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420 HISTORY r OF ERIE COUNTY
practiced tAvo years, Avas required under the Ohio statute, to read laAV a
year, which I did in the office of Homer GoodAvin, AVIIO had Avhat Avas
then the largest library in Sandusky. I had neither idea nor instruction
Avliat to read, and for several months at a time Mr. GoodAvin did not even
say "Good morning." I read pretty steadily and Avhen admitted kneAV
more about the laAV books than I do noAV.
I Avent to Columbus to be examined in December, 1884, but was not
permitted to enter the examination because my Dakota papers did not
shoAv I had read two years. I Avas admitted to the bar on the 7th of
January', 1885, and SAVorn in by Chief Justice Johnson. The examination
was a Avritten one occupying tAvo days, conducted in the old Supreme
Court room, Avhich is now the relic room, and Avas one of those held
monthly through the court year at that period. There Avere 100 questions,
and the last one Avas, '' Suppose a man left his property to found
a hospital for the benefit of disabled Confederate soldiers, Avould the
court sustain the laAV?" Having in mind the fact that the court Avas
democratic, as Avell as the committee, I Avrote doAA'n as my ansAver, "The
time for waving the bloody shirt is past."
I had been informed that the oral examination on Blaekstone followed
the written examination for the purpose of helping' the lame ducks
through, and that any member of the class Avas asked one question and
then the second time round the person AVIIO passed the best examination
was dropped, and so on until the feAV lame ducks were, tested orally as
to their knowledge of the laAV. When the second round of questions
began I was omitted, and old Judge Gilmore, the author on the work of
probate practice, who had been a staunch democrat during the AA'ar,
stepped up and "congratulated me on the able examination I had passed,
and especially on my ansAver to the one hundredth question, so I knew
I Avas through. My acquaintance with the Ohio bar, therefore, dates
from December 31, 1883.
The State of Ohio is made up of eighty-eight counties, and in the
more than a century of its existence has had seventy-eight judges of its
Supreme Court. Erie County is one of the smallest and youngest counties
of the state, but has furnished the state's most exalted tribunal tAvo
judges—Ebenezer R. Lane and Walter F. Stone.
The Circuit Court (recently knoAvn as the Court of Appeals) Avas instituted
in 1885, and in the Sixth Circuit has had tAA'elve judges, of Avhich
Erie County has furnished tAvo—Edmund B. King and Linn W. Hull.
This circuit has nine counties, one of Avhich is Lucas County, which furnishes
more than half the business of the court. Of the nine judges of
the Court of Appeals since its inception, Erie County has furnished tAvo.
Under the old constitution of 1801, Judge Ebenezer B. Sadler Avas the
only president judge in the old days Avhen a laAA'yer sat on the bench
with tAvo associate judges Avho Avere not laAvyers. After the adoption of
the new constitution the first Common Pleas judge from Erie County Avas
Judge Sebastian F. Taylor, AVIIO served ten years, and Avas succeeded by
Judge Walter F. Stone, who remained on the bench until he Avas advanced
to the Supreme Bench. Judge William G. Lane succeeded Judge Stone,