Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-02-08

ern. TWAS terrible ordeal 70 me. then not
OUT of INV teens but no matter whsi '.t TX
suit. | mention the affair for very iiaTl-
ent purpose. After l became better ae9uaie'-
ed with Mr.. Wells as practiciug lawyer. ne
often smoke of that little trial and has tod
me that was his first client Now, marx inc
seauel. Samuel Wells became leading meni-
Der of this bar. AZ an advocate he was the
peer of the best of you He attained 10
iudgeship on the bench OF our highest CONT
and subsequently became Governor OF .ne
State BY choice OF the people. Surely TINS
must be regarded as a successful iife- "ouiu
not the ambition of any young LAWYER DC
satisfied bv career like this: And yet,
gentlemen. Governor Wells has already been
dead so long that he is scarcely remembered
bv the active business men of the present
dav. Should not this admonish me thar
nv DAYS have been long protracted: II
allmonishes US all too. that we are but scratcb-
ing our names upon the sands OF the ocean
beach-the first tide of time will etfaee them
forever from the knowledge of men.
would not willingly mar your festivities
by reflections tina; are sad. but this Is my
n1oTitnrus salute
I will now, gentlemen. attempt TO relate IN
a few words the story of my life. Having
graduated at Colby in 1888 1T was then
Waterville College. and wish it were still J,
I came the following year 10 Augusta came
as scores Of young men have been and are dong
every day, poor country lad IN pursuit OF
something to do. Nv first work in the court
house was in the employ of the late Judge
Redington. who was chairman OF the board OF
county commissioners, and took charge OF its
records | recorded some - or 30 pages IN
volume 6 of the C. C. records, doing the
Il IN, bar i 40 ,-irrpsSpS' lobby con-
nected with the grand jury room. Having
finished this trifiing job | returned 10 my
fathers house. But in a few days received
a letter from the clerk of the courts inviting
me to take a clerkship in his office. That
brief note was the means OF giving direction
to the current of life and fixing my fate for
ever. | came TO the clerk Office in August
1884, and took the place of the late Daniel
Pike who had became enfeebled and i'll from
long confinement to office work. Mr. Pike
was nv earliest and constant friend. He
was ut that time town clerk of Augusta. and
all the records of the town will be found IN
his elegant Handwriting down to the time
when cur municipal form of government was
changed from town to city, in 1850. lie was
also about that time elected county treasurer,
and BY successive annual elections dis
charged the duties of that office with singular
lIelltN anu acceptance ny tlle pCopic LA MS
death in 1868.
The clerk of the courts when | came to
the office was Col. John 4. Chandler of Mon
mouth. son of our first senator in Congress.
Gen. John Chandler. Chandler was the
first clerk who held by appointment of
the governor, clerks previous to that time
being appointed by the judges. 1t used TO be
said that the change was made for Chandler 5
accommodation. He took the office in 1882
and held it with one or two short Interrupt
tons seven or eight years. lie was not well
adapted to such an office being of too ardent a
temperament to bear the necessary confine-
ment. He was, however, a very popular
man, a jealous partisan yet impartial
and without luminosity to any;
genial and jolly, bubbling over
with animal spirits. fond of festive and
convival pleasures, and thnr-t diving at the
age of fifty saw and enjoyed % much of life
as most men who reach thci- three score and
ten.
One of the interruptions to Col. Chandler
incumbeney happened in ISIS when the
wings held the government of the State.
VIM. G. Crosby Of Belfast being governor.
The democratic party was at that time the
dominant party in Maine. but the wings con
tested the ground with them sharply, and now
and then brought them up with Il round turn,
as they do us republicans now n DAYS.
Chandler was deposed and the governor APP
pointed to the Office Thomas Swan, a young
lawyer practicing at East VassalbOro'
There were then two lawyers in that village
doing a fair business, showing what changes
time and railroads are making in remote
country villages. Mr.. Swan was man of
popular manners and address. wrote a beauti-
full hand, and would with experience have be-
come an accomplished clerk. But the wings
lost the election that year. and towards the
close of his term Mr.. Swan fell into a decline
and died the following season. | remember
carrying his dockets and records down to
Gardiner, his native place, and he affixed
his attestation in a sick room which he never
left alive.
In 1889 the democrats again returned to
power and Chandler was restored to his of
flee and held it for two years longer. In the
fall of 1910 he too fell sick, and went to Cuba
to spend the winter in the vain hope of re-
gaining his health. He returned the follow
ing spring; but never resumed the duties of
the office. He afterwards retired to farm
in Norridgewock and died there of consump-
ton in October, 1912.
The year lSil was also wing year. Ed
ward Kent being Governor | was then n
e"H"hAtC I'E Cicrh. out ilar nut little
strength with the politicians Sanford 4.
kingsburv, practicing lawyer at China re-
ceIved the appointment from Governor Kent
and held 1t for one year. The wings were
again defeated that year. and the next wear
Asaph X. Nichols received the anpointment
from democratic Governor. During the
session of the legislature in 1912, was enacted
the county office law, making the office cleo
tive. At the first whig county convention
thereafter, Mr.. kingsburv. having acceptably
held the office for a short time bv appoint-
ment, IA matter of course received the
nomination. But there was an unfortunate
division in the party. and he failed of an cleo
ton. He soon after abandoned the profess
of law and entered the ministry. He preached
several wears in Maine. and then went to the
West. He was chaplain in one of the Illinois
regiments in the late war. He has since.
however. returned to Maine. and is still liv-
ing. venerable ID. d. in charge of the Bap-
tist church in the citv of Bath
The next year, 1913. Timothy O. Howe of
Readield got the whig nomination for clerk.
but he too was defeated at the polls. probably
through the detection of kingsburv and his
friends in retaliation for their treatment the
year before. Mr.. Howe's subsequent career
is well known. He emigrated to Wisconsin
and there gained a high rank as y LAWYER.
Judge and statesman. As Senator of the l..
). Congress from his adopted State. he &C
quired an enviable national reputation Sen
ator Howe must often, | think, have blessed
the i'll fnrtrpa