Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-04-01

the probate and criminal courts of Leav.
enworth county.
| Being interested in educational mat
| terS, he became a member of the board
of education of Leavenworth. In 1868
and i'll 1865 he was made its president
and later on was made superintendent
of the public schools. During 1862 and
| 1863 he was secretary of the Mercantile
| Library association of Leavenworth and
president of the State Teachers associa-
| ton.
| In 1865 he was elected Judge of the
district court for the First judicial dis
| frIct OF Kansas, serving until January
FlS69. During the year of 1869 he was
mace county attorney of LeavenWorth,
| holding the same until he was elected Il
| justice OF the supreme court of Kansas
| III 1870. He was reelected to the SUI
preme bench in 1876 and again in 1882
| In March, 1884, he was appointed Judge
! of the circuit court of the United States
! for the Eighth district. In parting from
| his former associates of the state bench
| he wrote an affectionate letter of fare
well, expressing his appreciation of the
assistance he had received from his col
! leagues and his regret upon parting from
| them.
Big Decision Is Reversed.
As a circuit judge he ruled that a
| brewery built when the law sanctioned
| anu pIVtCNtGu iuc manufacture Oh peer,
and which was constructed with special
| reference to such manufacture, and
! which could not. without great loss, be
| adapted to any other purpose, could not
after change of policy in the state, by
| which the manufacture of beer was pro-
hlbited, be stopped running, until the
amount of the loss had been estimated
and paid to the proprietor, Judgment
which was subsequently reversed by the
supreme court of the United States.
| he also enjoined upon the petition of
| certain railroad companies, the railroad
commissioners of the state of Iowa from
putting into force schedule of rates
so low that the earnings of the roads
! hereunder would not be sufficient to
pay operating expenses and interest on
their bonds.
Though urged to become a candidate
for the vacancy in the United States
supreme court created by the death of
Justice Matthews he declined, saying:
The office was not one to be contested,
| being too high and sacred;' but his
qualifications were called to the atten-
ton of President Harrison, and it has
been widely reported that his courtesy
and generosity toward his chief com
| petltor, Judge Henry B. Brown of Mich
lgan, who had been his classmate at
Yale, so impressed the executive with
his fairness as to secure his promotion
|
| Other Honors He Received.
| He was appointed by President Cleve-
| land president of the Venezuelan bound
airy commission in 1896 and a member of
the arbitration tribunal to settle the
boundary line between British Guiana
and Venezuela; orator at bicentennial
Yale university, 1901; president inter
national congress of lawyers and jurists,
st. Louis, 1904; received the degree of
| LII. ID. from Iowa college, Washburn
college Yale university, State university
of Wisconsin, Wesleyan university, Mid
oIetoWn, Conn. University of Vermont,
and Bowdoin college.
He was the author of several hooks.
among them 1.-THE Pew to the Pulpit"
1897; THE Twentieth Century from An
other Viewpoint" 1899: American Git
lzenship.' 1902; "The United States
Christian Nation" 1905.
Justice Brewer sprang from the re-
markable Field family, which for three
church. state and Laws He Inherited rich
ly not only from his mother, who was a
sister Of Justice Field, but from his
rather. who was an early missionary to
Turkey. Ills face was regarded as the
most intellectual on the bench, the face
at once OF a student and phlanthropist
His forehead was high and broad, his
piue eyes rdulaieu klndneSS, ana the eN-
preston of his lean, clean shaven face,
was seGis; fo= that of the typical judge
Like his father, grandfather, and great
grandfather, and number of his uncles.
he was a leader at Yale before taking his
degree with the class of 1856. The class
had a membership of ninety-seven, and
the name of David J. Brewer stood high
on the list. Among Justice Brewer S
classmates were Chauncey Depew and
Justice Brown. 1t was Il celebrated
class, which included many men who
afterwards became lawyers of distinction
land who held high judicial positions.