Clark County IL Archives History - Books .....Chapter IV - Bench Of Clark County 1907
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 July 13, 2008, 1:53 am

Book Title: Historical Encyclopedia Of Illinois And History Of Clark County

CHAPTER IV.
BENCH OF CLARK COUNTY-INCIDENTS THERETO-COMMENTS THEREON-EARLY TRIALS, ETC.

   Clark County sustains a well deserved reputation in Eastern Illinois for the
purity, ability and strength of its local bench and bar.

   The first term of the Circuit Court of Clark County convened at Aurora on
Monday, September 20, 1819, with Thomas C. Browne, the first Circuit Judge,
presiding. The court lasted but part of one day, and its only business was the
approval of the official bonds of William B. Archer, the first Circuit Clerk, of
Isaac Parker, the first Sheriff of the county, and of the Coroner. The first
case tried in the Circuit Court was heard Monday, April 17, 1820, at the second
session, at which Judge Browne still presided, though he retired from office
three days later, on April 20, 1820. In this first case Thomas Wilson was
plaintiff and William B. Archer, executor of the estate of Lewis Bohn, the
father of James Bohn, now a well-to-do and honored citizen of Darwin Township,
was defendant. It was an appeal case from a Justice of the Peace named Charles
Patrick, the first to hold that office in Clark County. There were five cases
docketed at this term of court, though but three of them were disposed of, the
other two going over for future consideration. Rather meager outlook, this, for
the students of Blackstone and Coke and Christy. Petty actions, such as
trespass, appeals, slander, assaults and batteries, affrays, riots and liquor
selling without license largely predominated. Slander cases were of frequent
occurrence in the early days, and resulted, as they usually do now, either in a
verdict of not guilty or in ridiculously small judgments for the plaintiffs, as
per the case of Sarah Coneway vs. George W. Catron. Sarah had brought suit
against Catron for $5,000. The jury found George guilty of slandering Sarah, but
only gave her damages, as a salve for her damaged reputation, of six and a
fourth cents, and that, too, with a man like Joseph Shaw as foreman of the jury.
The writer has not done even that well with his slander cases, for he was the
attorney for the plaintiff in the only two cases for slander begun in our
Circuit Court of Clark County within the past thirty years, and did not get as
much as even six and a fourth cents in both of them. The only case of slander
that ever netted anything worth having in favor of the plaintiff that ever was
tried in Clark County was the case of Miss Malthace Badger vs. James Elam,
reported in the Twenty-third Illinois Supreme Court cases, page 445. This was
one of the most malicious cases ever tried in our Circuit Court, or that has
ever been printed in the Supreme Court Reports of any State. Judge Justin Harlan
was on the bench, and John Scholfield appeared for the plaintiff, the fair
Malthace, while Charles C. Constable appeared for the unfortunate James Elam.
The speech of Scholfield in behalf of the plaintiff is said to have been one of
the most awful pieces of forensic denunciation and excoriation ever heard. Those
who have known and heard John Scholfield before a jury, in any case in which he
was thoroughly aroused, can perhaps imagine the terrific stream of the burning
lava of eloquence, of argument and of invective that he threw into his speech to
the jury. It is said that while it was being delivered Elam stood on the court
house steps, and with tears pouring down his agonized face kept constantly
moaning to those around him, "I am ruined! I am ruined!" The verdict was for
$1,000, and it was sustained by Judge Breese, of the Supreme Court. Judges were
given short terms and small salaries during the first few years of our county
history. The early judges who succeeded Judge Browne were: William Wilson, James
O. Wattles, James Hall and Justin Harlin. Judges Wilson and Harlan had to be
satisfied with short terms of office. Judge Browne held the office from
September, 1819, to April, 1820, less than one year. William Wilson from April,
1820, to May, 1825, a little over five years, as his first term. James O.
Wattles, from May, 1825, to November, 1825, six months; James Hall, from
November, 1825, to May, 1826, six months; James O. Wattles, second term, from
May, 1826, to April, 1827, about one year; William Wilson, second term, from
April, 1827, to April, 1835, eight years; Justin Harlan, from April, 1835, to
October, 1835, six months; Alex F. Grant, from October, 1835, to May, 1836, six
months; Justin Harlan, second term, from May, 1836, to May, 1841, five years;
William Wilson, third term, from May, 1841, to May, 1849, eight years; Justin
Harlan, third term, from May, 1849, to May, 1861, twelve years; Charles
Constable, from May, 1861, to May, 1866, five years; Hiram B. Decius, from 1866,
to 1872, six years; and Oliver L. Davis, from 1872 to 1879, seven years. Judge
Wilson served on the Circuit bench of Clark County seventeen years, while Judge
Harlan served seventeen years and six months, or for a longer period than any
man who has held that position during the eighty-seven years of Clark County's
history. No other Circuit Judge has surpassed him for sterling manhood and
unshakable honesty of purpose, good, hard, common sense, natural legal and
judicial acumen, and unbounded popularity with the bar, the litigant and the
people of the county.

   Charles H. Constable was an honest, upright man, courteous, gentle and manly,
and a capable Judge; but withal as different from Judge Harlan, whom he
succeeded, as it is possible to conceive. Judge Constable was the father-in-law
of Judge Jacob W. Wilkin, the present distinguished Justice of the Supreme Court
of Illinois, and who is, with the single exception of Judge John Scholfield, the
most lovable and popular man that has ever practiced law or presided as a Judge
in Clark County. He married the favorite daughter of Judge Constable for his
first wife, and in giving her into his love and keeping, Judge Constable, who
loved this daughter as he loved his soul, could have well said to the young and
handsome Major just home from an honorable service in the Union Army, as did the
father of Mrs. William McKinley, to young Major William McKinley, afterwards to
be one of our three martyred Presidents, when he asked for the hand of his
beloved and idolized daughter in marriage: "Yes, McKinley, you can have her, but
you are the only man I have ever known, with whom I would be willing to entrust
the happiness of my daughter." Judge Constable held our Circuit Court during the
stormy days of the Civil War, when the skies were crimson from burning homes,
the hills shook with the cannon's boom, and with dying groans. He was a fearless
man, personally, as well as in the discharge of what he conceived to be his
official duties, and an ardent Democrat. At one time while Judge he clashed with
the military authorities of the United States Government, by discharging, on a
writ of habeas corpus, a soldier arrested in Clark County and held by an officer
of the Government as a deserter. This act of Judge Constable angered the
military authorities, and Colonel Henry M. Carrington, with a company of United
States troops, was sent to Marshall to arrest him. This he did, as the Judge sat
upon the Circuit bench in the court house hearing cases. This act aroused the
most intense excitement throughout the county, and provoked the bitterest
feelings among the friends of the Judge. Some wild talk was indulged in, and
steps taken by the enraged friends of the jurist to meet the soldiers at Big
Creek, two miles east of Marshall, on the National Road, who were known to be
marching on Marshall for his arrest. Wiser counsel, including that of Judge
Constable, prevailed, and no resistance was made, the arrest being effected
without opposition. Judge Scholfield, the leading lawyer of Clark County,
accompanied Judge Constable to Terre Haute, where a hearing was had in chambers
before Judge Elisha M. Huntington, of the Federal Court, and Judge Constable
discharged and allowed to return to his home and duties at Marshall.

   Judge Hiram B. Decius, of Cumberland County, who succeeded Judge Constable in
1866, was an honest, conscientious man, but not a great lawyer or a superior
Judge. Oliver L. Davis of Danville, Vermilion County, who took his place in
1872, shared with Judge Harlan and Jacob W. Wilkin the distinction of being one
of the most popular Judges, with both litigant and bar, that has ever occupied
the circuit bench of Clark County. He faithfully, intelligently and
satisfactorily served the people of Clark County as Circuit Judge from 1872 to
1879, a period of seven years, and was succeeded successively by William E.
Nelson, of Decatur, Macon County; Colonel B. Smith and Oliver L. Davis, and
Jacob W. Wilkin, of Marshall, Clark County.

   Judge Wilkin, now dead, was born in Licking County, Ohio, June 7, 1837, and
was the son of Isaac and Sarah Wilkin, who came to Crawford County, Ill., from
Ohio, in 1845. He was a graduate of McKendree College, and in 1860 began to read
law with Judge Constable, his future father-in-law. After the election of Mr.
Constable to the Circuit bench he entered the law office of John Scholfield. He
caught the war fever early, and feeling that his duty to his country was greater
than his duty to Blackstone and Kent, he enlisted as Captain of Company K, One
Hundred and Thirtieth Illinois Infantry, and served until September, 1865, when
he was mustered out as Major of his regiment, and came home. Miss Alice E.
Constable, the beautiful and charming daughter of Judge Constable, was waiting
for him, with the fidelity of long waiting burning in her heart, and the light
of her first and only love shining in her eyes. Jacob did not keep her longer
waiting, for we find that on September 21, 1865, a few days after his returning
feet touched the soil of Marshall, he made her his wife. In January, following,
he was admitted to the bar, and opened a law office in Marshall. He was a
Presidential Elector of the Republican party in 1872, and afterwards a candidate
for Congress against John R. Eden, that stanch old Democratic war-horse of
Sullivan, Moultrie County. Though defeated, he carried this then heavily
Democratic county by about 800 majority. He was beaten when he first ran for
Circcuit Judge by William E. Nelson, but again demonstrated his hold upon the
people and voters of Clark County by defeating his opponent by about 2,500
majority. Judge Wilkin's popularity is not surprising to those who know him as
we know him in Clark County. He was one of the most courteous, kind-hearted,
lovable and popular men, with all kinds and conditions of men and women and
children, that Clark County has ever had the honor to number as one of its
citizens. He was at one time a law partner of Thomas J. Golden, another splendid
lawyer and noble citizen of Clark County, about whom we will have more to say
farther along in this chapter, and afterwards he formed a partnership with John
Scholfield, the greatest lawyer Clark County, and one of the very greatest
lawyers Illinois has ever known. As a man, as a lawyer, as a citizen, or as a
Judge, Judge Scholfield has been equaled by few, if any, and surpassed by none,
in the whole eventful history of Clark County. It was with the law firm of
Scholfield & Wilkin, and afterwards with the firm of Dulaney & Golden, that the
writer pursued his studies of the law before his admission to the practice, and
it is needless to say that their many acts of kindness, of help, of advice, of
admonition, and of encouragement will linger in pleasant memory and be cherished
and appreciated forever by him. Judge Wilkin was a man whose life was gentle,
upright and pure, and one in whom the elements were so mixed that nature can
stand up and say to all the world, "This is a man." He was unanimously reelected
about a year ago for another full term of nine years as an Associate Justice of
the Supreme Court of Illinois. His term would not have expired until 1915, when
he would have been about seventy-eight years old, so that, even if he' had not
died, this probably would have been his last term on the bench of the Supreme
Court of Illinois; but of one thing there is no doubt, and that is that Judge
Jacob W. Wilkin has taken with him to his grave the lasting, sincere and
heart-felt affection of the people of Clark County, regardless of politics,
religion or creed. Judge Wilkin was first elected Circuit Judge June 1, 1S79,
and held the office until June 1, 1888, when he resigned to go upon the bench of
the Supreme Court of Illinois, as an Associate Justice of that distinguished
court. There he met his old preceptor, law partner and life-long friend, Judge
John Scholfield.

   On June 1, 1885, Colonel B. Smith (second term) and James F. Hughes, of
Mattoon, Coles County, were elected Circuit Judges of Clark and other counties,
and when Judge Wilkin resigned in 1888, Edward P. Vail, of Decatur, Macon
County, took his place. On June 1, 1891, Ferdinand Bookwalter, of Danville,
Vermilion County; Edward P. Vail, of Decatur, Macon County; and Francis M.
Wright, now the United States District Judge for this district, of Urbana,
Champaign County, were elected Circuit Judges for this circuit and for Clark
County. On June 18, 1897, Ferdinand Bookwalter, Henry Van Sellar, of Paris,
Edgar County, and Frank K. Dunn, of Charleston, Edgar County, were elected
Circuit Judges for Clark County, and for this district. On September 17, 1902,
Martin W. Thompson, of Danville, Vermilion County, was appointed by Governor
Richard Yates to fill the vacancy as Circuit Judge occasioned by the death of
Judge Bookwalter; and on June 18, 1903, Morton W. Thompson, E. R. E. Kimbrough,
of Danville, Vermilion County, and James W. Craig, of Mattoon, Coles County,
were elected as the three Circuit Judges for this judicial circuit, and for
Clark County. Judge Thompson is a Republican in politics, while Judge Kimbrough
and Judge Craig are Democrats, though the Democracy of Judge Kimbrough is not of
the steadfast and unshakable kind as that of Judge Craig, and he has sometimes
acted independently in politics, and has even, at least upon one notable
occasion, helped to defeat a Democratic National candidate for President. Judges
Kimbrough and Craig are the first Democrats to be elected Circuit Judges in this
district, or for Clark County, since the election of William E. Nelson, in
August, 1877, nearly thirty years ago, and it is not likely that even they could
have been elected in this judicial circuit, composed of Clark, Edgar,
Cumberland, Coles and Vermilion Counties, which have an aggregate Republican
majority of about 4,000, had it not been for the just anger of the Republicans
of Coles County over the defeat of Judge Frank K. Dunn, of Charleston, Coles
County, for re-nomination, and the nomination in his place of Judge Henry Van
Sellar, of Edgar County. Judge Van Sellar had proven a very unsatisfactory
Judge, both to the bar and to the litigants of the district, while Judge Dunn
was universally loved and trusted for his many noble and sterling qualities of
heart and mind. Judge Dunn has just taken the place of Judge Wilkin on the
Illinois Supreme bench. It is needless to say that Judges Kimbrough, Craig and
Thompson are giving the best of satisfaction to the local bars of the several
counties of their district, as well as to all those having judicial business in
their courts. Clark County has been remarkably fortunate in the character,
ability and fitness of her Circuit Judges. From 1819 until the present time, at
least in recent years, but one has failed to come up io the proper judicial
standard, and but one has ever proven himself unworthy of the trust and
confidence of the people of this county. Upon the ability, purity and absolute
honesty of our Circuit Judges rests, in large measure, the present and future
well-being of the property interests and personal safety of the people of this
great and advancing commonwealth of Illinois. The true dignity, importance and
power of our Circuit Judges are not fully realized by all, and it is a fact not
generally known that they are the only civil officers in this country in whose
hands is placed the terrible and dangerous power of life and death.

   The first County Judge of Clark County was Samuel Prevo, who held the office
from 1819 to 1823. Then came Charles Neeley, from 1823 to 1825, followed by
Jacob Harlan from 1825 to 1835, ten years; Uri Manley, 1835 to 1843, eight
years; Stephen Archer, 1843 to 1853, ten years; John Bartlett, 1853 to 1854,
resigned, one year; John Stockwell, 1854 to 1857, three years; William C.
Whitlock, 1857 to 1869, twelve years; William G. Griffith, 1869 to 1873, four
years; Justin Harlan, 1873 to 1877, four years; W. R. Griffith, 1877 to 1882,
four years; Eth Sutton, 1882 to 1886, four years; Henry Gassaway, 1886 to 1894,
eight years; William T. Hollenbeck, 1894 to 1898, four years; J. C. Perdue, 1898
to January, 1902, when he resigned to accept the Marshall Postoffice, to which
he had been appointed. Everett Connelly, appointed by Governor Yates in
February, 1902, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge
Perdue, was elected County Judge in November, 1902. His term of office will
expire in December, 1906, when he will have served four years and ten months as
County Judge. He is not a candidate for re-election, the salary of $500 per year
not being sufficient to induce a man of his ability and faculty for money making
to accept of this office as a gift. Of all these County Judges, Justin Harlan,
who had been Circuit Judge for over seventeen years before his election as
County Judge, in 1873, was probably a man of the best natural legal mind. It is
certain that he made a model County Judge, as he had already made a model
Circuit Judge. Uri Manley and William C. Whitlock were, as was Judge Harlan,
practicing lawyers when elected to the bench. Eth Sutton, though he never
practiced law prior to his election as County Judge, or much afterwards, was a
man of good education, especially along business and clerical lines, a close
student, as well as an indefatigable investigator of the law questions coming up
in his court. He was always honest, conscientious and careful in the decisions,
and made one of the best County Judges Clark County has ever had. Henry
Gassaway, who succeeded Judge Sutton, though not a practicing lawyer, or even
admitted to practice at the time of his election, yet he made a fine reputation
as a Justice of the Peace of Martinsville Township. He studied law and was
admitted to practice before he retired from office, and by his industry,
honesty, devotion to his duties, hard common sense and business ability,
succeeded as one of the four best Judges of recent years. Since his retirement
from the bench he has been in the insurance, banking and other business in
Martinsville, this county, where, by his good morals, gentlemanly deportment and
general good citizenship, he has won the confidence and esteem of all who know
him. He was born in Parke County, Ind., December 4, 1848.

   William T. Hollenbeck made one of the best Judges the county ever had. He is
a man of large experience in legal affairs, and more extensive probate and
chancery practice than any man who has ever been County Judge of Clark County.
He is a man of good general education, has been a close student of business
affairs and of men, has traveled in Europe and elsewhere, and is conservative,
progressive and safe in his law and business affairs. Mr. Hollenbeck is now
about forty-five years old, having been born in York Township, Clark County,
October 18, 1861. In probate, chancery and real-estate law he has few equals,
and no superior, at the bar of Marshall, in recent years, at least. He is a
graduate of the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor,
class of 1892, is a man of considerable property, and prominent in business and
political affairs of Marshall and Clark County and in the Republican party of
the county, of which he is the County Chairman, and of his Congressional,
Judicial and Senatorial Districts, as well as of middle eastern Illinois. He is
a man of energy, conviction and of unusual force of character, and would have
made his mark in any community into which his fortunes might have been cast, as
he has already done in Marshall and in Clark County. While County Judge he was
firm, impartial, fair and usually markedly correct in his rulings and decisions.
He has just been elected as a Representative in the Illinois Legislature from
Clark, Coles and Douglas Counties.

   J. C. Perdue, who succeeded Judge Hollenbeck, was not a lawyer, and his
resignation in 1902 made way for the appointment and subsequent election of
Everett Connelly, who, with Sutton, Gassaway and Hollenbeck, ranks as the four
best Clark County Judges of recent years. At the time of his appointment by
Governor Yates, in February, 1902, Mr. Connelly was one of the youngest, if not
indeed the youngest, County Judges ever elected or appointed in Illinois. He was
born on a farm in Parker Township, Clark County, September 8, 1877, and was
therefore not yet twenty-five years old at the time of his first assumption of
judicial duties. Judge Connelly is a young man of correct personal habits,
extensive research along historic and general literary lines, and thoroughly
familiar with the contents of his large and well selected library. He is a
graduate of the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, is a
public speaker of more than average eloquence and force, and has, by his energy,
industry and thrift, acquired quite a little property. Since the salary of
County Judge has been reduced from $800 to $500 per year, the position could
hardly command the entire time of an incumbent of the office, and Judge Connelly
had to absent himself from his office a good deal to look after other and more
valuable monetary interests. Judge Connelly has a good legal mind, and was
usually correct in his rulings and decisions, but he was severe in his
punishment of certain kinds of misdemeanors, especially the selling, contrary to
law, of intoxicants, for which he required enormous bonds and imposed
exceptionally large fines or lengthy imprisonment. He was never accused of
favoritism or of being controlled by any invidious influences likely to swerve
him from what he may have conceived to be right and proper in the premises.

   Fenton W. Booth, though not a Judge of any Clark County Court, is a Clark
County product, and as one of the five Judges of the great and important Court
of Claims at Washington, D. C, deserves a place with the bench of his native
county. He was born in Marshall, May 12, 1869, and is a little past thirty-seven
years old. He is the son of Lyman Booth, for many years an honored and prominent
merchant of Marshall, and the nephew of the late Newton Booth, once Governor of
California, and United States Senator from that State. Judge Booth was educated
in the common schools of Marshall and at the De Pauw University, at
Green-castle, Ind., and is a graduate of the law department of the University of
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, class of 1892. His church affiliations are Episcopal,
his politics are Republican, and he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Elks
Red Men and Court of Honor. He has been a member of the Illinois Legislature,
and was, until recently, the Chairman of the County Committee of his party. He
was a candidate for Circuit Judge of this district with Thompson, Kimbrough, Van
Sellar, Craig and Decius, at the election for Judges on June 18,1903, and
defeated by twenty-one votes, his first and only defeat. Judge Booth is a man
upon whose birth the good angels smiled, and whom the Goddess of Good Fortune
has been pelting with the choicest flowers ever since. He is a living example of
the truism that often when we think we are cast down, we are to be exalted, and
when we are apparently exalted, we are to be ruined. His defeat for Circuit
Judge, an office lasting only six years, and paying but $3,500 per year,
resulted in elevating him to the still higher and more exalted position of a
Judge of the Court of Claims at Washington, D. C., for the term of his life, and
at a salary of $6,000 per year. He is one of the youngest, if not the youngest,
man that has ever reached membership in that great and important court-a court
that has to do with larger pecuniary interests, and which disposes of more and
larger monetary claims than any other court, National or State, in the Union.
The judgments of this court often run into the millions, and the fees allowed
attorneys practicing before it not infrequently run into the hundreds of
thousands. Judge Booth, before he was appointed Judge of the Court of Claims,
practiced law in Marshall, being a member of the firm of Golden, Scholfield &
Booth, and he was distinctively the fighting trial lawyer of that strong firm.
He is a man of fine personal appearance, pleasing address, is a good writer, and
one of the best and most eloquent speakers Clark County has ever produced. He
has a fine legal mind, is well grounded in the principles of the law, and,
besides, is a man of considerable literary attainments. He is a blood cousin of
Booth Tarkington, the noted writer of Indianapolis, Ind., came by his talent by
inheritance, and has improved it by education and study. He is popular with all
classes, of most excellent personal habits, and devoted to his wife and four
daughters.

   Judge John Scholfield, of Marshall, Clark County, Ill., was one of the
greatest lawyers, one of the greatest Judges, and one of the greatest men that
Clark County ever produced. He was born in a cabin just south of what is now the
city of Martinsville, Clark County, August 1, 1834, of humble but respected
parentage, and passed away at his home in Marshall, Monday, February 13, 1903,
at fifteen minutes after twelve o'clock p. m. Judge Scholfield was an
incarnation of the possibilities that lie in the pathway of every citizen of the
Great Republic. His birth cry echoed against the walls of a cabin and was heard
only by his kindred; his transition, though calm, conscious and painless, evoked
messages of sympathy for his family and friends from the homes of the lofty, and
smote painfully upon the consciousness of millions of his countrymen. Position,
though most often gained by merit, may be an incident or an accident; but to
live in the hearts and affections of the people who knew and loved him, as the
people of Marshall and Clark County knew and loved Judge Scholfield, is to have
lived in sympathy with the people; and no scholarship alone, no eloquence alone,
no judicial attainments alone, no acquired information alone, and Judge
Scholfield had all these, could have won for him the love which even now, after
more than thirteen years from his transition, burns in the hearts and souls of
the people of Clark County, when their minds dwell upon the many private and
public virtues and the many noble qualities of heart and mind of Judge John
Scholfield. The lesson of Judge Scholfield's life lies open for our perusal, and
it is a lesson that may well put hope and encouragement into the humblest and
most poverty-environed heart. John Scholfield lost his mother in 1849, when he
was fifteen years of age, and he went to live with his uncle, Jacob Anderson,
who kept a tavern and a stable on the National Road in Martinsville. He did
general work, such as feeding, currying and hitching horses, and attended the
village school when he could. He was even then a constant reader of good books,
some of which could always be found hid away in the stable loft. In 1851 he
entered the private school conducted by Rev. Dean Andrews, then the
Congregational minister at Marshall, and during his school days he was
constantly seen with a book in his hands, his eyes glued to its precious pages,
and utterly oblivious to all else, as he went to and from the school. He was a
man, in his younger days, of giant strength, and easily mastered his schoolmates
in athletic and other rough sports of that day, as he dominated them by his'
intellect, and by his constant study at his books. He taught and attended school
alternately from 1851 to 1854, and attended law school at Louisville, .. Ky.,
receiving his diploma in 1856. He had been admitted to the bar for practice of
the law before his graduation at Louisville, and had formed a partnership with
James C. Robinson in 1855. In 1856 he was elected State's Attorney for the
Fourth Judicial Circuit, then consisting of ten counties. This position he held
for four years, and it is entirely safe to say that no such a State's Attorney,
both for ability, energy and unshakable impartiality in the prosecution of
violators of the law, and devotion to his duty as Prosecuting Attorney, has held
the office of State's Attorney before or since in Illinois. As a prosecutor he
was unsurpassed, and well-nigh unsurpassable. Few guilty men ever escaped
conviction in the then Fourth Judicial Circuit while John Scholfield was State's
Attorney. After the expiration of his term of office as State's Attorney he
resumed his general law practice in Marshall, and his ability and absolute
devotion to the interests of his clients soon brought him a large practice and
wide reputation. In 1860 he was elected to the Legislature, and in 1869 was sent
as a delegate from Clark and Cumberland Counties to the Constitutional
Convention. In 1870 he became the general counsel of the Vandalia Railroad, now
the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, for the State of Illinois. This
position he resigned in 1873 to take the position upon the Supreme bench of
Illinois made vacant by the resignation of Judge Anthony Thornton, of
Shelbyville, Ill., being elected to fill the vacancy over Judge Kingsbury, of
Hillsboro, Ill. It was during this campaign that an effort was made by Judge
Kingsbury's friends to get Mr. Scholfield to say in advance of the election how
he would decide certain questions if he should be elected Supreme Judge, and he
answered them in the only way that Judge Scholfield could or would answer them,
that he would tell no man or set of men how he would decide cases coming before
him if elected Judge; that he had rather be beaten than do this, and if elected
he would decide all cases coming before him as his judgment, after careful
investigation, told him was right and proper. In 1879 and again in 1888 he had
no opposition, and he served continuously on the Supreme bench of Illinois from
1873 until his death in 1893, a period of twenty years. No more able, laborious
and conscientious Judge ever sat in that exalted and honorable position. He was
modesty personified, so much so that it was absolutely impossible to get him to
talk about himself, and it seemed to actually pain him to have others praise him
in his presence. He had a remarkable memory, and his knowledge of history,
ancient and modern, was prodigious. The writer of this history was for twelve
years, from 1885 to 1897, employed in the Government service at Washington, D.
C., and during that time he had the good fortune as well as pleasure to hear
before the Supreme Court of the United States and in the Senate and House of
Representatives some of the greatest lawyers, most able statesmen and and ablest
debaters in the country, and never has he seen or heard a greater or more
profoundly eloquent, or a more learned man, or a speaker of more unshakable
logic, address either Supreme Court, President of the Senate or Speaker of the
House of Representatives than John Scholfield. His speech made to a jury of
Clark County in defense of William Hardway for the killing of Jerre Blakemen, if
it had been reported and printed, would have undoubtedly given him a national
reputation, both as a lawyer and as a forensic advocate. It is known that Judge
Scholfield could have had the position of United States District Judge at
Springfield, Ill., afterward obtained by Judge Allen, or the exalted position of
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, afterwards obtained by
Judge Fuller, of Chicago. But he declined them both, or rather absolutely
refused to allow his friends to seek either of these places for him. Yet it was
well known in Washington at the time that President Cleveland would have
appointed him to either of these positions could he have been iduced to overcome
his innate modesty and accept them. It was one of the greatest disappointments
in the life of the writer and other of his friends that he could not be induced
by any arguments they could use to become either United States District Judge or
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As a rule, before the
lips of mortuary eloquence have grown still, the irresistible tide of events has
drifted the hurrying sands over the rocks, and other sails whiten where the
mighty ship has gone down; but it is not so with Judge Scholfield. He will live
in the hearts and memories of the people of Clark County, where he was born,
raised, educated, labored, lived and died, as long as the county itself shall
endure; and that his noble and exalted spirit still lives and knows and
remembers is to the writer not a matter of mere belief or hope or faith, but of
absolute conviction. Let those sneer at the hope of an after life who will, but
he must be an egotist and an atheist indeed who will not pause long and
fearfully before lifting the dead latch to materialism under the light of such
strength, fidelity, and such noble manhood as guided the ways of this man of the
people. When a great man dies we gaze at his unfinished efforts and cry out for
some proof that the work goes on. Dullards we are all! Cannot we discern that
the testimony of the soul is the only testimony we dare not challenge? That
thought is a witness never suborned? That the echo we so fain would grasp
repeats immortality in every voiceless atom, in every viewless, measureless
length of space? Lived ever in the conscientiousness of the people of Marshall
and of Clark County, who knew, respected, honored and loved this great and good
man and upright Judge, more surely, more patiently than he lives today, though
no more living in the flesh than the radiant denizen of a star? Were years of
intense study and toil the only compensation wrung from a life of such great
usefulness, such unceasing, laborious, uncomplaining, conscientious industry as
his? Ah no! with us abides the loss, but this is a universe of compensations,
and somewhere and somehow there must be an equivalent gain. As was well said by
his lifelong and devoted friend and associate at the bar and in Marshall, the
Hon. Thomas J. Golden, himself a man of great learning, great industry and great
legal ability, in an article contributed to the memory of his friend: "In death
as in life he was the same unassuming man that had so long walked in and out
before us. Grand in and by his simplicity, he has left his impress on the
jurisprudence of his State, and a worthy example of honesty and industry to
inspire the youth of coming generations.

When a great man dies
For years beyond our ken, 
The light he leaves behind him
Lies along the path of men.

The noble and exalted spirit of Judge John Scholfield, with all the garnered
riches of wisdom and virtue, with its personality beautified, but not absorbed
by the new light that broke on its resplendent vision in that other and higher
life, sailed out of this earthly night into the radiant morning of another and
better existence. Upon that morning our mortal vision can never rest. At its
threshold we part for a while with our preceptor, counselor and friend; but only
until the hour when each of us shall go forth upon the long journey, saying with
the philosopher of Greece, 'Ye are to live, oh judges, and I am to die! Which is
best, the gods alone do know.' Good friend, faithful advisor, helper in days of
discouragement and of direst need, hail and farewell! Thy work is done.

But while the races of mankind endure
Let thy great example stand,
Collossal seen of every land,
To keep the soldier firm, the judges pure,
Till in all lands, and through all human story
The path of duty be the way of glory."


Additional Comments:
HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS
EDITED BY
NEWTON BATEMAN, LL.D.
PAUL SELBY, A. M.

PUBLISHED BY MUNSELL PUBLISHING CO., FOR MIDDLE WEST PUBLISHING CO.

AND HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

EDITED BY
HON. H. C. BELL

ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO
MIDDLE WEST PUBLISHING CO.
PUBLISHERS
1907

Entered according to act of Congress in the years 1894, 1899, 1900, and 1905 by
WILLIAM W. MUNSELL
in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/clark/history/1907/historic/chapteri240gms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/

File size: 37.1 Kb