after hearing their complaints, decidedly and positively declined to give the matter any consideration. General Collamer turned their application over to Henry Fitz Warren, first assistant postmaster general, who, unfortunately for their purpose, was personally well acquainted with Mr. Steele; and their application for his removal was not entertained.

The opponents of Judge Goodrich did not cease in their efforts to secure his removal. There were not wanting other causes of complaint against him during the year 1851, and early in January, 1852; and a letter to President Fillmore was formulated, containing specifications of incompetency as a lawyer and unfitness as a judge, and of improprieties on and off the bench. The letter was signed by a number of prominent attorneys, and was sent to a gentleman now living, who at that time was stopping in Washington, with a request that he make a personal presentation of the same to the president. Whether or not he did as requested, I never knew. The opposition and charges against the judge were sufficient, and in a short time thereafter, in January, 1852, he was removed by President Fillmore, and Jerome Fuller of New York was appointed chief justice of the territory.

The opposition to Judge Cooper arose from entirely different causes. He was considered a good lawyer, technical and precise; he sat with dignity on the bench, which was natural for him; but he was so positive in his convictions that he could not endure opposition to them, and frequently exhibited irritation and sometimes anger to those who differed from him. His refinement in manner and dress was the occasion of ridicule among the hardy and robust lumbermen with whom he came in contact. As early as the winter of 1851 Mr. Goodhue's editorials were overbearing and unmerciful toward him. Friends made an effort to have these attacks upon him cease. It was of no avail. Joseph Cooper, residing at Stillwater, a brother of the judge, took up the matter and made it a personal affair in the defense of his brother. Rumors of threats and personal attacks were in the air. Each had prepared himself for any emergency. On a February morning they met face to face on the sidewalk a short distance above where now stands the Metropolitan Hotel, and the conflict came. I am not aware that it is known which of them made the first attack. A shot

from the pistol in Goodhue's hand struck Cooper over the left groin, inflicting a wound, which, though not fatal, made him an invalid for life. The knife in Cooper's hand made a deep slash across Goodhue's abdomen; it fortunately did not penetrate the intestines, but left his life in peril for many days. This tragedy occurred directly in front of the building where the territorial legislature was then in session.

These personal animosities continued during the year, until the meeting of the legislature in January, 1852. With the appointment of Chief Justice Fuller, the legislature at the same time being in session, a new deal was made in the formation of the judicial districts, as the result of the opposition to Judge Cooper in connection with the removal of Judge Goodrich. Pembina county, heretofore an unorganized county and attached to Benton county, was organized and set apart for judicial purposes. Its population consisted almost entirely of half-breeds, with a few white traders.

On March 6th, 1852, an act was approved setting apart the counties of Washington, Ramsey, and Chisago, as the first judicial district, to which Chief Justice Fuller was assigned. Benton county was made the second judicial district, to which Judge Meeker was assigned; and the new county of Pembina was made the third judicial district and Judge Cooper assigned thereto, thus removing him from Washington county of the first district, where for nearly three years he had been the presiding judge.

Chief Justice Fuller arrived in St. Paul while the legislature of 1852 was in session; and on the third day of May he opened the spring term of the district court, which had a session of about three weeks. The session of Congress that year was the "long" session, and the action of the senate upon the nomination of Judge Fuller was delayed by the strong opposition of senator William H. Seward of New York, which resulted at a late day of the session in the rejection of his nomination. Thereupon President Fillmore appointed Hon. Henry Z. Hayner, of Troy, New York, chief justice of the Territory. There was no opposition to him, and his nomination was confirmed by the senate. He arrived in St. Paul early in the month of September, but too late to hold the fall term of the court. There being no winter term of the supreme court in 1853, Judge

Hayner had no opportunity to preside at any term; his duties were limited to such matters as came before him at chambers. The validity of the act of the legislature known as the "Maine liquor law" was argued before him, and he decided it as unconstitutional.

By the provision of the organic act, the time for which the territorial officers were appointed was limited to four years. During this time there were held only two terms of the supreme court. The first was held in July, 1851, Chief Justice Goodrich, and Judges Cooper and Meeker, presiding. Of the attorneys present, whose names are enrolled on the records of the court, and who still survive, are the Hon. R. R. Nelson, now the senior judge of the United States district courts; Hon. Isaac Atwater and Lafayette Emmett, who subsequently became judges of the supreme court of our State; William P. Murray, Esq., myself, and others. Another session was held in July, 1852, when Chief Justice Fuller and Judges Cooper and Meeker presided.

The terms of the judges having expired by limitation, President Pierce, soon after his inauguration, appointed Hon. William H. Welch, of Red Wing, chief justice; and Hon. Moses Sherburne, of Maine, and Hon. A. G. Chatfield, of New York, judges of the territory, who held their offices for four years, the limit of their appointment.

At the next session of the territorial legislature following the appointment of the judges by President Pierce, there was a readjustment of the judicial districts of the territory and assignment of the judges. Washington county and the counties bordering on the western bank of the Mississippi river constituted the first judicial district; and Chief Justice Welch was assigned to preside over the same, having his residence at Red Wing. Honorable Moses Sherburne, upon his arrival in the territory, located at St. Paul, and was assigned to preside over the second judicial district, which comprised the counties of Ramsey and Benton, with other counties attached thereto for judicial purposes. The new counties west of the Mississippi river and bordering on the Minnesota river became the third judicial district, to which the Honorable Andrew G. Chatfield was assigned, who made his residence at Belle Plaine.

Of the territorial judges appointed by the presidents of the United States during our existence as a territory, two survive,

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.