AT THE BAR.
_Commences Practice--First Case--Partnership with Ralph P.
Buckland--Settles in Cincinnati--Becoming Known--Literary
Club--Nancy Farrer Case--Summons' Case--Marriage--Law
Partners--City Solicitor._
The young lawyer, R. B. Hayes, full of hopefulness and ambition,
commenced the practice of the law at Lower Sandusky, now Fremont,
Sandusky county, Ohio. This growing town of Northern Ohio was selected
because it was the home of the uncle whose extensive business
connections would naturally throw more or less law business into the
nephew's hands.
His first case was one against a sheriff's sureties, the sheriff having
become insolvent. There were five or six bondsmen, who employed as many
different lawyers, who of course made a fierce fight to protect the
pockets of their clients. The pleadings were difficult under the old
practice, and the slightest technical defect in them would adroitly be
taken advantage of by the defendants' attorneys. But so accurately had
the pleadings been drawn, and so well had the case been worked up by the
young lawyer, that no flaw could be found, and his suit was at all
points successful.
After this success he had a good run of office business, and was
employed both in the defense and prosecution of criminals. In April,
1846, he entered into a law-partnership with Ralph P. Buckland, an
older practitioner in good practice. Mr. Buckland subsequently became a
conspicuous member of the Ohio Senate, and a gallant officer of the rank
of brigadier-general in the war. He became a member also of the
Thirty-ninth Congress.
One of the most important cases tried by Hayes while a member of this
firm was an action to prevent or enjoin the building of a railway bridge
across the Bay of Sandusky, on the ground of its obstructing navigation.
The cause was tried before Judge McLean, in the United States District
Court at Cincinnati. Thomas Ewing, who was one of the opposing counsel
in the case, continued to compliment Hayes during life for this maiden
effort in a United States Court.
In November, 1848, in consequence of bleeding at the lungs and other
alarming admonitions of failing health, Mr. Hayes left Fremont to pass a
winter with his friend, Guy M. Bryan, in Texas. A half year of boating,
fishing, hunting, and scouring the prairies brought about a physical
revolution. He came back as sound as a dollar--that is, a coin
dollar--and has so remained ever since.
In December, 1849, he put in execution a design for some time
contemplated, and on Christmas eve arrived in Cincinnati. He had
consulted professional friends in Cincinnati about seeking the stimulus
of a wider field for permanent occupation, and was doubtless influenced
somewhat by the advice received. One who had been with him at Harvard
wrote: "I have not flattered the face of man or woman for years, but I
think honestly that the R. B. Hayes whom I knew four years ago would be
sure to succeed at this bar, if he can afford to live and wait."
Another professional brother, on terms of intimacy, wrote: "With your
energies, talents, education, and address, you are green--verdant as
grass--to stay in a country village." On the 8th of January, 1850, the
new candidate for public and professional favor took possession of an
office on the south side of Third street, between Main and Sycamore,
opposite the Henrie House. His office companion was John W. Herron, with
whose appearance and manners the new comer seems to have been well
pleased. The first year in Cincinnati brought little professional
business, but no day was passed in idleness. His studies were
systematic, and his reading comprehensive in both law and literature.
Shakespeare, Burke, Webster, and Emerson were his inseparable
companions. He sought to widen the circle of his acquaintances, and add
daily to the number of his friends. Having been a member of the order of
Odd-Fellows and Sons of Temperance in Fremont, he united again with
those organizations in Cincinnati. The addresses he was invited to
deliver at Odd-Fellow's lodges and at many more public places were very
numerous. In this way he made reputation as a public speaker, if not
money. He was not only becoming known, but becoming favorably known.
The widely renowned literary club of Cincinnati, which he joined in
1850, and of which he remained an active member for eleven years,
awakened his social sympathies and ardent interest. To the reading of
essays, and to the discussions on political, social, and moral
questions, he always listened, and in the latter often took part. In
debate, he was strong, eager, clear, and logical. He had an aptitude at
seeing principles and getting at the kernel of questions. Among those
who during these years participated in the social or literary
entertainments of the club-room were Chief Justice Chase, Thomas Corwin,
Thomas Ewing, father and son, General Pope, General Edward F. Noyes,
Stanley Matthews, M. D. Conway, Manning F. Force, W. K. Rogers, John W.
Herron, D. Thew Wright, Isaac Collins, Charles P. James, R. D. Mussey,
and many others of ability and distinction. In January, 1852, the
opportunity for "getting a start" in his professional career came. While
making a sensible, energetic little speech in behalf of a criminal
indicted for grand larceny, named Cunningham, he attracted the attention
and won the commendation of Judge R. B. Warden, then president judge of
the criminal court, who thereupon appointed the modest young attorney
counsel for Nancy Farrer, whose case became the great criminal case of
the term, if not of the times.
Nancy Farrer had poisoned all the members of two families. She had a bad
countenance, a sinister, revolting look. It is not strange that she
should have been considered by the court and jury that tried her, and by
the entire public, a qualified candidate for the gallows. Hayes, in
defending his client, had to contend against the passions, the
indignation of the public, and the predispositions and prejudices of
judge and jury. The judge who tried the case was not the one who
appointed the comparatively unknown attorney as counsel. Hayes saw
instinctively the immense importance of the case, and knew intuitively
that a crisis had come in his career. He set laboriously to work to
establish an impregnable line of defense.
He found on examination of the proofs that the supposed murderess was
totally irresponsible, because of hereditary idiocy and insanity. Her
father had died of drunkenness in a Cincinnati hospital, and her mother
went about under the insane hallucination that she was a prophetess.
Nancy's conduct and conversations while employed in the wholesale
poisoning business showed that she had no moral comprehension of what
she was about. But the plea of insanity had been so often and so
vehemently pressed in defense of prisoners who were sane that it seemed
to be of no avail in defense of one who was not. The cry of insanity,
like that of "wolf," had been so repeatedly raised when there was no
insanity, that it was not heeded when there was. Notwithstanding an
argument which for legal learning and forensic eloquence attracted the
attention of the press and bar, and established the counsel's
reputation, the poor, insane idiot was convicted of murder in the first
degree. Hayes at once obtained a writ of error, which the district court
reserved for decision in the Supreme Court of the State. The case was
argued and determined in that court at the December term, 1858, and
reported in 2 Ohio St. Reports. R. B. Hayes appeared for plaintiff in
error, and George E. Pugh, attorney-general for the State. The earnest
and determined advocate of Nancy Farrer carried his points, obtained a
new trial, and greatly enhanced his professional reputation. The then
official reporter of the Supreme Court of Ohio, who heard this argument,
says: "It was a truly admirable effort, and the peroration was
indescribably pathetic. But on this occasion, as on all others, Mr.
Hayes was singularly modest." Although a new trial was granted, through
the concurring opinions of Justices Corwin, Thurman, and Ranney, Nancy
Farrer was never again tried. She was sent to a lunatic asylum.
Hayes next gained reputation through his connection with the notorious
James Summons murder case. He was employed by the older counsel in the
case to take notes of the testimony and record the rulings of the court.
The trial occupying many days and many differences arising between
counsel with respect to the rulings of the court, it was found that the
accuracy of the notes of the junior attorney was in every instance
confirmed by the court itself. When the time came for the final
arguments to begin, the leading counsel asked each a day for each side.
Judge Thurman, then presiding, on consultation with Judge Piatt,
announced that the court could only give the leading counsel two hours
each, but that they would allow Mr. Hayes one hour additional.
Notwithstanding the court was assured that Mr. Hayes was not strictly
employed in the case, Judges Thurman, Matthews, and Piatt insisted upon
hearing him, and he was accordingly heard. His unpremeditated argument
was clear, convincing, impassioned, and impressive. It was one of the
best speeches of his life. The case went up to the Supreme Court with
the junior as the leading counsel.
We now reach an event in the course of this narrative, which,
controlling as is the influence it has upon all lives, has been
immeasurably potent in its influence upon the life and fortunes of
Governor Hayes.
On the 30th of December, 1852, he was married to Miss Lucy W. Webb, by
Prof. L. D. McCabe, of the Ohio Wesleyan University. The marriage took
place at No. 141 Sixth street, Cincinnati, the bride's home, in the
presence of about forty friends. Lucy Ware Webb was the daughter of Dr.
James Webb and Maria Cook Webb. Dr. Webb was a popular gentleman and
successful practicing physician in Chillicothe, Ohio. In 1833, he died
of cholera in Lexington, Kentucky, where he had gone to complete
arrangements for sending to Liberia slaves set free by himself and his
father. The grandfather of Mrs. Dr. Webb was Lieutenant-Colonel Cook,
who in 1777 was serving in a regiment commanded by Colonel Andrew Ward,
in the army of the Revolution. Both Governor and Mrs. Hayes are,
therefore, descendants of soldiers of the Revolution, most worthily
uniting in their lineage jointly the dawn of the second century with the
dawn of the first. The six years following 1852 were years of full
practice and exacting labors, in which disappointments were few and
successes many. These were years in which solid foundations were laid
for as solid a reputation as it was possible for the men among whom he
moved to build up.
In January, 1854, he formed a law-partnership with R. M. Corwine and W.
K. Rogers, under the firm name of Corwine, Hayes & Rogers. This proved a
partnership of friendship as well as business, being in every way
satisfactory and agreeable. Mr. Rogers is now the close companion of his
old partner in these later and more eventful years. Mr. Corwine died a
resident of Washington City, a year or two since.
In April, 1859, he was, without solicitation, chosen city solicitor by
the city council of Cincinnati, to fill the vacancy caused by the death
of Judge Hart, and on the 9th of that month entered upon the discharge
of his official duties. His chief competitor for this office was Caleb
B. Smith, since a member of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet. The vote in the city
council on the first ballot was: Mr. Smith, 13; Mr. Disney, 12; Mr.
Hayes, 3. On the seventh ballot, Mr. Hayes had 17; Mr. Ware, 12; and Mr.
Disney, 3. On the thirteenth ballot, Mr. Hayes was declared elected,
having received 18 votes to Mr. Ware's 14. His election was due to the
vote of Mr. Toohey, a Democratic councilman of the Thirteenth Ward. The
election of Hayes to his first office was most favorably received.
The Cincinnati _Commercial_, of December 9, 1858, said: "R. B. Hayes,
Esq., one of the most honest and capable young lawyers of the city, was
elected city solicitor last night by the city council to fill the
vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Hart. It would have been very
difficult to have made any other selection of a solicitor equally
excellent and as generally satisfactory."
The Cincinnati _Enquirer_, of the same date, said: "Mr. Hayes, the city
solicitor elect, is a lawyer of good acquirements and reputation, and is
well qualified for the position."
Charles Reemelin, in a letter to the New York _Evening Post_, wrote: "I
know of no young man in our city of higher promise than Mr. Hayes, and
we hope for him a bright future."
The estimate of the people seemed to correspond with that of the press,
for in the following spring he was elected to the office to which he had
been appointed by a majority of two thousand five hundred and
thirty-six on the popular vote. His Democratic opponent was W. T.
Forrest.
He filled the office of corporation counsel for three years, during
which time, as legal adviser of the municipal government of a great
city, he passed judgment upon questions involving large interests, and
discharged with high fidelity the duties of an important trust. As city
solicitor, the opinion which perhaps aroused the most general attention
and interest, was one delivered in February, 1859, denying the right of
the city council to contract debts for waterworks purposes, without
additional authority from the General Assembly. He was opposed to the
increase of taxation and creation of new debts, on principle. In April,
1861, in common with the entire Republican ticket, he was defeated for
re-election as city solicitor. His vote, however, was larger than that
of any candidate on his ticket. He had suffered a similar defeat in the
fall of 1856, when a candidate for Common Pleas Judge, his party being
in a decided minority in Hamilton county. Had the election of 1861
occurred two weeks later, when the great uprising came with the fall of
Sumter, the Republican war ticket, not the Democratic compromise ticket,
would have carried the day.