Year: 1873

was committed 20 the care OF his uu'''' '


who had offered to provide for hs euucA''on


journey to Ohio in those days was serious 'ii,',i
but the boy was intrusted to the care OF an eider
brother who with Henry K. Schooleratt was starlhs
to Join Gen Casss expedition TO the Upper Nlsslsaip
pi. The Bishop lived at Worthington, near Coiun-
bus. and young Chase was obliged to remain
for several weeks at Cleveland before ne
found a chance of completing the journey
During this time he earned his living Dy
ferrying passengers across the Cuyahoea m canoe
At Worthington he divided his time between nard
work on the Bishops farm and hard study IN the
Bishops academy. Thence he accompanied his uncie
TO rather more ambitious institution at Cincinnati
and remained there until, in 1893, Bishop Chase
went TO Europe 20 raise funds for the establishment
of Kenyon College. Salmon then returned 70 New
Hampshire taught school for a little while studied
for . little while at RoyaltOn, Vermont, entered
Dartmouth College in the junior class IN ls@t and
was graduated years later at the age OF 10 with
his diploma and few dollars he went to Washing
ton and advertised in The National IEtetbgcnoT ms
intention To teach a select classical school" but
he got no pupils and his money rapidly disappeared
In despair he applied to his uncle the Senator for
clerkship in the Treasury. If you want half dollar
to buy a spade and go dig for a living was the an
swer. Il viii give it 10 you but VIII not help you
TO q place under Government. / got an appointment
for a nephew once. aud il ruined him. At last he
obtained charge Of n schoG from which the pro
prietOr was about 10 retire, and which numbered
among u patrons Henry Clay William Writ, and
other distinguished men, and during his leisure
hours he pursued the study Of law under Mr. NIrts
auspices His entrance into the legal profession was
not auspicous. He passed bis examination IN 1870
with difficulty and is said that he was not rejected
only because he intended TO practice at Cincinnati
where any sort Of a lawyer was supposed at that
time TO be good enough. His only client for long
time was a who paid him half a dollarf for draw
ing an agreement and came back few days after to
borrow the half dollar. In his first argument before
a Federal court he broke down. Nevertheless he
soon made his way. He had settled at Cincinnati
Immediately after his admission 70 the bar and
while waiting for practice he prepared an edition OF
the statutes of Ohio with notes and n historical n-
PRODUCTION. which brought him into notice and as
early as 1884 be was appointed solicitor OF the Bank
Of the United States in Cincinnati.


The great question which was already dividing


the country presented itself to Mr.. Chase at the very
beginDiug of his career under circumstances which
tested severely the strength of his principles Gin
cinnati situated the boundary between slave and
tree territory was perfect hot-bed Of pro-Slavery
sentiment. Society took its tone from across the
river Wealth. influence position, were all on the
side oil the save-owners, and the worst reputation


struggling young man could get was tnat OF an
Aboltionist. Mr.. Chase had struggled hard with
poverty lie knew what it meant to 60 pennlless
and hungry. He was ambitious. he had strong
natural appetite for popularity. He was Just
at that point 10 his career when his fortunes
might be made OF marred by a single false
step. Bat if ne ever felt the temptation to
conceal his hostility to the extension Of Slavery,


#ha ~ NJ
of the oppressed, he never yielded 70 it
for q moment. When a mob after sackng
the office of The PkaGathropst attempted to seize
the person OF the editor. James q. Birney, Mr..
Chase wiUlztood them singe-handed in the door
way of Birneys hotel, and succeeded IN OBTAINING
them until the AbolitiOnist had made his escape. In
1897 he still further outraged the public opinion OF
Cincinnati by appearing as counsel for colored
woman. Matilda claimed as fugitive slave and in
his argument he took the ground then entirely new
that the phrase in the Constitution which required
the giving up Of fugtives from service OF labor did
not impose on magistrates 10 Free States the duty
Of catching and returning slaves, and that Con
zress had no right 20 impose such duties on state
officers He was beaten, of course. IN the Cincinnati
Court and as he left the room some looked after
him and said. There goes tne young fellow
who has Just ruined himself but the





by the Supreme Court of the United States In the
same year he defended Mr.. Bimey, who had been
prosecuted under State law for harboring fugI-
tive slave In his plea before the Supreme Court Of
Ohio he took the broad ground that Slavery is a
local institution, dependent upon State law for Its
existence and continuance, and that the person al
legged to have been harbored having been brought
by her master within the territorial limits Of Ohio,
became in fact and by right free. In 1888, IN news
paDer review of n report of the Judiciary Committee
Of the Senate Of Ohio against the granting Of trial
by jury TO alleged slaves, Mr.. Chase repeated this
argument That Slavery was sectional and freedom
national is phrase afterward familiar 70 our ears
that we can hardly appreciate the courage 1t
needed in young lawyer 10 enunciate such doc
tine in Cincinnati thirty-fve years ago with pub
lie furious in denouncIng pestilent heresy, the
bar frowning upon it, the courts steadily pronounc-
ing against it, But Mr. Chase perseyered; and he
did not ruin himself either. Had be kept on the
popular side he might have become in few years
with his strong natural abilities his habits Of appl
cation his dgnihed and attractive presence one Of
the most successful advocates at the Western bar.
But the chiyalrous impulse which carried him TO
the defense or the slave girl Matilda opened TO him
a nobIer though q less lucrative career. Little by
little he became identified with the great constltu-
tionaI conflict in which it had been his fortune
to strike so vigorous q blow. In 1872 a case
occurred in Ohio which forms memorable
chapter IN the great American conflict. Mr.. Van
Zandt was a Kentucky farmer, who, becoming con-
yinced Of the wickedDess of Slavery, liberated hs
negroes. moved into Ohio, and settling on farm
near Cincinnati, lost opportunity Of sheltering
and aiding the fuGitives VINO learned TO seek his
hospitality. He was the original Of Van Tromp IN
Uncle Tou's Cabin "a man Of rough exterior, but
of noble heart aud boundless hberality. One
day, having taken several fugitive slaves