Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 04.pdf/282

The Supreme Court of Indiana. lature until it was adopted. All this re quired unremitting toil and untiring work. Owing to his health, he early retired from the active practice, — retiring upon an am ple fortune he had secured. Alvin P. Hovey. Of all the public men of Indiana, Gov ernor Hovey held more public offices than

any other. He was ap pointed, May 8, 1854, to the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Roache. He was native born. The place of his birth was in a little hamlet of Posey County, and the time Sept 6, 1821. His father was a native of Vermont, and died before Alvin was three years of age, leaving seven small children in poor circumstances. He received little educa tion in the schools, being almost wholly a self-educated man. His memory was very retentive. At twentyone he was admitted GEORGE to the bar. Hovey's greatest case was the one involving the validity of William McClure's will, in which he gave the trustees all his property in Spain, "to be by them applied to the diffusion of useful knowledge, and instruction of the working classes, or manual laborers who gain their bread by the sweat of their brow," in the United States. It proved further that sums not exceeding $500 should be expended in the purchase of libraries wherever there was an accumulation for a public library of fifty volumes. The executor regarded the clause as invalid, and was so advised by eminent counsel. Hovey 33

257

considered it valid, and brought suit, at the instance of one of the executor's bondsmen, to test its validity. In the lower court he was defeated; in the Supreme Court suc cessful, the decision following the Girard will case.1 By this will over §150,00x3 was given to the workingmen's libraries. In 1851 he was a member of the constitu tional convention; in 1852 Circuit Judge, being called " The Boy Judge." His ap pointment to the Su preme Court bench did not secure for him an election; and conse quently his term there was less than a year in length of time. In 1855, without solicita tion and without his knowledge, President Pierce appointed him United States District Attorney for the Dis trict of Indiana, from which position Bu chanan removed him because he supported Douglas. He was al ways an intense par tisan, intensity being characteristic in every feature of his compo V. HOWK sition. During the Mexican War he was elected lieutenant, but his com pany failed to secure an entry into one of the regiments assigned to Indiana. At the out break of the Rebellion Governor Morton commissioned him colonel. Shortly after the capture of Fort Donelson he was commis sioned brigadier-general. He was at the bat ties of Pittsburg Landing, Vicksburg, and Jackson. For meritorious service he was made a major-general, although he did not receive his commission until two years after it was granted, — being one of the four men 1 Sweeney v. Sampson, 5 Ind. 465.