The herald., 1898-12-12
A GLANCE BACK OVER THE LAST
TEN YEARS
PAST AND PRESENT FIGURES
Familiar Faces Which Have Passed
Away-Some Old Time Officials
Still on Deck

changes have been sufficiently frequent to
atone for this inherent disposition to hold
onto good, thing.
Impending changes in the official staff at
the county court house are reminder Of
others which have gone before, and of the
faces familiar in other years which are now
missing. Comparatively few have been
the changes in the various departments OF
the superior court, but even there the last
ten years have been productive of different
conditions by no means slight in the aggre-
gate.
In those days, Judge w. A. Cheney was
the presiding Judge in Department one, and
had for his department clerk l.. p. Crane,
chat excellent friend of the newspaper re-
porters and thoroughly competent official.
The Judge has found in the private practice
of law relief from the arduous duties of his
position as magistrate Of the department in
which the criminal cases are tried, and Mr.
Crane has withdrawn wholly from political
employment.
Judge Cheney was conscientious, endeav-
ored to temper justice with mercy and to
hold the scales evenly, whatever the matter
to be weighed. In his efficient clerk he
possessed rare assistant, whose clean pen
manship in all the years he was in office
shows scarcely an erasure in the records of
the department. Long service in Nevada
county had equipped him for his work and
every detail was performed with fidelity and
precision. C. j. Fox was the official stem
ographer, and he, too, has retired from
office, leaving to younger men the work he
so long and faithfully performed, and de-
voting his time to the practice of law. He
was succeeded by +. H. McAlister.
Al 4 J..I. 7 Il -
presiding Judge Department two, and in the
early years of his judicial experience he man
| ifested the same cearness of perception
which has made him so popular among the
members of the Los Angeles bar and which
more than anything else has been the cause
of his continued successes when nominated
for office. In the vast amount of probate
business coming before him for adjudication,
Judge Clark has been sngularly fortunate,
both in satisfying litigants and in steering
clear Of reversals by the supreme court.
Ten years ago M. j. Ashmore was his trust
ed clerk, and the record made by him was so
much to his credit that he afterward Sc
cured an increase Of salary by appointment
as deputy clerk of the supreme court That
position he resigned and went to Honolulu
returning a few years ago to this state and
later to Arizona, where he lost his life in
hotel fire. Ashmore formerly lived in San
Jose and was well known all along this
coast
Judge w. p. Wade ten years ago was the
presiding judge in Department three. As
the author of certain works on subjects re-
lating to his profession, Judge Wade had
gained a name for himself before he came
to this state, being formerly in practice at
Denver While here he became known as
an excellent authority, his legal attainments
being generally recognized at their true
worth. His health, already impaired when
he came to California, finally gave way, and
the vacancy occasioned by his death was
filed by the election of Judge W. NJ York,
who now occupies the bench in Department
three. The portrait of Judge Wade looks
down upon the court over which he was
accustomed to preside, the likeness being so
striking as almost to suggest the real pres
ence.
Charles G. Keyes was Judge Wade's clerk
in those days, but long since he has bee
holding the more important position c.
flee clerk, where his valuable serv;
become so indispensable that NJ &
for a moment that he will ees ia. nav
whatever the result of - oie 5.1 INNS
too useful to inexpe o,oot;o a'spinte: Iy'
E,.I
,-I ~ to"' eN'e .rienced attorneys, VIII
LlsN "il' 20 ..t to have some one at tn
paper ard tell tbor, bou. - ~ I " "!
IS so that they will stand the test await
x them in the departments.
Charles Rutan, the jovial and very com
petent stenographer, who used to take dowr
| the testimony as it was presented to Judg
G wade, has followed him to the land O
shades. Mr.. Rutan was one of the bes
known of the official stenographers. hi,
political services bringing him into contac
with many who rarely had business in th,
courts, but who recognized him as factor
IN the political field whose influence was a
good thing to have on convention day. Cut
down IN the days of his youth and
greatest efficiency, it became easier for those
VINO wanted place in the courts to get ap.
polntments as reporters. Before, Rutan
engineered things about as he thought best
All remember him as a good-hearted fellow
VINO Knew how to use the power he had
acquired by mingling with politicians.
Another judge whose long and faithful
service has kept him in the harness for all
these years is Judge w. S. Van Dyke Thor
oughly conscientious, unfettered by parties
and girded with his own integrity, he has
been elected over and over to place upon
the bench of this county by the votes of his
friends without respect to their political
Affiliations. AS the presiding Judge of De.
partment four. he has given to the people
and the bar alike notable example of an
upright magistrate, whose rule of conduct
is well epitomized by the motto on the front
OF his desk, Let justice be done"
His place, soon to be left vacant by his
assumption of the duties of associate Justice
OF the supreme court, to which he has been
called by the votes of the people, will confer
special dignity upon his successor by reason
OF the fairness of the judgments so long
rendered from that bench by Judge Van
Dyke.
John M. Dunsmoor, now a nractic;no
physician, long held the place of clerk for
Judge VanDyke. Learning that political
preierment was too often dependent upon
ones pull and that deputyship at the
court house seldom led to much better,
Dunsmoor struck out and is winninc!a a place
for himself beyond the lines of partisan con.
tention.
Judge Lucien Shaw, the presiding macis-
trate of Department five, has held his place
Tor ten years past, preserving alike the pood
will of the bar and of the party to which he
belongs. In the complicated cases which
have been brought before him for settle. |
ment, he has displayed such judicial fairness
as has thoroughly entrenched him in the re. |
gard OF litigants. Even when ON the losing
side, it is gratifying to know that the do. |
cision has not been arbitrarily reached. but !