M. Dodge, then a resident of Council Bluffs. I did not take any active part in this contest further than to express my preference for General Dodge, and that I could not consistently, with my views of propriety, support Mr. Kasson under the circumstances. When the conventions were held that fall for nominating delegates to the convention that should nominate congressmen, district judge, and prosecuting attorney, the Polk county convention, being under the control of Kasson's friends, nominated the same set of delegates to attend both the congressional and the district conventions. After very heated contests in the convention for nomination of congressmen, Mr. Kasson was defeated, and I was informed by the delegation that they would not support me for the nomination for district judge because I had refused to help them in the matter of nominating Mr. Kasson. The next day when the convention met for the nomination of judge and district attorney I went before the convention in person and withdrew my name from the convention, stating as a reason therefor that I could not with propriety be a candidate before that convention without the support of the delegates from my own county. The convention nominated Mr. Maxwell, then district attorney, for judge. My office did not expire until the ensuing January, but I at once sent my resignation to the Governor of the state, thus terminating my judicial career on August 1, 1866.

In this contest for congress, Mr. H. M. Hoxie and Mr. Thomas F. Withrow, formerly warm friends and supporters of Mr. Kasson, had abandoned him and were active supporters of General Dodge.

Upon my retirement from the bench, the members of the Polk county bar had a meeting and adopted very complimentary resolutions which they had enrolled and were kind enough to present to me as a testimonial of their approval of the manner in which I had discharged my duties as judge of the court.

The salary of judge of the district court at that time was the meager sum of thirteen hundred dollars a year, out of which I paid my own expenses on the district. During my term of office as Attorney General I had spent a considerable part of my income in attending public meetings and traveling through the state, addressing public assemblies upon the issues growing out of the war. I had not accumulated sufficient means to pay for my homestead and I now determined, as far as practicable, to devote myself to my practice as an attorney and accumulate something for the future.

During the administration of Governor William M. Stone, his private secretary had endorsed a number of warrants issued by the Treasurer of the United States in favor of the state of Iowa, known as "swamp land warrants." Governor Stone had entrusted the detail of the business of his office to his private secretary. These warrants came into the hands of the secretary and he assumed the responsibility of endorsing the Governor's name upon them from time to time, and having them cashed at the Second National Bank. At first he paid this money over to the State Treasurer, but as no inquiry was made as to the transactions and Governor Stone was paying but little attention to the details of business in the office, he cashed a number of these warrants and appropriated the money to his own use and purchased considerable real estate in his own name.

On the first of January following, these transactions became public and the Governor repudiated the authority of the secretary to make the endorsements upon the drafts. He procured from the secretary mortgages upon considerable of the property purchased by him to secure so much of the proceeds of these drafts as remained unaccounted for. The grand jury indicted the secretary for a number of these transactions for forging the Governor's signature. This secretary applied to me through Mr. Withrow, about the time of my resignation as judge, to employ me as counsel to assist in his defense. The secretary had no money or means to pay me for my services and as he already had able and efficient counsel, I declined the employment.

About the same time suits were brought to foreclose these mortgages given by the secretary, and also to hold the bank responsible for the moneys that had not come into the hands of the State Treasurer. Pending these suits of a civil character, by agreement of the parties and their counsel, the case was referred to me as referee. During the summer I occupied several weeks in taking the testimony carefully before a stenographer and reported the same with my conclusions of fact and law to the district court, which report was confirmed by the district court and upon appeal to the supreme court by the secretary, that court also affirmed my decision, and under these judgments the property was sold and the state partly remunerated for the loss.

Governor Stone also solicited me to act as special prosecutor in prosecuting the indictments against the secretary for forgery, but in consideration of the fact that the secretary had failed to obtain my services in his defense because of his poverty, I declined to take any retainer or part in the prosecutions.

I only recite these matters here because the secretary for his own purposes saw proper to make a number of virulent attacks upon me in various scurrilous articles that he published. As he was a man of no reputation and soon after left the state and died in obscurity and poverty, it is not necessary here to notice them.

The indictments against the secretary were never tried, I think, for the reason that the trial would necessarily have exposed the fact of the Governor's carelessness and inattention to the detail of his official duties. The Governor was otherwise not to blame for these unfortunate results and was himself free from any taint of dishonesty or corruption.

Notwithstanding my determination to retire from politics and devote myself entirely to the practice of law, the republican state convention, in the fall of 1867, without any procurement or solicitation upon my part, selected me as chairman of the state central committee. I conducted the canvass that resulted in the election of Colonel Samuel Merrill. The entire cost of this canvass, including the employment of a secretary to the committee, was only the sum of $800, one-fourth of which the candidate for Governor contributed. I make note of this, for the reason that in later years, and at the time of the present writing, these central committees of the states and of the nation, are expending thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars upon the election of the candidate of their party.

I also at the time I was chairman of the state central committee, furnished a team to Messrs. Thomas F. Withrow and F. W. Palmer, the latter then editor of the Register, to make a political canvass through the western half of the state. The very next year, 1868, Mr. Palmer became a candidate for congress in this district, Mr. Kasson being again a candidate for a seat in congress and again defeated in the nomination. I attended the congressional convention which was held at Council Bluffs that year, and was well satisfied with the result.

In the summer of 1869 Judge George G. Wright, before that time one of the judges of the supreme court of the state of Iowa, and who had removed from Keosauqua and become a permanent citizen of Des Moines, called upon me to confer with me upon the subject of his election to the United States Senate. He was fearful that Mr. John A. Kasson, who had been a member of the house of representatives of the state the last previous session, would be a candidate for the state senate. He expressed himself as having no confidence whatever in Mr. Kasson's friendship toward him, and he desired me to be a candidate and seek the nomination for the position of state senator. I peremptorily declined, for the reason that I did not want to engage in any political fight or difference with Mr. Kasson, and I could not afford at that time to leave my practice for a place in the state senate. Judge Wright insisted that he must have a friend in the senate from Polk county upon whom he could rely, and urged me to name some one who could be nominated and elected. After canvassing the names of several gentlemen, I suggested the name of B. F. Allen, then the leading banker in western Iowa, giving as my reason for urging Mr. Allen's name that the friends of Mr. Kasson would not present Mr. Kasson's name in opposition to Mr. Allen at that time, and the further reason that the people of Des Moines would at the then coming session of the general assembly ask for an appropriation to commence the building of a permanent capitol, and that Mr. Allen by virtue of his influence through the western part of the state especially could probably do more than any other man to secure such an appropriation. Judge Wright replied that the name of Mr. Allen had been suggested, but that he was satisfied that that gentleman would not accept of the nomination because his business required his undivided attention. I suggested to Judge Wright that I thought I was better acquainted with Mr. Allen than himself, and that if a number of our friends would call upon Mr. Allen, one at a time, suggesting and urging him to be a candidate for the senate, in less than ten days he would not only be willing but anxious to receive the nomination. We accordingly pursued that course, and my prediction was verified. Mr. Allen became a candidate and received the nomination, but this did not prevent Mr. Kasson from again being a candidate for the nomination to the lower house.

At the ensuing session of the legislature the desired appropriation for a permanent capitol at Des Moines was secured and Judge Wright was elected to the United States Senate, defeating William B. Allison who was then, for the first time, a candidate for that position.

Mr. Kasson worked diligently to secure the appropriation for the capitol, as did also Mr. Allen in the senate and George W. Jones, Mr. Kasson's colleague, in the house.

The citizens of Des Moines were very deeply interested in this appropriation for the permanent capitol, and every one, including the ladies, brought to bear all proper influence upon the members to secure their votes for it. The great event of the winter socially was a grand party given by Mr. Allen in the splendid mansion which he had just finished, situated on Terrace Hill, now the property of Mr. F. M. Hubbell. The ladies of the town also gave an old fashioned concert at Moore's Hall, and an amateur theatrical performance at its close, of which I had the honor to be the author. The play was a farce illustrating the absurd features of a general assembly of the state of Iowa whose members were one-half ladies and the other half gentlemen. The play represented a session of the general assembly of the state of Iowa in the year 1900. The old capitol building, then occupied by the legislature, was supposed to have fallen down and to have killed a number of the members of the sitting general assembly, and one of the bills discussed by the mock legislature was a proposed appropriation for the benefit of the surviving families of the members who had lost their lives in the destruction of the old capitol. The great discussion arose upon a motion to strike out the sum of sixty-two and one-half cents, and many of the speeches that had been made against the appropriation for the new capitol upon the question of economy were largely quoted from, by those opposed to the sixty-two and one-half cents.

Another point made in the play was that upon the question of woman's rights. Dubuque county was supposed to be represented by a lady weighing over two hundred pounds, and her husband, a dwarf, then residing in the city, who weighed about seventy pounds. Whenever a vote was taken upon any question respecting the rights of their sex the legislature divided, the men voting on the one side and the women always on the other. The lady who was supposed to be the wife of the dwarf, whenever a rising vote was taken upon a question of this nature, seized her supposed husband by the coat collar and tried to compel him to stand up and be counted on the side with the ladies. The frantic efforts of the little fellow to desist and to vote with those of his own sex created uproarious applause and amusement for the audience, as did also the following part of the play:

The lady supposed to be the wife of the dwarf arose and addressed the speaker upon a question of privilege. She said she had just received a telegram from home, stating that her youngest child was taken suddenly ill, and she requested the house to grant leave of absence for her husband, as it was very desirable that he should return home and care for the sick child. Another member of the house, a gentleman, arose and inquired whether the sick child was a boy or a girl. The lady responded with some acrimony that all her children were girls of whom she boasted she had seven, and was proud of it.

The ladies of the city entered into this play with much spirit and performed their parts so admirably that it furnished a very rich entertainment for the winter.

The bill making the appropriation for the erection of the permanent capitol finally became a law, and Mr. Kasson attempted to monopolize for himself all the glory of the achievement. He had a brass band serenade him at his house, and John P. Irish of Iowa City make a congratulatory speech to him as the hero that had accomplished so much for the city of Des Moines.

In the year 1874 Mr. Kasson was again nominated as the republican candidate for congress and was successful in the election. In this contest he was opposed by the then editors of the Register, a newspaper at that time published by the Clarkson brothers.

In the early part of September, 1874, Mr. J. C. Savery, a citizen of Des Moines at that time, and for several years a client of mine, called upon me and showed me several letters in manuscript, relating to Mr. Kasson's conduct while a member of the legislature of Iowa, and while a member of congress, and stated that he proposed to publish those letters as he was opposed to Mr. Kasson's election. He asked my advice as his attorney as to whether or not there was anything in the letters that would make him liable to a civil suit for damages in case of their publication. I advised him that if the letters were published and any suit was brought against him it would be necessary to show either the absolute truth of them or that they were published from proper motives and that he had a good reason to believe that the statements were true. As Mr. Savery had been my friend and client, and had not been at all prominent in political life, I advised him as a friend not to mix up in the contest and not to publish the letters, as he was a private citizen having no special interest in the question as to who would or would not be elected to congress. He, however, determined that the letters should be published and he gave them to the Register for publication. These letters were a very severe arraignment of Mr. Kasson's political career, and he thought proper to commence suit in the district court of Polk county against Mr. Savery and the editors of the Register for libel. Such a suit was brought October 21, 1874. Mr. Savery requested me to meet Mr. Clarkson for the purpose of consultation and with a view to my employment, in connection with Colonel Gatch, to defend the suit. I stated to them that the trial of the cause would involve a good deal of labor and time, that in the then state of political excitement, it would be very difficult to obtain a favorable result as the partisans of Mr. Kasson, if they secured a place upon the jury, would hardly give much weight to the testimony that might be produced. I signified, however, that I was willing to take the employment, provided I was paid liberally for my professional services. To this Mr. Richard Clarkson demurred very strongly, insisting that as Mr. Kasson was at least a political opponent and enemy of mine I ought to be willing to defend their case for an opportunity to ventilate the character of the plaintiff in the suit. I stated to Mr. Clarkson that if I engaged in that suit it would be for the purpose of performing my duty as an attorney and officer of the court, and that I should under no circumstances allow any personal matters of my own to influence what I might have to do or say in regard to the case; that the court room was not the place for a lawyer to gratify his personal feelings toward any of the parties to the litigation. This conference terminated without any agreement as to my employment. Afterwards, Mr. Savery came to me to see me alone and stated that Colonel Gatch had named a very small sum that he was willing to accept as compensation for assisting in the trial of the case. Mr. Savery urged upon me that he was then in poor circumstances financially and not able to pay any large fee; that he had been my client and paid me considerable sums of money in times past and urged upon me that I ought to stand by him now in the time of his trouble; that if I would accept of a like amount that Colonel Gatch had agreed to take for his services, he, Mr. Savery would pay half, and the Clarksons would pay the other half. I finally agreed to these terms. I tried the case. It consumed very considerable time in its preparation and trial. I copy here for information as to the character and scope of this case the opening statement that I made to the jury in regard to the issues involved, and the evidence that the defendants would offer in support of their defense. I always regarded the opening statement of a case as very important and that it should give to the jury a clear idea of the case they were to try, and of the facts upon which my client relied. I always believed strongly in the importance of first impressions, and I give this as a specimen of my skill in that behalf and for the further purpose of showing that it is utterly free from personal feeling or ill will toward the plaintiff. The following is the opening statement as made and reported and published at that time:

With permission of the Court, Gentlemen: In a case like this, it is hard for jurors to divest themselves entirely of their relations, politically and socially, to parties, and come to the consideration of it as a dry question of fact under the instruction of the court.

The petition that has been read to you selects from certain articles that were published during the political canvass last fall, three certain items of charges made against Mr. Kasson that it is supposed by Mr. Kasson and his friends cannot be proved. Why those three particular charges out of quite a number should have been selected and the others passed by, I do not know. Probably any one of the other charges damaged him as much as any one of these. But for some reason best known to the plaintiff, he has been willing to stand all the injury and all the damage they did; because he didn't care about having them investigated in court. (He has a right to pick out and say this one is not true, and the other is not true, I put you on the proof of this.) These three particular charges are set out, and they claim so much damages for saying these particular things about this particular individual. The answer I will read to you and then try to give you some idea of the evidence that will be introduced on the part of the defendants. [Here Mr. Nourse read the answer relating to the first charge, and continued.]

The facts are, these articles were written by Mr. Savery, and published in the Register, which was conducted and published by the defendants, Mr. R. P. Clarkson and Mr. J. S. Clarkson.

[Reads from petition again, beginning with the words: "Now, sir, this was the way you played your hand."]

Mr. Nourse continued: That is the answer we make to the first charge, relating to what is called the Smoky Hill route. I will say, in order that you may understand the evidence, and the facts in reference to that business, that Mr. Kasson was our member of congress in 1866, as will appear by the testimony, living and residing in this town, having for his colleagues Messrs. Price, Wilson, Allison, Judge Hubbard, and Mr. Grinnell. At that time one of the most vital questions to the people of Iowa, especially to the people of this congressional district, was whether or not the roads running east and west through Iowa should connect with, and become a part of the great Pacific route, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Prior to 1866 congress had passed a law to aid the construction of the Pacific Railway. That law provided for several Iowa branches, and provided for a branch connecting with the St. Louis roads through Kansas, and provided that all these branches should unite at what is known as the one hundredth meridian, some distance west of Omaha. And a further provision in that bill was that the Union Pacific Railroad Company should build from the one hundredth meridian westward, meeting the road that should be built from California eastward. That was the Union Pacific Railroad proper. It will appear in evidence, gentlemen, that Mr. Kasson, up to the very moment, the very day and hour on which he gave this vote in congress, had publicly and privately expressed himself in favor of the Omaha route, and delivered a public lecture against the Smoky Hill route, and explaining to the people of this locality the great advantages they were to derive from being upon the main line of this great thoroughfare. It will further appear in evidence, gentlemen, that the Kansas company, with the Pennsylvania Central road—in combination with the St. Louis interests—devised a scheme, in the winter of 1866, whereby they proposed to make the Kansas road, connecting with St. Louis, the main branch of the Pacific road, and thus entirely defeat the building of the roads westward to the hundredth meridian, connecting with the Iowa roads. That was the scheme that was undertaken, and a bill having that object was rushed through the senate and came to the house of representatives, when Thaddeus Stevens took charge of it. The friends of the bill made a strong combination, refused to let it be referred to a committee, and refused even to allow it to be printed for the information of the house, and put it upon its passage under the spur and whip, crushed out debate, and crushed out explanation and discussion. Mr. Kasson was the only member of the house of representatives from Iowa that was permitted by Thaddeus Stevens, who had the floor, to occupy the time of the house, and to the surprise of everyone Mr. Kasson was found to have gone over to the enemy. We have the depositions of Hiram Price and James F. Wilson, and the Congressional Globe that will explain to you his false position. Mark the explanation Mr. Kasson attempted to make on the floor of congress. He based his defense simply on the claim that the Kansas branch road would make a rival road and afford competition.

This, gentlemen, will appear in evidence when we come to investigate this matter. It does not answer the proposition and but for the fact that the money was speedily raised and the road built from Omaha to reach the hundredth meridian, before the Kansas branch got their road built there, we would have lost everything; we would have lost all that congress had granted to us, to build the road up the Platte Valley. This has been carefully concealed by Mr. Kasson in all his explanations and in all his discussions and he has, with his oily, deceptive subterfuges, tried to hide this enormity of his past life from his constituents. We hope, gentlemen, aided by the evidence of these members of congress, intelligent men, honest men, who have stood by the people of Iowa—we hope, with their depositions and the circumstances, and the evidence contained in the Congressional Globe, to show this matter up to you. We will prove to you by men who were on the ground that no sufficient motive could honestly have induced that man to have cast his vote in the way he did; that it was a surprise upon every intelligent man that knew what his pledges and promises and professions had been up to that time. Now, when this man offered himself as a candidate for congress last fall a year ago, one of the defendants in this case, who never was a candidate for office in his life, who had no interest in politics whatever, except as a citizen interested in our material interests, in our city, in our state, took the responsibility upon himself to ask Mr. Kasson through the public press to explain this, his extraordinary conduct and his treachery to his constituents; he got no answer except the insufficient one, the deceptive one, that Mr. Kasson wanted a rival railroad. Again, gentlemen, it will further appear in evidence that this was an additional subsidy of lands, that instead of connecting with the main line at the one hundredth meridian, this Kansas company was authorized to change its route and build the road to Denver, from Denver up to Cheyenne, and receive all the lands on either side of whatever route they may fix upon, and not requiring them to unite with the main line until they got fifty miles west of Denver. That they received on the line from Denver to Cheyenne the heart of the Territory of Colorado. That was a subsidy, and that the road got that subsidy, and that the parties who passed the bill undertook to deceive the members of congress in regard to it.

Now, gentlemen, this is all there is on this first matter. This publication was made, public attention was called to the fact that one of our members of congress, when asked how he would explain Mr. Kasson's vote, said he didn't know; but he could have taken twenty-five thousand dollars for his vote. That statement was made public by Mr. Savery in this communication to the citizens of this congressional district. Now this is the first matter which Mr. Kasson has chosen to bring before you, and to make an issue, and claim for damages to his character. Now we cannot prove—Mr. Kasson knows—we have no facilities for proving who was around there, or what money they had, or the means by which that bill was passed by congress. We can show you, gentlemen, only this one thing, that as a citizen of Iowa and as a representative of Iowa he betrayed his constituents wantonly; that he was in a scheme in which there was money; that is all; that this communication was made to the public, stating the bare facts at a time when it was necessary for the public to know them and by a man who had no interest in maligning Mr. Kasson, or injuring him. Savery had no personal feeling, and had no personal animosity towards him, but he felt, as a citizen, some indignation towards the man for the course he had pursued in congress. So much, gentlemen, for the first charge that was made. You are to judge whether that communication at the time it was made, and under the circumstances it was made, was justifiable. You are to take all the facts, and all the testimony with regard to it. Now as to the second matter that is set out in the answer.

Mr. Barcroft: Will you just tell the jury whether the bill that Mr. Kasson voted for under the Iowa Railroad were not built on the continuous line?

Mr. Nourse: I have already stated, that but for the extraordinary efforts by which money was raised, and the road pushed to the hundredth meridian first and this scheme defeated, we would never have been on the main line. But no thanks to Mr. Kasson for it. We are on the main line because these men went to work with superhuman energy to get to the hundredth meridian first, and they got there first, and that is the reason we are on the main line. If we had not reached it before they did, we would not have had a dollar of money with which to have built our line, and the other would have been the main line. That is the fact as it will appear conclusively from the testimony in this case. Gentlemen, I invite your special attention to the second charge, for if I can succeed in getting the jury to understand this question it is the end of the plaintiff's case. Fortunately for us on this question we have pretty conclusive proof, and with all the gentleman's ingenuity and that of his counsel, he will not be able to escape. We will show you, gentlemen, that in the year 1868 the old Des Moines Valley Railroad Company had forfeited her rights to the grant of lands that had been granted to her in the year 1858, by reason of not building the road as the original act required. The people of Boone county were dissatisfied because the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company had surveyed their road west up by Grand Junction, instead of going up the Des Moines river. Mr. Orr introduced a bill called the resumption bill, No. 139, in the house of representatives. That bill was read the first and second times, was ordered to be printed, and was referred to the railroad committee, of which Mr. Kasson was a member. The railroad committee prepared a substitute for that bill, as is set out here, in which they provided for a release of the company from all forfeitures and still allow them to have the lands and to build their road upon certain terms and conditions, and reported that bill back to the house of representatives as a substitute for house file No. 139. That substitute, gentlemen, is in Mr. Kasson's own handwriting, and we will be able to produce it here and show you the bill as he reported it originally to the house of representatives.

The records will show you, gentlemen, that after that bill came in, after this substitute was reported, Wilson of Tama county, with another gentleman constituting a minority of the committee on railroads, made a minority report in which they recommended what was called the "Doud amendment," or the Granger clause of that bill, in which they provided as set out in the answer: "that the company accepting the provisions of this act was at all times to be subject to legislative control." I will give you the very language of the amendment as it now appears in the law, so you may get the idea fully. [Reads.] "The company accepting the provisions of this act shall at all times be subject to such rules, regulations and rates of tariff for transportation of freight and passengers as may from time to time be enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa." The minority of the committee recommended that amendment, and it was adopted; and it was the only amendment that ever was adopted by the legislature.

We will prove to you, gentlemen, that a forgery was committed, and the following words interpolated into that bill: "But the non-acceptance by the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company of this act shall not prevent all the foregoing provisions thereof from having the same operation and effect as if the same had been accepted by said company;" and we will prove to you that these words were agreed upon between Mr. Kasson and the railroad company's attorney, in a private room in the Savery House, and that he agreed to put them in the bill, and the attorney testifies that the provision escaped criticism. And this is the second charge: We charge him with so manipulating that bill as purposely to defeat the will of the legislature. That he did it fraudulently, and that he did it corruptly will be proved to you beyond a doubt; that this charge was made, honestly believing it to be true, in order that the people of this congressional district might know the character of the man that was asking for their suffrages. After he voted against Wilson's amendment, and failed to honestly defeat it, we are prepared to show that by an agreement between him and the general attorney of the road, he undertook to get this nullifying clause into the bill, and that he did get it in the bill, and that he did not get it there by the vote of the house.

Mr. Barcroft: You do claim that you have any such allegation in your answer?

Mr. Nourse: I claim that what we charge Kasson with was that he manipulated that proviso through the legislature, and we propose to prove it. We propose to prove that it came from him and originated with him. We may have other evidence on this point more full and complete that it is not necessary now to take the time to detail.

The third specification, gentlemen, relates to the vote of Mr. Kasson and his conduct with reference to the C., R.I. & P.R.R. Co. And here, fortunately, I can say to you that we are not without direct and satisfactory testimony. We thought that we could prove that he had taken money on both sides from both parties in the case, but we haven't succeeded fully. We have evidence, however, of this state of facts: That Mr. Kasson in the early part of that session voted for a bill that had for its purpose and object the helping of Tracy, who was then the president of the road, to retain his power and his place as president, and to complete the road from here to Council Bluffs; that a bill for that purpose was passed in the early part of the session and approved on the 11th of February, and that Mr. Kasson voted for it. Thus far all was right. It will further appear by the evidence that the legislature had a recess of a few weeks after that, and that Kasson disappeared from here and turned up in Wall street, New York; that he was found in conference with the men connected with the Northwestern Railroad and who had bought up the stock of the Rock Island road, with a view of obtaining control of it, who were anxious to secure the repeal of the Tracy bill. We will prove to you that Kasson promised these men his influence to have that bill repealed; that he came back to Des Moines and was in conference with them, promising them his aid, that he subsequently changed his mind and abandoned them, that they didn't succeed; and that Mr. Tracy out of sheer gratitude, as Kasson claims, offered him five hundred dollars in money; that he (Kasson) took the money, but stipulated that it should be called a retainer.

In his own deposition Kasson swears he got the money. But he says he didn't get the money until after the legislature adjourned, and when it was offered to him as a present, he said he couldn't accept of it unless it was offered to him as a retainer; and that Mr. B. F. Allen, who offered him the money, went away and came back again, and said that he could take it as a retainer; and that he supposed that Allen had seen Mr. Tracy. This is the way Kasson gets out of this. We will prove to you by Mr. Tracy that he never had retained Mr. Kasson, or authorized anybody else to retain him for the company; that he never requested Kasson to perform any professional services for that road; that he never performed any professional services for the road, and that he had been out of the practice of the law for years. It will further appear in evidence that Mr. Kasson has not practiced law since 1860; that this attempt to make it a retainer is simply a subterfuge to cover up the taking of pay for his services in the legislature, to a railroad corporation. Now, this all came to the knowledge of these defendants, and they proposed, in good faith, to publish to the community the facts in regard to Mr. Kasson's conduct. It is said by plaintiff's attorney that they will show to you that the Clarksons were the personal enemies of Mr. Kasson. I will say to you, gentlemen, that it is not true, and that I don't believe they will prove it; I don't believe in this community they can prove a thing that is not true. On the contrary, the Clarksons never had any personal or political difficulty with Mr. Kasson whatever. Every motive on earth that could induce men to act through favoritism was upon the other side of the question.