Excerpt from The Bench and Bar of Illinois, Vol. 1: Historical and Reminiscent It may be recalled that in the prospectus of this work there appeared the following words, which, per se, stand in justification of the history of the Bench and Bar of Illinois: "The memory of the life of even a lawyer is fleeting - a name written upon the sandy shore of time, effaced by the oncoming wave of the next generation; his work is for the present, and unless some effort is made to preserve in permanent form a record of that work it will be lost to the future. Even the great judges are forgotten; they live only in the pages of dry and musty reports, and then the recollection is only a shadow. In no better way can some of the most valued items in the history of the lives of such men be preserved than through the medium of such a work. Thus may the merits and virtues of those eminent in the profession be recorded for the emulation and guidance of the younger generation." In the compilation of the work the editor and the publishers have fully recognized the magnitude of the task set them, and in the collation of material for the same there has been a constant aim to use a wise discrimination in regard to the selection of subjects and the methods of treatment. The province of the work is entirely aside from technical lines, and the subject-matter is presented in a style which is mainly reminiscent, though due recognition is accorded the contemporaries of the bench and bar of this end-of-the-century period. In the compilation recourse has been had to divers authorities, including various histories and historical collections, and implying an almost endless array of papers and documents, both public and private. That so much matter could be gathered from so many original sources and then sifted and assimilated for the production of a single work without incurring a modicum of errors and inaccuracies-, would be too much to expect of any corps of writers, no matter how able they might be as statisticians or skilled as compilers of such works. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Chicago Bar Association Lectures, Vol. 1: I. Recollections of Early Chicago and the Illinois Bar; II. Recollections of the Bench and Bar of Central Illinois; III. The Lawyer as a Pioneer The name of Baker has been mentioned. Let me add a few words in regard to him. An anecdote, incredible, but yet indic ative of his intense ambition and therefore characteristic, has been often told around the mess-table of the early circuit-riders and judges of Central Illinois. It is said that soon after he settled in Springfield, a friend found him seated on a fallen tree in a grove near that place, weeping very bitterly. On being pressed to tell the cause of his grief, he said, I have been reading the Constitution of the United States, and I find a provision in it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Early Bench and Bar of Illinois Some years ago when in social conversation with two gentlemen of the Bar, I was relating some professional incidents which had occurred many years before, when one of them suggested that it would be interesting to the profession of the present day if I would note down, events which had occurred in the early times and lay them before the public; I promised to do so, and the result was a series of articles published in the Chicago Legal News. Upon their publication I received many letters from gentlemen of the Bar in various parts of the State, expressing the hope that the articles might be republished in book form. I finally revised these articles and prepared them for the press, with several new papers which have not been previously published, and placed them in the hands of the printer, thinking that many incidents and some peculiarities of former times might be thus perpetuated, which may in still later times be considered worth remembering. I do this the more readily as I am probably the only man now living who can speak from personal observations and recollections of events of fifty years and more ago. In the Appendix I have given an address delivered before the State Bar Association on the 24th of January last, and another given before the Chicago Bar Association February 11, 1893, in which will be found some statements germane to the subject, not previously given. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.