namely, Honorable R. R. Nelson, of whom I have herein before made mention, and our esteemed associate, Honorable C. E. Flandrau.

With this résumé of the executive and judicial administration for the first four years of our territorial existence, I bring this article to a close, leaving it to others, more familiar and capable than myself, to take up the theme with the Hon. Willis A. Gorman, our second territorial governor, and the judges appointed by Presidents Pierce and Buchanan.

In conclusion, I desire to pay a tribute to one still living, who has passed fourscore and ten years, being now in his ninety-second year, one who was in October, 1836, elected as the delegate in Congress from Wisconsin territory, when the limits of that territory extended from the western shores of lake Michigan, along the northern lines of the states of Illinois and Missouri, to the Missouri river on the west, and to the British possessions on the north, with its capital at Burlington on the Mississippi river. I refer to the Honorable George W. Jones, of Dubuque, Iowa.* I first made his acquaintance in August, 1845, and last met him in October, 1847. His life and history are an essential element in the history of that Wisconsin Territory, of which are now composed five States of the Union, namely, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and South and North Dakota. He has ever been an ardent and zealous friend of every movement for the advancement of the Northwest. In 1838 his political aspirations were checked and his future prospects darkened by his adherence and devotion to the "code of honor" which then existed, in becoming the second of Jonathan E. Cilley, of Maine, who was brought to an untimely end at the hands of William J. Graves of Kentucky. He has ever since retained his residence within the limits of Iowa, either as territory or state. Yet we are justified in claiming him as our first delegate in Congress. Every delegate that has succeeded him, either as delegate from Wisconsin, Iowa, or Minnesota, has passed away, and he the first still survives. Recalling the time when I knew him personally, fifty years ago, I wish to place upon the records of this Society our testimonial in remembrance of him and his services in former days in developing the vast possibilities of this Northwestern territory.

*Since this was written, General Jones died July 22, 1896.

LAWYERS AND COURTS OF MINNESOTA PRIOR TO AND DURING ITS TERRITORIAL PERIOD.*

BY JUDGE CHARLES E. FLANDRAU.

Judges and lawyers generally occupy such a large space in the growth and progress of a country that what they say and do makes one of the factors of history, and usually gets itself upon the records in some way. It certainly cannot be the result of self-assertion, as their modesty is proverbial. I am inclined to attribute it to the fact that their doings possess some real interest to the other members of society. They ought to be men of learning, and, as a general thing, they individually and as a body possess a large share of the brilliancy and wit of a community. They fill a large share of the public trusts, and shape the policy and laws of a country as naturally as water seeks its level. Their light is seldom hidden from the generation of which they form a part; but there always seems to be a desire to learn of their career in the early and unwritten period of a country, and I have been requested to prepare a paper for this occasion, noting who they were and what they did in the early days of Minnesota.

Our state had rather a mixed origin. Its mothers were the Northwestern Territory and Louisiana. The first gave us what lies east of the Mississippi, and the last what we embrace west of that stream; and before this area became Minnesota, it was, on the west side of the river, first Louisiana, then Missouri, then Michigan, then Wisconsin, then Iowa.

On the east side of the Mississippi it was, first, a part of the Northwest Territory, which belonged to Virginia and was

An Address at the Annual Meeting of the Minnesota Historical Society, Jan. 13, 1896.

ceded by that state to the United States; later it was a part of Indiana; and afterwards of Wisconsin.

I once took the trouble to look up all the acts of Congress which created these several changes, and I have the dates of their passage, but I will not inflict them upon you at this time, preferring to confine myself to those matters that are more germane to the subject in hand. When Wisconsin was a territory, its part lying west of the St. Croix river was in St. Croix county, which included St. Anthony Falls, Stillwater, Point Douglas, Marine Mills, Arcola, and St. Paul, and was the home of a good many men of standing and ability. The admission of Wisconsin into the Union in 1848, with the St. Croix river for its western boundary, left all the country west of that stream without any government, and the lawyers withont courts, which presented quite a formidable obstacle to their business prospects; but they were equal to the occasion. They claimed that the remnant which had been abandoned by Wisconsin, as a state, was still Wisconsin as a territory. They induced Mr. John Catlin, the Secretary of the Territory of Wisconsin, to remove from Madison to Stillwater, and, as exofficio governor, to proclaim the existence of the territory and call an election for a delegate to Congress. Henry H. Sibley was elected, and was admitted to a seat from Wisconsin, and in March, 1849, procured the passage of an organic act for the Territory of Minnesota.

Sibley was a lawyer, but he never practiced the profession. He lived at Mendota, then called St. Peter's, and hung out a lawyer's sign in 1835. This sign was in the possession of his family at the time of his death, and either is, or should be, now in the museum of this Society.

While living at St. Peter's, Mr. Sibley was the first judicial officer who ever exercised the functions of a court in Minnesota. He was commissioned a justice of the peace in 1835 or 1836 by Governor Chambers of Iowa, with a jurisdiction extending from twenty miles south of Prairie du Chien to the British boundary on the north, to the White River on the west, and to the Mississippi on the east. His prisoners could only be committed to Prairie du Chien. Boundary lines were very dimly indicated in those days. Minor magistrates were in no fear of being overruled by superior courts, and tradition asserts that the writs of Sibley's court often extended into Wisconsin and

other jurisdictions. One case is recalled which will serve as an illustration: A man named Phalen was charged with having murdered a sergeant of the United States army named Hayes, in Wisconsin. He was arrested under a warrant from Justice Sibley's court, was examined and committed to Prairie du Chien, and no questions were asked. Phalen Lake, from which our water supply is partially derived, is named after this prisoner. Sibley was the first governor of the state, commanded a large part of the forces in the Indian war of 1862, and was made a Major General of Volunteers by the President for his services. He was one of our best citizens and is lamented by all.

An attempt was made in 1842 to hold a court in St. Croix county by Judge Irwin, then one of the territorial judges of Wisconsin. It came about in this way: There was a very enterprising settler here then, named Joseph R. Brown, who came to Fort Snelling with the regiment which laid the cornerstone of the fort, in 1819, and was discharged from the army in 1826 or thereabouts. In 1842 he was clerk of the courts in St. Croix county, and for some reason, best known to himself, procured the Legislature of Wisconsin to appoint a court in his county. Judge Irwin came up to hold it; and on arriving at Fort Snelling he found himself in a country which indicated that disputes were more frequently settled with the tomahawk than by the principles of the common law. The officers of the fort could give him no information, but fortunately he discovered Norman W. Kittson at his trading house near the Falls of Minnehaha. Kittson knew Mr. Brown, the clerk, who then lived on the St. Croix near where Stillwater now stands, and directed the judge to him. He furnished a horse, and his honor struck across the country and found his clerk, who had either forgotten all about the court or had never heard of it. The disgusted judge took the first chance down the river, a very angry man.

After five years from this futile attempt, the first court was held by Judge Dunn, then Chief Justice of Wisconsin. This occurred in June, 1847. The term was important, not alone as being the first term ever held in what is now Minnesota, but on account of the trial of an Indian chief named "Wind,” who was indicted for murder. Samuel J. Crawford, of Mineral Point, was appointed prosecuting attorney for the term, and Ben C. Eastman, of Platteville, defended the prisoner. "Wind"

was acquitted. This was the first jury trial ever had in any part of the region now embraced in Minnesota.

The admission of Wisconsin into the Union left Morton S. Wilkinson and Henry L. Moss in Stillwater, the former having located there in 1847 and the latter in 1848. Mr. Wilkinson afterward became distinguished in his profession as a lawyer, and also in political life. He represented our state in the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States, and was always a genial and interesting man, much beloved by the old settlers up to the time of his death.

Mr. Moss was appointed United States District Attorney, when the Territory of Minnesota was organized, and practiced law for some years, but has been engaged in other business during a long time past. Mr. Moss is one of the very few survivors, in fact, I think the only one, of the lawyers dating back of the organization of our territory. He still lives, and has added some of his recollections of those interesting times to the annals of our Society on this occasion.

The first court house that was erected within the present limits of Minnesota was in Stillwater in 1847. A private subscription was taken up and $1200 raised, to be supplemented by the county of St. Croix with sufficient to complete the structure. It was perched upon the top of one of the high points in that town, and many are the citizens who have been winded and made to blaspheme in ascending to its lofty pinnacle. The first territorial court of Minnesota was held in it in 1849, and I held one there in 1857.

The first judges of Minnesota Territory were Aaron Goodrich, Chief Justice, and David Cooper and Bradley B. Meeker, Associate Justices; and the first court, of which I have spoken, was presided over by Chief Justice Goodrich, assisted by Judge Cooper. The court lasted one week. There were thirty-five cases on the calendar. The grand jury returned ten indictments, one for assault with intent to maim, one for perjury, four for selling liquor to Indians, and four for keeping gambling houses. Only one of these indictments was tried at this term, and, being the first, and the prisoner being a prominent member of the bar, Mr. William D. Phillips, it may be interesting to give a brief history of the case and of the defendant.

Mr. Phillips was a native of Maryland, and came to St. Paul in 1848. He was the first District Attorney of the county of