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Douglas A. Hedin, "Episodes in the Life of James Manahan. Chapter Three: The Nebraska Years."
"Judge Wescott Wilkin's Retirement Banquet" (1891).
William Pitt Murray, "Pioneer Days of the District Court" (1902).
George W. Strong (1875-1944).
Henry W. Volk (1873-1958).
Abner J. Swanson (1904-1955).
Ramsey County Bar Memorials -- 2020.
Ramsey County Bar Memorials -- 2005.
William Reynolds Vance (1870-1940).

























































































Viewing Literature Category (25) found:


Edward Eggleston, "The Mystery of Metropolisville" (1873).

The text of Edward Eggleston's novel "The Mystery of Metropolisville" (1873) is posted here.

Dr. Zabelle Stodola's review and reconsideration of the novel is posted elsewhere on this website. ...

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John W. Arctander: "Guilty?" (1910).

John William Arctander was born in Sweden in 1849, received a university education in Norway and migrated to the United States in 1871. He relocated to Minnesota in 1874, and was admitted to the bar soon thereafter. He set up shop in Minneapolis in 1880, and developed a large practice, especially ...

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DeWitt Clinton Cooley: "The High Old Court of Impeachment." (1878)

After Judge Sherman Page's impeachment trial concluded with his acquittal in June, 1878, DeWitt Clinton Cooley, a prominent St. Paul lawyer, published a three-act play about the proceedings. It was a wicked farce. Cooley lampooned the state senate, which had styled itself "The High Court of Impeach...

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Franklin F. Ellsworth, The Band-Wagon: A Political Novel of Middle-America (1921).

Franklin Fowler Ellsworth (1879-1942), a lawyer by profession, ran for congressman from Minnesota?s second congressional district five times. He lost elections in 1910 and 1912 and won in 1914, 1916 and 1918. In all he served from January 1915 to January 1921. He did not run for re-election in 192...

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Book Review of Franklin F. Ellsworth, The Band-Wagon: A Political Novel of Middle-America (1921).

Franklin F. Ellsworth's The Band-Wagon: A Political Novel of Middle-America (1921) was reviewed in the September 21, 1921, issue of "The Weekly Review." It is posted here. ...

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James A. Peterson: Solstad: The Old and The New (1923).

James Alsak Peterson (1859-1928) was a lawyer by profession. A Republican party activist he was elected to represent District 42, which covered part of Minneapolis, in the 32nd Legislature, serving 1901-1903. He challenged incumbent U.S. Senator Knute Nelson in the Republican primary on June 17, 1...

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Book Review of James A. Peterson: Solstad: The Old and The New (1923).

A book review of James A. Peterson's novel, "The Old and the New" (1923), is posted here. ...

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Oscar F. G. Day, "A Crown of Shame" (1893).

The complete text of "A Crown of Shame," a novel by Oscar Fayette Gaines Day (1860-1949), is posted here. Day was a journalist, musical composer, playwright and novelist, who resided in Minneapolis.

In an Afterword, the author writes, "This work deals principally with the grand and peti...

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Cushman Kellogg Davis: "The Law in Shakespeare" (1883).

Cushman Kellogg Davis (1838-1900), governor of Minnesota for one term, 1874-1876, and U. S. Senator from 1887 to 1900, wrote "The Law in Shakespeare" published by the Washington Law Book Company in 1883. A second edition by West Publishing Company followed in 1884; and a reprint came out in 1941. ...

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Book Reviews of "The Law in Shakespeare" by Cushman Kellogg Davis.

Cushman Kellogg Davis was a lawyer, orator, politician and author of "The Law in Shakespeare" published by the Washington Law Book Company in 1883, a second edition by West Publishing Company in 1884, and a reprint in 1941. Three book reviews published in 1884 and one in the "North Carolina Law Rev...

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Ignatius Donnelly, "Dr. Huguet" (1891).

Ignatius Donnelly's social protest novel "Dr. Huguet," which exposes bigotry against blacks in the postbellum South, was published in 1891. It is posted here.

A collection of four reviews of the novel and Professor John Bovee's study in the 1969 issue of "Minnesota History" are posted s...

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Book Reviews of "Dr. Huguet."

Four book reviews and a scholarly study by Professor John R. Bovee of Ignatius Donnelly's novel "Dr. Huguet" are posted here. ...

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James M. Goodhue: "Struck A Lead: An Historical Tale of the Upper Lead Region." (1843-1844).

James M. Goodhue (1819-1852) failed as a lawyer but thrived as the controversial editor and publisher of the "Minnesota Pioneer," the leading newspaper in Minnesota Territory from 1849 to his death in August 1852.

He was admitted to the bar in New York in 1840, practiced there and in ...

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H. L. Gordon, "The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems" (1891).

Hanford Lennox Gordon (1836-1920), a Civil War veteran, practiced law in Wright and Stearns Counties in the 1860s and 1870s, and in Minneapolis in the 1880s. He was also a poet, and published several volumes of verse, most pertaining to Minnesota. In 1891, he published "The Feast of the Virgins...

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H. L. Gordon, "Legends of the Northwest" (1881).

Hanford Lennox Gordon (1836-1920) practiced law in Wright and Stearns Counties in the 1860s and 1870s, and later in Minneapolis in the 1880s. He was also a poet and published several volumes of verse, most pertaining to Minnesota. In 1881, he published "Legends of the Northwest." In the "Preface,"...

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Mary Frances Severance, "Indian Legends of Minnesota" (1893).

In 1893 Mary Frances Severance edited and published a volume of Indian legends in verse. It included well known poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as well as "Death of Winona" by Hanford L. Gordon (1836-1920), a colorful trial lawyer practicing in St. Cloud and author of several books of poetry. ...

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"The Doctor's Law Case" (1903).

Like many small town newspapers in the early twentieth century, the "Warren Sheaf," a weekly newspaper in Warren, the seat of Marshall County, Minnesota, published short fiction and chapters of serialized romance novels to entertain and retain its readers and to fill space on a page. A few of these...

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Melville Davisson Post: "The Copper Bonds" (1912).

Reprising his role as guardian of the innocent against robber barons, Randolph Mason outwits a "copper emperor" who had duped the treasurer of a Michigan county into persuading landowners in the county to sell him their mineral rights. Those rights become valuable after vast deposits of copper are d...

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Melville Davisson Post: "The Interrupted Exile." (1912).

"The Interrupted Exile? is the story of how Randolph Mason "corrected" a complex financial scheme that threatened to ruin a trusting coal company operator by spotting a "scrivener's error" --- in other words, legal malpractice.

It is not an easy story to follow. General Cruger was ...

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Melville Davisson Post: "The Intriguer" (1912).

To end a protracted strike by coal miners that will soon bankrupt a huge railroad, Randolph Mason must negotiate the resignation of the U. S. Marshall whose condition for leaving office is to be granted control over the railroad. As he formulates his plan to outwit the Marshall, Mason is perplexed b...

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Melville Davisson Post: "The Land Pirate." (1912).

To his eternal regret, Captain Roger Shelton, a "financial buccaneer," consulted Randolph Mason for confidential business advice on how to close a real estate transaction without exposing his own duplicity. It did not take Mason long to understand that Shelton aimed to buy parcels of land lying abov...

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Melville Davisson Post: "The Life Tenant" (1912).

In "The Life Tenant" Randolph Mason successfully negotiates the sale of his tubercular client's interest in a coal field in West Virginia to a large coal company simply because he knows more about the mining law of that state. During the tense negotiations, Mason insults, threatens and lectures the...

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Melville Davisson Post: "My Friend at Bridge." (1912).

"My Friend at Bridge," a short story by Melville Davisson Post (1869-1930), about Randolph Mason, an ingenuous New York lawyer, was published in the October, 18, 1912, edition of The News-Messenger, a newspaper in Marshall, Minnesota. ...

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Melville Davisson Post: "The District Attorney" (1912).

"The District Attorney" is the story of how Randolph Mason, a bookish, eccentric and very devious New York lawyer, secures the dismissal of criminal charges against his gullible, elderly client by entrapping a corrupt United States District Attorney in St. Louis, Missouri. It was published in The ...

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Melville Davisson Post: "A St. Valentine's Adventure" (1912).

"A St. Valentine's Adventure" is the story of a young widow who seeks Randolph Mason's aid to return $25,000 left by her husband, who was the clerk of a circuit court in a Western state. This money was deposited with him by a railroad corporation to pay owners of land it was awarded in condemnation...

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