Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 09.pdf/44

 The Supreme Court of Wisconsin. ing up every trail, coursing the main streams. He visited and gained the confidence of all the tribes. His complete knowledge of the territory and his reputation for probity and good judgment made him the trusted agent of capitalists of the East in locating lands for purchase. He was member of Congress in 1849 and 1851. He closed his career in Utah, where he was sent in 1861 as superintendent of Indian affairs; and in 1865 he died there while Governor of the Territory. He will ever remain as an antique figure in Wisconsin's early history. Later investi gations and the work of historians of the present day bring out in strong relief the valuable services to the young common wealth of this worthy gentleman, who blend ed with the love of frontier life and its primitive simplicity, an elegance and dignity of manners rarely met with except in courts and diplomatic circles. He established his home on Doty's Island in the Fox River, near where Menasha and Neeñah are now located; and there in a cluster of log cabins, called "the Grand Loggery," he dispensed a hospitality as graciously as from palaces of ancient renown. An incident of his early life he used to tell with great relish. While residing, in the early days, at Detroit, young Doty was as signed by the court as counsel to defend an Indian who had murdered Surgeon Mad ison of the regular army. Doty, desiring to do his full duty to his dusky client, repaired to the jail with Colonel Lewis Beufait, a skillful interpreter, to learn of the Indian any facts that might make for the defense. Doty asked the prisoner how it happened that he shot the surgeon. The honest Indian re plied, " I saw him and thought I would like to shoot him." " But," said Doty, " was there not some accident? Were you not shooting at something else?" After some little time the Indian seemed to comprehend the theory of defense his lawyer was work ing on, and replied, "Yes, I was shooting

at a little bird." The young lawyer took courage. " Ah, surely," said he, " this is no case of malice aforethought. Now, tell me, how far was this little bird from Madi son's head?" The Indian, when made to understand the question, held up his own finger and measured on it with the forefinger of his other hand the distance of one inch and said, " So far." The defense when urged in court was hardly sufficient to satisfy a jury of white men, and the Indian was hung — the first public execution in the Territory of Michigan. The lead-mines in southwestern Wisconsin began to attract attention in 1827, and that part of the Territory rapidly filled up with eager prospectors and miners, and soon be came the most populous and wealthy por tion of the Territory. This led to the crea tion of the County of Iowa, into which the Crawford District was absorbed. The terms of court were then held at Mineral Point. The records of this court, still extant, are of interest to the lawyer. He would question the judgments in some cases, and the reg ularity of procedure, doubtless, but the courts, as a whole, administered justice ac cording to the goodly law of the land. THE SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN TERRITORY.

In 1836 Michigan was admitted into the Union, and the region west of Lake Michi gan must be provided for. The Territory of Wisconsin was then formed, embracing what is now the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, and the eastern part of the two Dakotas. The act provided that the Ter ritory be divided into three judicial districts. The judicial power was vested in a supreme court, district courts and probate courts. The supreme court was to consist of a chief justice and two associate judges, to hold a term at the scat of government annually, and each of the judges was to hold a court in the districts, at such times and places as the law territorial might prescribe.