BENCH AND BAR -- REMINISCENCES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES*
* By Hon. George N. Dale

      Of the early history of the Bench and Bar of Essex county, little is known except by tradition. The impressions of the early forensic days of Essex county are made only by rough and imperfect tales of those times. The people were uncouth and rough as a rule, but brave and generous, enterprising and intelligent, and occasionally a brilliant intellect shone forth even brighter than a “good deed in a naughty world." The men who stand above all the rest, so as to be clearly distinguished from them, are seen quite distinctly. Men like General Seth CUSHMAN are of that class. He died in 1840, and was one of the most cultivated as well as naturally elegant men the county ever produced. He possessed a vivacity and magnetism which gave him almost absolute control over those around him. Possessing a handsome figure; expressive and genial face, full of benevolence and good will; most polished manners and military accomplishments, and universally acknowledged to be the best dancer, and the most eloquent man the people of this section had ever seen or heard. He was a model type of the old school gentleman in manners and public decorum. No man can be found who ever heard him utter an indelicate word, or can testify to any irregularities in regard to intoxicants, and yet it was terribly unfortunate that his magnetic temperament had such controlling influence over others. Whatever he fancied he possessed. He was swift and dashing in the chase, and if the game were fleet he did not yield, but overcame by circumvention all obstacles. He was delicate, sensitive, very sympathetic, but persistent, and in some respects as brave as a lion, though his bravery more resembled the panther, for it was exhibited in desperate dashes. Wonderful stories are told of him. One of his aids tells of him that while at general muster his commands could be heard for more than half a mile. So many incredible stories are told of him that it gives one the impression that he was a remarkable man. The writer asked an old citizen if he could give any good idea or description of his persuasive powers, and he said that CUSHMAN owed him a sum of borrowed money, and had put him off until he was completely angry. He went to his office to get it, and began to berate the General for his failure to respond with the money, as well as his infidelity to his agreement, and accused him of falsehood, when the quiet and inoffensively acquiescing manner of the General began to embarrass him, and when he yielded the floor; the General surrounded him with his difficulties and financial embarrassments, and so completely showed that they were unavoidable and purely the result of misfortune, and so bedewed them with tears, that the angry creditor lent him twenty dollars more, and felt happy in escaping further embarrassment by terminating the interview. 

      In the early days of the Essex county bar, litigation was the prominent ambition as well to suitors as members of the bar, and a victory over an opponent was filled with personal honors in the estimation of the times; and such cases as MORGAN vs. HOUSTON, and DOWNER vs. AUSTIN, filled the minds of those days with ideas of bravery and skill. Litigation furnished entertainment to the people, and was a safety valve to the passions and opportunities of ambitious advocates. It brought men face to face, in hand to hand encounters, where were exhibited a great variety of intense feeling, from the most pleasant passion to the bitterest and most lasting. So that the in tensest passion, as well as his own ambition, spurred the advocate to struggle with all his resources for mastery; but while this trained him to exercise and utilize his fullest means, it placed a temporary, and sometimes contemptible, victory above other and more worthy considerations. For so new and isolated a place as Essex county, its bar was polished to an extent more than could be expected, because the most refined gentlemen of the state were accustomed to come there on professional engagements; and the natives very quickly imitated their manners, and profited by the public exercise of their learning, The bar of Essex county has always been noted for its vigor and industry. The very circumstances under which lawyers have always been placed there have cultivated vigorous lives and thought, and an indomitable will.

      Among the strongest and most characteristic men who were identified with the bench and bar of this county, and perhaps the central figure, stands Judge Luke P. POLAND. He is one of the most dignified and imposing in physical appearance, and a man of great common sense and vigor of thought: He was absolute in his discipline, and yet of the most genial nature, and when in court he commanded absolute respect.

      Out of court his intercourse with all was free and easy, and sometimes quite familiar. To illustrate: One Colonel J. D. STODDARD, a lawyer from an adjoining county, had been subjected to sever discipline in court during the day, and had been sharply rebuked. On the adjournment of court he hired a team and invited the Judge to ride into New Hampshire. Crossing the line he said: “Now, Mr. POLAND, we are in New Hampshire, whither I have brought you for the purpose of telling you what I think of the cursed rulings you made today, and your treatment of me." At another time a vain local orator had been boasting of the great speech he had made in the campaign.  Just after this a waggish lawyer met Judge POLAND, and said, "How is the election going?  “All right," replied the Judge, "Mr. ?? has made one of the greatest speeches that has been made during the campaign.” “What proof of it? " inquired the wag. "Proof! proof! , said the Judge, "It requires no proof, he admits it." At one time Judge Timothy REDFIELD, who was then a practicing lawyer before Judge POLAND, had been urging the continuance of a cause. The opposing lawyer replied, making, as REDFIELD thought, some extravagant statements, to which REDFIELD began to reply. Judge POLAND remarked that the court understood all about that. The council still persisted saying, '"I was about to suggest  -- ” when he was interrupted with great severity. After a pause he repeated, '"I was about to suggest?" then catching the dark eye and severe frown of the Judge, he added quietly “that the discussion is now closed.”

      Judge James BARRETT was another of the state judges who held the Essex county courts considerably, and was distinguished by some very remarkable characteristics. He was one of the best lawyers the state of Vermont ever produced -- of sterling integrity, absolute independence, and of great vigor of thought. His discipline in court was sometimes criticized for its severity. If it had been characterized by less directness and personality at times, and had been equally severe and accompanied with courtly manners, it would have been better received and done more good; but as it was it was very valuable. Sometimes in his hasty rebukes he met his match. At one time a lawyer by the name of BROWN was reading a familiar principle from Blackstone. The Judge remarked, "you need not trouble the court with reading that." But the lawyer persisted, and the Judge stopped him and said, "the court is familiar with that principle; you have no occasion to read that for the instruction of this court." Then Brown, quick as thought, replied, "I am not reading it for the instruction of the court, but to see what the law is myself.”

      Among the vigorous judges who were accustomed to hold court in this county were Judge Asahel PECK, who was remarkable as a close lawyer and a disciplinarian in court. Mr. MAY says of him: "There was sense as well as humor in the charge of Vermont's great lawyer, in the suit of BATES and wife vs. CILLEY, 47 Vt., when the jury was told “if Mrs. BATES was bitten, as she testified, she would be pretty likely to know it at the time. It would be pretty likely to make an impression on her mind that she would remember". The lawyer inquired of the judge in this case what had been done with plaintiffs motion for certified execution against the owner of the dog? The reply was, "it was overruled." "Why?" asked the counsel. "Because," replied the judge, with a merry twinkle in his eye, "the dog was not made a party."

      Among the early judges of this county were Daniel DANA and Isaac F. REDFIELD, the former having been the first judge of the county court about the beginning of the century, and stands very prominent in the memory of the people of Essex county. He was the grandfather of Mrs. John DEWEY, and of Mrs. David H. BEATTIE. Judge I. F. REDFIELD held the courts in the vicinity of forty years later, and his brother, Timothy P. REDFIELD, still later. The REDFIELDs were distinguished by quiet, courtly and dignified manners, and did much to mould the manners of the Essex county bar. About 1857 Judge Asa O. ALDIS held the courts occasionally. He was one of Vermont's most brilliant and accomplished judges. Among the more recent judges are John PROUT, H. Henry POWRS, Jonathan ROSS, B. H. STEELE and John W. ROWELL. Judge PROUT is a very quiet man, deeply learned in the law, direct, positive and unswerving. Judge POWERS is one of the readiest men I ever saw on the bench. He possesses great resources, and they are available on the instant. Judge ROWELL is marked by his absolute independence, and his studious habits; and, although young on the bench, his future is regarded as very promising. Among the judges who held our courts, perhaps the most clearly identified with the people since the days of Judge POLAND are judges ROSS and STEELE. Judge STEELE was a man who presided at ease, and was very patient in his investigations. He listened to the presentations of all questions with interest, and was condescending, even kind and forbearing, to the younger and weaker members of the bar. He disposed of the questions presented with such promptness, care and accuracy, as to dispel all the fears and anxieties of his friends. On the bench he always acted with confidence and promptness, but never with insolence. His education, his ability, literary taste, and his accuracy of expression, made him at once an ornament to the bench. Through his fine style of writing his opinions were conveyed to a pleased public. He carried with him on the bench one trait so prominent before -- that of denouncing fraud or falsehood and in the first case in which he delivered an opinion, this crops out: A Mr. G. had placed his son with one P. until he should become twenty-one years of age. The son when, seventeen enlisted in the U. S. service. P. procured the minor to make his will by which he bequeathed all his property to Lucy S. P., and made P. administrator, who presented the will for probate, representing that the testator was of age, etc. P. and his wife fraudulently concealed from the young man's father all knowledge of the son's enlistment, death, or probate of the will, until it was too late for him to appeal. Upon these facts, among other things, Judge STEELE said: "The soldier went to the front and soon died, at Port Hudson. His father, who was his heir-at-law, knew neither of his enlistment nor his death, until after P. had procured the will to be probated. "Taking all the facts together, we are satisfied that witholding from the probate court all knowledge of this material fact was willful and for a corrupt purpose, and the probate procured thereby was a fraud on the heir-at-law, from which the legatee should derive no advantage," His quick, pat manner .of illustrating the truth or falsity of a legal proposition went with him onto the bench. In a case to recover the town bounty, the soldier was credited to the defendant town, and it was contended that a substitute, or man to fill the quota, was not like property which would form a consideration on which to found a promise. The judge said "this credit the plaintiff could pass to any town he liked. It was property, and a kind of property which in those days had a well recognized market value, commanded quick sales, and was the subject of no inconsiderable traffic. Presiding in county court he preserved order, disciplined the bar, disposed of old cases, made all orders with care, and made them effectual. The judge may conceive correctly a legal idea, but when he states it the statement may not be correct law. If his idea were correct his statement followed it accurately, and when he had announced incorrect propositions to the jury there was no doubt about what he did state. The statement of what he charged the jury was clear and definite, so that if he committed an error it was apparent, giving opportunity to have it reformed in the supreme court. He dissolved the fears of his friends by laying aside "that ardor and zeal which he had been accustomed to bestow upon one side of a case, and sat in the middle of it, weighing each side of it as impartially as though it had been his life work. If the facts of a case are strongly in favor of either party, to instruct a jury in a logical manner might look as though the judge were charging in favor of that party. A true statement of such a case is often mistaken for partiality; but so independently would he reason upon abstract propositions, and then apply them to the case, that he would satisfy the party that if the case seemed to veer in his hands it was impelled by the facts in it. On the bench as at the bar, his toil, like that of his associates, was immense. He worked, and read and grew fast in the confidence of the people. Five years he had been developing the judge, increasing each year the pride, confidence and respect of his friends, who had come to think that the state had acquired in him a judge who would serve with great credit to himself and honor to the state many long years, when suddenly he announced his resignation, in consequence of having been connected with the legal management of an immense estate, in the life-time of his wife's father, the care of which now demanded his entire attention. He was regarded as one of the most brilliant lights in the state; but in the midst of his fast growing fame he began suddenly to decline, and died in 1873.

      In this connection it occurs to the writer that there was associated with Judge STEELE a part of the time that he held the Essex county courts a man of very marked characteristics - the Hon. David H. BEATTIE. He is of Scotch descent, and possesses great tenacity of purpose, and is a man of immense will and energy. He married a daughter of the first judge of the Essex county courts. He has always been engaged extensively in the lumbering business. He was an efficient sheriff for a great many years, is now judge of probate, and although the duties of the assistant judges (there being two or them) do not require that they should be particularly learned in the law, yet such was Judge BEATTIE's experience, observation and reading that he could discuss with candor and ability any legal question which might come before the court; and in respect to these he acted with entire and absolute independence. In one case in which the plaintiff claimed he was injured by stepping onto a defective step on an engine, and that he was induced to do by a signal, or semaphore, being set the wrong way through the intoxication of an employee, whose habits the company knew or might have known, it was contended by the defendant railway company that the setting of the semaphore was the remote and not the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injury. Judge BEATTIE contended that the plaintiff ought to recover, and discussed with the presiding judge with great zeal and ability the intricate questions involved. He was overruled, judgement rendered for the defendants, exceptions taken, and the case was twice argued before the full bench, and the judgement below finally sustained by only one majority. He is quite as prominent in the bar and bench of Essex county as any other man.

      I speak of Judge Jonathan ROSS only in his connection with the Bench and Bar of Essex county. A full biographical sketch of him will be found elsewhere. He commenced the practice of his profession at St. Johnsbury, in the spring of 1856. He soon gained a large practice, which extended into Essex county, where he was engaged in several important cases. He prepared his cases with care, managed and presented them to the jury with clearness and ability. On his election as judge, in 1870, he was assigned to hold the county court of Essex county, and continued to hold it a larger part of the time to within a few years.

      My impressions of Judge ROSS as a judge are that his discipline in court might sometimes seem lax, but this grows out of his kindness of heart. Do not mistake me, -- not out of his fear of criticism, for he possesses no fear on the bench. He possesses no idea of policy. As I look at him he has no friendships that he carries on to the bench. He is very kind and sympathizing in his nature, is unswerving in his ideas and states the case to the jury, as he understands it, in logical form. Whenever a colloquy takes place between him and a member of the bar he never takes advantage of his position, but has a pleasant way of keeping the attorney's mind right on the subject and causing him to forget himself and the judge in the abstraction. In his instructions to the jury he presents the case clearly, concisely and completely, and in plain, clean English, and in practical form, never undertaking to confuse the jury by foreign or ambiguous language which might show the judge's learning and cloud the minds of the jury. I mean that he does not lumber it with legal phrases nor confuse the jury with too nice distinctions; but tells them in plain, simple language the effect on the case of their finding given facts. He does not argue the case, but states it. He always interests the jury and inspires them with confidence. He divides and simplifies the case so that the jury can see a branch at a time, then groups them all so they can see the case as a whole. He encourages special findings of the jury as much as possible, so that if error is claimed the supreme court can see whether the defeated party was seeking to remedy an injury or to get a new trial. I think we will go far before we find a judge to aid a jury more than he does; but speaking in the midst of unbounded friendship and admiration for the man, but true to history, the writer sometimes wishes that to his discipline in court was added the severity of a PECK or a BARRETT, stripped, of course, of their petulancy. Judge ROSS is very prompt. He never leaves the work of a term unfinished. He is never behind in his opinions. His industry has enabled him to supply his storehouse with knowledge of the law so as to be able to meet any demands upon him. His life is pure beyond suspicion, and he is a devoted and consistent Christian.

      Hon. William HEYWOOD was born at Lunenburgh, Vt., October 6, 1804, and his early life was spent amid influences which were calculated to cultivate in his young mind the sternest virtues and the utmost simplicity of manners, and out of which came a plain, strong mind, filled with the broadest common sense. In those days the Concord academy was the leading and most available institution of learning in the vicinity, and in it Mr. HEYWOOD acquired such academical education as an usual course afforded. But he utilized all there was of it, and assimilated it to his own practical ideas as he went along, so that he came from the school with more than the strength that is usually born of education. He went to the study of the law not moved by accidental circumstances, but seemingly as a matter of course, reading at first with Judge Charles DAVIS, at Waterford and Danville, and later with Judge William A. FLETCHER, in Detroit, Michigan. Returning to Vermont he was admitted to the bar at Guildhall, at the September term of 1831, where he commenced a business which neither in amount nor length of duration has ever been equalled in the county. So entirely did he become absorbed in the practice of his profession that he became the most exclusive lawyer I ever met. I do not mean to say that he was oblivious to the current events of. the day, for he was thoroughly posted on matters in general, especially in politics, in which he always was and is an intense Democrat. But his mind was so occupied in professional labors that he even lost sight of a just compensation for them and came through his immense labors gleaning for himself just what his necessities compelled him to. He moved from Guildhall in 1854, and from there to Lancaster, N. H., in March, 1856, whither business followed and crowded upon him. In cases he was felt rather than known. The bluster and arrogance of identifying himself with the success of a case was unknown to him, and if it had not been, his modesty would have despised any enjoyment in them. I might illustrate some of Mr. HEYWOOD's work by enumerating a long line of cases, including the murder case of State vs. ALLEN, but it would add nothing to the importance of a work so extensive. He is undemonstrative in manner, but his language is of that grave and peculiarly suggestive style that it attracts attention and is quite impressive. It has the force of brevity and directness, and his ideas are winged with words so well selected that he seldom inappropriately burdens an idea with a word, or a word with an idea it is not adapted to convey. He is quite hasty in temper, but no temper was ever exhibited in human nature with so little malice in it. Whenever it comes to him it comes like a flash of lightning. But any spirit of anger is dismissed as quickly as it appears, and so quickly does the effect of its presence pass away as to be a sharp rebuke to its coming, and make such passion look absurd and ridiculous. His is the skill born of native strength. His logic is born of his mental impulses, and has more the strength of nature than the force of art.

      In his marital relations he was peculiarly fortunate, having married Miss Susan HIBBARD, a daughter of the late Hon. David HIBBARD of Concord, Vermont, a lady remarkably modest, yet possessing great strength of character and kindness of heart. By her he had three sons (the second son, Edward, died at the age of seven months,) and a daughter, Isabel. The oldest son is now associated with him in business. The younger went into the late war and did pot survive it. The daughter is still living. Mr. HEYWOOD was a member of the second and third sessions of the Vermont state Senate and was state's attorney for Essex county for fifteen years. In physical appearance he is of medium height and size, prominent features -- a very imposing countenance --- grave in appearance, even to solemnity or sadness, but through which flashes of humor occasionally burst as unexpectedly as lightning from a cloudless sky. His is the exterior of a man moulded in an iron age, beneath which beats a heart as tender as a woman's. He was not only among the founders of the Vermont state government, but he was of them. He is a devoted and consistent member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and in his private character his morals are above suspicion. He still lives, at the age of more than eighty-two years, a fit type of the simple grandeur of those olden times, with mental faculties clear, vigorous and strong. May he long remain a fit emblem and reminder of those days and associations we so much revere.

      Henry HEYWOOD, son of William, was born at Guildhall, Vt., December 6, 1835. He had the example, suggestions and many of the characteristics of his father. He early attended the academy at Lancaster, N. H., and graduated at the Chandler school in 1855. He commenced the practice of law at Guildhall, in 1862, having been admitted to the bar at the March term, 1860, of the Essex county court. He was state's attorney in and for that county for two years. In 1869 he removed to Lancaster, Coos county, N. H., his father having previously removed to that place. He was county solicitor in that county during the years 1874 and 1875. On opening an office at Guildhall he soon had a large clientage, and soon was in the most important cases in the county. He did a large business, and, unlike his father, he made it available in respect to his financial condition. He is a very moderate man, but has accomplished much more work than men of his age will average. He is a student, and has confined himself so closely to his books and his work, that he has grown prematurely old. A close, thorough and profound reasoner in respect to the law, has earned him much respect for his legal attainments. He married Miss Kate R. HUBBARD, of Springfield, Vt., and to them was born a son, William H. HEYWOOD, in February, 1868, who is now in the office with his father and grandfather, the office now being represented by three generations. 

     Hon. William H. HARTSHORN was born in Lunenburgh, Vt., February 10, 1819. He was educated at the common schools in Lunenburgh, and at the Essex county Grammar school, at Guildhall. He came to Guildhall to live May 2, 1842. He studied law with Hon. William HEYWOOD, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. He was an officer in the state legislature in 1857, '58 and '59, senator in 1854 and '55, assistant clerk of the House in 1857, representative in 1858-59 and 1878. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1870, and was county clerk from 1848 to 1863; judge of probate from 1866 to 1878; register of probate two years, and postmaster from 1861 to 1878. He was elected town clerk in 1863, which office he now holds, and was first assistant judge of the county court in 1885 and '86. He married, June 22, 1842, Miss Delia L. CUTLER, only daughter of Deacon Erastus CUTLER, of Guildhall, who bore him three children, viz.: Delia A., born April 29, 1846, now the wife of E. F. PALMER, Esq., of Waterbury, reporter of the supreme court; Clara M., born August 3, 1849, married J. M. POOLE, of Gray, Me; and Charles E., born September 27, 1854, now married, and who owns and is proprietor of the Essex House at Guildhall. In 1856 the writer became acquainted with Mr. HARTSHORN, who was then thirty-seven years of age. He found him a stirring, active, enthusiastic man -- a man who was awake to all the opportunities which surrounded him. He read law the required time, and was admitted to practice in the courts; but having been appointed county clerk, and constantly continuing in that office for so many years, he seldom appeared as attorney in court, notwithstanding his active nature and his combativeness in defending his position when occasion required. He did not court the collisions of the bar, but rather shrank from them. As a legislator he was active, industrious, keen and sagacious, and almost always accomplished his purposes and the designs of his constituents. He was busily engaged all his life in political tilts, and even now, at the age of nearly seventy years, he enters into political matters with all the zest and enthusiasm that he possessed at forty. When he left the county clerk's office he went into trade, and was fairly successful. He then purchased the Essex House, now kept by his son, in Guildhall. In view of his marital relations, and the young life that surrounds him, it seems that he may be regarded as a fortunate old man, who has achieved sufficient success to have no occasion to rail at fortune. He has been, and probably is, the most universally known man and a man who has been identified with more of the details of the county than any other man now living. 

      The Hon. Henry C. BATES was born in Derby, January 29,1843, of parents who were rich in probity but limited in respect to property. Being enterprising, they gave the boy all the advantages at hand, which were confined to the district school, until later he attended Derby academy. The writer is told that he had a keen appetite for study, and made much of his time in the academy. He entered the law office of Hon. J. E. DICKERMAN, at Charleston, in 1863, and remained there until July, 1864, at which time he enlisted as a private soldier, and served in the defenses of Washington until June 1865, when the war closed, and he received an honorable discharge. Returning, he entered the law office of EDWARDS & DICKERMAN and remained there until December, 1866, when he was admitted to practice as an attorney, in the Orleans county courts. He taught school until April, 1867 and then commenced practicing at Wheelock, in Caledonia county, whence he removed to West Concord and remained about six months; then went to Groveton, N. H., and remained until the fall of 1869; thence to Guildhall, from which place he went to St. Johnsbury in October, 1873, where he now resides. He was census enumerator for Essex county in 1880-82, was state's attorney in that county, and in 1886 was elected senator from Caledonia county. In the Senate Mr. BATES soon rose to become one of its leaders. He was elected president pro tem., and as a presiding officer was a clear, accomplished and usually cool worker. He originated many of the most important measures of the session. In March, 1866, he married Laura E. JENNESS, of Charleston, Vt. His father, Lewis C. BATES, was a merchant in early life, but having commenced farming in 1850, the boyhood of our subject was spent on a farm, which, although depriving him of many educational advantages, laid the foundation for a strong and vigorous man, and a will that in the end overcame all obstacles. His seemingly nomadic habits in early life, which were more the result of circumstances and accident than any want of stability, brought him in contact with human nature in all its varied forms, and his struggles from place to place had much to do with that strength of character into which he afterward settled. Having formed a partnership with Elisha MAY, in 1882, he settled down to work in good earnest, and with the aid of one of the most studious of partners, he is enjoying a reputation among the very best lawyers of the state. In his marital relations he was fortunate and unfortunate -- fortunate in possessing a woman who was amiable and kind, but whose infirm health has made one more obstacle to encounter, for until recently his means were, from the circumstances of his life, somewhat limited. He is a man of medium height, determined almost to willfulness, plucky, fair but very decisive, sarcastic, but never to bitterness. He is naturally popular, with respectable surroundings, and those who know him predict for him a bright and prosperous future.

      Hon. Franklin D. HALE was born at Barnet, Vt., March 7, 1854, where he lived with his parents until he was two years of age, when they moved with him to Concord Vt., where he resided for nine years, attending the district schools and living and doing as a boy is accustomed to do on a farm. When he was eleven years old he removed with his parents to Lunenburgh, where he attended the district schools and was engaged somewhat as a teacher. Desirous of greater advantages he went away to the Northfield high school and to the St. Johnbury academy. While at Northfield, having selected his life work, he commenced reading law, in connection with his studies at school, with A. R. SAVAGE. When he had completed his purposes in these schools he went to Colebrook, N. H., taught school there, and continued his reading of the law. In 1875, '76 and '77 he was in training for the law at the Michigan university. Having studiously and industriously improved all the opportunities he could make available for educational purposes, at the age of twenty-three he began to read law in the office of HUTCHINSON & SAVAGE, at Lewiston, Maine, where he remained as a student for six months. He then entered the firm of HUTCHINSON, SAVAGE & HALE, where he practiced for two years. From there he went into the west and spent a year. Returning to Lunenburgh he engaged in farming and law practice. He married Miss Addie L. S. SILSBY, daughter of Hon. Levi SILSBY, November 2, 1881. His father, Sprague T. HALE, and his mother, Nancy (MOULTON) HALE, having a thrifty farm and being comfortably located, the subject of this sketch was naturally quite contented to assist the old people, because it gave him a situation corresponding, of course, to a farmer's life, but which was, nevertheless, a condition of as absolute independence as wealth would produce. His integrity, candor, studious and regular habits soon attracted the attention of those around him. They called him to act as superintendent of schools in 1882, '83 and '84, as selectman in 1884, '85 and '86, together with other positions of trust. In 1884 he was elected town representative. He held the office of state's attorney from July, 1883, until December, 1886. He was elected county senator in 1886. As state's attorney he performed the duties of his office with candor and care, without radicalism, and without any attempt at creating personal sensation, but steadily, firmly and quietly did his duty. As a representative he was quiet and unobtrusive, made few speeches, but what he did make were regarded as candid and thoughtful. As a senator he originated several measures, and having acquired more confidence was more enterprising in his movements, and soon took good rank and was a useful man, not only in the care of his constituents' local interests, but he participated largely in the general legislation of the state. He is yet a young man, and it is impossible to write much of his life, for the historian cannot write that which has not occurred; but it may be safely predicted that his life will be a consistent and happy one with the promise of much success before the public. 

      Hon. David S. STORRS, son of Aaron and Elizabeth (SMITH) STORRS, was born in Randolph, Vt., December 4, 1834, and was educated in the public schools; Orange County Grammar school, at Randolph, and the Kimball Union academy at Meriden, N. H. He spent two years teaching in New Hampshire, and then studied law in the offices of Lyman C. CHANDLER, of Rockaway, N. J., the Hon. Philander PERRIN, of Randolph, Vt., and Col. R. C. BENTON, of Hyde Park, Vt. He practiced law a little over a year, at Wolcott, Vt., but the circumstances surrounding him were unsatisfactory, and in June, 1861, he received an appointment as deputy collector of customs at Island Pond, Vt. In connection with the duties of this office he read and practiced law somewhat until April, 1864, when he resumed the practice of his profession and devoted his entire time to it. He was elected state's attorney for Essex county in 1864, and received re-elections until 1868; was representative for the town of Brighton in 1874, and was state senator in 1876; was judge of probate from 1880 to 1884, was town clerk of Brighton from 1866 to 1872, and has held nearly or quite all the other town offices. He married Sarah A. ROBINSON, September 17, 1863, by whom he has two children, Carl R. and George E.  Judge STORRS, as he is always called, has some peculiar and remarkable traits of character. He is a man of decision even to willfulness, and is entirely independent. He is a man of strong natural talents, and quite a combative disposition, although he is genial and capable of much tenacity in friendship. He enjoys fun, and the common people are free to joke with him. To illustrate: An old Irish gentleman approached him one day and said, "Would ye be afther lettin' my Jimmy read law wid ye?" "Well," said Judge STORRS, "I will do anything I can to accommodate you. Is he sufficiently educated?"  "Wal, I don't know," says the Irishman, "but he has the makin's of a lawyer in him." "How is that?" asked the Judge. “Wal sir, he can lie, chate and steal like the devil." As an office lawyer Judge STORRS has no superior, although he shrinks somewhat from the collisions of the bar. As a judge of probate he exercised sound discretion and gave universal satisfaction. As a legislator he did not originate so much as he criticised; but in his way was very efficient. He is a retiring man, and I imagine conceives a distaste, to a certain extent, for the active practice of the law. Some years since he bought him a farm and retired to it, and has since devoted most of his attention to its cultivation. Many old clients followed him into his retirement and would occasionally pull him out to assist them, relying on his good judgment and practical common sense to give them the assistance and information which they needed. He is among the prominent memories of Essex county, identified very largely with its interests, an ardent Republican, active in politics, and will be long remembered by the people of the county. 

      Col. Z. M. MANSUR was born in Morgan, Vt., November 23, 1843, was educated at the district school, and when seventeen years of age taught school, and by great industry and perseverance mastered the. English branches of education and those things which are the most useful in the common walks of life. August 17, 1862, when but eighteen years of age, he enlisted and served three years in Company K, l0th Vt. Vols., as corporal; was through all the battles of the Army of the Potomac in 1864, down to September 19. When at Opuquan Creek, Va., he lost his right arm. He was sent to the Montpelier hospital, and as soon as his wound was healed, and while a soldier, attended the Washington county grammar school six months. He was discharged in the fall of 1865 and taught school during the winter and summer of 1866, and attended the Derby academy during the fall of that year. January 17, 1867, he was appointed inspector of customs at the port of Island Pond. February 17, of that year, he resigned that office to accept the position of postmaster at the same place, which he held until November 10, 1885. He studied law with George N. DALE from 1870 to 1874, and was admitted to practice in Essex county at the March term of 1874. He was elected to the general assembly from Brighton in 1886, during which he received from Governor ORMSBEE the appointment of colonel on his staff. He is now entering upon his duties as state's attorney for the county of Essex; to which he has been elected for the two years ensuing. Although his active life has hardly begun, yet for a young man there are many interesting things connected with the beginning of his career. He came back from the army with an empty sleeve, and in a situation concerning which Charles CARPENTER, one of Vermont's poets, says: --

      There were dependent upon him others for whom he manfully fought. Being a man of perfect courage, he fought as bravely "in the peaceful walks of life" as he had in the army. One day he was talking with a legal gentleman and expressing gloomy anticipations for the future, and deprecating direful allusions to the situation in which he would be placed, together with those dependent upon him, when by any political changes he should be thrown upon only his left arm for support. His friend said, "go into the office and read law and be ready for them." The young man was thunderstruck, and replied that his education was insufficient; but at last he concluded to try it, and so he began to study law. He commenced by making imaginary pleadings, and read industriously during the time required, at the end of which he passed what was regarded as an excellent examination, and commenced the practice of the law in connection with his duties as postmaster, which at once fixed him upon a solid financial basis. He soon gained the confidence of the community and acted in various positions of trust and confidence, being at one time administrator of nearly every estate in the vicinity. And so he worked on with energy, until by change of administration he was invited to resign his office as postmaster, being an " offensive partisan," whereupon the people of the town of Brighton immediately elected him as representative to the general assembly, where he at once took high rank and became identified with many of the leading measures, was chairman of one of the most important committees, was a member of the judiciary committee, and did some plucky debating. Having married Miss Ellen S. NEWHALL, by whom he has two children, a son, Arthur G., aged fifteen, and a daughter, Mabel S., whose age is seventeen, his surroundings are all that a man might reasonably expect. He is a man of thorough convictions, undoubted courage in defending them, perfect integrity, and most faithful in his friendships; and is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church. This is the impression he gives the writer, who would be pleased to describe his whole career, but can only anticipate a very successful future for him. 

      I would gladly write of the Hon. Reuben C. BENTON, a son of Samuel S. and Esther P. BENTON, but he passed beyond my view in about twelve months after I came to the county. I have been told that he was born at Waterford, Vt., November 28, 1802. He was the oldest child of a family of twelve children, eleven of whom lived to be men and women, one of the grandest circumstances which can attend one's lineage. He was educated in the common schools and at the Concord academy, which was then in charge of the Rev. Samuel Reed HALL, one of the finest old school teachers and man that the state of Vermont ever produced. Mr. BENTON taught school winters for a number of years. He married Almira FLETCHER, of Haverhill, N. H., about 1828. He bought a small farm in St. Johnsbury and went to farming and trading in cattle and sheep for some four years. He then bought and lived on a farm in Waterford until 1840, when he removed to Lunenburgh. Here his education and business capacity were such as to invite those in the vicinity to ask him to do conveyancing, and then to act as attorney in the local courts; and so he went on farming, conveyancing and practicing law, and reading, until 1851, when he had got many suits to bring to the county court and was admitted to practice in that court, and soon after in the supreme court. His business increased rapidly and he continued the practice of the law until his death, October 13th, 1857. He was county surveyor for Caledonia county for a number of years; representative of Lunenburgh in the legislature; was sheriff of Essex county in 1854 and '55, and conducted the celebrated trial of State vs. Mrs. Abigail ALLEN for the murder of Mrs. LURVEY, the only trial for murder ever held in Essex county. He had four children, two sons and two daughters -- Col. R. C. BENTON, of Minneapolis, and C. H. BENTON, Esq., of the same place, who are now among the leading lawyers of Minneapolis. The oldest daughter, Almira, married a Mr. ROBINSON, editor of the Stanstead Journal. The other, Mary Esther, married a Mr. LELAND, and died at Johnson, Vt., in October, 1885. Mr. Benton came to the bar because of his strong and vigorous intellect, his capacity to do business, and the want of legal men in the community in which he lived. He told the writer at one time that he came to the bar involuntarily and before he scarcely knew it. He was a bold, fearless man, a man of vigor and push, of that type which commands the quick confidence of the people and of that character which will retain it. As a legislator he was prominent and known by all. He grew fast in his profession and in the confidence of his clients and constituency; but in the midst of his usefulness, and during the last year of his senatorial term, he was suddenly taken sick, and after a brief illness died. In form and figure he was of the physical type of the late Senator ANTHONY, of Rhode Island. His speaking, too, resembled somewhat his style. When the writer first came to Essex county he was the central figure at the bar. Not so much, perhaps, the father of the bar as "Father HEYWOOD," but more imposing, and yet with all this he was a most genial man, fond of anecdotes, and would enliven the dullest group instantaneously. He enjoyed a joke even at his own expense. The last time I saw him I rode with him from Irasburgh supreme court, and among other anecdotes on the ride he related one concerning himself with great merriment. He said his son Reuben was driving a yoke of oxen, attached to a cart, through a gateway, and ran a wheel on to one of the gate posts and knocked it over. Whereupon he exclaimed impatiently to his son, "there, you jackass, why didn't you knock down the other post? " The son stopped, and, looking at his father, with a merry twinkle in his eye, pleasantly replied, "nothing but a mule, father." His vigorous work, his enterprising spirit, and his social intercourse with the community, were such that when he died it was as if a tall oak had fallen down among the smaller trees and the twigs and staddles around it. 

      Hon. Charles E. BENTON, brother of Reuben C., was the youngest child of a family of twelve children. He was born at Waterford, Vt., December 11, 1825, and born of one of those families who are living in perpetual rebuke to those couples who fail to raise large families except for reasons beyond their control. He lived at home until about twenty-one years of age, had the advantages of a common school education, and attended the St. Johnsbury and Lancaster academies two terms. Being of naturally strong make, vigorous mentally and physically, he drank heartily and with a keen appetite at the fountains of learning such as spring from our mountain sides, but which sometimes scantily supply us all. He came to Guildhall April 5, 1860, bought a large and productive farm on the Connecticut river, and carried it on until March 16, 1866, at which time, from various causes, the county desired a county clerk, and was unable to find one that seemed to suit all parties. Mr. BENTON was solicited to accept the office; but having a fine farm well stocked, and being comfortably surrounded, and having settled down into a condition of contentment, he at first declined, but at last consented to accept the office. 

      He disposed of his farm and moved to the village about the first of January, 1868, where he has since resided. Soon after Mr. BENTON's removal to the village, Mr. BATES, the last of the line of lawyers who had resided there moved away, and the town was left with no regular practicing lawyer. So, in addition to his office as clerk, he was soon called upon to do local law business, to do general town business, and finally to do miscellaneous business such as an efficient man under such circumstances would naturally be called upon to do. He has filled nearly, or quite, all of the town offices. He represented the town in 1866 and 1867, was senator in 1874 and 1875, and has been clerk of the courts since 1865. He was a member of the Republican state committee for ten years. He married Adda CHAMBERLIN, daughter of Abner and Mary CHAMBERLIN, at Newbury, Vt., October 21, 1856. They have had three children -- Charles A., Everett C. and Jay B., the first of whom died in 1877. The second has just published a neat little history of the town of Guildhall, to which the writer is indebted for the data from which he makes this and some other sketches. The subject of this sketch has, for the last few years, been very prominent in the politics of the state and county. He is an active man, and of that energy which is characteristic of the family. He is amply able to defend himself and his friends in any emergency, and is shrewd enough not to be circumvented by the arts which always surround a man in public life. He came to the bar four or five years after he moved to Guildhall; but owing to his position as clerk, he has never appeared in the higher courts as an attorney. When driven to defend himself or a client in the local courts, he does it with marked sagacity, much spirit and determination, and with absolute courage and confidence in his cause. He is a man of marked characteristics in respect to these and other qualities, and has exerted no inconsiderable influence upon the Bench and Bar of this county. 

      There are some old practitionors at the bar of Essex county, but in its early days there were few resident lawyers, and the business was pretty much absorbed by lawyers from New Hampshire, and from the adjoining counties in Vermont. One David HIBBARD, of Concord, in very early times, was a man of great vigor of thought, and, although not a remarkably learned man, yet one who laid the foundations of a legal character, and cultivated those characteristics which have marked his descendants both in Vermont and New Hampshire, and made the name famous in this locality for its legal tendencies. I would write particularly of him, but am unable to give the data. 

      There are several modern members of the bar, the particulars of whose lives I am unable to procure, and as I am compelled to close this sketch, I can only refer to them. George W, HARTSHORN, of Canaan, is a man whose life is filled with incidents enough to deserve an extended sketch, but I am unable to procure the means to make it. He was formerly clerk of the Orleans county court; has filled most of the local offices since he has resided in Canaan, and has been state's attorney for several years. He is a ready, fluent speaker, an active politician, and has been, for a great many years, very intimately connected with the leading interests of Essex county. 

      Oscar F. HARVEY, of West Concord, is a man of most determined will, the closest application, and the most untiring industry. He delves with desperate energy to get at the bottom facts and principles in a case, and yet he is very quiet undemonstrative and retiring, and makes no pretensions to oratory, but in a quiet way exhibits no inconsiderable skill in presenting his case. He has held many offices of trust, including that of state's attorney for the county, for several years. This last office was also held for several years by Albro F. NICHOLS, who formerly resided at West Concord, now a resident of St, Johnsbury. He is a polished and gentlemanly man, a man of the finest type, and, although young, is fast growing in his profession. 

      I might speak of others, but when I get beyond the line of my immediate associates, I fear I speak unintelligently, and perhaps unprofitably and tediously. 

      Henry W. LUND, Esq. was born at Granby, October 11, 1854. He was educated in the common schools and at the St. Johsbury academy, read law in the offices of George W. HARTSHORN, of Canaan, and Henry C, BATES, of St, Johnsbury, and was admitted to practice in the Essex courts at the March term of 1881. He was married May 29, 1880, to Carrie V. JONES, daughter of Dr. S. P. JONES, of Canaan, On his admission to the bar he located at Canaan, where he has since been engaged in the practice of the law. He is a young man, and is located in a beautiful village on the Connecticut, and in every way is fortunately surrounded to enjoy life. To a man of moderate ambitions the country affords business enough to satisfy, although it is some- what remote from the main currents, Mr. LUND is an outspoken Democrat. He lives in a town where the majority are against his political convictions, and therefore he has occupied few political positions, He seems to have a higher ambition than that of indulging in political squabbles. One of the tendencies of his mind grows out of his having been compelled to support himself during his school days, which he did largely by being engaged in teaching. His interest in education, and his zeal in carrying forward the means of education, attract the attention of those around him, and he has acted as town superintendent of schools several times, and is now chairman of the board of school directors. 

      Among the prominent lawyers who occasionally came from adjoining counties to attend the Essex county courts, and who made things interesting and lively during the first days that the writer spent at that bar, were the Hon. John L. EDWARDS, Hon. Jerry E. DICKERMAN, Gen. S. W. SLADE, Edward A. CAHOON, Hon. George W. CAHOON, and later George C. CAHOON, who is now a regular attendant upon the courts, and such men as the Hon. Thomas BARTLETT, from Lyndon, Vt., and Barns and Fletcher, Judge W. S. LADD, Hon. Jacob BENTON and S. W. COOPER, RAY, DREW & JORDAN, Judge George A. BINGHAM, and Edgar ALDRICH, all from New Hampshire. 

      Of Gen. SLADE I have no information except as I remember his appearance about thirty years ago at court. He was a bold, dashing, and very vigorous and able man; imperious even to defiance, and a very effective lawyer. 

      Edward A. CAHOON is a candid, delicate and sensitive man, always cool, and of very fine literary tastes. He addressed the jury in such pure English, and in a style so admirably simple, as to always please the jury and excite their admiration. Even an illiterate juryman, although he might not understand why, would see that his argument in logic, language and style was in the purest taste. His physical system was as delicate and sensitive as he was mentally, and he died quite early in life, amid the regret of his friends that they could not be permitted to see into what he would have developed had he been permitted to live to a ripe age.

      Geo. W. CAHOON was a man of very studious habits and a large amount of legal attainment, and was one of the most plodding and industrious men that ever visited our county. On a matter involving the examination of records, like the investigation of a land title, or the evidence of the residence of a town pauper, he never tired. He was not brilliant as an advocate, though he was master of his cases, and especially of that class of cases to which I have alluded. His son, George C. CAHOON, is very like him in almost every respect, and is a man whom we are always pleased to see at the courts. Perhaps not more genial than was his father in his younger days, but more so than at the time I knew his father. 

      Of the next three of whom I have spoken, I have a description which in the waiting hours of a term at court I gave to the editor of the Essex County Herald, which he has kindly permitted me to attach hereto, and which is as follows: --

      As I sit in the deepening twilight in the Guildhall of to-day, I hear the remark that “the court is awfully dull, and Guildhall is not what it used to be."I am surprised to hear such remark, because from where we are sitting the eye wanders easily from the improved public buildings around over those neat dwellings (which have taken in almost every instance the place of old, dingy rookeries) to the river on which are situated lively little manufactories almost entirely unknown to the Guildhall of the past. A large amount of work has been done without flirt or flutter, under the direction of the quiet and able Judge ROWELL at this term. But I do not wonder that the people think that courts under the reference system have degenerated. I think myself that the system breeds inertia, and if cases are too much disposed of lazily and among favorites, a return to the jury will be the only escape. The jury must be kept on hand after all as a means of safety. No, sir; when I look on the present days of Essex county courts, I see they have not the vim and zest of former times, when the plausible Edwards seriously recommended a fine of $5.00 be imposed on a class of criminals for grave though fashionable offenses, "and in very aggravated cases it might be $10.00." 

      There is no end to those little incidents from those days when every place was so full of court folks that even "Hind" could not be put up for the night. Hotels and private houses were crowded. A throng of restless, lively lawyers hurried and bustled about looking after parties and witnesses, and gathered in groups and rooms to prepare for the coming trial. Every where the highest enthusiasm was manifested in a frank and familiar intercourse and a zeal born of generous rivalry. Lawyers entered into jury tilts with an excitement akin to that which fired an ancient Briton for a tournament. I love to catch a glimpse of those good old days ere they pass away forever. 

      In this vision of the past are three who have somewhat distinguishing characteristics from the rest. One is Hiram A. FLETCHER, a man of small physical stature, full of quaint expressions, a complete traveling digest of the decisions of the courts. Sharp, witty and sarcastic, yet withal a true and warm hearted friend. He was a man of great resources, and an untiring worker. The order and regularity with which he kept his papers was remarkable. So well arranged was his business that he could go to his files and get his papers as well years after cases were ended as while they were pending. His words were at times cutting, but he dealt generally in pleasant ridicule. In the trial of the officers of a town charged with procuring themselves elected fifteen minutes before the time appointed for the meeting, he defended on the ground that the respondents did not interfere with any town meeting because they did none of the acts charged during the time appointed for the town meeting, but before. He convulsed the court with a humorous description of a political meeting which the prosecuting attorney attended by mistake the day before it was appointed, and found the old red school-house locked and the keyhole carried off, and also described the improvised meeting, the politician's address, and so illustrated and ridiculed the charges against the respondents as to turn the tide completely in their favor and secure an acquittal. Another time he was defending a client against a charge of murder. The prosecution introduced as a witness, a pert young miss who submitted patiently and willingly to the examination in chief, but when turned over for cross-examination she straightened up, tossed her head disdainfully, and placed her delicate, half-concealed number five slipper in the most favorable position for observation as much as to say, "Now come on Mr. Fletcher," and he did, with the query, "How old are you, Miss?"  "I shall be just eighteen years old the twentieth day of next November, if nothing happens." "How old will you be then if something does happen?" be retorted, quick as thought. The witness became instantly submissive and respectful. At another time he was defending a corporation against the claim of an individual who was represented by a bright, sharp and enthusiastic attorney who was very confident at first of success, but who, beginning to see that the tide was against him, made a desperate dash to capture the jury. FLETCHER very happily chaffed him on his discomfiture, and closed as follows: 

      Yes, Fletcher was a genial man and lively, and when he went away we sadly missed him. 

      In this school of men who are gone, or nearly all gone, I see in memory another form towering above all the rest; tall -- over six feet in physical statute -- prominent lips, yet so compressed as to indicate great determination of purpose, and the keenest realization of the most trying emergency and a willingness to meet it. Thomas BARTLETT was a man of that kind of swarthy complexion which, with long neglected hair, beard and habit, would suggest desperation, but with his well shaved face, nicely trimmed hair, and neat, and, when circumstances would permit, rich dress, it gave him an air very distinguished and dignified. In voice, action and thought he was bold, frank and at times terribly defiant. He was as tender hearted, sensitive, and sympathetic as a girl, and his palsied leg and arm were as eloquent as the rich tones of his heavy yet pathetic voice, especially when defending the weak and abused. At the same time he had an unmeasured contempt for meanness, and could hate the man indulging in it with a hate that was more than a hate, against which, whenever and wherever personated, his voice rose as a terrific storm in terrible invective. His style was at times extravagant, but he was capable of the closest and clearest expressed logic. His analytical style of reasoning was almost a wonder, replete with unexpected pictures and startling illustrations, racy, and filled with bursts of thrilling eloquence. To example imperfect and faintly remembered instances: He was prosecuting a travelling circus which traveled, advertised, and in every way held itself out as Sears &. Co.'s circus, for so negligently putting up seats that plaintiff fell and was injured. The defendants claimed that the circus belonged to a Mr. FAXON, of Liverpool, and that he alone was responsible. Said the advocate: “Gentlemen, I have a dog, and a mean cur he is too. He comes when I whistle. He goes when I say 'ste-boy.' He follows me wherever I go. T. Bartlett is marked on his collar. I am out with him on a day and he ravenously attacks my neighbor's sheep. I am called on for damages. I reply, ‘Sir, my name is on the collar of that cur. He goes when I say 'ste-boy,' comes when I whistle, follows me and is under my direction entirely, but I can't pay you; that dog belongs to Mr. FAXON of Liverpool!”  Then followed some half dozen more illustrations as pat as this one, only the dim outlines of which I have reproduced here, completely overwhelming the defense and winning a verdict for the plaintiff. 

      He was solicited by a young and inexperienced attorney to assist in the defense of a poor widow whom two rich plaintiffs had got involved in the technicalities of the law. He concluded somewhat as follows: “In conclusion, gentlemen, I am here at the solicitation of my young brother without scrip and without price. I told him I would charge nothing. I reconsider. I will charge, and I ask him here and now to promise to discharge the obligation. It is this: When my now shattered form shall be laid in the tomb, my lips sealed with death, my voice silent in the grave, my wife set upon by legal robbers armed with the technicalities of the law, and he is standing by with ripened experience and a warm heart, I ask him to walk as boldly to her defense and with as pitying a heart as I have struggled with the defense of this poor woman." Then lifting up his palsied arm with the hand of the other, and turning to his young associate, he added, with terrible emphasis,  “Will you do it?” His exact words cannot be reproduced, nor his manner described, but many eyes were dimmed. There was no noise in that court- room. Defending the case of an old man against a charge of assault and battery in which plaintiff claimed defendant had produced a hernia, the proof of which failed, the plaintiff's attorney begged in his argument for damages for a common assault and said: "We do not demand a million of money from this old man, give us fair, reasonable damages." The defendant was a perfect picture of very neat poverty. Mr. BARTLETT commenced his address somewhat as follows: "Gentlemen of the jury, I knew my brother R? when a boy. He was a magnanimous boy. I see him ripening into a wonderfully magnanimous man. But to-day he has capped the climax of his magnanimity. He says he don't demand a million of money from my client. Good God! gentlemen of the jury, if he should demand and recover at your hands a million of money from my poor old client it would reduce him to comparative want. It would seriously interfere with his annual rents and profits." No one can describe Mr. BARTLETT; he was possessed of such spontaneity, such vivid imagination, warm social qualities, generous sympathies, tender heartedness and lion like makeup, mentally and physically. His life created interesting incidents enough to fill a volume. But he is gone, and the sun never set on a sadder day to his personal friends than that on which he died, nor did eternal night ever close down upon a life which was succeeded by a more lonely stillness. 

      I see coming through nearly thirty years another in this picture. Through all that time shines the lusture of a gifted and noble manhood. The space he filled presents nothing but pleasant recollections of William BURNS. As I see him, he was kind, courteous, and exceedingly pleasant, but he was not tame by any means. His sarcasm and invective were as keen as any blade that ever glistened in our little circle. As a public speaker, especially in discussing political subjects, in his palmiest days, I thought him without a superior in this section of the country. As a lawyer he excelled. He was apt in the technology of law, not remarkably proficient alone in specialties and wanting in other respects, but he had a general variety and well selected stock of information, to which was added a broad, practical common sense, which made him an efficient and useful man. He excelled, of course, as an advocate. His style was elegant, simple and sublime (for sublimity is almost always simple in literature) almost as Dickens, and resembled the purity of an Addison. He often indulged in ironical language, but it was such pure irony, and was so completely manufactured out of materials of his case as to seldom subject him to just criticism, or leave any lasting sting behind. As a practitioner he was a model. He was a gallant man. He had not the keen scintillating wit of a FLETCHER, nor the strong, comprehensive though unadorned style of a HEYWOOD, nor even yet the dashing, overwhelming and torrent-like style of a BARTLETT, but he had such a blending and pleasantly arranged parts of them all as to constitute a most consistent man. Many years since (as we count them in the life of a man) Mr. BURNS was severely injured by a collision of railway trains, yet he was still very graceful, and so managed his deformity that I used to think it added to, rather than took from, the effect of his most brilliant efforts. The influence of his charity and kind consideration for others I shall feel as long as I live. His life was and is constantly saying to us -- 

      Judge LADD is said to have added as much to the discipline of the bar as most any man who is accustomed to visit our court. He is a very hard working man, one who goes to the bottom of every case; who looks candidly on both sides, and this candor and industry has enabled him to acquire such learning in the law as to suggest him, above all others, as one of the judges of the supreme court of New Hampshire. The bar is much indebted to him for his example, his studious and careful preparation of every case, and, although hesitating in his manner, and pretending to no oratory, the presentation of his cases are models for imitation. 

      Hon. Jacob BENTON is a man who was early identified with the practice in this county. He is a very tall man, of commanding presence, and in every way calculated to do anything he undertakes with great decision and confidence --  confidence in himself as well as in his cause. He was regarded while in congress as the leading man in his section, and perhaps the strongest debater, and has contributed very largely to the enterprise and discipline of the bar in this county. 

      Hon. Saunders W. COOPER was originally from Vermont, but spent his riper years at Lancaster, N. H. He belonged to a very large and enterprising family, of whom Jesse COOPER, a celebrated lawyer, was one, and Judge J. W. COOPER, formerly a judge of our courts, now living in Colebrook, was another. Saunders W. was a delicate, fine grained man, and, if I may use the expression, his mentality was of the tenor order. He exercised a clear and clean manner of talking. It was of a thrilling style, partaking sometimes of the passionate. To illustrate his influence in his argument: After he had got to be almost beyond the capacity to practice, and had a physical affliction which compelled him to make his arguments while sitting, the writer had occasion to sit as auditor in a case in which he conducted the defense. It was agreed that the decision of the auditor should be final, and no appeal should be taken from it to the courts, or rather exceptions taken from it to the judge. Mr. COOPER began his argument and, although there was no possible view that could be taken of the case on which he could prevail, and this was evident at the close of the evidence, yet he began his argument and soon, although he favorably impressed no one with the merits of his cause, still the auditor became so intensely interested in his style and manner of presenting his case that the opposing council, noticing it, revoked the agreement by which the auditor's decision was to be final. From what I learn of him in manner and in style and in many respects, he resembled very much General Seth CUSHMAN. Possibly he may have acquired some of his qualities by imitation, for he was a young man when CUSHMAN was in his prime. 

      In latter days perhaps the Hon. Ossian RAY has been the most extensively identified with the practice in this county of any man coming in from outside of it. And up to the time he went to Congress, in 1881, he was doing a very lucrative business in connection with the other member of his firm. He is a lawyer by nature, cultivation, taste and work. He enjoys the collisions of the bar. He enters into the discussions of legal propositions with the keenest zest. He engages in political controversies in behalf of others with untiring zeal and commendable courage. He is an ardent devotee to his profession and never wanders from it. He took the office of county solicitor because it was on his way and merely incidental to the practice of his profession. He accepted the office of district attorney because his friends saw his peculiar fitness for it and urged it upon him, He is an impetuous man, impulsive and generous, and most keenly alive to all that is going on about him. In short, he is a live man, and has added much to the impulsive and passionate strifes and work of the bar. 

      Major Irving W. DREW is a man of that type which can be clearly distinguished from most of the other men who have visited our county, Elegance of style in the advocate is generally born not of effeminacy, but of delicate physique. And tender and delicate passions and sentiments do not usually originate in very masculine natures, and yet this man possesses the tenderest sympathies of a woman, the finest and most delicate literary taste, and the keenest sensitiveness, and is very susceptible to that enthusiasm which grows out of his surroundings; and at the same time is a man more than ordinarily robust, with great strength and activity, strong physical impulses, and capable of great endurance, Combined with these qualities to which I have alluded he is very tenacious in his friendships, He is extremely popular; has been in the state Senate; and the people of Essex county join heartily with the people across the river in the highest anticipations for his future. 

      Hon. Chester B. JORDAN is a man that one always likes to meet. A man of education, an accomplished penman, and in every way a thorough business man, and when the hours of labor are over one of the best story tellers that you can meet. His connection with the courts in this county is mostly in the preparation of cases, in which he is remarkably skillful. He seems not to have much appetite for public speaking, but when driven to it acquits himself well. I have heard him make one or two efforts which would do credit to any man at the bar, and as a business man he is the equal of anyone who ever attended our court. He has done much by his pleasant ways and keen wit to enliven the toils of the court for a good many years last past. 

      Hon. George A. BINGHAM, of Littleton, N. H. was one of the stirring lawyers who attended the Essex county courts until about 1880, when he was elected judge of the New Hampshire courts, He is a man of nice legal perceptions, capable of fine distinctions, and absolutely tireless in his investigation of a case. He is quiet and affable when not in action, but when engaged quite aggressive. In examining a witness he sometimes pursued him with relentless fury. He seldom, but at times, met his match. Judge BINGHAM has a clear, transparent complexion, and a very bright but pleasant eye. His head is bald, and the "clearing" is quite a prominent feature. One time he was examining an apparently dull witness, and trying to have him state out of which barn he took a quantity of hay. The witness evaded him, At last the counsel asked. "Was it from the old or new barn?" " I don't know as I ever examined the two barns so as to see which was the oldest," drawled the witness. "Well, then, will you tell us how old the barn was from which you took the hay?" The witness instantly brightened and with an inimitable drollery of manner replied, "It was 'bout as old as yeau, an' needed shinglin' 'bout as bad." The effect of this upon the subsequent proceedings can be imagined only by those having experience. 

      Of the younger lawyers who attend our courts is the Hon. Edgar ALDRICH, late speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. He is a young man who is growing very rapidly in his profession. A man of good mind and who goes as deep into the hidden matters of the law as any man of his age. A man of intense application, great capacity to develop the propositions in a case, and makes a most forcible statement of them. 

      Among the pleasant visitors at this bar, and one which I may not omit, because he was born and raised in Essex county is Harry BLODGETT. An artful, ingenious, and industrious young lawyer, and who in criminal matters is getting to make it quite interesting. 

     There are two young lawyers from Caledonia county who have taken a very active part in the Essex courts. One of them is the Hon. Henry C. BELDEN, who, under the most adverse circumstances, with a little help from the late Mr. BARTLETT came to the bar. Having made great proficiency in his profession he established himself in business and soon became identified with the work in the Essex county courts. He held several intermediate offices, became senator from Caledonia county, and soon became the Benjamin F. BUTLER of the Senate. He worked with enterprising energy and went into popularity and success in his business with remarkable rapidity. When quite young his health failed him and he went to Minneapolis, where he is improved in health and doing a flourishing business. 

      Perhaps the most versatile among the modern lawyers who visit us is Elisha MAY, of St. Johnsbury. A young man of racy, restless mind, a man of extensive information and general reading, with a keen appetite for the law. 

      Among the older members of the bar was a bright lawyer by the name of Joseph BERRY. He began his career about the beginning of this century, and was chief judge of the court somewhere in the twenties. He was a member of the Governor's council a great number of years, and was state's attorney some eight or ten years. 

      Still later came the Hon. John S. WELLS, who is said to have been a very skillful lawyer; but of this class of men I may not speak much, because they were before my day, and I have no data in which I can place any confidence. 

      I only know of MATTOCKS that he was great in the estimation of the times. He was familiarly called "Jack Mattocks," and after his election as governor he was addressed as Governor MATTOCKS. An anecdote is related of him which seems to illustrate what is said of him by older people, that he was always ready for any emergency. It is told of him that on the very last day of the year, the governor being on a journey spent the night at the hospitable house of a friend. On the morning of New Year's day, as he was bathing and preparing for breakfast, he unfortunately leaned against a door at the head of the stairs leading down to the kitchen. The door gave way and the maids of the household, while busy preparing the morning meal, were astonished, to see, rolling and tumbling into their presence, a chubby, fat old gentleman in a most unpresentable attire. But in this hour of dismay the Governor's ready wit came promptly to his aid; for politely exclaiming, "Ladies, I wish you all a happy New Year," he hastened back to his toilet. 

      Ex-Lieut.-Gov. George N. DALE was born at Fairfax, Vt., February 19, 1834, and lived in Waitsfield from six months to twenty-one years of age. He was educated scantily in the common schools and attended Thetford academy two or three years, during which time his limited means compelled him to pursue only those branches which he regarded most necessary and beneficial in the practice of law, which profession, very early in life, he had determined to follow. He read law during the time required in the office of Messrs. DILLINGHAM & DURANT, at Waterbury. He was admitted to practice at the March term, 1856, of the Washington county court. In December of the same year he borrowed money to defray his expenses and came to Guildhall. Here he formed a partnership with Hon. William H. HARTSHORN, which continued about two years. He soon became very much attached to the place and the people, and did a growing business until 1861, being state's attorney most of the time. He was elected representative from Guildhall in the legislature in 1860 for the purpose of opposing the dismemberment of the county and took part in the memorable session of April, 1861. In June of the same year he was appointed Deputy collector of customs; and took charge of the port of Island Pond, which position he held until 1866, when he was elected to the state Senate, to which he was reelected in 1867,1868 and 1869. In the year 1870 he was elected lieut.-governor, and in 1871, he was reappointed deputy collector of the port of Island Pond, which position he resigned in 1882. In November 1885, he was elected president of the Vermont Bar Association. On the election of Judge STEELE, in 1866, Mr. Dale was substituted for Judge STEELE in the firm of STEELE & ROBINSON, under the name of DALE & ROBINSON, having offices at Derby Line and Barton. Soon after he formed a partnership with B. F. D. CARPENTER, Esq., having an office at West Charleston, and continued in connection with them for several years, having his office at Island Pond, where he now resides, and is regarded as one of the ablest lawyers now living and in active practice of the law in the state. He married, October 19, 1864 Miss Helen M. HINMAN, of West Charleston, a daughter of the late Judge Porter HINMAN, by whom he has three children, viz.: Porter HINMAN, born March 1, 1867, who is now in the office with his father; Helen Inez, born May 6, 1872, and Mary Lettie, born March 22, 1883. He is a thorough student in his profession, never satisfied  until he has searched all the authorities, always taking a broad and tenable view of every case, true as steel to his clients interests, and has a large capacity for arranging in his mind all the circumstances and evidences in a case, and to discern the turning point. Combined with his deep bass voice and fine physical appearance, which carries with it an air of true dignity, is a manner always pleasing and effective, especially when addressing the jury. The writer chanced one day to overhear the following remark in the courtroom: "When he arose to address the jury I could read nothing but the very soul of conviction in those deep black eyes, and I knew the case was his." He is honest in his practice with his brethren at the bar, a firm friend, and always generous to his foes. He appears at his best in the supreme court where he stands in the front rank. He has a remarkable power to state, without verbosity, a legal proposition so it can be most clearly understood, and at the same time carry with it a great weight. He is a man of independent mind, and could never learn the use of policy. He looks upon all the world alike, giving much respect to the good and sensible of all classes. To the rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, he is the same generous friend through prosperity and adversity. Anything which has an air of vulgarity or of pomposity about it is hateful to him. He reads poetry as naturally as he does prose, and after the labor of the day he loves the sentiment of a good poem which teaches -- 

      George W. HARTSHORN was born in Lunenburgh, Vt., September 5, 1827, son of Colburn and Elizabeth (FAY) HARTSHORN. He was the tenth in a family of twelve children -- all sons. He fitted at Guildhall and Lancaster academies, graduated from Dartmouth college, class of' ‘48, and went to Camden, N. J., as a teacher, where he was connected with the West Jerseyman, a newspaper, and took part in politics as a public speaker. In 1850 he returned to Vermont, and has since resided in the state. He published the Orleans County Gazette, at Irasburg, from July, 1854, to June, 1856, and was county clerk of Orleans county. In 1857 he was appointed collector of customs at Canaan, and located in this town, where he also engaged in law practice, having been admitted to the bar in 1853. He was collector of customs fifteen years, and has been postmaster eleven years, representative from Canaan in 1858-59, state's attorney about four years, town clerk several years, first selectman, and town superintendent of schools, and has held other offices. He married, in 1851, Alice M. BEAN, of Kirby, has one daughter, Mrs. Agnes H. JOHNSON, of Canaan. His wife died April 13, 1884. 
 
 
 

Transcribed and provided by Tom Dunn, 2003.

Source: 
Gazetteer of Caledonia and Essex, Counties, VT., 1764-1887,
Compiled and Published by Hamilton Child; May 1887, Pages 5-124.