Some recollections of a long life

Preface

Thinking it might be interesting to my children, my grandchildren, or my great grandchildren, in some future generation to learn something concerning their ancestors "who have passed over to the great majority", and at the earnest request of my children, I am prompted to write and publish for private use, the following pages. I do this with some misgivings, however, as I recall the saying, "Oh, *** that mine adversary had written a book !" and I also know that any one writing of himself is liable to exhibit a good deal of egotism.

I subscribe myself their humble ancestor,

Edgab J. Shekmai^.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Portrait, Frontispiece

Birthplace, Weather sfield, Vermont, . . . . p. 9' Capt. Sherman^ August, '63, after a severe illness, p. 39' Col. E. J. Sherman, Asst. Adj. Gen. Mass. Militia, p. 72 Gen. Benjamin F, Butlee^ and staff, 1867, . . p. 73 ' Summer Home at Bass Kocks; 1877-1903, . . p. 169 Summer Home at Bass Rocks; 1877-1903, . . p. 185 Judge Sherman's Present Summer Home, . p. 217 Mrs. Edgar J. Sherman, the Judge's first wife, p. 241 AscuNEY Mountain, p. 265

Chapter I. Ancestry and Youth

Birth and forefathers. School days. Working on the farm. Teaching at Springfield, Vermont; at Cape Cod. Experience with Sidney Ellis. A prayer in school.

Chapter II. My Start in Life

Assaulted by mistake. Disappointment as regards entering college. Admitted to the Essex Bar. My first case. Partnership with Honorable Daniel Saunders, of Lawrence. My mother's death; her character. Marriage. As Clerk of the Police Court. Fall of the Pemberton Mills. O. S. Fowler examines my head.

Chapter III. In the Civil War

1 enlist as private, elected Captain in the 48th Massachusetts V. M. Departure. A burial at sea. Letter to a bereaved mother. Arrival in Louisiana. I leave hospital for Port Hudson. Assault of June 14th, 1863. Repulse and retreat. Brevetted major. Home by the Mississippi. Later service at Washington and Fort Delaware.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Ohaptee IV. Representative and District Attorney.

Elected as Representative. I help B. F. Butler to a Major-Generalcy. Cases at the bar. Partnership with John K. Tarbox. Ann Bobbins vs. Joseph Potter. Successful practice. Elected District Attorney for Essex. Case of Leonard Choate, the "firebug", of Wightman. Experience with Stephen B. Ives, Jr. A culprit tangled up in cross-examination.

Chaptee V. Register in BanTcruptcy, Assistant Adjutant General and Attorney General.

An attempt to steal frustrated. Experience with Judge Otis P. Lord. Death of my oldest brother. Made Assistant Adjutant General. Concord muster of 18Y0. My election as Attorney General. Sudden illness and complete recovery.

Chapter VI. Attorney Generalship, — continued.

Case of Dr. Franklin Pierce. Lord Coleridge approves my opinion. His lordship sho\vn T Wharf. Friendliness of B. F. Butler. Argument in the case of James Nicholson.

Chaptee VII. Attorney Generalship, — continued.

I oppose B. F. Butler in the case of Henry K. Goodwin.

Chaptee VIII. Attorney Generalship, -^continued.

Case of Alfred T. Adams, of Marion A. Montgomery, of Samuel F. Besse, of James E. IsTowlin, of Sarah J, Robinson, of Charles H. Freeman, of the Housatonic R. R. Co.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter IX. As Judge of the Superior Court.

My intimacy with Governor Oliver Ames. I decline a seat on the Supreme Bench, but accept a justiceship of the Superior Court. Death of Governor Ames. A bright criminal. Sentence of John C. Sanborn, a high official of the 'New York, New Haven, and Hartford R. R. Co. Case of McCarthy. A boy witness. Experience with Thomas Riley. Tribute to Charles P. Thompson. Extract from the Boston Globe.

Chaptee X. Continued Judicial Service.

Case of Daniel W. Getchell, of Torrey E. Wardner for contempt of court. Unpleasant experiences. Case of Jefferson. Petition for my removal. Misuse of the right of petition.

Chapter XI. Continued Judicial Service.

Capital Trials. Case of Trefethen, of Languer, Correspondence with Attorney General A. E. Pillsbury. Case of Patrick Sullivan, etc.

Chapter XII. Continued Judicial Service.

Case of Franciszek Umilian, of John C. Best, of Lorenzo W. Barnes, of Alfred C. Williams, of Charles L. Tucker.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter XIII. Excursions and Meetings with Famous Men.

President of the Boston Vermont Association. Excursion to Vermont in 1901. Entertained at Montpelier, Burlington, Lake Champlain, etc. Illness and death of Mrs. Sherman. The Lawrence semi-centennial. Visit to Texas, to South Carolina. I meet Abraham Lincoln, TJ. S. Grant, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan, D. G. Farragut, the Prince of Wales, now Edward VII., Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Lemuel Shaw, Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson, Frederick Douglass, George S. Boutwell, Rockwood Hoar, Wendell Phillips, S. G. Howe, :N". P. Banks, Theodore Roosevelt, James G. Blaine, Ben Wade. My intimacy with Robert G. Ingersoll. Second Marriage. A few stories from the Judges' Lobby.

Chapter XIV. The Jubilee Banquet, March 17, 1908.

First suggested by Messrs. Hurlburt and Jones. The Boston Herald thereon. Ofl&cers of the Essex Bar Association and guests. Speeches and letters of William H. :tsriles, William H. Moody, Herbert Parker, Marcus P. Knowlton, William L. Putnam, John A. Aiken, John D. Long, Dana Malone, John P. Sweeney, Daniel Saunders, Harvey N^. Shepard, Samuel J. Elder, George Fred Williams, Sherman L. Whipple, Charles U. Bell and Edgar J. Sherman.

Appendix

List of Children and Grandchildren,