The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-26
TWO HONORABLE JUDGES.


porter.
Cottonwood county is getting a, repu-
tat1on for a certain kind of criminal
cases, and this week Judge Brown was
overwhelmed with the article. When
L write this copy I can't say what dis
position the judge will make of the mat
ters, but it is likely that a marriage
will settle one case and that another
will be settled because a marriage has
taken place and cheated the statutes
and his honor out of some salacious
evidence. Let us hope this may be true,
for such evidence is not very appetizing
for folks who think the community
should be improved upon. 1t is decided
ly nauseating to good morals and sem
sitive ears and decidedly demoralizing.
It seems odd to see Judge Severance
in town practicing before Judge Brown,
of whom Severance is old enough to be
father When Judge Severance was first
holding court in the old Sixth district.
Judge Brown was a boy, hardly admit
ted to practice, if indeed he had more
than begun the study Of law. Brown
used to practice before Severance. 1t
is getting well along toward twenty
years since Judge Severance quit holding
court in Window, when Perkins was ap-
pointed-another almost student under
Judge Severance.
The last time I saw Judge Severance
in the city was while Perkins was
judge He came here to try a case in
which Capt. Gilleland was party and
in which Perkins was indirectly interest
ed. The judge was here a day or two,
and I remember his roasting the counsel
for talking about the captain, etc, say
ing that if counsel would remember that
in courts there were only two parties,
plaintiffs and defendants, and that in
the army they could find captains and
colonies, advising counsel to thereafter
remember that they must refer to parties
in the case by the proper designation
to be understood.
Judge Severance sent the first prisoner
to states prison from this county, and
probably this term of court Judge Brown
will send more men to penal institutions
than Judge Severance did in the several
Years of his occupancy of the bench in
this corner of the state. This shows the
growth the county has made. 1t used to
be our pride that nobody had ever been
sent to prison from the county. 1t is
getting to be a necessity to send all we
can to keep peace with the world and
with ourselves
Judge Severance was an independent
Judge. a fearless one, and if he had a
failing it was in tenderness of heart.
All old settlers remember him well, new
settlers often near ola ones Jdlk OIL uliIl5
and almost seem to known him.
He is one of those men who make
typical judges. Not alone large of body
and portly, but erect dignified ana
brainy, learned in law, and wise in its
application. Out of a thousand men he
would be taken for a judge by a stranger
anywhere. Just the reverse from Brown,
who might be taken in such a crowd as
an attorney This speaking of the two
men individually among men as the world
goes, as the common plodder looks at
people. Both are judicial giants, never
theless. Only in years and consequent
experience is Severance the superior Of
Brown. Intellectually both are big men.
Judicially each is regarded as among the
best judges in the state. Severance is
passing beyond the age of activity. He IS
an old man.
The duties of the iudgship became bu,-
densome to him, and as the district de-
veloped business it bore upon his vitality
heavily, and year ago he was sue
ceeded by Loren Cray in the Sixth.
Brown now occupies the place in point OF
age Severance filled twenty-five years
ago. and is probably a better lawyer
than Severance was at that time: AS
a Judge upon the bench he ranks with
Severance then, and saying this is no
disbursement to Severance. whose de-
prudence of Minnesota. Browns are 60
ing all the time to add to the fund Of
judicial wisdom, but naturally with time
opinions become more or less obsolete
as new problems and conditions arise
yet in most of the old opinions will be
found precedents and law for the guld-
ance of younger judges and attorneys
Judge Severance's first visit to Win
dom was twenty-eight years ago this
month, when he came to try case OF
the st. Paul Lumber company against
A. E. Wood, and I believe the judge was
on one side and Uri Lamphrey on the
other. I have never seen Lamphrey
since. Court was held in the old school
house, and the Listener was a witness
1t was a hot term. Perkins was county
attorney and Waite was judge. Then
for a few years Severance was a yearly
visitor to Window, always on one side
of several cases and then Judge Dickin-
son went to the supreme court, Sever
ance to the district, and twice a year ioT
a long time he was familiar figure WITH
us. It seems strange to see him now
at the bar instead of the bench.