Teller County CO Archives Biographies.....Montgomery, Benjamin 1935 - none ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/co/cofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Alice Alln allen.alice@gmail.com February 4, 2009, 1:14 am Author: Encyclopedia of Colorado: History of Colorado Benjamin F. Mongtomery One of the most commanding figures in Colorado politics is Col. B. F. Montgomery, formerly of Denver and in recent years one of the ablest attorneys at the Cripple Creek bar. He may be also characterized as one of the most active citicens of Colorado in all affairs affecting the economic welfare of the State. Colonel Montgomery was born in Ohio in 1835 and is descended directly from the old Colonial stock. He graduated from the Ashland, Ohio, University, and, his parents being poor, he worked and taught school, alternately, to obtain the means with which to finish his education. While teaching he read law, and having completed his course, was admitted to the bar in 1857 on application to the Supreme Court of Ohio. He immediately commenced practice at London, Madison county, Ohio, where he married Miss Edith Riddle and removed to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, in 1860, where he remained eight years in the practice of his profession and made a State reputation as a trial lawyer. In the fall of 1866 Colonel Montgomery entered the arena of politics where he has ever since been a prominent and active combatant in behalf of the Democratic party, though in his public service unbiased by partisan policy. In 1866 he was the Democratic nominee for the State Senate from La Crosse county, Wisconsin, and though running largely ahead of his ticket, was beated by Hon. Angus Cameron, later United States Senator from Wisconsin. In 1868 he went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, as attorney for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company and later connected with several railway corporations as attorney, residing in that place ten years. In 1870 he was the Democratic nominee for Congress from the Sixth District of Iowa, against Frank W. Palmer, later of Chicago. In 1876 he was Democratic candidate for State Senator, but Iowa was a strong Republican State and he was again defeated, though he led his ticket by five hundred votes. He was four successive times member of the National Democratic Conventions from Iowa--1864 to 1876 inclusive. In 1876 he was appointed a member of the Notification Committee from Iowa. For several years Colonel Montgomery was editor of the "Council Bluffs Daily Times," and in that capacity as well as on the stump rendered valient service for the Democratic party, proving himself a terse, forceful writer and equally effective as a speaker. In November, 1878, he came to Colorado on a tour of recreation and readily discoverd the opportunityes which induced him to remain. He first became interested in valuable mining property near Silver Cliff and was soon thereafter employed in the celebrated mining case of Hunter vs. Rorich, et. al., known as the Bull-Domingo suit. This case was contested in court under cover of revolvers, while out of court the judge, attorneys and witnesses were menaced by large bodies of armed men on either side. In June, 1879, a decree was rendered in favor of Colonel Montgomery's clients, affirming an appeal to the Supreme Court. In this, his first notable contest, the ability and courage displayed by Colonel Montgomery gave him an enviable reputation as a lawyer and a representative man, and this reputation he has well maintained. For fourteen years Colonel Montgomery was a resident of Denver, where as a general practitioner he was known as one of the most active attorneys at the bar of the city and State. Since 1894 he has made his home in Cripple Creek, but his time is divided between that city, Colorado Springs, Denver, and the mining camps where he is frequently called in important mining litigation or matters of public concern. In the latter respect he has served the two last consecutive terms in the State Legislature, while at all general conventions or gatherings of the representative people for political purposes of the industrial advancement of the State or the community in which he lives, his presence and his intelligent, effective work is called into requisition and relied upon. Casting his fortunes with that of the great gold camp he was soon recognized as one of the leaders of the Democracy in El Paso county, and a leader of the masses, as well. In 1898 Colonel Montgomery was elected to the State Legislature on the Democratic ticket from El Paso county, receiving a large part of the popular vote. During the session he was the originator of a number of bills which became wholesome laws. His m ost distinguised work was in the interest of county division. During the four previous sessions the question of dividing El Paso and placing the Cripple Creek mining district in a new county had waxed into a fierce conflict between the factions, and the proposition had been four times defeated when Colonel Montgomery took up the lance of championship and after a masterful fight, won the victory. By his constituency he was freely accorded credit for his effective work as leader in the movement by which Teller county was created and Cripple Creek became the county seat. In 1900 he was returned to the General Assembly, not only as the Democratic n ominee but by a large vote of the people at large in Teller county, and was elected Speaker of the House. An able lawyer and valiant leader in affairs, Colonel Montgomery is noted as a ready and forceful debater, while as a parliamentarian he has no superior in this State. Hence he has been frequently called to preside upon great occasions. He was chairman of the two Democratic conventions which nominated Governor Adams to his two respective terms as Governor of Colorado, and again was chairman of the Democratic State Convention in 1898. He was elected president of the International Mining Congress which met at Salt Lake in 1898, and in a word it may be said that he is alive to every public interest and is always an enthusiastic and effective particpant. He is a man of remarkable self- possession on the rostrum or before a jury and there are few men whose thoughts flow so vigorously and spontaneously while upon their feet or so effecively control the sentiment of an audience. He has had the rigorous experiences of forty-two years at the bar, in which time, among other things, he has defended no less than twenty-seven murder cases, clearning all but two, and has represented the defendants and won in several mining and other cases involving millions of dollars. He is positive and uncompromising in his views on all questions of the day, and has many warm friends and some bitter enemies, neither of whom, it is said of him by those who know him best, he ever forgets, and is unrelenting in the cause of his clients. Colonel Montgomery has been twice married. His first wife died of typhoid fever in LaCrosse in 1865. She was the mother of two sons: Willis S. and Milton H. Montgomery. The former is a leading attorney and mine opperator of the Cripple Creek district and resides at Colorado Springs. The second marriage was in 1867, to Minnie L. Carpenter of Hutchinson, Kansas. Two sons, Ray C. and Howard H., were born of this marriage who are now students in the Agricultural College at Fort Collins. At this writing (1901) Colonel Montgomery is prominently mentioned for a seat in the National Congress in 1902. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/teller/bios/montgome493gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cofiles/ File size: 7.8 Kb