The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-12-21

January, 1883, and began the study of
law i'll the office of Waterman. Martin
Il Hitt which was one of the leading
law firms Of the state. He was admit
ted to the Vermont bar By the supreme
court Oct y, 1891, four DAYS after he
was p. He at once opened an Office III
Crosby block and was Immediately sue
cessful, his income for the first year
averaging 800 month, which is un-
usual for a young lawyer starting out
alone. He was state s attorney for
Windham county from 1894 to 1896.
About the time lie began STUDYING
law, or when he was IS years old, Mr.
Fits engaged with the late Judge j. L.
Martin in quaFrying and manufactur-
ing business in Sherman, which was
overtaken by disaster, and Mr.. Fits
was under financial obligations to the
amount of s.. 900 to 50, 900 with nothing
with which TO meet them. Although not
legally bound to do so. when he became
of age he assumed the obligations and
for 4 period CT seven or eight years was
! in straitened circumstances financial
/ lv. Out of his earnings from the prac-
| tice Of law he paid the obligations in
! full without the loss Of a dollar to any
man.
! The marriage of Mr.. Fits and Miss
Harriet II. Lyon, daughter of Deacon
Stanley and Sarah j. Lyon, took place
in the home of Mr.. and Mrs. Lyon in
South Londonderry, June Il, 1893, the
bride S brother, Rev. John S. Lyon, per
forming the ceremony. She died March
Is, 1897, leaving two sons, Stanley
Clarke, nine days old, now a student in
Dartmouth college, and Robert Lyon,
two and a half years old, now student
in Harvard Law school
On June 80, 1908, Mr. Fits married
Miss Maud Lenore Emerson of Brattle-
boro, daughter Of Sumner b. and Mar
tha (Bales) Emerson, Rev. Harry R.
Miles, pastor of the Centre Congrega-
tional church. performing the eere-
mony. Mrs. Fits survives with son,
Osmer Clarke, and daughter, Miriam.
Mr.. Fits leaves also his mother. Mrs.
Abbie Fits, and two sisters, Miss Mary
F. Fits and Miss Florence A. Fits.
their home being at IS Chaplin street
The ease which first brought him
prominently before the public, which
was in his early 20 was the Marlboro
South pond case, which he won for the
Z people Of Marlboro against a syndicate
(which tried to maintain exclnsise fish
ING privileges on the pond by buying
all the land around it. The late Judge
Lavant NJ. Read of Bellows Falls was
associated with Mr.. Fits in this case.
After the victory had been won Judge
Read declared that Mr.. Fits had the
greatest memory of any man he ever
knew, and he told how the young law
yer had studied the ease so that he
could give the details of all the 60 odd
: transfers of land around the pond,
covering a period of over 100 years
when the number of any deed was
called. Other cases early in his career
, which added to his reputation were the
suit of Sidney II. Sherman against the
Estev Organ company, and the Barna
} A. Clark insurance case.
In 1902 Mr.. Fits was counsel in the
White will case in Boston. in which
Brattleboro beneficiaries were con
ccrned. It involved $750,000 Two
: years later he was senior counsel for
the plaintiff in the suit of the Casein
company of America, which operated a
large plant in Bellows Fails. against
Alden Speare's Sons of Boston. This
case affected the fortunes of a business
amounting to millions of dollars annual
, ", and It ended in a complete victory
Z for the Casein company
One Of the largest, if not the largest.
/, plients Mr. Fits ever had was the
: Publishers Paper Co., and the story of
how he came to be retained as its gem
erai counsel, how his keenness of intel
lect was recognized By another man of
. keen mind is of special interest This
! company is a Maine corporation, and
! it owned, at the time Mr.. Fits was re-
! tanned. some 100000 acres of timber
: land in the White mountains and in
! Maine, although some of it has since
J been sold to the government. William
= A. Hall resigned as president of the
:, company on account of differences and
i i sued the company, engaging Mr.. Fits
. as counsel. Mr.. Hall won a verdict of
/, ! about $S4, 900. The late Oakleigh
!. Thorne, a prominent New York banker
! who was then president of the company
as Mr.. Hall S successor, was convinced