Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/740



550 THE CITY OF PORTLAND

1869; Levi Anderson, 1870. The city charter was then amended by substituting the office of pohce judge for that of recorder with the same jurisdiction — being a change in name only; and under that title the following named judges of the police court have held office, to- wit : David C. Lewis, 1871 ; Ov/en N. Denny, 1872-5; William H. Adams, 1876-9; Loyal B. Stearns, 1880-2; Samuel A. More- land, 1883-5; Ralph M. Dement, 1885-6; Albert H. Tanner, 1889.

In addition to the police judges there was provided by an amendment to the city charter in 1864 the office of city attorney, which has been filled by succes- sive elections or appointments by the following officials : Joseph N. Dolph, in 1865-6; W. W. Upton, 1867; David Freidenrich, 1868; Walham F. Trimble, 1869; Cyrus A. Dolph, 1870-1 ; Charles A. Ball, 1872; Marion F. Mulkey, 1873-4; Addison C. Gibbs, 1875; John M. Gearin, 1876-7; Julius C. Moreland, 1878-82; Samuel W. Rice, 1883; R- M. Dement, 1884; Albert H. Tanner, 1885-7; Wil- liam H. Adams, 1887.

There were also justices of the peace always in Portland from the time of A. H. Prior, elected in 1846, down to the present; and for many years the office was eagerly sought for. Away back in the seventies and eighties there were some celebrated dispensers of justice in the ancient and honorable office of "esquire" in Portland. No one, certainly not the news reporters, will soon forget "Judge" Aaron Bushwiler who dispensed justice in Couch precinct, and settled all the family quarrels in that litigious section of the city for more than a dozen years. And there is "Bob Bybee," not to be forgotten, either. Bybee would not permit any familiarity with his cognomen, and insisted he was only plain "Bob" Bybee; and always carried his precinct for the democratic party. Judge Bybee was something of a "sport," owned and ran fast horses for the gate money, and when the first velocipede was brought to the city he was by common consent selected to try its paces. The trial took place on First street after 7 o'clock in the even- ing in front of the old Western Hotel. A thousand men and boys were there to see the thing go ; and the yelling and cheering at Bybee's falls from the ma- chine might have been heard as far away as Mt. Tabor. This has not much to do with courts and judges; but it shows the kind of men that the people liked for these offices thirty years ago. There were men of different tastes, character, and accomplishments filling these petty judgships in other parts of the city. Levi Anderson, a sedate, serious man of high character, a devout Catholic, an inti- mate friend of the great General Sherman from boyhood, held the office of jus- tice of the peace in Portland for eighteen years. Squire Anderson accumulated quite a fortune, and his name will be preserved for all time by the noble charity to which he devoted his wealth. Squire Davis (H. W. Davis) held forth as justice on the northwest corner of Fourth and Taylor streets for fourteen years, a model of judicial deportment, prompt and decisive in the despatch of business.

As long as the provisional government was in power the town of Portland was a part of Tuality (Washington) county, and for some years the law business of Portland, requiring the decision of courts, had to be transacted at Hillsboro, the county seat of the county, which included Portland. But in 1854 the county of Multnomah was created by the territorial legislature, and Portland made the county seat. At that date the leading attorneys at Portland were W. W. Chap- man, Aaron E. Wait, Amory Holbrook, Edward Hamilton, David Logan and Alexander Campbell. Matthew P. Deady and Reuben P. Boise, who rose to distinction afterward, were not a part of the permanent residents of Portland at that time. Orville C. Pratt who figures in the history of those times, and was a judge under the provisional government, was never a citizen of Portland. A well educated man, a good lawyer, and possessed of great mental force and ability, he was nevertheless arbitrary, aristocratic, if not tyrannical, and the temper of the people of Oregon being incompatible with his disposition, he took himself off to California, where he became a millionaire. Campbell was also a man of large ability, went to San Francisco and built up a large and profitable