A Sketch of the Supreme Court of Ohio. ties, and at the end old Peter would reach out and get the twenty-ninth volume of the Ohio Statutes — the revision then in force — and read two lines from the statutes that would kill the lawyer as dead as a herring, taking infinite pleasure in doing it. His ways, while upon the bench, were often blunt, brusque, and burly, and he was always sure to say something during the progress of a trial to cow a lawyer engaged before him. On one occasion, while holding court in Cincinnati, a lawyer who believed in the use of law-books to convince judges had filled the large lawyers' table with an im mense pile of books. The judges came in, and Judge Hitchcock saw the huge pile of law-books. When court opened, Judge Hitchcock adjusted his spectacles on his nose, looking meaningly and menacingly at the lawyer, and then at his law-books piled and spread upon the table, sarcastically and cuttingly observed : " Brother R., do you mean to rile the court with all these books? I will have you know, sir, that this court does not keep a /rt2f-school! " Brother R. replied in cutting tones through his nose : "But on this occasion, I will have the court to know that I do keep a law-school, and I mean to teach you judges a bit of law into the bargain." Judge Peter did not have anything further to say, and the lawyer proceeded. On another occasion a young lawyer re marked, at the close of his argument, that the papers in the case and his brief would show conclusively the merits of his client's side, and he hoped and trusted that the court would read them. Judge Hitchcock thereupon remarked : " Do you mean to in sinuate, sir, that the court does not read the papers in the case? You are impudent, sir! " The lawyer replied : "I do not in sinuate at all, nor am I impudent. I merely ask the court to read the papers, and the ground of my polite request lies in the fact
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that, taking account of the last decision your honors made against me, I don't be lieve the court looked at the papers at all, let alone read them." Judge Peter, in sotto voce, observed to his brother upon the bench, "I wonder if the young man is not about half right?" Some of the lawyers present thought he was all right. Gustavus SWAN was born in New Hamp shire in 1787. Leaving his father's house at an early age, it was with much difficulty that he procured an education. He decided to come west, first stopping at Marietta, where he was admitted to the bar, and re mained a short time. He then visited Chillicothe, Cincinnati, and finally Franklinton, where in the spring of 1811 he decided to permanently locate, being induced so to do because of the fact that the State capitol was likely to be in Columbus. In 1814 he left Franklinton, and opened an office in Columbus. In 181 2 and again in 181 7 he was a rep resentative in the State Legislature. In 1823 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and during his service upon that bench he was appointed to fill a vacancy which occurred in the Supreme Court. He sat one year upon the latter bench, or to the end of the term which he had been appointed to complete. He re sumed practice in 1831. He also became engaged in business pursuits, being president of the Franklin Bank of Columbus, and was very successful in this enterprise. He was appointed one of the commissioners to establish the State bank system, and when the organization was complete, he was unanimously chosen president of the State bank. Judge Swan in his day was recog nized as a sound lawyer, an able advocate, and an accomplished business man. He died on the seventh day of February, 1860.
