Los Angeles herald., 1891-11-30

to concurrent authorship; but If not,
then it can only be one of those cases OF
parallelism in thought and expression
which sometimes occur, when the idea
of plagiarism cannot reasonably be sup
posed"
Mr.. Wills for time practiced law in
Chicago, and became connected with
the famous "Sanbar Case" vs. Illinois
Central railroad, which he finally argued
before the United States supreme
court, being associated with Edwin Nj.
Stanton in the case.
He now settled in Washington, d. c.,
when his especial studies in California
of the "Spanish and Mexican land laws
of California" secured him place as
special counsel for the government.
This place he held under five successive
attorney generals: Speed, Bates, Stans-
berry, Hoar and Evarts; indeed, until
that class of cases was finally disposed
of from 1862 to 1878. Here he was able
to save millions of acres of public land
for the nation by defeating the many
fraudulent land grants of California and
Colorado.
In 1870 the honorary degree OF LII.
d. was conferred on him by his alma
mater. In 1862 he became one of the
national volunteers to defend the south
ern border of Pennsylvania from inva-
sion and served as private soldier in a
company formed in Washington, Pa,
commanded by Major John IL. Ewing,
known as the "Silver Grays" which be-
longed to the 9th regiment Pennsyl-
vania volunteers. He was recommend
ed by James G.. Blaine and Others for
the United States supreme bench, but
Grant, owing to tremendous pressure
from Pennsylvania, especially Philadel-
phia, appointed Judge Strong.
The failure of Jay Cooke in 1873
swept away large part of Mr.. Wills
fortune, and from 1878 to 1873 he was
fully occupied in the settlement of his
financial affairs.
During these years also, he investi-
gated and became a firm believer in
modern spiritualism, and so continued
until his death. In 1880, Mf. Wills,
with his wife and daughter, spent year
in European travel, and upon their re-
turn retired from the bar to devote him.
self to reading, study and the compost
ton of an exhaustive work on Juris-
prudence, which he hoped to make the
crowning work of his life. This great
pTOJcCb VI nlo ldJOl yOdio W Wuo W oiN IL
''the invention of some method whereby
Justice shall, ipso facto, be made law"
In 1884 Mr.. Wills removed with his
family to Los Angeles, California, where
he made for himself and them lovely
home on the historic Fort hill. where
his death occurred November 26, 1891,
after long and painful illness, the re-
suit OF old heart trouble.
Mr.. Wills's life in Los Angeles was
that of a quiet, studious, thoughtful
man, whose brilliant earlier life had
earned him a peaceful old age, but
whose mind was as vet undimmed and
his mental powers unshaken.
Mr.. Wills took a prominent part in
the establishment of the crematory in
Los Angeles, being a director of the
Crematory society, and by his example
testified to his belief in this sanitary re-
form which is rapidly spreading
throughout the civilized world. He
was lifelong advocate of temperance,
liberty of thought and action, with
charity for all, willing to investigate all
innovations, and showing by bis large
library, covering all topics, the breadth
and scope of his literary attainments.
The long and fatal illness interfered
however, with the completion OF his
lifelong ambition and great project
but in all the walks of long life he hat
deserved and received deep affection, re
spect and success.
Los Angeles has lost noble, gentle
man.