Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/276

. In 1867 he purchased the Hamilton Freeman, removing to Webster City which became his permanent home, where he has conducted that journal for more than thirty-six years. He was elected to the House of the Twelfth General Assembly, representing the district composed of the counties of Wright, Hamilton, Franklin and Hancock, and serving two terms. Mr. Hunter was the author of the first bill introduced into the Iowa General Assembly providing for a Board of Control for the management of the State institutions. A favorable report was made by the committee to which the bill was referred, but it was defeated in the House. He will be remembered long in the annals of wise legislation as the originator of the plan which after many years of consideration by Governors and legislators was enacted into law, working a great reform in the government of the public institutions of the State. It has been already demonstrated that the adoption of Mr. Hunter's bill of thirty years ago would have saved to the State millions of dollars without in any way having detracted from the efficiency of the institutions. In 1872 Mr. Hunter was appointed trustee of the Iowa Reform School. JAMES S. HURLEY was of Quaker ancestry, and was born in Champaign County, Ohio, May 18, 1829. In 1840 the family removed to Iowa, locating in Wapello, Louisa County. His early education was acquired in the public schools and in 1852 he entered the academic department of Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois. In 1853 he entered a law school and was admitted to the bar in 1854, serving the following year as prosecuting attorney for the county. In 1861 he was elected to the State Senate and during his term secured the passage of a bill for the settlement of the long pending swamp land claims. Under the provisions of this act a large amount of swamp land was reclaimed. As chairman of the committee on State Library in the session of 1864, Senator Hurley secured the enactment of laws greatly improving the library. He was one of the originators of the railroad from Burlington to Cedar Rapids and became a director of the company and member of the executive committee. In 1869 Mr. Hurley was again elected to the Senate where he was chairman of the committee on public lands. In 1872 he was chairman of the judiciary committee being the author of important changes in the judicial system. He was also the author of the act of that session regulating the taxation of railroad property. Mr. Hurley died many years ago. STILSON HUTCHINS, journalist, was born at Whitefield, New Hampshire, in November, 1838, and was educated in the Boston High schools, preparatory schools, and graduated at Harvard University. In November. 1854, he came to Iowa, first locating at Osage, in Mitchell County, where he established the North Iowan, which he published until about the year 1860 when he removed to Des Moines and purchased the State Journal,