Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/95

 C H A PTER VII BENCH AND BA R In entering into the history of the Bench and B a r o f this district it m ay not be out o f place to compare the present with the past. T h e law yers o f eighty years ago in the rural districts found all their surrotmdings. as welt as the legal procedure, very different from those o f to-day. T he country w as compara­ tively new, the facilities fo r travel by public conveyance most meager. Carriages with el­ liptic springs had not yet been invented. The judges and members of the bar usually trav­ eled on horseback, sometimes riding fifty miles in a d ay to reach a distant county scat. The districts were then much larger than now. The courthouses were not of the present style of architecture, the accommodations often being of the most primitive character. A wood stove furnished heat fo r the usually small room, and the work at evening w as done by the light o f tallow candles. Court w as con­ vened by the sound o f a dinner horn blown b y the crier at the door. T rials were longdrawn-out owin^ to the necessity o f writing down all the testimony o f witnesses and other proceedings, by the judge and counsel. Ste­ nographers were then unknown, their intro­ duction in the courts not having become gen­ eral until within the last forty years, and the innovation ha.s enabled the courts to transact in one day what form erly required three or four. Splendid courthouses, some of them palaces, with alt the conveniences o f modem inven­ tion, have taken the place of the old-time seats o f justice, and with these changes have come changes in legal procedure intended to facili­ tate the dispatch o f public business, though in regard to the latter there lingers in the minds of the laity a belief that there is still room fo r improvement. W hile the transac­ tion o f business has thus been expedited, there still remains the delay and uncertainty in the administration o f justice, by reason of the fact that able lawyers. Inspired by a la ^ e re­ tainer on cither side, differ in their interpreta*

tion of the law where the facts arc not dis­ puted. The court below may differ with both, and the higher courts m ay differ with the court below— frequently bringing on a new trial, with a repetition of the costs and wornr. W hile it is gm erally agreed that a remedy fo r this condition is desirable, no one has ever been able to suggest an acceptable one, and probably no one w ill ever be able to do so until the time sliall come when all men are o f one mind, a situation that, is not likely to oc­ cur before the millennium. During his administration it w as no un­ common experience fo r Ju d ge Elw ell to see practicing M forc him in Columbia county many of the ablest law yers of the State, some o f whom—previously or subsequently—held prominent public positions. Am ong them may DC mentioned Ju d ge Jerem iah S. Black, Chief lusiice George W. W oodward, Judge John W. M aynard, Hon. F. B. Gowen, Judge Jam es R yan, Ck»v. H enry M. H oyt, Ju d ge Edw ard O. Parry, Ju d ge F. Carroll Brewster, Attorney General H enry W. Palm er, Judge W. A. M arr, Hon. George F. Baer, Hon. John B. Packer, Hon. Francis W. Hughes, Hon. S. P. W olver­ ton. as well as many other gifted men. From 18 14 to 18 5 1 Columbia and N orth­ umberland counties formed the Eighth judicial district xvith Lycom ing and Union counties. H o n. S e t h C h a p m a n, the first judge o f this district, held court in Jan u ary at Dan­ ville. which was then the county seat o f Co­ lumbia county, court convening In the sec­ ond story o f a log house on the river bank, a few doors east o f M ill street. Gen. W il­ liam M o n ^ m e r y and Hon. Leonard Rupert were his associates. H enry A lw ard, o f M il­ ton. w as the first sheriff. T he first prothonotary w as George A. Frick, who later became a prominent attorney o f Danville. O f those who came to the court at Dan­ ville to practice law were Charles Halt, Charles Maus o f Berlin, Hugh Bellas o f Sun­ bury, Samuel Hepburn o f Milton. Bradford

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