Cleveland Past and Present: Its Representative Men Part 24

The first judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, will long be remembered by the bar and public of that District, for the ability, dignity, and purity with which, for over eleven years, he administered justice. When at last he lay down to his final rest, there was no voice raised in censure of any one of his acts, and tributes of heartfelt praise of his life, and sorrow for his loss, were laid on his grave by men of all parties and shades of opinion. As lawyer, judge, citizen, and man, Judge Willson won the respect and confidence of all with whom he was brought into social or official contact.

Hiram V. Willson was born in April, 1808, in Madison county, New York.

Graduating at Hamilton College in 1832, he commenced the study of law in the office of the Hon. Jared Willson, of Canandaigua, New York.

Subsequently he visited Virginia, read law in the office of Francis S.

Key, of Washington, and for a time aided his slender pecuniary means by teaching in a cla.s.sical school in the Shenandoah Valley. During his early legal studies he laid the foundations of that legal knowledge for which he was afterwards distinguished, and acquired that familiarity with the text-books and reports which made him a safe, prompt, and prudent counsellor. At school, college, and in the Shenandoah Valley, he maintained a close intimacy with the Hon. Henry B. Payne, then a young man of about his own age. In 1833, he removed to Painesville, but soon changed his residence to Cleveland, where he and his intimate friend, H. B. Payne, formed a law partnership.

Long after, when at a banquet tendered by the bar of Cleveland in honor of the organization of the United States Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Judge Willson referred to the auspices under which the young firm commenced business. The following toast had been offered:

The First Judge of the Northern District of Ohio: In the history and eminent success of a twenty years' practice at the Bar, we have the fullest a.s.surance that whatever industry, talent, and integrity can achieve for the character of this long sought for court, will be accomplished by the gentleman who has been appointed to preside over its deliberations.

In responding to the toast, Judge Willson spoke highly of the character of the profession, and then made a warm appeal to the young lawyers. He said that all there had been young lawyers and knew the struggles and difficulties that hang around the lawyer's early path, and which cloud to him his future, and nothing is so welcome, so genial to a young lawyer's heart as to be taken in hand by an older legal brother. He said he could talk with feeling on the subject, for the memory was yet green of the days when two penniless young men came to Ohio to take life's start, and when as discouragements, and almost despair, seemed to lie in wait for them, there was an older lawyer who held out a friendly hand to aid them, and who bid them take courage and persevere. Who that friend was he signified by offering, with much feeling, a toast to the memory of Judge Willey.

But the young firm did not long need friendly counsel to cheer them in the midst of discouragements. Although they were but young men, and Willey, Congar, and Andrews were eminent lawyers in full practice, they soon took place in the front rank of the profession. Business flowed in upon them, and from 1837 to 1840, the number of suits brought by them in the Court of Common Pleas averaged two hundred and fifty per year; whilst during the same time they appeared for the defence in twice that number of cases annually. Briefs in all those cases were, to a great extent, prepared by Judge Willson. Upon Mr. Payne's retirement, a partnership was formed with Hon. Edward Wade and Reuben Hitchc.o.c.k, and after a while the firm was changed to Willson, Wade & Wade. Under these partnerships the extensive business and high reputation of the old firm were preserved and increased.

In 1852, Judge Willson ran for Congress on the Democratic ticket, against William Case on the Whig and Edward Wade on the Free Soil tickets. Mr.

Wade was elected, but Judge Willson received a very handsome vote.

In the Winter of 1854, a bill was introduced to divide the State of Ohio, for United States judicial purposes, into two districts. The members of the Cleveland Bar pressed the matter vigorously, and after a sharp struggle in Congress, the bill creating the United States Court for the Northern District of Ohio was pa.s.sed. During the pendency of the measure, and when the prospects were unfavorable for its pa.s.sage, Judge Willson was chosen by the Cleveland Bar to proceed to Washington and labor in the interest of the bill. This was done, and the final triumph of the bill was doubtless owing in great measure to his unwearied industry in its behalf.

In March, 1855, President Pierce appointed Mr. Willson judge of the District Court just authorized.

The formation of the court and the appointment of Judge Willson as its presiding officer, gave general satisfaction. A banquet was held by the lawyers to celebrate the event, and although Judge Willson was a strong political partizan, the leading lawyers of all parties vied with each other in testifying their entire confidence in the ability and impartiality of the new judge. Nor was their confidence misplaced. In becoming a judge he ceased to be a politician, and no purely political, or personal, motives swayed his decisions. He was admitted by all to have been an upright judge.

The new court found plenty to do. In addition to the ordinary criminal and civil business, the location of the court on the lake border brought to it a large amount of admiralty cases. In such cases, the extensive knowledge and critical ac.u.men of Judge Willson were favorably displayed.

Many of his decisions were models of deep research and lucid statement.

One of his earliest decisions of this character was in relation to maritime liens. The steamboat America had been abandoned and sunk, and only a part of her tackle and rigging saved. These were attached for debt for materials, and the question arose on the legality of the claim against articles no longer a part of the vessel. Judge Willson held that the maritime lien of men for wages, and material men for supplies, is a proprietary interest in the vessel itself, and can not be diverted by the acts of the owner or by any casualty, until the claim is paid, and that such lien inheres to the ship and all her parts wherever found and whoever may be the owner. In the case of L. Wick _vs._ the schooner Samuel Strong, in 1855, Judge Willson reviewed the history and intent of the common carrier act of Ohio, in an opinion of much interest. A case, not in admiralty, but in the criminal business of the court, gave the judge another opportunity for falling back on his inexhaustible stores of legal and historical knowledge. The question was on the point whether the action of a grand jury was legal in returning a bill of indictment found only by fourteen members, the fifteenth member being absent and taking no part in the proceedings. Judge Willson reviewed the matter at length, citing precedents of the English and American courts for several centuries to show that the action was legal.

A very noticeable case was what is known in the legal history of Cleveland as "The Bridge Case," in which Charles Avery sued the city of Cleveland, to prevent the construction of a bridge across the Cuyahoga, at the foot of Lighthouse street. The questions arising were: the legislative authority of the city to bridge the river, and whether the bridge would be a nuisance, damaging the complainant's private property.

The decision of Judge Willson, granting a preliminary injunction until further evidence could be taken, was a thorough review of the law relating to water highways and their obstructions. In the opinion on the Parker water-wheel case, he exhibited a clear knowledge of mechanics, and gave an exhaustive exposition of the law of patents. In the case of Hoag _vs_ the propeller Cataract, the law of collision was set forth and numerous precedents cited. In 1860, important decisions were given in respect to the extent of United States jurisdiction on the Western lakes and rivers. It was decided, and the decisions supported by voluminous precedents, that the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction possessed by the District Courts of the United States, on the Western lakes and rivers, under the Const.i.tution and Act of 1789, was independent of the Act of 1845, and unaffected thereby; and also that the District Courts of the United States, having under the Const.i.tution and Acts of Congress, exclusive original cognizance of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, the Courts of Common Law are precluded from proceeding _in rem_ to enforce such maritime claims.

These are but a very few of the many important cases coming before Judge Willson's court and decided by him in a manner that made his decisions important precedents.

The judicial administration of Judge Willson was noticeable also for its connection with events of national importance. And here it should be again repeated, that in all his conduct on the bench he divested himself of personal or party predilections and prejudices. To him it was of no consequence who were parties to the case, or what the political effect of a decision would be; he inquired only what were the facts in the matter and what the law bearing upon them. The keynote of his character in this respect may be known from an extract taken from his charge to the grand jury in the Winter term of 1856, in which it was expected a case would come before that body of alleged impropriety or crime by a Government officer, growing out of party zeal during a very heated political canva.s.s.

The pa.s.sions of men were intensely excited at the time of the delivery of the charge, and that address had the effect of suddenly cooling down the popular mind, in the city and vicinity at least, and of bringing about a better state of feeling. After referring impressively to the language of the oath taken by the grand jury, to present none through malice, and except none through favouritism, Judge Willson said:

It was but yesterday our ears were deafened by the turmoil and clamour of political strife, shaking the great national fabric to its centre, and threatening the stability of the Government itself. In that fearful conflict for the control of the Executive and Legislative Departments of the Federal Government, all the evil pa.s.sions of men seem to have been aroused. Vituperation and scandal, malice, hatred and ill-will had blotted out from the land all brotherly love, and swept away those characteristics which should distinguish us as a nation of Christians.

How important, then, it is for us, coming up here to perform the duties incident to the courts, to come with minds free from prejudice, free from pa.s.sions, and free from the influence of the angry elements around us. To come with a fixed purpose of administering justice with truth, according to the laws of the land. A dangerous political contagion has become rampant in our country, invading the holy sanctuaries of the "Prince of Peace" and polluting the very fountains of Eternal Truth.

G.o.d forbid the time may ever come when the temples of justice in our land shall be desecrated by this unhallowed and contaminating influence, or by wanton disregard of the Const.i.tution, or by a perfidious delinquency on the part of the ministers of the law. Here let pa.s.sion and prejudice find no abiding place. Here let equal and exact justice be meted out to all men--to rich and to the poor--to the high and the low, and above all things, with you, gentlemen, here preserve with scrupulons fidelity the sanct.i.ty of your oaths, and discharge your whole duty without fear and without favour. Put justice to the line and truth to the plummet, and act up fully to the obligations of that oath, and you will ever enjoy those rich consolations which always flow from a conscientious discharge of a sworn duty.

To men of your intelligence and probity, these admonitions are, perhaps, unnecessary. Knowing, however, the reluctance and pain with which the misconduct of men in office is inquired into, by those who cherish the same political sentiments, I am confident, gentlemen, that in times like these, you can not exercise too great caution in excluding from your minds all considerations, as to whether the party charged before you is the appointee of this or of that administration, or whether he belongs to this or that political organization or party.

In 1858, came before the court the historic case of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue. The facts of the case were, briefly, that on the first of March, 1857, a negro slave named John, the property of John G. Bacon, of Kentucky, escaped across the river into Ohio. In October, 1858, the negro was traced out and arrested within the Northern District of Ohio, by one Anderson Jennings, holding a power of attorney from Bacon. In company with an a.s.sistant named Love, Jennings took the negro to Wellington, Lorain county, with the purpose of taking the cars for Cincinnati, and thence returning the negro to Kentucky and remitting him to slavery. A number of residents of Oberlin concerted a plan of rescue marched to Wellington, entered the hotel where John was kept, took him from his captors, placed him in a buggy, and carried him off. Indictments were found against the leading rescuers, who comprised among others some of the leading men of the college and village of Oberlin, and they were brought to trial, fined, and imprisoned. The trial created great excitement, and, whilst it was pending, a monster demonstration against the Fugitive Slave Law was held on the Public Square, midway between the building where the court held its sessions and the jail in which the accused were confined. At one time fears were entertained of violence, threats being freely uttered by some of the more headstrong that the law should be defied and the prisoners released by force. Cooler counsels prevailed, and the law, odious as it was felt to be, was allowed to take its course. In this exciting time the charges and judgments of Judge Willson were calm and dispa.s.sionate, wholly divested of partisanship, and merely pointing out the provisions of the law and the necessity of obedience to it, however irksome such obedience might be, until it was repealed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: H. V. Willson]

In the November term of 1859, when the public mind was still agitated by the John Brown raid and by the tragic affairs succeeding it, and when the excitement of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue had not wholly subsided, the attention of Judge Willson was called to these matters by the District Attorney, and in his charge to the grand jury he took occasion to define the law of treason, with especial bearing on those events. It was a clear, logical exposition of the law, pointing out the line of distinction between a meeting for the expression of opinions hostile to the Government and a gathering for the purpose of violently opposing or overturning the Government.

In 1861, when the rebellion had broken out, and it was supposed sympathizers with it were in Ohio plotting aid to the rebels, Judge Willson delivered a charge to the grand jury, again defining the law in regard to conspiracy and treason, and in the course of his address took occasion to unreservedly condemn the motives and actions of the rebels. He said:

The loyal people of this great nation have enjoyed the blessings of our excellent Const.i.tution too long and too well, to be insensible of its value or to permit its destruction. They have not yet been schooled to the heresy, that this n.o.ble Government is a mere myth, or that it is dest.i.tute of the inherent power of perpetuating its own existence. On the contrary, next to their religion, they love and cherish it above all things on earth, not only because it is the rich and sacred legacy of a revered and patriotic ancestry, but because it is a Government of law, possessing the authority to maintain social and civil order, giving to its citizens security of property, of person and of life.

It is not surprising, therefore, that this bold and mad rebellion in the Southern States, has excited, in all patriotic hearts, a spontaneous and indignant feeling against treason and traitors, wherever they may be found in our land. It is a rebellion without cause and without justification. It had its conception in the wicked hearts of ambitious men. Possibly, some of the chief conspirators may be actuated by the spirit of the sacrilegious incendiary who fired the Ephesian temple to immortalize his name by the infamy of the act.

Let the motives of the conspirators be what they may, this open, organized and armed resistance to the Government of the United States is _treason_, and those engaged in it justly merit the penalty denounced against traitors.

Nor should we be misled by false notions of the reserved right of the States to secede from the Union. This a.s.sumed right, claimed by the States in rebellion, is false in theory; it is of the highest criminalty in practice, and without the semblance of authority in the Const.i.tution.

The right of secession, (said the lamented Webster,) "as a practical right, existing under the Const.i.tution, is simply an absurdity; for it supposes resistance to Government under the authority of the Government itself--it supposes dismemberment without violating the principles of Union--it supposes opposition to law without crime--it sanctions the violation of oaths without responsibility, and the total overthrow of the Government without revolution."

The history of this wicked rebellion already shows that many of those who have shared the largest in the offices and emoluments, as well as in the blessings of the National Government, have fallen the lowest in infamy in attempting its overthrow.

If this Union is to be perpetuated, and the Government itself is to exist as a power among the nations, its laws must be enforced at all hazards and at any cost. And especially should courts and juries do their whole duty, without respect to persons, when crimes are committed, tending to the subversion of the Government and the destruction of our cherished inst.i.tutions.

At the January term, 1864, he delivered another admirable charge, in which he discussed the questions arising under the then recent act of Congress authorizing a draft under the direction of the President without the intervention of the State authorities, and by a very logical and conclusive argument established the const.i.tutional validity of the act in question. The crime of resisting the draft, obstructing its execution by the officers appointed for that purpose, and enticing soldiers to desert, were defined with great clearness, resisting the enrolling officer being held to be within the offences embraced in the act. These were but a few of the topics treated by the Judge. The entire charge was able, well-timed and patriotic, and was admirably calculated to conciliate and unite public opinion in support of the law and the measures of the Government to enforce it.

In 1865, the health of Judge Willson began to give way and symptoms of consumption appeared. He was strongly urged by his friends to leave his business for a time and seek the restoration of his health in a milder climate. As Winter approached he yielded to their persuasions and visited New Orleans and the West Indies. Unhappily the weather was unusually severe for those lat.i.tudes, and he derived no benefit from his trip. He was glad to reach the quiet and comfort of home once more. His sense of duty was so strong that, though unfit to leave his home, he came down to the city, opened court, so as to set the machinery in order, but found himself unable to preside and was compelled to return home, where he awaited in patience the coming of the destroyer.

On the evening of November 11th, 1866, he died. A few hours before his death he suffered much, his breathing being labored and painful. As his end approached, however, he became easier, and his life went out without a struggle. Some months earlier, the Judge, who had for years been an attendant of the services in the First Presbyterian church, and an active supporter of that congregation, made a profession of religion and received the rite of baptism. He was perfectly conscious to the close of his life, and although hopeful of recovery, as is usual with the victims of consumption, had been fully aware of his precarious situation, and had thoughtfully contemplated his approaching end. He left a widow and a daughter, Mrs. Chamberlin, well provided for.

On the announcement of his death the members of the Cleveland Bar immediately a.s.sembled, and young or old, of all shades of opinion in the profession, vied with each other in bearing testimony to the uprightness, ability, and moral worth of the deceased. His death occasioned unaffected sorrow among those who had known him, and among the large number of his legal brethren who had greater or less opportunities of official intercourse with him he did not leave a single enemy. The Bar meeting unanimously adopted the following resolutions of respect:

We, the members of the Bar of the Northern District of Ohio having learned that our brother, the Hon. Hiram V. Willson, departed this life yesterday evening, (Nov. 11,) at his residence, and desiring to pay a tribute of affection and respect to one who was our beloved a.s.sociate at this Bar for twenty-one years, and anxious also to acknowledge our obligation to him, by whose influence and labors the Courts of the United States were established in our midst, and who has so ably and uprightly presided over those Courts for a period of more than eleven years, do hereby

_Resolve,_ 1st. That in the death of Judge Willson the Bench has lost a learned, upright and fearless Judge, ever doing right and equity among the suitors of his Court, fearing only the errors and mistakes to which a fallible human judgment is ever liable. Urbanity and courtesy to the older members of the Bar, protecting and loving kindness to its younger members, and deep and abiding interest in the reputation of all, were among his distinguishing characteristics.

2d. That in him we have lost a near and dear friend, disliked, disrelished by none, but esteemed and loved by all.

3d. That we wear the usual mourning and attend his funeral in a body, on Wednesday next.

4th. That the Chairman of this Committee present this report to our Court of Common Pleas, and request the same to be entered on the record of said Court.

5th. That the United States District Attorney for Northern Ohio be requested to present this report to the Circuit and District Courts of said District at their next term and request that the same be entered and recorded in said Courts.

6th. That the officers of this meeting be directed to send a copy of its proceedings to the family of the deceased.

At the opening of the next term of the United States District Court under Judge Sherman, the successor to Judge Willson, these resolutions were read, and warm eulogies on the deceased were made by U. S. District Attorney, F. J. d.i.c.kman, U. S. Commissioner Bushnell White, George W.

Willey Esq., Hon. K. P. Spalding and Judge Sherman.

The funeral services over the remains of Judge Willson were held in the First Presbyterian church, conducted by Rev. Dr. Atterburry, a.s.sisted by Rev. Dr. Aiken. The Supreme Court of Ohio, United States Courts of Pennsylvania and Michigan, the Cleveland Bench and Bar, and the City Government were fully represented at the ceremonies, which were also partic.i.p.ated in by a very large concourse of citizens.

Samuel Starkweather.