A. J. Gallagher |
A. J. GALLAGHER.
AMONG the many able men who have been connected with the
Macon County bar none have reflected upon it, greater honor
for legal learning or judicial talent, than Arthur J.
Gallagher, whose death occurred in June, 1879. He
was born at Strabane in the county of Tyrone, North of
Ireland, on the 2d of May, 1828. He was the youngest
of eight children, of whom, seven were sons and one a
daughter. When he was about a year old his father came to
America and settled in the city of Philadelphia. His
mother died when he was five years old. He lived in
Philadelphia till he was twelve. He then came West
with an older brother, who established himself in the dry
goods business in St. Louis. He soon afterward went to
live on a farm in Illinois below St. Louis, and was also
employed for a short time in a store in that part of the
state. Having but little liking for life on the farm
he returned to St. Louis, and for several years was a
student at St. Joseph’s college, where he secured a thorough
education. He had previously enjoyed good school
advantages in Philadelphia. He was possessed of a
naturally bright and strong mind, and learned with great
rapidity. He was unusually fond of reading, and as a
boy, read many books, thus acquiring a mass of valuable
information which a good memory enabled him to retain in
after years. At St. Joseph’s college he studied the
classic languages, and also became well acquainted with the
French and German.
On the breaking out of the Mexican war in 1846, though
then only eighteen years of age, he enlisted in the second
regiment Illinois volunteers, commanded by Colonel
Bissel, afterward governor of the state. His time
of enlistment was one year, but he served fourteen months.
He was at the battle of Buena Vista. After returning
from the army he began the study of law at Belleville, in
the office of Judge Underwood. He
devoted his attention to his legal studies with great
assiduity. Another young man was his companion in
Judge Underwood’s office, and it is said that for
a period of six months they spent nineteen hours a day in
legal study. His clear intellectual perceptions
enabled him to learn easily, and he made rapid progress in
preparing himself for the bar. He was admitted to
practice at Belleville. In 1848 he removed to Vandalia
and opened a law office. He made satisfactory progress
in his profession, and was fortunate in securing several
valuable friends, who remained steadfast in their attachment
through life. In 1852 he was elected to the
legislature from Fayette county. He also filled the
position of Register of the United States Land Office at
Vandalia, by the appointment of President Pierce.
In the year 1854 he removed to Chicago and began the
practice of law in that city. After remaining there
about six months he accepted the offer of a partnership with
Richard J. Oglesby and Sheridan Wait,
and came to Decatur where the law firm of Oglesby,
Wait and Gallagher was established. He was
a young man of twenty-seven when he became connected with
the Macon county bar. Although gifted with brilliant
talents and possessed of a mind of great natural vigor, he
by no means disdained the results which came from close
labor and assiduous study. He devoted great attention
to the preparation of his cases, and was accustomed to
devote long and uninterrupted hours to patient reading and
investigation. It was only a question of time as to
when this course of application should bear its legitimate
fruits, and by degrees he won for himself a conspicuous
position at the bar.
During the second year of the war of the rebellion in
1862, he raised a company of cavalry and offered his
services to the government. His company was attached
to the seventh Illinois regiment, commanded by Colonel
William Pitt Kellogg, afterward governor of Louisiana.
He remained in the army about a year. In 1869 the
unanimous voice of the bar urged him to become a candidate
for judge of the old sixteenth circuit. To this office
he was elected without opposition. He was on the bench
till 1873, when he resumed the practice of his profession.
On the twenty-seventh of June, 1865, he was united in
marriage to Miss Rachel Smith, daughter
of the Hon. E. O. Smith, one of the early settlers of
Macon county. One child, Arthur, was born of
this marriage in November, 1870. In politics Judge
Gallagher, previous to the war, acted with the
democratic party. He subsequently became an earnest
republican, and was consistent and devoted in his support of
the principles of that organization. His death
occurred suddenly of heart disease at his office on the
afternoon of the twenty-third of June, 1874.
The news of his death occasioned universal regret. It
was everywhere felt that Decatur had lost a distinguished
citizen, and the Macon county bar its brightest ornament.
His remains now repose in Greenwood Cemetery, and his last
resting place is marked by a monument of Scotch granite,
twenty-two feet in height, on which is the following
inscription:"SACRED
to the memory of
ARTHUR J. GALLAGHER.
Born May 2d, 1828.
Died June 23d, 1879.
A soldier in the Mexican War in 1846.
A Captain in Cavalry in the War of the Rebellion in 1861.
Without opposition, elected Circuit Judge of the Sixteenth
Judicial Cir-
cuit in 1867. He never failed a friend in time of
need, and was regarded
as a sure dependence by the unfortunate."
Of Judge
Gallagher's qualities of head and heart too much can not
be said in praise. He possessed that rare combination
of intellectual qualities which, when united with habits of
close application, makes the ale lawyer. When he first
came to the bar his remarkable clearness and grasp of mind
attracted the attention of older lawyers, who predicted for
him great success. His industry in mastering the
learning of the profession was untiring. He was
sensitive to defeat, and profited by his mistakes. His
success rested on pure intellectual power and thorough
ability as a lawyer. He was not eloquent or fluent in
speech, though few lawyers could address either the court or
jury more effectively. He was logical and clear in
statement, and his appeals were made to the reason rather
than to sentiment or feeling. His conduct toward his
bi-other lawyers was marked by kindness and courtesy, and he
was especially considerate toward the younger members of the
profession. He treated his opponents with fairness and
honor. It is said that an unkind word or criticism
upon a brother lawyer was never heard to fall from his lips.
A just estimate of his character as a lawyer was given
by his successor on the bench of the sixteenth circuit in
some remarks made on the occasion of the presentation of
some resolutions to the Circuit Court, relative to Judge
Gallagher’s death:
"As a lawyer it is not hazarding too much to say that
he was the peer of any lawyer in the state. With a
marvellously clear and comprehensive mind, habits of
industry, a large and varied practice involving great
interests, he rode rapidly to a just and honorable
distinction in his profession until at last he stood among
the foremost of its known and recognized masters. The
law was to him a goddess at whose shrine he constantly
worshiped with the most unrelenting devotion. Here he drank
deeply and freely from the fountains of learning and wisdom
of the ages, until his mind be- came a storehouse filled
with the ripest knowledge of his profession, from which he
might always draw without stint, and to the advantage of
those he sought to instruct. He was never boisterous or rude
to his antagonist or the court. Conscious of his strength
and power he was dignified and courteous in his intercourse
with all men. Brave and determined in all things as Jove, he
was yet modest and gentle as a woman. In nothing did his
high character as a lawyer appear more clearly than in his
sincere and honest purpose to be a faithful and correct
adviser of the court.”
“ After winning the rewards, distinctions and honors of
his profession as a lawyer, he was called to the bench by
the almost unanimous voice of his district, to discharge the
more arduous and responsible duties of a judge. Here
it was that he justified the partiality and discernment of
his friends. Every trait of his character and his
education were but so many arguments in favor of his fitness
for the bench. He brought to the discharge of the
duties of his office the learning and experience which a
large and varied practice had given him. He loved
justice and right, and hated all wrong, fraud and injustice
with a perfect mind. He carried to the bench that same
gentle and patient quality of heart and mind, which had
distinguished him at the bar above his brethren. His
face was as immovable on the bench as the sphinx. No
lawyer could ever tell from any manifestations of his while
hearing an argument what the judgment would be. He had
that rare quality of listening patiently and quietly to what
was said, and determining at once between plausible error
and naked truth. No man ever sat upon the bench who
was more justly beloved by the bar and the people than
Judge Gallagher, nor more deeply mourned by those who
knew him best.”
It is not alone for his distinguished ability as a
jurist that Judge Gallagher’s memory is worthy of
preservation. He was a useful citizen and a firm
believer in the rigid maintenance of law and order. He
was an earnest patriot. He was a soldier of two wars,
and proved his bravery on the field of battle. He was
a respecter of sacred things, a believer in a Higher Power,
and two or three incidents in his own life led him to think
that a special supervision is exerted to preserve
individuals from danger. Once in St. Louis when a boy
an act of courtesy to some elderly people, prevented him
from taking a ferry-boat on which otherwise he would have
been a passenger. From the landing he saw the
departing boat blown to fragments in mid stream.
Again, in Mexico a slight circumstance intervened to save
himself and a comrade from assassination. These incidents
made a strong impression on his mind. Though much away
from home and exposed to the danger of travel he was without
the slightest fear of injury from any casualty. To his
family he was a tender and loving husband and a kind father.
He had warm and devoted friends. He maintained such
admirable discipline over his feelings that he never
offended, by a hasty or careless word, or gave a causeless
wound. He was modest in his deportment, sincere in his
actions, warm in his attachments and true in his
friendships.
Source: History of Macon County, Illinois,
Published 1880 - Page 130 |
