Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 05.pdf/278

This page needs to be proofread.
Editorial Department.

at St. Louis; his prosecution of Guiteau, the Parish Will Case, the Metropolitan Bank Case, and his connection with many important civil actions. Our readers will not forget the beautiful tribute paid to Mr. Porter by Mr. Lowrey in the August and September numbers of the " Green Bag "(1892). During his professional career Mr. Lowrey was for fifteen years general counsel of the Western Union Telegraph Company (from the time of its organization until 1882); and he had been at different times counsel for the Metropolitan Rail way Company, Wells, Fargo, & Co., the North American Steamship Company, the United States Express Company, the Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph Company, the Singer Manufacturing Company, the Union Ferry Company, the Knick erbocker Trust Company, and other important corporations. As a man, Mr. Lowrey was universally esteemed and loved. His cheerful, sunny disposition en deared him to all who knew him. In his death the bench, bar, and community have sustained a great loss. HON. W. H. H. ALLEN, late Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, died on April 26. Judge Allen traced his ancestry back to Samuel Allen, of Braintree, Essex County, England, who in 1632 settled in Cambridge, Mass., and three years later emigrated with a band of Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to Windsor, Conn. From the second son of Samuel Allen, and fifth in line, descended the sturdy Vermont patriot, Ethan Allen; while from the third son of Samuel Allen, and eighth in line, descended the subject of this sketch. Joseph Allen, father of the judge, was a Methodist clergyman. Judge Allen was born in Winhal1, Vt., Dec. 10, 1829. His early life was passed at home, attend ing school a few months each year; later attending academies at West Brattleboro', Saxton's River, and Keene, fitting for college under the tutelage of Joseph Perry of the latter place. He entered Dartmouth College in 1851, and in 1855 was graduated second in a class of fifty-one, — Waibridge A. Field. Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, being first. Other class mates were William S. Ladd and Greenleaf Clark, ex-judges of the Supreme Courts of New Hamp

shire and Minnesota, and Nelson Dingley, Con gressman from Maine. After finishing his course at Dartmouth, Judge Allen was principal of a high school at Hopkinton, Mass., and superintendent of schools at Perrysburg, Ohio. While serving in these capacities he studied law; afterward prosecuting his studies in the offices of Wheeler & Faulkner at Keene, and Burke & Wait at Newport. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1858, and the same year became clerk of court for Sullivan County. Dur ing the five years ensuing he tried many referee cases, and did much other work now done by the judges. In 1863 he was appointed paymaster in the volunteer service, with rank of major, and as such served until December, 1865, being stationed chiefly at Washington, and paying soldiers in the Army of the Potomac. Returning to Newport, he began the practice of law, which he continued with good success until 1867, when he was appointed Judge of Probate for Sullivan County, an office he held for upwards of seven years. During his term but three appeals were taken from his decisions, two of which were affirmed by the full bench of the Supreme Court, while the other was not prosecuted. From 1867 to 1876 he held the office of Register of Bank ruptcy. In 1868 he removed from Newport to Claremont. Upon the reorganization of the courts in 1876, Judge Allen was, upon the unanimous request of the bar of the county, appointed Asso ciate Justice of the Supreme Court, which position he resigned last March. Of the court constituted in 1876 Chief-Justice Doe is now the sole survivor. Judge Allen was a man of varied gifts and ac quirements. His learning covered a broad field, and much of it was the fruit of personal experi ence and investigation. All his life he was deep in work or study, — work that included not only the prompt and faithful discharge of public duties, but many things beside, — study not only of books, but of men and things. His opinions on matters to which he gave thought were clear and well defined, and he defended them vigorously and often dogmatically. His written opinions, which are scattered through the New Hampshire State Reports, are considered models of conciseness and clearness. Rarely did the Supreme Court reverse his decisions, so carefully were they framed, and so well founded upon a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the law.