was holding the position of clerk of the United States
Court of Missouri, which he obtained in 1821, and
kept till his death in 1842. The star of the Bartons
seemed in the ascendant. David was winning laurels
in Washington, and few could contend with Joshua in
the St. Louis courts ; but in 1823 a communication
appeared in the Missouri Republican charging Gen.
William Rector, surveyor-general of Missouri, Illi-
nois, and Arkansas, with corruption in office. He was
absent, and his brother Thomas called on the editor,
learned that Joshua Barton wrote the letter, and chal-
lenged him. In their correspondence Barton refused
to fight unless Rector would first admit the truth of
the charges, and this being done they met on Bloody
Island, where so many duels had occurred. It was
June 30, 1823, weapons pistols, distance ten paces.
At the first fire Barton fell dead, shot through the
heart. His body reposes in St. Charles, near where
the old round stone fort stood. On the 2d of July
the St. Louis bar met, Alexander Stuart being chair-
man, and it was unanimously resolved that, in testi-
mony of their respect for his memory, each member
should wear crape on the left arm for thirty days.
On March 6, 1859, the chords of public sorrow
were deeply touched by the announcement of the
death, on the previous night, of Henry S. Geyer, for
more than forty years one of the very foremost at
the St. Louis bar. All the records of that time give
evidence of the respect and admiration he had inspired,
and his fame as an acute jurisconsult was national.
The principal arguments and authorities presented in
the Dred Scott case were submitted by him. He was
born of German parents in Frederick County, Md.,
Dec. 9, 1790. His early promise attracted the attention
of Gen. Nelson, with whom he studied law. Another
early friend was his uncle, Daniel Sheffie, of Virginia,
a prominent lawyer and politician. He began prac-
tice in 1811, but entered the army in 1812 as first
lieutenant, and rose to the rank of captain in active
1462
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
duty on the frontier. In 1815 he re-entered the legal
field in St. Louis, and almost immediately won recog-
nition. At that time the laws of the Territory were
in a rudimentary condition, and the inchoate titles
granted by Spain were being examined and readjusted,
and the most intricate problems were involved in their
settlement. Capt. Geyer applied himself so assidu-
ously to this department of law that for over forty
years hardly an important land case was settled in
Missouri without his aid. But he also possessed a
variety of legal accomplishments, and was perfectly at
home in the subtile distinctions of commercial law, in
complex details of chancery cases, and in the skillful
management of jury trials, when his examination of
witnesses and of the evidence was unequaled. A
writer says of him, " His
vigilance, dexterity, and
perfect presence of mind
were indescribable." But
we will let his old associ-
ates describe his valuable
services to jurisprudence.
When, March 8, 1859, the
St. Louis bar met to pass
resolutions regarding their
loss, their sorrow was mani-
fested in the most marked
degree. Edward Bates was
president, and Albert Todd
and F. A. Dick vice-presi-
dents. C. D. Drake, J. M.
Krum, J. K. Shepley, C.
Gibson, and T. C. Reynolds
drew up the resolutions,
which contained the fol-
lowing:
" Through a period of more
than forty-three years his clear,
acute, and logical mind, unim-
paired to the last, dealt with all the great questions which have
arisen in connection with the peculiar jurisprudence of this
State, and none has been more distinctly felt by our State and
Federal judiciary in their elucidation and final determination.
" His influence upon the statute law of Missouri has been no
less marked. When he had been but two years in the then
frontier town of St. Louis he compiled, with rare accuracy and
system, and published a digest of the laws then in force in the
Territory of Missouri, which still bears his name, and has al-
ways held a position of unquestioned authority. In 1818 he
was a member of the Territorial Legislature of Missouri. In 1821
he was elected a representative in the First Legislature of this
State, and on taking bis seat was chosen Speaker of the House.
He held the same position with distinguished ability in She
Second and Third General Assemblies. Upon that which con-
vened in 1824-25 devolved the difficult duty of making the first
revision of the statute law of Missouri. He had been by the
HENRY S. GEYER.
preceding Legislature appointed one of the revisers, and he
thus had an opportunity to do much in moulding the legisla-
tion of a young State, where few men could be found having
the peculiar qualities which he possessed in a very eminent de-
gree for such a work. Again in 1834-35 he participated labori-
ously and with great ability in the enactment of the second
revision of the statutes. His last legislative service was in the
session of 1838-39. In 1843 he was again appointed one of the
revisers of the statutes, but declined the appointment. Through-
out his legislative career he was distinguished for comprehen-
sive views, for independent and accurate judgment, for clear
perception of what was required in general legislation, and for
a remarkable adaptation to the laborious and ill-understood work
of framing laws.
" In his service as senator of the United States in 1851 he ex-
hibited the same mental qualities which had distinguished him
at home. His mind was logical, acute, fertile, elastic, analyti-
cal, and vigorous. His legal learning was varied and profound,
and he wielded it with a skill and power equaled by few. His
forensic efforts, whether before
a court or a ju*y, were always
impressive, and often exhibited
the highest order of ability."
The members of the bar
voted to wear mourning for
the usual period, and the
resolutions were presented
to the Supreme Court and
to the inferior courts.
It is impossible within
the limits of this brief
sketch to fully describe the
unique legal position of
Henry S. Geyer. In the
Supreme Court of the
United States he came into
contact with such men as
Webster, Ewing, and Rev-
erdy Johnson, who enter-
tained the highest respect
for his ability. Politically,
he was a firm Whig, and
an ardent admirer of Henry
Clay. When that party disappeared he returned to
the Democratic ranks. When elected to the Senate
(1851) it was as the successor of Thomas H. Benton.
His greatest reputation as a criminal lawyer was
gained in the trial of Darnes for the murder of Davis,
publisher of a St. Louis paper, in 1840. After
Dames' acquittal, Mr. Geyer's profound argument,
which occupied two days in its delivery, and turned
upon the closest analysis of surgical evidence, was
published in book form in Boston. Rufus Choate
expressed the highest admiration for its ability. In
one cpf his noted land cases, that of Strother vs. Lucas,
William Wirt was his associate, and Chief Justice
Marshall, who presided, afterwards expressed his as-
BENCH AND BAR.
1463
tonishment at Geyer's legal acumen. Indeed, the
entire history of the times makes evident the fact that
he was a formidable opponent whom few could safely
encounter, and throws into strong relief the admirable
singleness of purpose and devotion to any cause in
which he is enlisted that marks the great lawyer. Many
stories might be told of his sparkling, graphic sarcasm
and pungency of retort, and he wielded a good con-
troversial pen, writing many articles for the St. Louis
journals of the day. His religious beliefs were de-
cided, and he was a consistent member of the Epis- i
copal Church. Personally he mingled but little with
the people, being reserved and not intimate with any
one, but he showed a great fondness for practical
joking, and there are some capital stories of his sue- j
cess in that line. Some time in 1816 he exchanged
shots with Capt. Kennerly, and the latter was wounded
in the leg. The exact cause of the duel has never
been understood, but the difficulty was amicably set-
tled, and they continued friends.
Benjamin B. Dayton was for years a partner of
Henry S. Geyer. He was born in New York State
in 1817, graduated at Union College in 1838, reached
St. Louis, and at first was with Ferdinand W. Risk.
About 1844 he married Miss Mary Jennings, of Phil-
adelphia. In 1855 the dreadful Gasconade bridge
disaster occasioned his death. He was a hard student,
and a man of most exemplary habits. The firm of
Geyer & Dayton did a large business in land cases.
One of the first judges of Missouri was Mathias
McGirk, a contemporary of the Bartons. His col-
leagues were J. D. Cook and John R. Jones. They
were appointed in 1820. Judge McGirk was born in
1790, in Tennessee, and reached St. Louis about 1814.
In 1827 he removed to Montgomery County, and
there married a Miss Talbot. In 1816 he was author
of the bill to introduce the common law into Mis-
souri, and he framed other important bills while a !
member of the Legislature. In 1841 he retired from
the bench, devoting himself to agriculture. He was
not a brilliant jurist, but had practical sense, a reten-
tive memory, and an admirable style, both as conver-
sationalist and writer. In politics he was a Whig.
Little information is obtainable about Andrew and
Isaac McGirk, relatives of the preceding, who prac-
ticed law in St. Louis. Isaac died in 1830. John
D. Cook, Judge McGirk's associate on the bench, was
a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and
a jurist of excellence. When Judge R. S. Thomas 1
1 This Richard S. Thomas reached Upper Louisiana in 1815.
In 1817 he was appointed a circuit or district judge, but in
1824 was impeached and removed. He is said to have been
was removed from the Circuit Court, Judge Cook was
appointed, preferring that place. He presided there
many years, and was a noted nisi prius judge. He
had great ability, but was too indolent to take a com-
manding place. Judge Cook was always a pleasant
companion, and widely known for his benevolence and
friendliness to younger members of the profession.
Another of the noted lawyers of the formative era
in Missouri was Judge Rufus Pettibone, who was
born in Litchfield, Conn., in May, 1784, and grad-
uated at Williams College in 1805, taking high
honors. Adopting the legal profession, he studied
in Central New York, and afterwards in Albany,
where he was admitted in 1808. In 1812, Oneida
County elected him to represent it in the Legislature,
and the next year he married Louise Esther De Rus-
sey. Five years later he removed to St. Louis, and
on his arrival was offered and accepted a partnership
with Col. Rufus Easton, then one of the leaders of
the bar. Even at this early date numbers of persons
in the Territory were opposed to slavery, and a ticket
was by them presented when the admission question
became prominent. J. B. C. Lucas, Rufus Easton,
Rufus Pettibone, Robert Simpson, and Caleb Bowles
were on that ticket, though well aware they were in a
hopeless minority. When the State government was
organized Rufus Pettibone was appointed judge of the
Second Circuit, embracing the counties of Gasconade,
Callaway, Montgomery, St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike,
and Rails. In 1823 he was appointed to the Su-.
preme Bench. In the winter of 1824-25, in con-
junction with Henry S. Geyer, he also revised the
State laws, and prepared the same for legislative
enactment. On the last day of July, 1825, in the
fullness of his powers, he died, and the State lost one
of its most valued citizens. Mr. Geyer announced his
death in the St. Louis Circuit Court, and it, as well
as the Supreme Court, adjourned with the usual
marks of respect.
Now and then, in every profession, there are lives
that tradition sets apart and crowns with peculiar
sacredness, seemingly without definite reason, except
that they were brief, brilliant, and tragical. Such a
life was that of Horatio Cozens, whom the common
opinion of his time ranked as a phenomenon of rapid
and fervent eloquence. But little is known of his
boyhood, birthplace, and education. After the ad-
mission of Missouri he came to that State from Vir-
ginia, and in a few years built up a large and lucra-
disagreeable and tyrannical, and to have become very intem-
perate. Some years after his removal from office he was thrown
from a horse and killed.
1464
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
tive practice. In July, 1826, being then but about
twenty-six years of age, he was stabbed and instantly
killed by French Strother, a dissipated young lawyer,
with whose uncle Cozens had had some political con-
troversy. It was a brutal, unprovoked murder, and
caused the wildest excitement. The murderer broke
jail a few days later, fled to Mexico, and died of de-
lirium tremens. Mr. Cozens left a- young wife and
two children. The members of the bar met a few
days later, Thomas H. Benton being in the chair,
and Henry S. Geyer secretary. Resolutions express-
ing the deepest regret were adopted, and crape was
worn for thirty days. At a much later day the fa-
mous Edward Bates was wont to express unbounded
admiration for Cozens, and
call him the worthy rival of
Geycr himself. The memory
of the gifted, attractive ora-
tor is forever linked with the
story of his early, deplorable
death.
Incidentally, heretofore,
we have mentioned the name
of Edward Bates. His ca-
reer covered the most event-
ful period of Missouri's his-
tory, and no member of the
legal fraternity stood higher
or was more esteemed. He
was widely known and loved,
perhaps more so than any
of his contemporaries, for all
unite in admiration of the
gentleness, kindness, and
perpetual, overflowing cheer-
fulness that made him a
universal favorite. Edward KDWARD BATES
Bates was born on a farm in
Goochland County, Va., Sept. 4, 1793, and received
an academic education, but, being the youngest of
twelve children, and his father dying, his scholastic
training was defective through lack of means. His
brother Fleming, clerk of Northumberland County,
aided him as far as possible. He was offered a posi-
tion as midshipman in the United States navy, which
he declined, but while still a lad he served as a private
in the war of 1812. It is also on record that his
family had been Quakers, but his father disobeyed
their doctrines and joined the Revolutionary patriots. 1
1 It was related of the father of Mr. Bates that when Lord
Cornwallis offered him British protection, he carefully folded up
the papers and returned thetn, disdaining to accept the prof-
fered advantage.
In 1814 young Bates came to St. Louis, without
a profession, and with very small means. His elder
brother, Frederick Bates, was then living in St. Louis,
being secretary of the Territory of Missouri, to which
position he had been appointed by President Jeffer-
son, after holding a United States judgeship in Mich-
igan, in order to thwart and counteract the supposed
schemes of Gen. Wilkinson, then Governor, in aid of
Aaron Burr's designs. He was also first recorder of
land titles when the office was created in 1806, and
secretary of the first board of land commissioners in
1807. After the formation of the State government
Frederick Bates was elected the second Governor of
the State, and died in office in 1825.
The first thing Edward
Bates did was to enter Col.
Rufus Easton's law-office,
where he remained until
admitted to practice in 1816.
In 1818 he was appointed
district attorney of the Ter-
ritorial government, and
commissioned by Governor
Clark. He was chosen a
delegate to the Constitu-
tional Convention in 1820,
attorney- general the same
year, member of the Legis-
lature in 1822, United States
attorney for Missouri district
in 1824, and was sent to
Congress in 1827 over John
Scott, but was defeated for
re-election by Spencer Pettis.
After returning from Con-
gress he was elected a mem-
ber of the Legislature from
St. Charles. Immediately
after this Mr. Bates removed to St. Charles, and lo-
cated on a farm in the county of St. Louis, on Dar-
denne Prairie. He still had an extensive and profit-
able practice, but used to say that it took all the money
that Lawyer Bates could make to support Farmer
Bates. He resumed practice in St. Louis in 1842,
until he was elected judge of the Land Court by popu-
lar vote, a position which he filled with great ability.
In 1850 he was offered the secretaryship of war
in Fillmore's cabinet, but declined it ; was elected
presiding officer of the great National Whig Conven-
tion at Baltimore in 1856; was honored by Harvard
with a degree in 1858 ; and was chosen Attorney-Gen-
eral in Lincoln's first cabinet. In these various capaci-
ties his useful life broadened into many channels. Ill
BENCH AND BAR.
1465
health caused him to leave the cabinet, and he died in
March, 1869. It would be difficult to find a more
rounded, complete, satisfactory record of public ser-
vice. During all these years he was indefatigable in
his study of law and literature, and had the conduct
of many important cases. 1
1 Mr. Bates' labors in behalf of the public schools of St.
Louis are especially worthy of mention, and are thus described
by Col. T. T. Gantt in an address before the United States Court
on the occasion of Mr. Bates' death :
" The first cases in the trial of which he became conspicuous
in the eyes of the younger members of the bar, unfamiliar ex-
cept by tradition with his merits as a barrister, were those which
tested the title of the Board of President and Directors of the
St. Louis Public Schools to lots of ground in the township of
St. Louis equal in area to one-twentieth of all the land included
in a survey comprising the town, its common fields and common.
The litigation thus inaugurated was, from every point of view,
most interesting, not only by reason of the immense value of
the endowment given to the public schools of St. Louis by the
act of 1812, but on account of the difficulty of the questions to
be decided before the title could be settled: the subject engaged
the attention of the profession as scarcely can be predicated of
any other head of titles to land. The first decision on the title
of the schools was given by our Supreme Court ip 1843. Even
at this day the school corporation is still engaged in the asser-
tion of a doubtful claim to some lands in this city. But it is
believed that all matters of substance in this connection were
determined by the court of last resort in 1861. With the earlier,
more difficult, and precarious strife of the first cases Mr. Bates
was intimately connected. He was the leader of the counsel
for the schools, and obtained from a court, one of the judges of
which was irreclaimably hostile to the pretensions of that cor-
poration, the decision which, after long dispute, has at length
become the accepted law of the land. I shall not, I think, as
long as I remember anything, forget the impression made upon
me by the argument which Mr. Bates made before Judge Engle,
then presiding in the Court of Common Pleas, upon the general
merits of the school title to lots of ground in St. Louis under
the act of 1812 and the acts supplementary to it. The theme
was a vast one. The discussion was new to the judge before
whom it was carried on, for. though a man of great learning
and ability, he had been trained in a school which had not
familiarized him with our peculiar system of land titles, and
there was, especially at that day, a complexity about these
which few, if any, were able to master who had not an acquaint-
ance with our local history, impossible of attainment except
after years of residence among us. The immense advantage
of this perfect acquaintance was, of course, enjoyed by Mr.
Bates, who had almost been an eye-witness of the most impor-
tant events involved, and the matchless order in which he
grouped these events and traced their bearing upon the case at
the bar made an abiding impression upon a young lawyer who
felt keenly his own want of the peculiar knowledge which en-
abled Mr. Bates to shine so brightly. After that argument it
was my privilege to see and hear him over and over again, both
at the bar of the Circuit and the Supreme Courts, sometimes ex-
hibiting the tact which enabled him to extract from even un-
willing witnesses the facts which it concerned his client to have
in evidence, sometimes dealing, with an ability altogether his
own, with a mass of conflicting testimony in his appeal to a
jury, and sometimes wringing from a reluctant court, by irre-
sistible argument, a reconsideration and overruling of a hasty
decision."
In politics he was in early life a Jeffersonian Re-
publican ; in 1825 he supported Adams ; afterwards
he was a strong Whig, but when that party perished
did not join any other, though in the Republican
Convention of 1860 he was strongly supported for the
Presidency. When the civil war broke out he was
intensely loyal, and advocated the most decisive meas-
ures for its suppression. Brought up as a member of
the Society of Friends, he adhered to many of their
doctrines, but joined the Presbyterian Church in 1842,
and was for years a presiding elder.
In 1823 he had married Miss Julia D. Coalter, of
South Carolina, one of five sisters, all of whom were
united in marriage to men of note. One became the
wife of William C. Preston, of South Carolina ; an-
other of Chancellor Harper, a distinguished judge of
the same State ; and a third married Dr. Means, a
| wealthy South Carolinian, whose brother was Gov-
j ernor. One of them, in 1827, became the wife of
Hamilton R. Gamble, afterwards provisional Governor
of Missouri in war times. It is of this lady that
several biographers relate a romantic story, stating
that Edward Bates fell deeply in love with her and
proposed, but was refused. He continued his suit,
and her high regard for him then led her to disclose
to him the fact that she loved Hamilton R. Gamble,
but would never marry him because of his dissipated
habits. With characteristic magnanimity Bates then
sought Gamble, pleaded with him, stood by him, got
him to sign the pledge and keep it, and in brief re-
formed him, so that he afterwards, in 1827, married
Miss Coalter. If the story is not true it ought to be,
for such devotion to duty and friendship was a marked
trait of Edward Bates. At his death he left six sons
and two daughters. He never sought wealth, and in
f fact owned hardly any property. Though he held so
I many public offices, he was always poorer when he left
than when he entered them ; though he earned such
large sums in his practice, the demands of charity and
friendship kept equal pace with his income.
As a lawyer, Judge Bates was an earnest, practical
reasoner, and a hard student upon his cases. The
finer graces of oratory were his, and though Geyer,
Easton, Gamble, and 'Joshua Barton probably pos-
sessed a more strictly legal analysis, no lawyer of his
time was more persuasively eloquent. Some of his
forensic efforts may well be classed among the fairest
blossoms of eloquence. In public life Mr. Bates was
not a violent factionist, but he was a strong adherent
of whatever cause he espoused. For many years he
was a liberal contributor to the columns of the Mis-
son ri Republican, and his discussion of public questions
always attracted and commanded attention from the
1466
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
force and vigor of his writings, which were character-
ized by a fresh, original, and captivating style. He
despised the arts of the mere politician ; a demagogue
found no toleration in his sight. Indeed, Mr. Bates,
by his great abilities, his profound reflection, his com-
prehensive views of political economy, had entitled
himself to be regarded as a just and eminent states-
man. In his youth he published a violent denunci-
atory pamphlet against Col. Benton, but in after-life
expressed his regret. His old friend, John F. Darby,
says, " Mr. Bates won great distinction by presiding
at a meeting held at Chicago for commercial and in-
ternal improvement purposes. Men of genius and
cultivated talents were there, and they were astonished
to find a man of such splendid eloquence and elegant
elocution and force of delivery among Western dele-
gates. It is said, so thrilling was his address, that
the reporters themselves, pausing for a moment, were
so charmed that they forgot to take down his words."
He presided over the national Whig Convention in the
year that President Buchanan was nominated by the