Mattoon ; and Czarina, who is the widow of Dr. Charles H. Tillison.
Dr. Tillison, who was one of the best known dental practitioners at
Mattoon, died in this city April 9, 1914. One son of General and
Mrs. Clark, George B., died at the age of seventeen years. Mrs.
Clark and her daughter, Mrs. Tillison, are well known in the pleasant
social life of Mattoon. Here are preserved many of the personal
possessions of General Clark on which he set high value during life,
but there is one that no price could take from them, this being a bit
of deadly shell that struck him on the battle field, his life being pre-
served by its glancing off and falling harmlessly in his shoe.
General Clark was prominent in Masonic circles and belonged
also to the Elks. For many years he was one of the most promi-
nent public men in the Fifth Judicial District, but it is probable that
his greatest value to his community was in his character. His deeds
and words, whether in public, in the practice of his profession or in
private life were the simple, direct, true expressions of his intellec-
tual and moral integrity. Loyal to his country, just in the adminis-
tration of office, considerate in friendship and tender in family life,
such is the record of one who will long be remembered in Coles
County and in Illinois.
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS 475
GEORGE W. MANIERRE. Admitted to the Illinois bar fifteen
years ago, George W. Manierre has since been in active practice
at Chicago, and is now senior member of the firm of Manierre
& Pratt, with offices in the Harris Trust Building. Mr. Manierre
represents a name which has been prominent in Chicago since pio-
neer times. He was born in Chicago, a son of Edward and Ella
(Willard) Manierre. His father was one of Chicago's early set-
tlers, having come to the city in 1835, and was one of the foremost
citizens of Chicago from that time until his death in 1890.
Mr. Manierre was educated in the public schools, graduating
from the Hyde Park High School, and took his law studies in the
Northwestern University Law School, graduating LL. B. in 1899.
After his admission to the bar he practiced alone until 1902, and
was then associated with William T. Underwood until the latter's
death on December 8, 1910. Mr. Manierre was then in partnership
with Thornton M. Pratt until February, 1912, when the firm of
Holdom, Manierre & Pratt was organized. This firm was dissolved
December i, 1914, when the new firm of Manierre & Pratt was
formed. Mr. Manierre's practice is of a general nature.
He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Illinois
State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. His
clubs are the Union League, the South Shore Country, and the
Hamilton. He is affiliated with Covenant Lodge No. 526, A. F.
& A. M., and with Chicago Chapter No. 127, R. A. M. ; and is a
past grand regent of the Royal Arcanum of Illinois. Mr. Manierre
married in 1900 Miss Irene Beardsley of Chicago. They have one
daughter, Harriet. The family reside at 5760 Harper Avenue.
JUDGE HARRY OLSON. In all the critical comment from the
profession and the general public, both favorable and otherwise,
directed upon the personnel of the Municipal Court judiciary of
Chicago, there has been a remarkable concordance in the apprecia-
tion and estimate of the splendid services of Harry Olson, the chief
justice, who has been formal head of the institution since it was
organized in the fall of 1906.
It is difficult to conceive how any man could have better realized
the hopes entertained of this new office. A great opportunity for
public service was presented, and Harry Olson was the man with
the character, training and ability to assume and discharge the
responsibilities and make the Municipal Court a model institution of
its kind in America. As chief justice he is both a judicial and admin-
istrative officer a sort of general manager of the entire system with
its thirty associate justices. Though he hears and decides cases, his
most important work is executive. He has been called the dominant
figure in the court since its organization. Besides the systematizing
of its records, under his direction its procedure has been simplified,
and its handling of cases has been rapid and less hampered by legal
technicalities than other courts. In order the better to perfect and
476 COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS
expedite the workings of the "people's court," Judge Olson has intro-
duced a classification of cases, each class assigned to the jurisdiction
of a special branch court. Those that have become most familiar are
the court of domestic relations, the speeders' court, the morals court,
the boys court and the night court. Perhaps a more important inno-
vation, for which he is responsible, was the establishment of a
psychopathic laboratory, under the direction of an expert psycholo-
gist, for the examination of prisoners who manifest a defective
mentality rather than criminal nature.
Though Harry Olson is a native of Chicago and has been a mem-
ber of its bar near a quarter of a century, most of his childhood and
youth were spent in Kansas, and he is to a large degree a representa-
tive of that sturdy class known as "country bred." His parents,
Olof and Clara C. (Oberg) Olsen, were immigrants from Sweden,
his father a stonemason and bricklayer by trade, who while in Chi-
cago was employed in the construction of the old water tower on
Chicago Avenue, long a landmark. The Olson home was on the
north side on old Market Street, and there Harry Olson was born
August 4, 1867.
When he was three years old his father moved out to Kansas,
still a new and undeveloped state, and became a pioneer farmer, and
with his family faced the hard conditions that prevailed to such an
extent as to justify the belief of many that there was "something
the matter with Kansas," and continued to fight an uphill struggle
until he died ten years later. The mother then called her son and
told him impressively that he was the head of the family. Thus at
the age of thirteen he assumed a responsibility which was probably
one of the chief factors in the development of his positive and
aggressive character. He has never prayed for an easy life, but for
greater strength to bear increasing labors and responsibilties, and
there has been a logical progress in the development of his power
and ability, fitting him for the performance of each duty as it came,
and finally for the competent direction of an office that measured
in terms of real service is higher than a seat on the supreme bench.
Needless to say, he was not sent to college as the son of a
prosperous father. Between thirteen and twenty-four he managed
to acquire the equivalent of a fairly liberal education, but he worked
for it, economized, and paid his way at every step. While attending
the high school at Pecatonica, Illinois, he learned the trade of car-
riage painter and worked at it during vacations. Soon after getting
his high school diploma in 1885, at the age of nineteen he was ap-
pointed principal of schools at St. Marys, Kansas, near his father's
old home, and was the youngest school principal in the state at the
time. During the years 1887-88 he was a student at Washburn
College in Topeka. While there he heard a speech by the late
Senator Ingalls which influenced him to give up his college career
and come to Chicago to study law. \Vhile in the old Union College
of Law, then a department of Northwestern University, he paid
his way by teaching in the night public schools.
477
Graduating in 1891 and admitted to the Illinois bar the same
year, a few years sufficed to give him practice and standing among
Chicago attorneys. Then another speech, this time by the late Carl
Schurz, helped him to decide to give up a promising and profitable
private practice and take a position as assistant to the prosecuting
attorney of Cook County. Former Governor Deneen was then state's
attorney, and the two men had become acquainted while teaching in
the night schools and studying law. For eight years he served as
assistant state's attorney under Charles S. Deneen and for two years
under John J. Healy. During most of the time he was the chief
trial lawyer, having developed remarkable powers in cross-examina-
tion. He had charge of many of the most important criminal cases
in the Cook County courts, and was occasionally detailed for service
as special prosecutor in outlying courts.
After the adoption of the Municipal Court Act, he was elected
chief justice in 1906 and helped establish and organize the new
system. In 1912 he was re-elected chief justice. His work in the
Municipal Court has given Judge Olson a national reputation, at
least among lawyers and people specially interested in court reform.
His experience as judge and lawyer confers weight and value on his
opinions off the bench, and he has taken an active part in various
sociological organizations and has been a popular speaker and lec-
turer both at home and in other states. Judge Olson is a member of
the International Prison Congress, the National Congress of Char-
ities and Corrections, the Chicago Vice Commission, the American
Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, and has served as vice
president of the Society of Mental Hygiene of Illinois. He is a
member of the Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Law Club, and
the Illinois State Bar Association. In politics he has been identified
with the republican organization, though his service and ideals are
above partisanship, and he was recently accepted by both the pro-
gressive republicans and the progressives as fusion choice for the
nomination as mayor of Chicago.
He has served as trustee of the Northwestern University, and is
a member of the Lutheran Church. He is a Knight Templar Mason,
a member of the Mystic Shrine, and of the Royal Arcanum, and
belongs to the Press and University clubs. He has a hobby for
farming, and has a place in the country where he indulges it and
spends his holidays. Judge Olson was married June i, 1902, to
Bernice Miller, of Pecatonica, Illinois. They have three children :
Harry Jr., Sanford and Jane.
COLONEL CHARLES L. WALKER. Senior member of the law firm
of Walker, Ingram & Sweeney of Rock Island, Colonel Walker has
made his professional career of nearly forty years notable for his
many successes as general attorney and counsel and has also ren-
dered a great amount of disinterested and capable public service to
his home city and state.
478 COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS
A native of Illinois, born in McHenry County, December 27,
1851, he is a son of Rev. Leander S. and Miriam L. (Palmer)
Walker, natives of New Hampshire and Ohio, respectively. His
father was a Methodist clergyman and for forty years a member
of the Rock River Conference.
Colonel Walker entered the law only after a varied experience
in other lines and gained most of his education through his own
efforts. He attended the public schools of Mount Morris and in
other towns where his father resided, and in 1870 finished the classi-
cal course of the Mount Morns Seminary. He paid his expenses
while there by teaching school and by working as a laborer on rail-
road construction. He also learned telegraphy, was made agent
for the Burlington Road at Hinsdale, Illinois, also at several other
points, and became familiar with all branches and classes of railroad
operating service. In 1873, having concluded to give up railroad
business and become a lawyer, he removed to Rock Island and began
study under Sweeney & Jackson, and continued to apply himself
diligently until his admission to the bar by the Illinois Supreme
Court at Springfield in January, 1878. He was then accepted as a
partner by the firm of Sweeney & Jackson, whose new title became
Sweeney, Jackson & Walker. After many years of practice Mr.
Jackson retired from the firm owing to poor health and Sweeney &
Walker then continued until the death of Mr. Sweeney. Mr. Walker
then reorganized the partnership by taking in John J. Ingram, and
Mr. Sweeney's son, William J., thus evolving the present firm name
of Walker, Ingram & Sweeney. This firm acts as general attorneys
for the Davenport, Rock Island & Northwestern Railroad Com-
pany, as division attorneys for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy,
as local attorneys for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and other
railroads and corporations.
On April 13, 1881, Colonel Walker married Miss Anna G. Stod-
dard of Rock Island. Their daughter, Miriam A. Walker, born Feb-
ruary 21, 1897, has completed the course of the public schools and
is now a student in Vassar College. Colonel Walker is affiliated
with Trio Lodge, A. F. & A. M. ; with Barret Chapter, R. A. M.,
and Rock Island Commandery, K. T.
From 1893 to I 97 Colonel Walker was president of the Rock
Island Public Library Board, and his administration was made not-
able among other things by the construction of the present library
building, costing over $100,000. On January 28, 1901, Governor
Yates appointed him aide de camp on his general staff with rank of
colonel in the Illinois National Guard. In April, 1901, the governor
selected him as attorney for the Illinois & Michigan canal, and he
was retained in the same position by Governor Deneen as long as
he was content to serve. He resigned in 1911, after rounding out a
full ten years of service.
JOHN SANBORN STEVENS. One of the oldest and most prominent
members of the Illinois Bar was the late John Sanborn Stevens,
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS 479
who died at Peoria March 4, 1912. At the time of his death he
was senior member of the firm of Stevens, Miller & Elliott. He
had been admitted to the bar in 1865 and for forty-seven years con-
tinued an active representative of the legal profession, his ability and
his industry maintaining him in a foremost position among the law-
yers of the state. The high regard he enjoyed among his profes-
sional associates is illustrated by the fact that in 1902 he was elected
president of the Illinois State Bar Association.
John Sanborn Stevens was born in Bath, New Hampshire, Sep-
tember 16, 1838, a son of Joshua and Abigail (Walker) Stevens,
natives of the same state. His father was of English lineage and
his mother of Scotch stock, and they were -married at Bath, New
Hampshire, lived there until 1849, an d then removed to Vermont.
John S. Stevens prepared for college as a student in Caledonia Aca-
demy in Vermont. He provided for his own support by working on
a farm and teaching during vacations in the district schools. In 1858
he enrolled as a student in Dartmouth College, was graduated A. B.
with honors in the class of 1862, and later received the degree
Master of Arts from the same school.
It was as a young college graduate that he came to Peoria, where
he spent two years as a teacher, one year in the grammar schools
and one year in the high school. At the same time he carried on his
studies of law, having long cherished a design to take up that pro-
fession. He began reading under Alexander McCoy, a prominent
Peoria attorney, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1865. He
was associated in practice with Mr. McCoy until 1870, and then
became a partner of Judge David McCulloch. He continued thus
until 1876, when without solicitation on his part he was appointed
postmaster by President Grant, and during the following four years
gave most of his attention to the duties of that office. In 1877
Senator John S. Lee had become associated with Mr. Stevens, and
other subsequent associates were P. W. Gallagher and Walter S.
Horton. For several years the firm was Stevens, Lee & Horton, and
later W r illiam T. Abbott became a partner. Several years before
the death of Mr. Stevens the firm of Stevens, Miller & Elliott came
into existence.
Mr. Stevens in June, 1868, married Miss Sarah M. Bartlett, who
was born in Peoria, daughter of Amos P. Bartlett, a pioneer mer-
chant. The two children of their marriage died in infancy. Mr.
Stevens was a member of Christ's Church, Reform Episcopal, and
was always a moral force in his community. Politically he was iden-
tified with the republican party since its organization, and was fre-
quently offered nominations to the State Legislature, but declined.
He was interested in the success of the party, and was delegate to
various conventions and a member of the state committee of 1900.
In Peoria he served on the board of school inspectors. His labor at
all times constituted an element in promoting progress and improve-
ment along the lines which affect general interests of society and
480 COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS
at the same time his devotion to his profession brought him to a
position of distinction as a member of the Illinois Bar. He was a
man entirely free from ostentation or display. He lived his life
quietly, yet he held to profound convictions of right and wrong and
strove to reach the high ideals of manhood and citizenship which he
set up. The nobility of his character was found in this very simplic-
ity, the strength of his position as a leading member of the bar had
its root in the fact that he was always direct in his work and never
sought to lead the court astray in the matter of fact or law. His
entire life record was as an open book which all might read and on
its pages there was found no stain nor dishonor. While he himself
held to high ideals he was slow in condemnation of others and his
hand at all times reached out in ready sympathy to assist those who
were attempting to climb upward.
Some extracts from the resolutions passed by the Peoria County
Bar Association will serve to supplement the general facts of his
career already given : "The character of the good citizen, as meas-
ured after his decease, is always determined by his life's history; by
his faithfulness, integrity and uprightness in his dealings ; by the
confidence and esteem in which he was ever held by his associates
and the general public, and their estimate of him as a man and citi-
zen. Additional elements enter into the requisites of a true lawyer.
We measure him not only by his ability and his knowledge of the
law and of the fundamental principles of jurisprudence, but further
by his individual uprightness and by his conscientious elevation of
right, and truth and justice; by his condemnation of wrong; by
his honest and faithful discharge of duty to his clientage ; by his
fearless advocacy of his honest convictions and by his constant
remembrance that he is part and parcel of the machinery under
our system of government charged with the administration of justice.
"Mr. Stevens was a typical lawyer and had an unusually exalted
idea of the requirements of his profession, and never faltered in
the expression of his opinions regarding legal ethics, and particularly
with reference to those high principles of justice and equities re-
quired in the administration of the law. It has been given to com-
paratively few lawyers to possess in so large a degree so many of the
high qualities required in a perfect lawyer as were found concen-
trated in Mr. Stevens; and after a service of continuous practice
of over forty-five years, with a large clientage during the entire
period, the fact that such clientage at all times had in him the high-
est degree of confidence and esteem and continued faithful to him
until the end is a sufficient testimonial of his legal ability, faithful-
ness and integrity.
"With his associates in the practice and particularly with the
younger members of the bar he at all times exhibited the same genial
and kindly spirit. He was ever ready to give to others the benefit
of his own long experience and his counsel. He- was never ruffled
COURTS AND LAWYERS OF ILLINOIS 481
save when confronted with a case of wrong, oppression or injustice ;
and for such cases he never failed to forcibly express his convictions
of disapproval and hatred.
"Apart from his profession of law, Mr. Stevens had great ad-
ministrative ability and excelled in good common sense and sound
judgment, and had a broad comprehensive knowledge of business
affairs. It was his well-earned reputation for honesty, integrity and
good business ability that rendered him a favorite instrument for
the conduct of large and important trusts, and it can be truly said
that the beneficiaries of said trusts never failed to find in him a
faithful, able and conscientious servant and trustee.
"In every department of life Mr. Stevens at all times stood, and
was recognized throughout the entire state as a lawyer, citizen and
man of distinguished character ; and by his decease not only the bar
of Peoria, but our city and state, have lost a capable, honest and
conscientious lawyer and a distinguished and highly esteemed
citizen."
FRANK T. MILLER. Few Illinois lawyers have a record of life
experience more -fruitful in inspiration than that of Frank T. Miller,
one of the recognized leaders of the Peoria Bar. He has been in
practice at Peoria over fifteen years, and was one of the associates
of the late John S. Stevens, a distinguished pioneer lawyer of Illi-
nois, until the latter's death.
Frank T. Miller was born at Muehlheim, near Cologne, Ger-
many, January i, 1873, a son of Theodore D. and Clara A. Miller,
natives of the same province. In July, 1882, the family came to
America, and the household of six children that accompanied their
parents was later increased by the birth of five others in America.
The father was a carpenter, and when working steadily at his trade
earned only about fifty dollars a month. In Germany he had been
compelled to render military service in the German army, and was
on duty during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. As a family
when they arrived in America they possessed absolutely nothing in
material goods, and yet brought to the New World industrious habits
and character which are the finest qualities of citizenship. It is one
of the tributes to American opportunities that in spite of poverty
and inability to speak or read a word of English language the family
secured a foothold, and one at least has come to a considerable
degree of fame and fortune. Frank Miller was about ten years
old at the time, and as a poor German boy was often subjected to
ill treatment by his American companions. He had secured three
years of education in the German schools, and for three years was a
pupil in the grade schools in Champaign and Bloomington, Illinois.
At the age of twelve he began the battle for his own support.
What he has since accomplished is an illustration of the fact that
it is only under the pressure of adversity and the stimulus of neces-
sity that the strongest and best qualities in man are brought out and
Vol. II 4
482
developed. His first regular work was in a drug store, washing
windows, bottles, floors and other menial work, twelve hours a day,
at wages of a dollar and a quarter a week, all of which went to
the family. At the age of fourteen he was earning two dollars a
week in a dry-goods store. He had an ambition for better things
and realized that an education was the first pre-requisite. Like
many German lads he had musical talent, and had been encouraged
and had had some opportunity in playing the violin. He began sell-
ing Sunday papers on an agreement with his father that the money
thus earned should go to violin instruction. In addition to other
duties he kept up a constant practice and bought the services of a
capable instructor on the violin, and thus at the age of sixteen was
given an opportunity to play in a theater for experience. At the
age of eighteen he was in demand as a musician, and at twenty
had become a recognized factor in musical circles in his home city.
In the meantime he had continued to work in stores, but in time the
earnings from his violin were greater than the regular wages of the
other employments. His aims and ambitions for the future now
became concentrated upon the profession of law. He left his work
as a clerk in a store, entered a law school, and with his night work
on the violin made his way. He had, however, been out of school
more than eight years, and in consequence did not know how to
study. His early examinations proved his incapacity in that direc-
tion, but at the end of two years he stood second in the class in
examinations covering the entire course and drew a cash prize. The
income from his music had steadily increased, and thus enabled
him to pursue a two years' special literary course, followed by one
year in a law office. He secured his education in the Illinois Wes-