Page:Bench and bar of Colorado - 1917.djvu/29

Rh the united efforts of the bar and the people of the territory, by his ability and great learning and fearlessness, soon gained the confidence of lawyers and litigants alike. His appointment to the federal judgeship, upon Colorado's admission to the Union in 1876, met with universal approval of lawyers and laymen alike. While filling the office of Chief Justice, Judge Hallett was called upon to decide many cases involving" questions which had never been presented to a court before; notably cases growing out of the booming mining industry and irrigation. To this day our courts follow the law as laid down by him in his opinion.

Judge Belford, after serving on the Supreme and District Bench, retired to the private practice of law. At the first election held after Colorado had become a state, he was elected the state's first representative in the lower house of Congress. Three times afterwards his fellow citizens honored him by electing him a representative in Congress.

Judge Wells earned the everlasting gratitude of judges and lawyers alike by compiling the first revision of the statutes of the state, a work much needed and greatly appreciated. He is today the official reporter of the Colorado Supreme Court. His reports are, as every lawyer and judge in the state knows, distinguished by the same clearness which marked his decisions when he was on the bench.

The constitution adopted upon the state's admission to the Union in 1876 provided for a Supreme Court of three judges and for four judicial districts, with one judge for each of the district courts. The first election of Supreme Court judges resulted in the election of Henry C. Thatcher, Samuel H. Elbert and Ebenezer T. Wells. The latter resigned before the expiration of his term and his place was filled by the election of Wilbur F. Stone, one of the pioneer lawyers in the southern section of the state and one of the most active members of the bar. Judge Stone, hale and hearty, at 84 today, is the Commissioner of the United States Court for Colorado in Denver.

With a steady influx of settlers into the young state and