cember following, took the oath of office. In the following spring he brought his family to Milwaukee, where he resided un til he died. His appointment was a happy one. He brought to the bench a needed element. The practice was loose, and ChiefJustice Dunn was not so much of an or ganizer, nor so familiar with the details of practice, as a man of great intellect and judicial power. Judge Irvin disliked the work and had little judicial ambition. In practice and pleading Judge Miller was especially skilled; and his methodical system soon established order in the chaos of liti gation, and set the courts into a proper procedure, so far as it could be done by rules. He had more to do in settling the prac tice than any of the other judges. The rules of court which he formulated, modified and enlarged by experience, were adopted for the territory at large in 1840, and were finally substantially adopted in the federal courts of the district, where they still remain, attesting the wisdom of their framer. The legislature assigned Judge Miller to the eastern district. He was greeted on the opening of his first term, in the spring of 1 839, with twelve hundred cases on the dock ets of the several courts of his district. This mass of litigation arose largely from the crash of 1837, which had overwhelmed the Territory, in common with the rest of the country, in commercial prostration and bank ruptcy. Litigation increased as new counties and courts were created. In the last two years of his territorial service, his district em braced eleven counties. For the last three years of his territorial service, he held three terms a year, of six weeks each, in Milwau kee, and two terms a year in each organized county of his district; his longest vacation in either year being three weeks. During his nine years' service as terri torial judge he disposed of over seven thou sand five hundred cases, besides three hun dred discharges in bankruptcy. The legal
questions involved were many and intricate. The earlier statutes were borrowed from various sources, were often incoherent, and their intent obscure, and the acts of Congress often gave perplexity. The immense labor he performed bore testimony to his devotion to duty, and the capacity for work of an exceedingly powerful constitution added to the facility in labor of a highly trained in tellect. On the 2Qth of May, 1848, Wisconsin was admitted into the Union, and was made a judicial district in the federal system. Judge Miller's excellent work in imparting order and certainty to the system in the new State were so well known and fully appreciated that he was commissioned on the 1 2th of June, 1848, as district judge. The following July 'he organized his court at Madison, and until 1862 he exercised the powers of circuit and district judge for the whole State. Until 1870, the State constituted one district. He served on the bench of the district court un til January, 1874, when he voluntarily retired, still hale, hearty and strong. On the 3Oth of September following, he died very sud denly, stricken down while in usual good health and engaged in his daily avocations. His career of thirty-five years upon the bench made his name, his services and char acter very familiar to the people of Wiscon sin. In many respects he was an admirable judge, in all a great one, faithful, painstak ing, honest, vigorous and fearless. Probably few judges have administered their office against so strong a tide of hostile and earn est public opinion. In 1852, the State had become profoundly stirred on the subject of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The opin ion of the great majority in Wisconsin was that the Act was unconstitutional. In 1854, one Garland, of Missouri, came to Wiscon sin and claimed, as a fugitive slave, one Joshua Glover, a colored man, who, as al leged, had escaped from servitude and fled to this State. On complaint of the owner, Judge Miller issued a warrant for the ar
