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MEMORIAL 
 
 TO 
 
 JOSEPH BENSON FORAKER 
 
 MEETING OF THE BENCH AND BAR HELD IN THE COURT 
 
 ROOM OF THE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT OF 
 
 APPEALS, FEDERAL BUILDING, CINCINNATI, OHIO 
 
 TEN O'CLOCK, SATURDAY MORNING. JUNE SIXTEENTH 
 
 IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED 
 
 AND SEVENTEEN 
 

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JUDGES PRESIDING 
 
 Honorable John W. Warrington, 
 
 United States Circuit Court of Appeals; 
 
 Honorable Howard C. Hollister, 
 
 District Court of the United States; 
 
 Honorable Frank M. Gorman, 
 
 Court of Appeals, Cincinnati, Ohio; 
 
 Honorable Robert C. Pugh, 
 
 Superior Court, Cincinnati, Ohio; 
 
 Honorable John A. Caldwell, 
 
 Court of Common Pleas, Hamilton County, Ohio. 
 
The meeting was called to order by Judge Warring- 
 ton announcing: 
 
 This is a meeting of the bar and members of the 
 bench. We understand that a committee has been 
 appointed to present a memorial to the late Senator 
 Foraker. If that committee is ready to report, it is 
 now in order to present the memorial. 
 
 Judge Outcalt — 
 
 // Your Honors please — The committee appointed 
 to draft a memorial upon the death of the late Senator 
 Foraker have assigned to me the duty, which I regard 
 an honor, of presenting and reading the memorial which 
 has been prepared : 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 JOSEPH BENSON FORAKER was born on a farm 
 ^ in Highland County, Ohio, July 5, 1846. His 
 militant patriotism took him, at the age of sixteen, to 
 the battle fields of the Civil War as a private soldier. 
 His rise to the rank of captain at the age of twenty was 
 wholly due to a personality which must even then 
 have been unusual. 
 
 There can be no doubt that if the call to arms had 
 not come when it did, his active spirit, animating high 
 natural abihties, would have pushed him early to 
 
distinction; but it is difficult to say what direction his 
 career would have taken if he had entered upon it 
 through the ordinary portals of peaceful times. 
 
 As it was, he first put on the gown of the college 
 student when he put off his uniform, graduating at 
 Cornell University in 1869, after taking the earher 
 part of his course at the Ohio Wesleyan. 
 
 He studied law with Judge James Sloan at Hills- 
 boro, Ohio, and commenced practice in Cincinnati, 
 in 1869, as partner of Judge P. J. Donham, who was 
 soon succeeded by L. C. Black. 
 
 The eagerness of the people to show gratitude to 
 the defenders of the Union made certain the early 
 entry into public life of one with the glamour of heroism 
 about him, who had for that hfe both rare quahfica- 
 tions and strong inclinations. So we find him nomi- 
 nated for Governor of Ohio when he was only thirty- 
 seven years old and commencing the first of his two 
 successive terms in that office when he was only 
 thirty-nine. 
 
 Five years after their expiration he was elected 
 to the Senate of the United States, where he served 
 two full terms. 
 
 He took a leading pcirt in the State and National 
 Conventions of his party for almost thirty years. 
 And always, in or out of office, he was active in the 
 study and discussion of public affairs. 
 
The result was a National reputation as a public 
 man, which came early and endured throughout his 
 life. This naturally outgrew and overshadowed his 
 abihty and standing as a lawyer, though these played 
 no small part in winning and maintaining his high rank 
 among the statesmen of his time. 
 
 His work and fame in these broader fields belong 
 to the history of Ohio and the Nation. It is for the 
 Bench and Bar to express and record their appreciation 
 of his professional qualities and their esteem for his 
 traits as a comrade in a calling which, more than any 
 other, thoroughly tests and fully reveals the abihties 
 and character of those who follow it. 
 
 Like that of many who came to the Bar soon after 
 the Civil War, his preparation was scanty, judged by 
 present standards. He was conscious of this lack 
 and worked diligently to supply it. He grasped legal 
 principles quickly and wielded them with skill and 
 precision. He had unusual ability to seize essential 
 facts and make them dominant. His conclusions were 
 reached by clear and comprehensive reasoning and 
 always found forcible, orderly, lucid and persuasive 
 expression. He was eminent in all the qualities of 
 the advocate, including firm behef in the justice of 
 the cause he espoused. 
 
 He was by nature impetuous and high spirited. 
 He had the true warrior temperament. He seemed to 
 delight in the conflicts of the forum, as he had done in 
 
 7 
 
battle, doubtless because he realized, consciously or 
 unconsciously, that there he shone most brightly. 
 Yet he was never unfair or discourteous, and his 
 thrusts, even under provocation, did not break the 
 rules of honorable combat. 
 
 After nine years of general practice, which took 
 him well along the road to eminence at a Bar which 
 then ranked unusually high among the lawyers of the 
 entire country, he was elected Judge of the Superior 
 Court of Cincinnati when only thirty-two years old. 
 His associates were Judges Force and Harmon. He 
 displayed judicial qualities which led to general regret 
 when his service ended. But his active temperament 
 did not take kindly to the confinement of the bench and 
 his health became impaired, seriously as was then 
 feared. So he resigned at the end of two years. 
 
 After his recovery and several months spent in 
 travel and recuperation, he resumed practice with 
 L. C. Black. 
 
 A few months later, on the recommendation of the 
 Bar, the Governor tendered him an appointment as 
 Judge of the Supreme Court. This he felt compelled 
 to decline. 
 
 His firm soon had a large and successful practice, 
 which was rapidly growing when he was elected 
 Governor in 1885. After four years in that office he 
 formed a partnership with L. C. Black and Nathaniel 
 Rockhold, the latter being succeeded by C. A. Bos- 
 
worth. He practiced alone, however, for several years, 
 with great success, until he took his seat in the Senate, 
 March 4, 1897. 
 
 The twelve years he served in that body were 
 crowded with pubhc business of the greatest importance. 
 This related, among other things, to finance, war, 
 regulation of industry and commerce, the acquisition 
 and government of distant islands with inhabitants 
 strange in race, language and ideas, and the joining 
 of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by a great Canal. 
 In discussion and legislation upon all these subjects 
 he bore an active and useful part, bringing to bear, 
 with his shining abihties, the outcome of deep study 
 and broad research. 
 
 In 1909 he returned to his home and practice in 
 Cincinnati. His partners at various times were 
 Miller Outcalt, Walter L. Granger, Charles E. Prior, 
 and his brother, James R. Foraker. His firm had an 
 extensive business, much of it of an important character. 
 But after several years he again practiced alone, 
 gradually reducing his activity until of late, failing 
 health led to almost complete retirement. 
 
 He died at his home, May 10, 1917. 
 
 But for these long and frequent interruptions 
 of his professional career, his industry and abihties 
 would beyond doubt have placed him among the very 
 few whose fame has extended beyond the ranks of the 
 
profession in which it was won. He nevertheless 
 achieved a very high reputation as a lawyer. 
 
 His friendships were true and lasting, and forensic 
 encounters, however keen, bred with him no personal 
 animosities. To those who knew him in professional 
 and private life he will always remain in memory a 
 brilliant, but gracious and wholesome figure, generous, 
 sympathetic, considerate, courteous and loyal. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 JUDSON HARMON 
 L. C. BLACK 
 MILLER OUTCALT 
 M. L. BUCHWALTER 
 CHARLES B. WILBY 
 FERDINAND JELKE 
 DAVID DAVIS 
 SHERMAN T. McPHERSON 
 ELLIS B. KINKEAD 
 GEORGE H. WARRINGTON 
 LAWRENCE MAXWELL 
 GEORGE HOADLY 
 
 Committee. 
 
 10 
 
Judge Warrington — 
 
 The report of the Committee will be received and 
 according to arrangements made by the Committee, 
 of which we have been advised, we will hear remarks 
 to the Memorial. We will hear from a number of 
 gentlemen, all who wish to say anything; but in the 
 nature of things, the time given to each speaker will 
 have to be limited to five minutes. 
 
 Judge Outcalt — 
 
 May it please Your Honors — It is the desire of the 
 Committee that the Memorial be approved and that it 
 be spread at length upon the Journals of the Courts of 
 this District, and also entered upon the Journals of our 
 local County Courts. 
 
 In moving its adoption, I cannot refrain from 
 expressing the deep and lasting gratitude I feel for the 
 help and assistance the Senator gave me at the very 
 beginning of my professional life and his constant inter- 
 est and wise counsel in after years. Whatever measure 
 of success I may have attained, received its inspiration 
 from him. A friendship which commenced in the early 
 eighties soon ripened into an intimacy, only to create the 
 love and affection which one man can have for another, 
 and only to be lost when that other has fallen into his 
 last long sleep. 
 
 It would be but indifferent gratitude, if such a 
 feeling of the heart were possible, were I the least 
 
 11 
 
unmindful of the benefits thus bestowed, and my 
 words remained unsaid. 
 
 The Memorial just read has drawn a faithful 
 picture of his busy life, illumined as it was by acts of 
 valor upon the field of honor and distinguished as it 
 was by wise and patriotic service in the councils of the 
 Nation. 
 
 It was a career illustrious and engaging, to the 
 younger as well as to the older men of this generation, 
 when the very soul of this Nation is aroused by the 
 stern alarums of this frightful war. Would that we had 
 in this present crisis both his presence and his influence 
 in the legislature of this Nation! There would be no 
 faltering or wavering in the policy of action. The 
 pulses of men would beat quicker and his intrepid 
 manhood would cause the very tips of their fingers to 
 tingle with enthusiasm. 
 
 Though we are met to record the virtues of his 
 professional life as a lawyer and member of this Bar, 
 his services to his country in National life are so inter- 
 mingled as to become inseparable, and we cannot pass 
 them by. 
 
 It was my good fortune to be associated with him 
 as a member of his law firm for a number of years, 
 which gave me opportunity to study him at short range 
 and to see his genius as a lawyer manifested by his 
 quick and decisive judgment, his power to grasp and 
 handle with supreme ability the most difficult problems 
 
 12 
 
and to observe the fidelity and unswerving loyalty 
 given to his client's cause. I have been with him in 
 the trial of cases and have exulted in the manifestations 
 of respect and esteem that, consciously or unconsciously, 
 came to him from court and counsel. He was a lawyer 
 among lawyers, a man among men. Would that we 
 had his like again! 
 
 His strength was always in what he represented. 
 He was rarely at fault, never resentful, never malevo- 
 lent; generous, patient, forgiving. His untimely death 
 is our great loss. 
 
 Verily, as I once heard him say of another: 
 
 "Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud, 
 A flash of the hghtning, a break of the wave, 
 Man passes from hfe to his rest in the grave." 
 
 Judge Warrington — 
 
 Will Mr. Colston speak to the Memorial? 
 
 Mr. Colston — 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen — Friendship with 
 Senator Foraker always went hand in hand with 
 intense admiration. Yet it does not seem to me to be 
 necessary upon an occasion of this kind to undertake 
 to catalogue all of the great qualities and capabilities 
 which he possessed, but rather to notice in a general 
 way the high attributes that constituted his character. 
 
 13 
 
No one who knew Senator Foraker would for a 
 moment deny that he possessed intellectual attain- 
 ments of the very highest order. Take him as a school- 
 boy, as a young and gallant soldier fighting for the cause 
 of his country, as a collegian, as a lawyer, as a judge, as 
 an executive, as a statesman, as a politician — every 
 state that he occupied was illumined by the brilliance 
 that was peculiarly his own. 
 
 As an orator he assuredly stood in the very front 
 ranks of those whose productions have made American 
 oratory famous the world over. 
 
 Had he died a member of the United States Senate, 
 there would have been pompous ceremonies and 
 speeches burdened with praise, delivered by eminent 
 men; but inasmuch as he died in our midst, a private 
 but highly eminent citizen, it shall not be that he can 
 pass from among us unlionored and unsung. 
 
 Handsome, debonair, talented, surely he was an 
 ornament to this Bar, one whom we will not soon forget, 
 one of whom we shall be proud as long as memory lasts. 
 Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I have esteemed it a high 
 honor to be allowed to voice my approval of the things 
 that have been recorded of Senator Foraker in the 
 Memorial that we have heard. 
 
 Judge Warrington — 
 
 Mr. Stephens, we would like to hear from you. 
 
 14 
 
Mr. Stephens — 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Bar — We have 
 been admonished that our time is hmited and I am 
 glad that I have reduced to writing the few words I 
 intend to say upon this occasion. 
 
 Joseph Benson Foraker was never called to any 
 position of honor that he did not fill with distinction. 
 
 The patriotic impulse and native courage that 
 caused him to become a soldier in the Civil War when 
 a mere boy, were followed by merited advancement and 
 honor, and inspired his entire career. He had an 
 intense love of his country and a firm behef in her 
 democratic institutions. Were he now in his former 
 place in the Senate, we know the force and the enthusi- 
 asm with which he would help prepare for the stirring 
 times ahead of us. 
 
 When Judge of the Superior Court, he served with 
 abiUty and fidelity. 
 
 As Governor and Senator he made an impress upon 
 his party and the country that will cause his name ever 
 to be remembered. He was brilHant, aggressive and 
 able in advancing any cause he favored, and a formi- 
 dable opponent of any measure he opposed. Though 
 one might differ with him in some positions he assumed, 
 he gathered about him a host of friends by the earnest 
 and able presentation of any question he espoused, so 
 that he became a factor and leader in his party and 
 known everywhere. 
 
 15 
 
There was one phase of his character which to me was 
 always a dehght, and that was the social and kindly 
 side of his nature. The high positions to which he was 
 called never turned his head, or caused him to forget 
 his old friends and acquaintances. He was ever the 
 same kind and genial man in his welcome and inter- 
 course, and always a delightful companion. In this 
 world of change and uncertain worldly prosperity, 
 this characteristic always indicated to me that he was 
 a man of broad vision and a kind heart. It was this 
 quality, I think, in a measure, that endeared him to 
 all sorts and conditions of men. 
 
 I esteem it a pleasure to say these few words of 
 remembrance. 
 
 Judge Warrington — 
 
 May we hear from Mr. Black? 
 
 Mr. L. C. Black— 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen — I cannot let this 
 occasion pass without laying a tribute of respect and 
 affection upon the bier of my old friend and associate. 
 I shall not undertake to dwell on the record and achieve- 
 ments of Senator Foraker; I shall only call attention to 
 certain personal characteristics which meant more to 
 me than the record of his statesmanship. Excepting 
 only Judge Morris L. Buchwalter, my acquaintance 
 
 16 
 
with the late Senator Foraker is longer than that of 
 any other man at this Bar. This acquaintance 
 began in 1870. Intimate daily association with him 
 began in 1875. This association was close and inti- 
 mate for many years. When we first met, I, hke 
 everybody else, fell under the thrall of his magnetic 
 and compelling personality. He impressed me as 
 being the most interesting and captivating man I ever 
 met. This experience was very common in the youth 
 and early manhood of J. B. Foraker. His engaging 
 personality instantly won everybody he met and most 
 of his acquaintances became intense partisans. I 
 recall the instance of a man who made his acquaintance 
 about the year 1878, who said to me, with a rapt 
 enthusiasm, "I wish I had $25,000; I would give it to 
 Foraker to establish him." This man became a close 
 and intimate associate of Senator Foraker, rose to 
 high station, and never lost that sense of loyalty. 
 
 It is somewhat difficult for me to summarize the 
 personal traits of J. B. Foraker, which were so enticing. 
 Perhaps it was the high promise of a great future in the 
 youth to which all the world seems friendly and wilhng 
 to give aid. His open, noble countenance and evident 
 promise of a great career, made everybody an ally. 
 
 It is not easy to enumerate and weigh all of the 
 strong traits of J. B. Foraker. To one or two I shall 
 allude in particular. 
 
 17 
 
Our late friend won four marked honors — Senator, 
 Governor, Judge and Captain. These honors were all 
 well won and worthily worn. 
 
 As Senator he was the peer of his fellows. As 
 Governor he was a commanding figure in his State and 
 in the Nation. As Judge he won a high position. 
 
 No title he acquired ever so well expressed and 
 fitted him as that of Captain. The quality of leader- 
 ship, martial bearing, high honor, bold action, are all 
 summarized in the word "Captain." It was the quahty 
 of that captaincy which led Lieutenant Foraker up 
 the slopes of Missionary Ridge, the first man of his 
 company to cross the ditch and the breastworks. It 
 was that quahty of captaincy, or leadership, which 
 won him public recognition and authority among his 
 fellows. His sword was always ready and quickly 
 drawn in whatever he deemed a righteous cause, and 
 it was never sheathed so long as it could be used in 
 that cause. He was brave, bold, defiant, just, humane. 
 
 It was his natural leadership which led to an 
 historic incident in the Senate. Without a moment's 
 notice, his friend, who held a high administrative 
 office, was violently and unjustly assailed from the 
 opposite side of the Chamber, and this assault involved 
 the integrity of high administrative policies. The 
 administrative side of the Chamber stood aghast and 
 nobody was prepared to make a defence, the report of 
 which should properly go out to the country together 
 
 18 
 
with the assault. Without a moment's preparation, 
 Senator Foraker arose in his place and in a peerless 
 speech, not only vindicated his friend and the adminis- 
 trative policy, but repelled the assault and drove the 
 attacking party to confusion. Such a telhng blow did 
 he deal in this instance that the assault was never 
 repeated. The knightly, soldierly quahty in him was 
 such that I was always reminded of Balzac's description 
 of one of Napoleon's generals: "A brow like the map of a 
 field of battle." 
 
 Another characteristic was the integrity of his 
 mind and his conscience. In his course he always went 
 whither his mind and his conscience, under right pro- 
 cesses, led him. His conscience was actuated by the 
 most just sense of right and the highest degree of honor. 
 With him, there was nothing like speaking one thing 
 and doing another. I was much interested in having 
 his daughter who lives in Philadelphia, tell me that at 
 times when he was about to engage in some great 
 debate in the Senate, notably the Brownsville affair 
 and the Raihoad Rate bill, he would call her to the 
 telephone and say to her that he was about to engage in 
 a debate on the unpopular side ; that he would probably 
 create many powerful enemies and be bitterly assailed 
 in the public press. He would say to her that she must 
 not be moved by what she read in the newspapers; 
 that she must know that he was right and not be con- 
 cerned about the result. 
 
 19 
 
To those who knew him as the speaker knew him, 
 all of the calumnies which were showered upon him 
 fell from him like autumn leaves from a bronze statue. 
 None adhered. 
 
 We all know the quickness of his mind, his power of 
 close, cogent reasoning, and the force of his address. 
 His eloquence was not a matter of rhetoric or elocution, 
 though with him, both were good. His oratory was 
 powerful because he vitalized facts and made reality 
 quick and palpitant. His oratory came within the 
 definition of eloquence as given by Daniel Webster, 
 in the one word — "Action." 
 
 And now it is to say "Good Bye," Captain Foraker. 
 If your shade today traverses the fields of Asphodel, 
 we know it is in the fit company of other high, gallant, 
 martial spirits. 
 
 Judge Warrington — 
 
 We will hear from Judge Buchwalter. 
 
 Judge Buchwalter — 
 
 May it please the Court and you, Gentlemen of the 
 Bar — Although raised in an adjoining county, I had 
 never met our friend until after the war, at the Ohio 
 Wesleyan University. He was then known as Cap- 
 tain Foraker, a popular young hero of the Civil War. 
 It is one of my happy memories that we were college 
 chums, were roommates for two years, first at the Ohio 
 
 20 
 
Wesleyan, then at Cornell University, and for a year 
 or more after we came to Cincinnati. 
 
 His life in college was clean, moral, industrious and 
 zealous, a splendid example to young college men, 
 esteemed by the Faculty. Ex- President Andrew D, 
 White, now eighty-odd years of age, said in a recent 
 letter: 
 
 "I shall always remember, with pleasure, my acquaintance 
 with him in college, and since, as a man whose noble qualities, 
 and especially his patriotic devotion to his country, I have always 
 admired and respected. I was also attached to him for his 
 courage and his qualities of heart. So far as I was able to observe 
 his career it was an honorable and noble one. ********* 
 
 "He it was, who, when others failed to secure for me a secretary 
 for the Embassy at Berlin, appointed for merit and usefulness in 
 that position, stood by me and helped me secure him. He it was, 
 who, on leaving my house here at Ithaca to apprise Mr. Blaine 
 of his nomination to the presidency, took my personal letter to 
 Mr. Blaine and gave me aid in securing the adhesion of the latter 
 to the great extension of the reform of civil service. 
 
 "I remember all that as I think of him as a statesman; and I 
 remember, too, the days when as a student he arrived at Cornell, 
 pursuing his work here most earnestly and creditably, and I feel 
 proud of the fact that he was among the first students of Cornell 
 to whom I handed the diploma giving hira the baccalaureate 
 degree of the University." 
 
 His college life was prophetic of his great career in 
 public life, which was only a clearly marked evolution 
 of the character and the ideals of the young man. He 
 
 21 
 
was esteemed as a young hero, fresh from the battle 
 field — of fine, handsome presence. He was bred and 
 reared by parents fervently religious, whose faces were 
 steadily set against the wrongs of human slavery — 
 this trend of thought, this idea of duty, became firmly 
 fixed by his service in the army, and was the monitor of 
 his zealous attitude on kindred subjects arising in his 
 pubhc life. When we reflect upon these conditions 
 and his training as a lawyer, it is no wonder he resisted 
 the executive order by which a whole company of United 
 States soldiers at Brownsville were discharged in dis- 
 honor, because no evidence could be procured against 
 any one of the company of joining in a riotous pro- 
 ceeding in the town. He was born with a high order 
 of intellect, and yet his industry was his genius. 
 
 While he was strenuously industrious in prepara- 
 tion for issues in which he took part, he was also marvel- 
 ously quick in the formation of his views upon current 
 questions. He laid down such questions by his ideals, 
 by his fixed standards of thought and action, and thus 
 solved them. I have always been of the opinion that 
 Senator Foraker had the best impromptu judgment of 
 any man it has been my fortune to meet and intimately 
 know. 
 
 Those young college days were filled with happy 
 memories; they were our formation days, in which 
 lasting friendships were made, our hopes and life plans, 
 our aspirations took form — days of om' courtships and 
 
 22 
 
our youthful love-making — these sacred things were a 
 part of our mutual confidences. 
 
 Judge Warrington — 
 Judge Hosea? 
 
 Judge Hosea — 
 
 May it please the Court and Gentlemen of the Bar — 
 I think, upon the record here, that I may fairly claim to 
 be the oldest Cincinnati friend of the late Senator 
 Foraker present. I had forgotten this until reminded 
 of it by this Memorial. We were comrades together 
 in the war for the Union, although I did not personally 
 meet him then, that I recall. We have been associated 
 together as members of the Military Order of the Loyal 
 Legion of the United States from its beginning, although 
 I do not exactly remember the date of that. He 
 remained in that membership up to the time of his 
 death. 
 
 We were also members at different times of the 
 Superior Court, during the period when it still retained 
 the prestige of its reviewing jurisdiction. But I 
 recall most distinctly of all that I met Senator Foraker 
 when he first came to Cincinnati as a young lawyer in 
 partnership with Mr. P. J. Donham. Our offices were 
 in the same building; our entrance doors were adjoin- 
 ing; our war-time reminiscences and the circumstances 
 of that close, neighborly relation naturally laid the 
 foundation of an acquaintance which was very pleasant; 
 
 23 
 
and, I say with some satisfaction, quite warmly ex- 
 pressed by him throughout his hfe. 
 
 At that time, my strong impression of Senator 
 Foraker was that he was very retiring, very 
 modest and almost painfully diffident at times, and 
 those quahties remained with him until after his 
 service in the Superior Court. Afterwards he passed 
 on into a wider sphere of usefulness and of active 
 political hfe, and my acquaintance with him then was 
 for a long time only casual. In the zenith of his power, 
 when he was known not only throughout this country, 
 but far beyond it, as a great statesman, a brilhant 
 forensic orator, and a great lawyer, too, I sometimes 
 wondered just how and when and under what circum- 
 stances it was that he blossomed from that modest 
 youth into the great forceful character, as we came to 
 know him. That was a puzzling question to me for 
 some years, until, in the period of the Spanish War, in 
 1898, I was a great deal in Baltimore and Washington 
 as counsel for an Eastern company and was an occa- 
 sional guest at Senator Foraker's home, and there my 
 puzzling question was answered. The impression made 
 upon me by those circumstances and surroundings, 
 was, that it was an admirable, fitting and happy 
 domestic partnership, which had stirred and stimulated 
 him to his larger effort, which awakened in him the 
 latent power which made him the great man that he 
 really was. 
 
 24 
 
In the limited time, may it please the com't and 
 gentlemen of the Bar, I feel that it would not be proper 
 for me to enlarge upon his merit; others can do that and 
 serve this occasion much better. 
 
 Judge Warrington — 
 Mr. Probasco? 
 
 Mr. Probasco — 
 
 Gentlemen of the Bench, Gentlemen of the Bar, Friends 
 and Admirers of Senator Foraker — The dawn of the 
 day of the hfe of our dead hero found this country in 
 a most horrible condition of civil strife. The heart of 
 the Nation was pulsating; the atmosphere was in a 
 state of tremor; the Nation hung in the balance, 
 between Union and disseverence. That great feehng 
 had charged the atmosphere of the whole Nation; 
 that great feehng struck into the heart of young For- 
 aker, the boy, and made him impetuous, created that 
 impetuosity that went with him through his whole 
 hfe, until his last faltering hours — made him a man, 
 made him a brave man, made him courageous to fight 
 and courageous to defend. It put into him the experi- 
 ence which he gathered as an officer and a private 
 in the war — the great quality of ignoring the petty 
 mosquitos, the human mosquitos that buzzed about 
 his head, but which did him no harm. 
 
 25 
 
Then came the early hours of the day, when people 
 of his country and his state recognized in him a rising, 
 leading spirit, with all the qualities of advocate and 
 executive, and he was then placed, about the midday of 
 his life, in these high positions. 
 
 Then when the sun had passed its zenith and fell 
 upon the afternoon of his great career, he was found in 
 the highest body on the face of the earth, a leader among 
 leaders, interpreting the laws as he had before been 
 doing, he now became a maker of the laws. He stood 
 among the phantasies of fads, of fancies, of foibles, 
 and from among them, out of them, notwithstanding 
 them, he made himself felt in the making of the princi- 
 pal laws that covered his period in the Senate of the 
 United States. 
 
 Why, my friends, if you take the two lives of John 
 Sherman and Senator Foraker, the hfe of Sherman 
 lapped over by the life of Foraker, you have the history 
 of the State of Ohio from 1854 actually until today — 
 simply a recitation of these biographical sketches is 
 the history of the state and practically of the Union, 
 for this time. 
 
 Then coming on down, we reach the twilight of the 
 day of that hfe, and without intending to stir rancour 
 or excite unpleasant memories, he was, before the zenith 
 of his career had been reached, before the greatness of 
 his influence had been achieved, ruthlessly set aside 
 and retired to private life. Notwithstanding all that 
 
 26 
 
he was the private counsel of many leaders of the Union; 
 his office was almost given up to the visits of the great 
 and powerful geniuses of the country, and from his 
 mind and from his heart went out to the country those 
 matters of grave advice which he was so capable of 
 giving. 
 
 Then the gloom came of the midnight hour and he 
 lay down to die. It was then that those who had 
 known him intimately, because of the love he had 
 inspired in them, because of the love he had inspired in 
 his dear wife and charming children, it was then that 
 tears of manly love and womanly love and childly 
 love were shed for him, and this gathering here today, 
 without even so beautiful a memorial as that, gentlemen, 
 is a testimonial in itself of what he was and what he 
 stood for. 
 
 God bless the memory of Senator Foraker. 
 
 Judge Warrington — 
 
 Gentlemen, there are those present who come from 
 other parts of the state, and we wish to hear from them 
 in this meeting. I think we should all like to hear 
 from General Keifer. 
 
 General Keifer — 
 
 // Your Honors please — Nothing need be said by 
 me in addition to what I have heard here this morning. 
 
 27 
 
I was in the city and I took great pleasure in attending 
 this meeting. 
 
 I knew Senator Foraker very well in many relations 
 of hfe. I had some close, intimate, personal, con- 
 fidential talks with him in the latter months of his life. 
 He had some ambition to have a monument of some 
 kind to stand for what he had represented in the world. 
 I said to him, what I say and repeat now, that he was 
 hke another great statesman, a citizen of this Repubhc; 
 he had erected his own monument and its pedestal was 
 as wide as the whole Repubhc of the United States, 
 and that would stand, although there might be no 
 marble shaft to mark it. That seemed to please him. 
 
 Now, a word about this modesty that my dis- 
 tinguished friend, Judge Hosea, speaks about: He 
 seemed to feel that that modesty that belonged by 
 nature to the youth of Senator Foraker, was not in 
 consonance with the forceful attitude and courage 
 displayed in his later life, did not stand as an attribute 
 of it. I think it did, with all due respect to the senti- 
 ments the Judge has expressed. I have witnessed it 
 among strong minded, fearless, but timid men in private 
 life, in public life and in the army. I was once told by 
 one great in this country, who had observed human 
 nature — "Look out for the modest, quiet man; if you 
 attack him and undertake to overthrow him, he will 
 display his courage, that courage that rests upon an 
 honest sentiment, for modesty is an attribute." 
 
 28 
 
I can say, too, in this presence, to one of Your 
 Honors presiding here, I have witnessed men in the 
 army — I could name one, especially, who was as honest 
 and as retiring, as undemonstrative in private and 
 social life, as any modest lady of the land — yet upon 
 the battle field, such as in the great battle of the Wilder- 
 ness and other places, he was heroic, strong, unforget- 
 ting of duty himself and never letting anybody else 
 forget it either. It is that development that comes 
 from such modesty. I am almost tempted to say that 
 Governor Foraker, Senator Foraker, Captain Foraker, 
 was almost of the same age as your presiding officer 
 here when he was in the army; and I could tell inci- 
 dents that would be reminders to the presiding officer, 
 and to all of you, going back, back, when Captain 
 Foraker was in one army and he was in another. 
 
 One time in this state, shortly after the Civil War, 
 at a meeting of Sherman and Grant's generals, I heard 
 General William Tecumseh Sherman say that as he 
 reached the battle field of Bentonville, North Carolina, 
 where General Joe Johnson's army had been concen- 
 trated—it was on the 19th of March, 1865, near the 
 close — that as he reached there he found that he needed 
 to concentrate his army. He said that he met a young 
 man, handsome, splendid in attitude, riding a gay 
 horse; that his name was Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio, 
 and he sent him for a corps and when the corps arrived 
 they went into battle; and that was the last field battle 
 
 29 
 
fought by Sherman's army in the Civil War. It was 
 not the last battle, but it was getting near to it. We 
 had a later battle I could give testimony about that 
 went into the early days of April, 1865, and Lee 
 surrendered, as you all know, on the 9th of April, 
 1865, and I think in that battle, Foraker was a captain 
 in his nineteenth year. 
 
 I thank you very much. 
 
 Judge Warrington — 
 
 Now, remembering the admonition, gentlemen, we 
 wish to extend invitation to anyone who wishes to 
 present some remarks to this Memorial. If there is 
 anyone present who wishes to speak, we shall be glad 
 to hear him now? 
 
 Mr. E. p. Bradstreet — 
 
 May it please Your Honors — I wish to say one word 
 only as illustrative of the character of our departed 
 friend, which has been alluded to in part, already: 
 When he was nominated for Judge of the Superior 
 Court, it occurred to some of the people here that his 
 peculiar temperament and his existing activities in 
 politics, might possibly interfere with his being a con- 
 servative and careful judge. So a vigorous effort was 
 made to defeat him in that campaign. I was in it to 
 some extent. When he was elected, I felt, as a lawyer, 
 
 30 
 
that possibly it would be rather awkward to try cases 
 before Judge Foraker. Time went on and it so hap- 
 pened that I had several cases to try before him. He 
 so conducted himself upon the bench from the begin- 
 ning toward everybody and especially, I may say, 
 toward those who had differed from him politically, 
 that I soon felt uncomfortable, and uneasy, for the part I 
 had taken, and it bore upon me to such an extent that 
 after some months I went to him personally and told 
 him about this and my feeling about it, told him that 
 I felt a sense of duty to tell him about it frankly. He 
 got up from his chair and took my hand with that 
 grasp of his that men who felt it will never forget; he 
 burst into a joyous peal of laughter, and said, "I 
 know all about it, sir; I say to you, you had a perfect 
 right to fight against me as hard as you could; I am 
 glad you have come here to tell me what you have." 
 From that moment there sprung up between us a 
 feehng of friendship that only increased from year to 
 year. When he became Senator, if there was anything 
 which I personally wanted done in connection with 
 Congress, he was the man to whom I instantly turned, 
 and he not only went out of his way to write about the 
 result, but even to wire when it was accomphshed — 
 and it always was accomphshed, if it was something 
 that ought to be done. 
 
 We were thrown together at one time in a deal, 
 trying to make some money, Senator Foraker, a number 
 
 31 
 
of other gentlemen and myself, very intimately for a 
 couple of years; the thing went wrong and when it 
 was ended the wrong way, Senator Foraker took 
 my hand and said, "Bradstreet, never speak to 
 me about this again, and I never will to you, if you 
 say so." Not a word from that moment, thirty 
 years ago, ever passed between us about it. We were 
 most loving friends, and I want to say, that, knowing 
 him as I did, I feel a sense of loss, the loss of one who 
 was near and dear to me, not only as a lawyer, not only 
 as a statesman, but as a faithful, loyal, reliable friend. 
 
 Judge Warrington — 
 
 I take it that the meeting is ready for the question 
 presented by the Chairman who read the Memorial; 
 that question is: shall the Memorial be adopted, 
 copies sent to the courts to be spread upon the minutes 
 and a copy to the family of Senator Foraker. Are 
 you ready for the question? 
 
 The motion is unanimously adopted and will be 
 carried out according to its terms. 
 
 The meeting is adjourned. 
 
 (Signed) JOHN W. WARRINGTON, 
 
 Chairman. 
 
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