THE BENCH OF JUSTICE

"When we name him, says Tradition,

He was once upon a time."

FAUST, Taylor's Translation.

EDS of justice? Chester County never

BE

had any. The best that she can offer in the way of judicial antiques is a bench of justice.

1899, none was more interesting than this old relic. When it was made, or by whom, no one knows. It was occupied by the justices in Chester and came with the records to West Chester.

On September 25, 1786, when Court opened in the new county-seat, the old bench was set in an honorable position to receive the duly commissioned dispensers of justice. Ten of

them made their appearance: William Clingan, William Heslet, John Bartholomew, Philip Scott, Isaac Taylor,

John Ralston, Joseph Tho Levi's

Luckey, Thomas Chey

ney, Thomas Levis, and Richard Hill Morris. The names of most of these justices have faded into comparative oblivion, and their presences have become shadowy and imper

sonal. Their

signatures

William Heflet may still be

read on the recognizances they took, but unfortunately signatures give one little information of the men who made them. It is a matter of common note that some of the smallest menphysically, mentally, morally and financiallyuse the largest signatures.

Unremembered as these justices are today, many of

them in their

genera

tion were

こ

widely known and a few of them at least were fully qualified for their duties by study and experience. What if narrow-minded practi

tioners complained that legal technicalities received scanty consideration; what if such rules as unum comma evertit totum placitum did not obtain official recognition; within the narrow circle of their jurisdiction they meted out substantial justice, and litigants were apparently as well satisfied then as now.

Which of these justices, and how many of them, sat upon this bench at the opening session is uncertain. As presiding justice William Clingan undoubtedly took the middle position. Justice Clingan was no unknown or obscure man. As early as 1757, he had received a commission as justice of the peace and continued to hold the office by successive appointments until the opening of court in West Chester.

Willia

an

None of his brethren begrudged him the seat of honor on the old bench. He had served his country alike in the Continental Congress and in the congress which adopted the Articles of

Confederation. When the government resolved to borrow twenty million dollars Justice Clingan was appointed an agent to receive subscriptions.

So far as I have been able to discover, his highest ambition as congressman and justice was to do his work thoroughly according to his view of duty and to ask God's blessing upon it, without craving overmuch the applause of

men.

Neither his congressional record nor his judicial standing, however, gave him immunity from visitations by the Doanes. Understanding that he had received a large amount of money in gold, these irreverent robbers entered his house at midnight to get it. After much searching one of them gleefully announced that he had found it, for there before him on Clingan's desk lay a leathern bag heavy with coins. Snatching this up and taking a violin for jubilation purposes they mounted their horses and rode off with their treasure. But, alas for their hopes! when the bag was opened the gold was found to be "coppers," the result of church collections from Sunday to Sunday.

Next to William Clingan in point of prominence was John Ralston, of Vincent. His father

had fought in the battle of Boyne Water, and the Justice himself had won the rank of colonel

John Ralston

in the Revolutionary

War. In his

march from

Yellow Springs, Washington had used him as a pilot to French Creek, and English scouts had gratified their hatred by burning his dwelling house to the ground. The leading man of Vincent was Justice Ralston, with a military record and

a high reputation for intelligence

and probity.

Carto

Justice Bartholomew was a descendant of the noted Bartholemi family of France. To this distinction of ancestry he added that of major of the Chester County regiment of the Flying Camp, and Brigadier-General of militia.

Justice Levis was a man of parts. During the Revolutionary War he had been a captain of militia, and with six other militia officers had collected arms and accoutrements, shoes, stockings, and blankets for the use of the army