Daily Kennebec journal., 1914-03-05
Louis c. Stearns.

Judge Louis c. Stearns was one o,
the best known and ablest lawyers IN
Maine. great student, both of Law
and human nature, he early achieved
success in his profession. He was {.
lawyer of the old school. in many
ways, but never depended upon brill
liant arguments to win cases. WheII
he went into court his cases wers
carefully prepared He tried then
ably, then argued them splendidlyl
His arguments were both logical and
eloquent The knowledge that judge
Stearns was to argue case, was al
ways sufficient to fill any court room
In the course of his long career a
the bar, he was the advocate in many
important cases. Naturally, because
of his many years residence there, thd
greater part of his court work was
done in Aroostok county. He figured
in the defense of nearly all the more
important cases which came up in thai
county during his practice there, while
he has been in the great civil actions
which have been tried there since he
removed from Caribou TO Bangor.
His last important criminal case wa.
in 1905. when he defended Elmer
keyes. charged with wife murder. The
trial was presided over by Chief JUS
tice Savage and attracted spread
attention in Maine and New England
The defense in the case was insanity
and keyes was acquitted. The arguf
ment made by Judge Stearns in this
case was masterpiece. The eourf
room at Bangor was crowded and the
audience was in tears the greater par
of the time the Judge was talking.
In 1907. he was senior counsel foi
Judge Harry c. Chapman of the Ban
gor municipal court, when remova
proceedings were instituted before the
Maine Legislature and in 1911 he was
counsel for Sheriff Charles o. Emery
of York county, who was tried be-
fore the Legislature in special ses
sion, under similar proceedings. Wher1
Sheriff Emerson of Penobscet county
was brought before the Legislature iri
April, 1872 upon removal proceedings
Judge Stearns was senior counsel fol
the defence.
He early became identified in the
famous Helyoke will case, which was
tried last month in Los Angeles, Cal
as attorney for the two nieces. who
were heirs under the dead million
aires will
For several years past Judge
Stearns has been one of the attor-
neys of the Bangor & Aroostook Rail-
road. In 1911 he was that roads leg
islative representative at Augusta.
As a member of the Legislature
both as the representative Of the
town of Caribou in the House and as
one of Aroostook's senatorial delega-
ton, he won prominence. His ability
as a debater, his logical, legal mind
made him one of the hardest oppo-
nents in debate in the House or SEN
ate. He served With great ability up
on the judiciary committee. the hard
est worked committee of the Legis-
lature, during his four terms.
No finer illustration of his deter
mination and willingness to fight for
a cause can be found than on one oc-
casion where a certain bill before the
Legislature, contained grants to a cor
poration which few men in the Leg
islature felt were unwise. Judge
Stearns was the only member of the
Senate opposed to the Dill. he knew.
when it came up in that branch, that
his would be the only vote against it,
yet he spoke long and earnestly against
it. making his position and that of
his friends ON the measure, very clear.
The vote was exactly as he had ex-
pected it would be-he voted alone. In
after years the wisdom of his course
was made manifest.
One of the greatest fights which
Judge Stearns ever took part in be-
fore the Legislature was in 1901 and
1903, when the Penobscot river lum-
bermen clashed with the Great North
ern Paper Co. over the control of the
west branch of the river. The judge
was one of the principal lawyers for
the l'mbermen and the final adjust
ment of the difficulty was due, in a
very great degree, to his sagacity and
skill in bringing the two factions to-
gether. Z