of the positions named. The old Supreme Court of Ohio, however, was regarded as one of the ablest courts of the United States, and was acknowledged as such wherever the common law prevailed. Of the judges, there were Huntington, Meigs, Brown and Wood who were elected to the governorship of the State, Judge Ranney being an unsuc cessful candidate. Judges Meigs, Brown, Burnett, McLean were United States sena tors. Reference has formerly been made to the vast amount of work performed by the older judges, and to the hardships endured by them. In the present age the cry is that our judges are housed up and worked to death, but it was not so in former days. The following story told by Judge Charles T. Sherman portrays the hardships which had to be gone through with by the early courts; it was during the time when Judge Birchard was on the bench. The Supreme Court was in session at Mansfield, and just as it was about to adjourn, late in the even ing, there arose a question of practice upon which the judges were divided, and they re quired a certain work on practice, the near est copy being at Wooster, forty miles away. Judge Sherman mounted a horse, went to Wooster, got the book desired, and was back at Mansfield before day. The judges decided the case by candle light, and de parted for the next county seat. What a difference between then and now! Our Su preme Court sits always at Columbus, and when a book or anything else is wanted, the judges have but to press a button. The opinions of the present court are written by electric light, while the old were written by candle light. Think of one of the judges of our court riding behind an ox-team for two days to reach the place of holding court. But Judge Lane rode two whole days behind such a team in order to travel from Norwalk to Tiffin, a distance of thirty-five miles, to hold the first court held there in 1824.
Court wras held, in those early days, in log cabins, sometimes in those of private citizens, or in log churches. The jails looked like stables, the only difference being that the jail had a lock, the stables none. When court was in session, in one of the northern towns, in the early days, an Irish man had been fined eight dollars for as sault and battery. Walking up to the clerk's desk he threw down the money to pay the fine and said, " Now I hope this Demerara team will be satisfied." The clerk asked him what he meant by Demerara team, and he said, " Look up there. You see that president judge and three associate judges? Well, sir, that is a Demerara team — three mules and one jackass." The "Demerara team" story probably originated in Cincinnati, when a lawyer was endeavoring to obtain a writ in mandamus before the old Court of Common Pleas, when, after having convinced the president judge that it should be issued, the associ ates would not agree to it. The president judge thereupon remarked, "We will take the papers and decide the matter in the morning." On the following morning the president judge announced that "he had carefully examined the papers and was now convinced that the writ ought not to be granted, and could not legally be granted; but my brother associates upon the bench are now convinced that the writ ought to be granted each and all of them; and thus with the tables turned this morning, they still disagree with me; we will further con sider this matter." The lawyer however in sisted that it was necessary that the writ be granted at once. The president judge said : "We can't help that. I am convinced that you have no rights here, and I will convince my associates." But the lawyer replied "They are a majority, and they will now grant the writ." President judge : " But I mean to convince them my way." Law yer : " They will never go your way. This court is a regular Demerara team! " Pres
