right, the security of property is at an end, personal liberty is no longer safe, and the blood of the innocent will often seal the triumph of a popular administration of justice in the triumph of popular vengeance.' Some later writer on judicial proceedings, comparing the judicial murder of witches with the trial of the anarchists will close by saying: 'Alas! how surely, from age to age, does history repeat itself!' One further fact, which I say for your comfort: The determined action of a single member of our profession, standing up against this witchcraft craze, brought it to an end. I look for like fruits to come from what you have done."

Captain Black's professional course in the defence of the anarchists was above reproach, and merited the high encomiums pronounced upon it by leading members of the bar. However, it cost him a great share of his civil practice. Prior to the time of that trial he had been extensively engaged in important civil causes, and a partial record of his work is found in many cases reported in the appellate and Supreme courts of the State of Illinois and the courts of the United States. As calmer judgment comes, men are appreciating the selfsacrificing and heroic spirit that led the lawyer, in obedience to the ethics of his profession and the spirit of the law, to stand for a fair trial for those who were accused of offence; and he is regaining and has regained his practice, and is now enjoying a more

lucrative practice than even before he "put all to the touch" in defence of human life. Returning friends and clients are manifesting their appreciation of his ability, fidelity and conscientiousness. These characteristics, which are evidenced in all of Captain Black's work, insure care and thoroughness in preparation and earnestness and vigor in the presentation of his cases, and account for the large measure of success which attends his work.

Among his recent successes may be mentioned his conduct of the case of Charlton against the Chicago Gas Trust Company, in which he obtained a decree appointing a receiver of the trust, and an injunction against the payment of any moneys of the trust to the non-resident trustee selected by the trust, in its attempt to establish a perpetual monopoly in the manufacture and sale of gas in the city of Chicago, without the possibility of competition between the gas companies holding franchises in the city and that united in this "combine"-and while it is true that, yielding to some influences as yet undisclosed, Mr. Charlton dismissed this suit, after Mr. Black had won for him this magnificent victory-it yet stands as one of the evidences of the character of this attorney that this arrangement between Charlton and the trust was made absolutely without Captain Black's knowledge, and that the entire community knew he was in no wise a party to the scheme.

In brief, it may be said that no man possesses in a higher degree than Captain Black the confidence of those who know him, and no man better deserves such confidence.

The spirit which Captain Black manifested on the occasion of the defence of the anarchists, which brought him into greater prominence than any other event of his professional career, the same high sense of honor and devotion to duty has characterized all the actions of his life, and seems to have been handed down to him, along with brilliant mental endowments, by a strong-minded, conscientious and God fearing Scotch ancestry. These ancestors located in America in ante-revolutionary times, living first in South Carolina, and later in Westmoreland county, Pa. They were among the patriots who engaged in the prolonged struggle for national independence, and contributed their full share to the results achieved.

Rev. John Black, one of the earliest representatives of the family in Pennsylvania, was a Presbyterian clergyman, whose son and great-grandson followed the same calling, and were identified with the same church. The great-grandson, Rev. John Black, D.D., was the father of Captain William P. Black.

He spent the greater part of his ministerial life in the south, and closed a brilliant career at Allegheny, Pa., where he died in 1847, when he was but thirty-seven years of age.

Captain Black's grandfather on the

maternal side was William Findley, who was for twenty years a United States Senator and member of Congress from Pennsylvania. His mother's maiden name was Josephine L. Culbertson. She was originally of the family who located "Culbertson Row," Pa., but at the time of her marriage to Rev. John Black she resided with her parents at Madison, Ind.

At the time of his father's death. William P. Black, who was born in Woodford county, Ky., November 11, 1842, was but five years of age. Soon after the death of her husband, Mrs. Black removed to Danville, Ill., and in 1850 was married to Dr. William Fithian, a successful man of affairs and a gentleman of culture and ability. As a boy, Captain Black was studiously inclined, and he acquired, in addition to a good English education, a considerable knowledge of literature at an early age. He entered Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Ind., when he was eighteen years old, but his collegiate career was cut short by the breaking out of the war of the rebellion. On the 15th of April, 1861, he enlisted, with about. forty other students of Wabash College-including his only brother-as a private soldier in Company I of the Eleventh Indiana Zouaves, commanded by Colonel (afterwards MajorGeneral) Lew. Wallace.

At the end of three months' service, for which this regiment was enlisted, he was mustered out as a corporal,

and at once assisted to recruit a company in Vermilion county, Ill., for the three years' service. This company was mustered into service at Chicago as Company K of the Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantry Regiment, known as the "Fremont Rifles," and W. P. Black was elected captain, his commission being received before he reached his nineteenth birthday.

He retained the command of his company until he was duly mustered out of service, more than three years later, participating in all the battles and skirmishes in which the regiment engaged. At the siege of Vicksburg, he held the responsible and dangerous position of brigade picket officer, having charge of the rifle-pits of his brigade, and demonstrated that he possessed that high courage which could be implicitly relied upon and put to any test. During his military career, every duty which he was called upon to perform was performed quietly and unostentatiously, but faithfully, and his patriotism and loyalty were amply and abundantly proven.

He was mustered out of the service on the 30th of September, 1864, and returned to Danville, where he spent the next ensuing year in the office of the Provost Marshal of the Seventh Illinois Congressional District.

In the fall of 1865 he came to Chicago, and began the study of law in the office of Messrs. Arrington & Dent. After being admitted to the bar, he

returned to his home in Danville, where he practiced law one year. Returning at the end of that time to Chicago, he formed a partnership with Mr. Thomas Dent, whose association with Judge Alfred Arrington had been broken up by the latter's death. The partnership thus formed between Messrs. Dent & Black continued up to 1887, when Captain Black withdrew from the association, to devote his time and energies to the anarchists' case.

As a lawyer, he has achieved dis. tinction, not only for his ability, but the integrity and honesty of purpose which characterizes all his professional acts. Outside of the profession he is known as a Christian gentleman of liberal views and broad culture.

A close student of social problems, he has written with clearness, force and vigor on questions of moment to the American body politic, and discoursed eloquently on themes which attract the attention of thinking men of all countries. In 1881 he delivered before the Chicago Philosophical Society a lecture on "Socialism as a Factor in American Society and Politics," which was published in the Chicago Times, re-published in pamphlet form, and extensively quoted and noticed in various parts of the country. A year later, he delivered before the same society a lecture on "Russia and Nihilism," which he has since been called upon to deliver before other societies and clubs, and which

has also been published in various forms. Concerning this lecture, Wendell Phillips wrote to Captain Black: "Such a masterly and logical summing up of the case against the Romanoffs must give our people pause and make them think. Then we shall see a public opinion more worthy of our past and our national position among civilized states. I have read and re-read your statement, each time with fresh admiration and added thanks that an American has been found ready to make it--an honor to us and a service to the world."

John Swinton wrote to a friend, of the same lecture: "The comprehensiveness and accuracy of the author's knowledge; the elevation of his spirit; the charm of his love for truth, justice and man; the generosity of his sympathy, and the boldness and freshness of his manner riveted me to his pages as soon as I had opened them. Astonishment mingled with pleasure as I passed from sentence to sentence. It is a most worthy contribution from a man of whose existence in Chicago I am delighted to know."

In politics, Captain Black has always, since 1872, been thoroughly independent, holding himself in position

to attack what he looks upon as political sophistries, wherever advanced, and to assail corruption in the conduct of public affairs wherever it exists. He has but once allowed himself to become a candidate for office, and that was in 1882, when he received the unsolicited nomination of the Anti-Monopolists, Democrats and Independent Republicans for Congress in the Third Congressional District of Illinois. His candidacy elicited remarkable enthusiasm, and the majority of his competitor-which had, two years previously, been 6,000—was reduced to 2,400.

In 1874, Wabash College-from which Captain Black withdrew, in 1861, to enter the service of his country-conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts, in recognition of his scholarly attainments and distinguished ability.

He was married in 1869, shortly after he began the practice of law in Chicago, to Miss Hortensia M. MacGreal, of Galveston, Texas, a daughter of Peter MacGreal, who was at that time a leading lawyer of the Lone Star State.

HOWARD LOUIS CONARD.

IN 1786, Richard Allen and Henry Payne, thrifty and enterprising Virginia planters, emigrated with their families to Kentucky, to become noted. pioneers of the last-named State. Since that time both the Allen and Payne families have been conspicuous in Kentucky history. Betsy, one of the daughters of Henry Payne, married Henry Johnson, and as the fruit of that marriage bore three sons, one of whom was Madison C. Johnson, one of the most distinguished lawyers and jurists of the State of Kentucky. After the death of Henry Johnson, she married John Allen, a son of Richard Allen, and became the mother of three other sons, all of whom have been prominent citizens of Kentucky. Albert Allen, the youngest of the three sons, has for many years been widely known throughout Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and the Virginias, by reason of his prominence in the Christian Church organization, and also in Ohio and Kentucky, as a somewhat active participant in certain notable political campaigns. He was married in 1845 to Ann E. Offutt, of Scott county, Ky., and in early life was a stock breeder and planter in Fayette county. On this plantation, which

was a typical Kentucky farm of the anti-bellum period, James Lane Allen, lawyer and literateur, of Chicago, was born March 3, 1848. He was next to the eldest of a family of eight children born to Albert and Ann E. Allen. His youth was spent amidst rural surroundings, and the trees, the brooks and the flowers of that picturesque region were his earliest love. A keen appreciation of the beauties. of nature, a thorough sympathy with. all the phases and conditions of pastoral life, and a healthy, mental and physical development resulted naturally from these environments and associations. His education was at the same time literary and industrial.

Operations on his father's farm were carried on, as they were upon all other large southern plantations at that time, by slave labor, but he was nevertheless brought up in such a manner as to give him a practical knowledge of the tilling of the soil, a sympathy with honest labor, and that generous love of nature, which is one of his marked characteristics.

His early educational training was received in a private school, located on his father's plantation, which was generally presided over by a northern lady teacher or college graduate. His