The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1920-11-04
PIONEER COURTS AND
LAWYERS OF MANITOWOC CO.
Collections and ReC0lleCtiOns
BY j. S. ANDERSON
'Forsan ct haec dim meminisse iuvabit'

by session of the legislature which
created the Fourth Judicial circuit.
consisting of the counties of Brown,
Mantowoc, Winnebago, Calumet, Fond
du Lac, and Sheboygan. In the cleo
ton for judges which was held as soon
as possible, Alexander w. Stow of
Fond du Lac was chosen judge and by
his associates elected as chief justice
of the Supreme Court. On Sept. Is of
that year he came to the Rapids and
organized the court by appointing Oil
yer w. Hubbard as sheriff, and Ezekiel
Kicker clerk of the court. There was
no business and in the evening the
court adjourned.
After the organization of the Circuit
court, followed by the election of j. II.
Colby as probate judge for the county
which set the county judiciary in mo-
ton, and also the election, following
the appointment, of Ezekiel Kicker as
clerk of the Circuit court and f. II.
Ellis as district attorney; Manitowoc
county found itself fully equipped for
the judicial Purposes" for which it
had been previously attached to Brown
county, and was going it strong by
January /, lS49. 1t seems a little
strange that Justice Stow did not,
while he was putting the new court
machinery together and appointing a
sheriff and clerk, at the same time APP
point a district attorney, but the fact
appears to be that he did not do so,
and the county was without that very
useful and essential officer until the
first state election was held in NOyem-
Der following, and Il. Holmes Ellis
chosen for the place.
On March 10, ISI9, Justice Stow
again appeared at the Rapids for the
purpose of holding term of court A
county house had been built, the Off
GERS appointed or elected the autumn
previous had been functioning, both
grand and petit iurieS were in attend
ance, and a calendar of seven civil
cases were on the docket. Three in
dictmentS were brought in by the
grand jury, and the whole legal ma
chnery of the new state system thor
oughly tested and found to work well.
There were no accessions to the bar at
this session and after two days work
the court adjourned
The September term of that year
opened on the 9th of that month at
the new county house built in the
Rapids village. Judge Charles II. Lar
rabee of the Third circuit presided in
place of Justice Stow who was holding
court elsewhere. The session appears
to have been stirring one. One of
its first incidents was that upon the
roll call of the petit jury eight jury
men failed to appear, whercupon the
judge promptly fined each of them
IS and costs of the venire, for CON
tempt of process and ordered pcremp-
tory execution i'm favor of the state.
Judge Larrabee demonstrated his ca
pacity to dispatch business by dispos-
ing of a calendar of sixteen cases.
Three contested jury trials were had,
one civil and two criminal, and two
contested cases tried by the court 9th
erS were continued, dismissed or other
wise disposed of and on the evening of
the second day court adjourned
At this term the first criminal trial
by jury was held and conviction had.
1t was also the first real jury trial held
in the county 1t may interest some
of our citizens to know that on the
panel sat the following old pioneer
residents: Christian Anderson of this
city who for many years was light
house keeper, and Norris Ross also of
the city, Elijah Hothcrsoll and John
Spencer of Kossuth, +. NJ Soper and
John Whitcomb of Cato All these re-
NAMED here and spent the balance of
their lives in the county, becoming well
known to later settlers.
At this session of the court there is
a record of admission to the bar of one
Joseph M. Taylor, who was admitted
on motion of James l.. Kyle never
knew or heard of this new conner, but
have hazy recollection of being in
formed that he located at Shebovgan
for a short time. He departed thence,
and was known no more. After the or
ganization of the court in 1913, il
seems to have ran on for five or six
years without much change or addition
to the bar There were two excep-
tons. During the year 1850, George
Reed, lawyer who had resided for a
time in Waukesha county, settled in
the village Of Manitowoc and began an
active practice. Mr.. Reed had been
quite prominent in the early history of
Wisconsin territory, had been mem
Der of the first constitutional convcn-
ton and also represented Waukesha
county in the first state legislature. lie
was county judge here in lS53-1s5i
Sylvester A. Wood, a cousin and fel-
low student at law of Ezekiel Kicker,
under Hon. Nathan Clifford of Maine,
made npplicalion for licensn ln nrnc-