His military record was a brilliant one, and he left the service in 1866 a Brevet-Major-General of Volunteers. He at once resumed the practice of law in Worcester. He was appointed in 1867 one of the justices of the Superior Court, and in 1873 was made a justice of the Supreme Court. He resigned in 1877, in order to become AttorneyGeneral in the Cabinet of President Hayes. Soon after his return to the State, in 188 1, he was re appointed to the Supreme Bench of Massachusetts, and had held the position since. While he was upon the bench he delivered many addresses on public occasions, as that on the centennial celebra tion of Bunker Hill, at the dedications of the soldiers' monuments at Boston and Worcester, on the deaths of General Meade and General Grant, and as presiding officer at the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Harvard College. His last noteworthy public appearance was on the occa sion of the reunion of the Devens Brigade in Springfield, Sept. 19, 1889. Judge Devens was nominated for governor by the " People's " party in 1862. Hon. Daniel Clarke, Judge of the United States District Court for New Hampshire, and one of the most prominent characters in the po litical history of that State for more than half a century, died at Manchester, January 2. He was born at Stratham, Rockingham County, Oct. 24, 1809. He was educated at the Hampton Academy and Dartmouth College, graduating from the latter in the class of 1834, with first honors. After graduation, Mr. Clarke entered the office of Gen. John Sullivan of Revolutionary fame, to study law, at Exeter, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. In 1839 he removed to Manchester, and opened a law office. In 1842 Mr. Clarke was elected to the State Legislature from Manchester, and was re-elected in 1843 and in 1846. He was an adherent of the Whig party until its dissolution, when he became a Republican. In 1856 he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention, and was a presidential elector on the Fremont and Dayton ticket. In 1857 two United States Sena tors were to be elected, and Judge Clarke was chosen for the short term. He was re-elected in i860, and served on many important committees. He was president pro tern, of the Senate for two sessions, during Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin's absence. During the impeachment proceedings of Andrew Johnson, Senator Clarke voted against
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the impeachment, his vote alone turning the scale and preventing the necessary two-thirds. In 1866 he failed of a re-election to the Senate; and in the same year, a vacancy occurring, he was appointed United Stales District Judge for the district of New Hampshire, which position he held up to the time of his death. In 1866 Dartmouth College con ferred upon him the degree of LL.D. In 1876 he was president of the convention for the revision of the Constitution. In addition to representing the city five times in the State Legislature, Judge Clarke held many local offices of trust. He was city solicitor, member of the school board, and at the time of his death was trustee in the Manchester Savings Bank, the oldest director in the Amoskeag Corporation, and trustee of the city library.
Judge John Mitchell, one of the ablest mem bers of the Des Moines, Iowa, bar, died, Decem ber 29, of typhoid pneumonia. He was born in New Hampshire in 1830, and located at Des Moines in 1856. He was twice elected to the Legislature, and was circuit judge for twelve years.
Hon. W. D. Simpson, Chief-Justice of the Su preme Court of South Carolina, died at his home in Columbia, December 26. He was a native of Laurens, and about sixty years of age. He was elected Lieutenant-Governor with Governor Hamp ton on the restoration of the State Government in 1876 to Democratic control. He succeeded to the governorship on the election of Governor Hampton to the United States Senate, and before the close of his term as governor he was elected Chief-Justice. Judge William L. Muller, Judge of the Court of Claims for the State of New York, who died in New York City on January 5, belonged to one of the oldest Dutch families in that city. After graduating from college he studied law, and was admitted to the New York Bar He was at one time a law partner of Gov. David B. Hill, and it was through Governor Hill that he received his appointment to the bench. For the past year and at the time of his death he was president of the Crosby Electric Company, New York, and had by his efforts brought that organization to be one of the largest of its kind in the country. Judge Muller was about forty-eight years of age.
