The Anaconda standard., 1899-04-18
To the Memory of the Late JUS
tice Field.
NINTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
Passed Feeling Resolutions - An Eulogy
OF the Dead Jurist by Colonel
Sanders - A Response by
Judge Knowles.
Special Dispatch to the Standard.

ny cuuSe hilo"leS, tu-udy palu an elO-
quent and feeling tribute to the late
Justice Stephen j. Field of the supreme
court of the United States, for many
years the presiding justice of this the
Ninth circuit. The committee ap-
pointed to draft the resolutions, con-
sisting of Colonel Sanders, ex-Govern-
or Carpenter and Henry N. Blake, pre-
sented the result of it's preparation to
the court this afternoon. Colonel San
ders read the resolutions for the COM
mittee. He then delivered an eloquent
eulogy upon the dead jurist that was
couched in his usual vigorous En-
glsh.
Judge Knowles, who has been sorely
troubled of late by the illness of his
son and who came over from Missoula
this afternoon to hold a short session
of court, felt hardly equal to the oc-
casion of responding to the resolutions
in an extended manner, as he consid-
cred the subject demanded He said
that he had intended to prepare a re-
sponse, but on account of the circum-
stances, the illness of his son, he had
not done SO. He wished however, to
indorse what had been set forth in the
resolutions and what Colonel Sanders
had said. To his mind Judge Field had
conferred great favor upon the West
by his Interpretation and codifcation
of the California codes, from which the
codes of this and other states in the
Ninth circuit were taken. He also
wished to impress upon the bar the
great blessing Judge Fild had conferred
upon the Western people and mankind
in general by his decisions in cases
defining water and mining rights, sub
jects which his long residence in the
West made familiar to him. There
were number of attorneys in the
court room at the time. and they evinc-
ed deep interest in the proceedings.
heartily indorsing the resolutions, Col
onel Sanders eulogy and the courts
remarks. The court ordered the reso-
lutions and Colonel Sanders speech
spread upon the minutes of the court.
The resolutions follow:
The court and members of the bar of
the Ninth ciruct for the district of
Montana desire to express and place
upon record their sense of loss in the
death. on April 9, 1899, of the Hon.
stephen J. Field, an associate Justice
or the supreme court of the United
States, and assigned by his brethren
of that court, as the presiding justice
in this circuit. For more than 40 years
the administration of the law. most of
the time as a judge in three several
courts with which he indelibly ident-
fed his name. The qualities of mind
which contributed to his great useful
ness were keen perception, a fault
less logic, strenuous insistance upon
law. profound learning and dauntless
courage and intense consciousness
which made thought of surrender to
him impossible. In the administration
of public justice he left no refuge for
sophlstry, but gathered the truth from
the outmost verge of all the facts
which illuminated the cases which he
tried He was impatient of sophistry
and Scorned any matter which appear
ed to him like blackmail. He was con-
descending and amiable to all members
OF the bar endeavoring to assist him
in the administration of public justice,
however much he might differ from
their arguments and conclusions.
In the domain of the practice of the
law, of local legislation and in inter
preting the laws from the bench he
was the most conspicuous pioneer of
the West, to which portion of the coun-
try he was ever loyal and to intro
duce it creditably to the older COM
munities of the East. he counted no
labor dear. His decisions from the
bench, extending over a period of
nearly 40 years, form a landmark in
judicial history. Rugged and vigorous
OF intellect master of perspicuous
speSh, he illuminated his decisions
with great learning and fortified them
with an unanswerable logic. In his
death light has vanished from our
legal sky, and We wish to recall and
place upon perpetual record our sense
of the great obligation which the pro-
fession and the courts are under for
us and to mankind, and we respect
fully request that this mention of his
services and fame be spread upon the
records Of this court and a COPY fur
nished to the family of the deceased"
Colonel Sanders, in the course of mis-
eulogy, said in part: L desire to add
to the memorial of the committee some
words of my own. The life of great
lawyer engaged in the administration
or public law is a signal circumstance
in human history Whatever the clam
or OF ignorance may say, it is a ttradi-
ton OF the bar founded upon immuta-
BILE fact that human liberty reposes Sc
curely upon the wise administra ton of
law, and of that law which is an mex
orable rule of action to be applied to
all human affairs that shall come with
in its compass, whether the result in
this single instance shall be absolute
justice or not. Upon the bench Mr.. AS
sociate Justice Field permitted no sub
terfuse to escape his observation, no
sophstries to control his Judgment, and
piercing through every pretense, he
came 10 the substantial controversy and
determined in it the light of those lum-
nous utterances which. through all the
years of authentic history, had been
preserved for the guidance and enlignt-
eminent of mankind. His reading all
ministered to qualify him for the duties
or the bench. He had the comprehen-
siVe observation of John Marshall, the
acute perception of Roger B. Taney
the remorseless logic of Robert c. Grier
the answering patriotism Of Salmon
p. Chase. the benevolent unfailing
philanthropy of Morrison r. Waite, and
the Ninth judicial circuit that contrib
uted him to the most conspicuous ju-
dictal tribunal that the world knows
has abundant cause to congratulate it
self that SO accomplished a publicist
wrought on so conspicuous a theater,
in its behalf and name, such illimitable
and uninterrupted good
1T was my fortune to know Mr.. JUS
tice Field well, and if I were to mem