Portrait of Judge Humphrey
 
 LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
 Gift 
 
 of 
 Harry 
 Pratt
 
 "^
 
 ^
 
 Reproduction of portrait presented:
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 Upon the Occasion 
 
 of the Presentation 
 
 of a 
 
 PORTRAIT 
 
 of the late 
 Honorable J Otis Humphrey 
 
 to the 
 United States District Court 
 for the Southern District of Illinois, at 
 Springfield, on February Twelfth, Nine- 
 teen Hundred and Twenty-three 
 
 committee on presentation 
 
 Walter McC. Allen Arthur. M. Fitzgerald 
 Robert C. Brown Logan Hay 
 
 Vincent Y. Dallman William L. Patton 
 Philip Barton Warren
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS 
 
 IN THE DISTRICT COURT 
 
 January Term, A. D. 1923 
 
 In the matter of the Presentation of 
 a Portrait of the late Honorable 
 J Otis Humphrey. 
 
 Before Page, Circuit Judge 
 
 AND 
 
 FitzHenry, English and Wilkerson 
 District Judges,
 
 Motion 
 
 By 
 Walter McC. Allen. 
 
 May it please the Court: 
 
 On behalf of more than one hundred and 
 fifty members of the Bar, and of a number of 
 citizens of Springfield whose names appear 
 in the written motion, I move this Honorable 
 Court that it accept and take into its custody, 
 to be hung upon the walls of this Court Room, 
 a Portrait of the late Honorable J Otis 
 Humphrey, Judge of this Court from 1901 to 
 1918. The portrait is by Mr. Henry Salem 
 Hubbell and will now be unveiled. 
 
 Mr. Bruce A. Campbell of the East St. Louis 
 Bar will address the Court in support of the 
 motion.
 
 Address 
 
 By 
 Bruce A. Campbell. 
 
 May it please the Court : 
 
 On the 14th day of June, IQ18, a great Judge 
 and a great man passed away. 
 
 ALTHOUGH we who knew 
 him and who marvelled at his 
 forcefulness and strength did 
 not think of him as old, yet, 
 at the time of his death he had 
 almost reached the allotted 
 age of three score years and ten. 
 
 In the month which he loved, because with 
 7
 
 8 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 the freshness and life of its vegetation and the 
 brightness of its verdure, it represented to him 
 the living evidence of a growth directed by 
 Nature's God, he ceased his labors and went 
 away. 
 
 In this City which he loved because it repre- 
 sented what was near and dear to him in this 
 life, the place of his struggles and successes, 
 the place of home and family and friends, the 
 place where lived and now is buried the im- 
 mortal Lincoln, whom he loved and revered 
 above all men — in this City, J Otis Humphrey 
 solved the great mystery of the ages and en- 
 tered the mysterious realm of death to rest and 
 sleep and w^ait until he sees the glory of the 
 rising sun on the resurrection morn. 
 
 I do not purpose to detail the episodes of his 
 busy life. In funeral oration, in the public 
 press and in memorials spread upon the rec- 
 ords of this Court, appear not only the mile-
 
 Presentation of Portrait 9 
 
 stones of his career, but also words of appre- 
 ciation by those who knew him better than I 
 and who were far more fit and capable to tell 
 the stor}^ of what he was and what he did. 
 
 It is not the date of birth, the names of 
 parents, the details of education or the offices, 
 other than Judge of this Court, which he held, 
 with which we are now concerned. 
 
 How the man and the Judge were made is 
 not now so important as what the resultant man 
 and Judge was and did, which causes us, nearly 
 five years after his death, to pause in our affairs 
 and gather here to pay tribute of our respect 
 to his memory, to laud his accomplishments 
 and record our appreciation of his character 
 and deeds. 
 
 My acquaintance with Judge Humphrey 
 began in 1905 when I met him in my home city, 
 where he was presiding at a term of this Court 
 then being held there. Later in the same year
 
 10 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 our county was detached from this District and 
 became a part of the newly created Eastern 
 District of Illinois. From then until a few 
 years ago, I saw him only a few times, either 
 upon infrequent appearances here in this 
 Court or when I met him occasionally in social 
 intercourse. During the interim between the 
 death of Judge Wright and the appointment of 
 Judge English as Judge in our Federal Court, 
 for more than a year, he held court in our Dis- 
 trict and I became better acquainted with him. 
 I learned to know him better and with that 
 knowledge there came to me as to all who came 
 into contact with him, a respect for his charac- 
 ter and ability and an appreciation of the great 
 qualities of heart and mind which made him 
 the great man and Judge that he really was. 
 
 Even with that acquaintance, I feel ill pre- 
 pared to express adequately what you who 
 knew him so much better, could better do.
 
 Presentation of Portrait 1 1 
 
 On June 2nd, 1903, the Bar of this District 
 presented to this Court the portraits which now 
 hang upon these wells — John Marshall, Wal- 
 ter Q. Gresham, David Davis, Samuel H. 
 Treat, Thomas Drummond, William J. Allen, 
 John McLean, Nathaniel Pope and John M. 
 Harlan. What a galaxy of names ! 
 
 All but one of them had presided in this 
 Court; four of them had served as members of 
 the Supreme Court of the land. 
 
 Addresses were made upon that occasion by 
 Mr. Philip B. Warren, Senator Charles W. 
 Fairbanks of Indiana, Judge C. C. Kohlsaat, 
 Judge Lawrence Weldon, Judge James A. 
 Creighton, Hon. John N. Jewett, Judge J. C. 
 Allen, Mr. Logan Hay, General Alfred Oren- 
 dorff and Senator Shelby M. Cullom. Judge 
 Humphrey accepted these portraits upon be- 
 half of the Court. With brevity that told the 
 story, with that condensation of language and
 
 12 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 clearness of expression that was always his, he 
 
 responded to the speeches of presentation and 
 
 among other things said : 
 
 **Gentlemen, you have my personal 
 thanks for these portraits. To the Court 
 they will be a constant source of sympathy 
 and strength; to counsel, an inspiration 
 encouraging the best that is in him to 
 ripen into the best he can do; the jurors, 
 witnesses and aiiditors, a remainder of the 
 noble record already made and a pledge 
 that the future shall be alike secure. To 
 all these portraits will stand for absolute 
 impartiality, fearless independence, unfal- 
 tering justice and untarnished honor. 
 They will be received into the custody of 
 the Court and have a permanent place on 
 the walls of the Court Room." 
 
 Today, twenty years later, we bring his por- 
 trait and add it to those which he then accepted. 
 May we not say that thereby the light of these 
 walls is not dimmed but that another glorious 
 star will soon be added and that the inspiration
 
 Presentation of Portrait 13 
 
 of these walls is not diminished by the addition 
 we make here today. 
 
 When Judge Humphrey spoke the words 
 above quoted he had served a little more than 
 two years as Judge of this Court. When he 
 died he had served here seventeen years. 
 
 As I view it, that declaration of his was but 
 the voicing of his ideals as to what a Judge 
 should be and his declaration that he purposed 
 to be just that kind of a Judge. ^'Absolute 
 impartiality, fearless independence, unfalter- 
 ing justice and untarnished honor'' — what a 
 creed for any Judge! What an ideal for any 
 man called upon to preside as arbiter between 
 his fellow men and between the nation and its 
 citizens. 
 
 Chief Justice Marshall in the Virginia Con- 
 stitutional Convention of 1829-1830, when, 
 although nearly seventy-five years of age and 
 after nearly thirty years' service as the head of
 
 14 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 the greatest and most unique court in the his- 
 tory of the world, reluctantly responded to the 
 call of the people to further public service, and 
 in discussing in that connection the duites of 
 a Judge said: 
 
 *'He has to pass between the Govern- 
 ment and the man whom the Government 
 is prosecuting; between the most power- 
 ful individual in the community and the 
 poorest and most unpopular. It is of the 
 last importance that, in the exercise of 
 these duties, he should observe the utmost 
 fairness. Need I press the necessity of 
 this? Does not every man feel that his 
 own personal security and the security of 
 his property depends upon that fairness? 
 The Judicial Department comes home in 
 its effects to every man's fireside ; it passes 
 on his property and his reputation, his life, 
 his all. * * * J j^^yg always thought, 
 from my earliest youth until now, that the 
 greatest scourge an angry Heaven ever 
 inflicted upon an ungrateful and sinning
 
 Presentation of Portrait 15 
 
 people was an ignorant, a corrupt and a 
 dependent judiciary." 
 
 How well Judge Humphrey lived up to 
 these ideals and how well he measured up to 
 the standards of Marshall and of himself is now 
 a matter of history. The record is written and 
 the book is closed. 
 
 He was absolutely impartial. In his Court 
 he knew no friends and he knew no foes. To 
 him the rich and the poor, the popular and the 
 unpopular, the great and the small, could come 
 with assurances that each would get his due. 
 Every mxan could be assured of a square deal 
 and none could complain of unfairness or bad 
 treatment. 
 
 He not only was absolutely impartial, but 
 he believed in unfaltering justice. While he 
 w^anted no guilty man to escape, he wanted no 
 innocent man to be found guilty. To him laws 
 were meant for enforcement and he believed
 
 l6 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 that only by enforcement against the guilty 
 could the dignity and majesty of the law be 
 maintained. Like Samuel Johnson, he believed 
 that "the law is the last result of human wisdom 
 acting upon human experience for the benefit 
 of the public/* Judge Humphrey's justice was 
 like that of Aristotle, 'That virtue of the soul 
 which is distributive according to desert." 
 
 But all this does not mean that he was not 
 and could not be merciful. To him justice was 
 to do what was just, and what w^as just was to 
 him what was best not only for the individual 
 but for the Government and for society, and 
 the principles of the law and of the Constitu- 
 tion were never with him subordinated to a 
 maudlin mercy, which is only another name for 
 sentiment. 
 
 He possessed fearless independence and un- 
 tarnished honor. I knew of no Judge w^ho 
 possessed these traits to a greater degree. It
 
 Presentation of Portrait 17 
 
 was not an independence that was the product 
 of stubbornness but rather the independence 
 that comes from honesty and from a knowledge 
 of the integrity of one's intentions. It was an 
 honor that came from a pure mind and a great 
 soul. If he thought he was right no power 
 could move him to take another position. In 
 the now famous cases of the Packers, not even 
 the ire or criticism of the man who was then 
 President could cause him to waver or to 
 swerve. He thought he was right. He thought 
 he was correctly interpreting and upholding 
 the law of the land and that was the end of it. 
 With his views of the law and justice of the 
 matter, he w^ould have been a coward and a 
 poltroon, as he viewed it, unworthy of the high 
 position which he held, if he had done other- 
 wise than he did do. He could not tolerate 
 trickery or chicanery. His life was an open 
 book. He was fair and he wanted others to be
 
 l8 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 likewise. He was the soul of honor, both as a 
 Judge and as a man, and to him I think it was 
 the greatest virtue of them all. 
 
 He reverenced the Constitution and the 
 laws. I think we may well compare him with 
 John Marshall in this respect. He believed in 
 property and property rights and in a sound 
 Government that would protect that property. 
 To him protection of life and liberty and prop- 
 erty was no wild vagary of the law but it repre- 
 sented real fundamental principles of Govern- 
 ment. He wanted a Government that would 
 protect mankind in these inalienable rights and 
 he had no patience with any political theory 
 which threatened to invade these guaranteed 
 rights of American citizenship. 
 
 So as a Judge we have weighed him upon his 
 own scales and we have not found him 
 wanting.
 
 Presentation of Portrait 19 
 
 Independent without being stubborn. 
 
 Fearless without being fool hardy. 
 
 Courteous without being fawning. 
 
 Honest without being vain. 
 
 Just without being unmerciful. 
 
 Honorable without being prudish. 
 
 Impartial without being technical. 
 
 Learned without being pedantic, and 
 
 Merciful without being sentimental or 
 foolish. 
 
 He stands forth as a great and satisfactory 
 Judge who will long be remembered by all of 
 us who had the good fortune to know him. 
 
 About a year ago I went to one of our great 
 cities to attend the funeral of a dear and inti- 
 mate friend who had been Mayor of that City 
 and who, on account of ill health, had just re- 
 tired from that office. One of the great daily 
 papers of that City and of an opposite political 
 faith from my friend editorially spoke of him 
 thus:
 
 20 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 ''A good man, an honest man, a cour- 
 ageous man, a game fighter and a gentle- 
 man, a conscientious worker who gave 
 life itself to his task, a partisan with in- 
 dependent spirit, one who dared to stand 
 for what he believed was right, despite the 
 fact that men might differ w^ith him and 
 public sentiment might hold that he was 
 wrong. 'Here was a man.' '' 
 
 In preparing what I am saying today 
 those w^ords came back to me and I quote them 
 here today as applying as well to Judge 
 Humphrey as to him for whom they were ex- 
 pressly written. And what more could be said 
 of any man? For it implies goodness, honesty, 
 courage, gameness, regard for others, stead- 
 fastness, firm beliefs, regard for the opinions 
 of others, adherence to duty in the face of 
 obstacles, conscientious devotion to duty and 
 all of the other traits which go to make up a 
 real man. I might stop here and be content 
 with that characterization of our friend.
 
 Presentation of Portrait 21 
 
 But I trust you will pardon one or two ex- 
 amples of some of these traits. I shall first 
 allude to his experience as the friend and ad- 
 viser of Senator Cullom. Senator Cullom was 
 his friend. He had done him favors in the past. 
 He needed friends from time to time in his 
 political career and those friends must needs be 
 stalwart, unfaltering and true. When the time 
 came for aid from those friends Judge Humph- 
 rey never faltered. He might do as others did 
 and seek the side of apparent pubilc favor, but 
 he was not of that kind. The fact that a friend 
 apparently faced defeat only spurred him on to 
 greated efforts in his behalf. 
 
 In the State Capitol grounds of the State of 
 Tennessee there stands a monument erected by 
 the school children of Tennessee to a youth of 
 that great State who, at the age of twenty years, 
 was executed during the war between the States 
 because, when captured within the Union
 
 22 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 lines, although in the uniform of the Confed- 
 erate, Army, he carried dispatches which 
 placed him in the category of a spy. Time and 
 again he was told that if he w ould tell the name 
 of the man who had given him those dispatches 
 and whom they still believed to be within the 
 Federal lines, his life would be spared. Time 
 and again he refused. Just before his execu- 
 tion and as he stood upon the scaffold, the same 
 offer was repeated to him, and he then made the 
 statement which those school children have in- 
 scribed upon the monument : 
 
 *T would rather die a thousand deaths than 
 betray a friend." And those school children 
 also placed upon that monument another state- 
 ment concerning Sam Davis, and they said: 
 
 *'He lost all he had — Life; 
 He gained what he lacked — Immortality." 
 
 And so can we say of Judge Humphrey. He 
 was one of the most loval men to his friends I
 
 Presentation of Portrait 23 
 
 ever knew. Hq could always be depended 
 upon to stand up for a friend at all times and in 
 all places. 
 
 Again may I call your attention to his love 
 for Abraham Lincoln and to all that pertained 
 to Lincoln. I think he patterned his life after 
 his great idol — Lincoln. To him Lincoln was 
 more than a man, he was a personality and an 
 ideal, and no man could seek to mould himself 
 after a better pattern. It is particularly appro- 
 priate that these exercises should be held today 
 and in this City — on the birthday of the great 
 emancipator, whom our friend loved and rev- 
 erenced. 
 
 Judge Humphrey had his faults, his weak- 
 nesses and his frailties. Who of us have not, 
 and what human ever lived who did not? 
 They were smaller and fewer than most of us 
 have. They were only the little things that 
 make men human and without which men
 
 24 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 would not be the pleasant, companionable 
 human beings that they are. Those faults we 
 write upon the sands and the uncomparable 
 virtues of the men we write upon the imperish- 
 able tablets of love and memory. 
 
 Frank Stanton, the poet, once said in homely 
 language: 
 
 *'This old world we're living in 
 Is mighty hard to beat. 
 With every rose there comes a thorn, 
 But ain't the roses sweet." 
 
 And so it is with life, and so it is with men, 
 and so it is with friends and even with Judges. 
 And when we think of the virtues of his life, 
 of his character as a man and as a friend and 
 of his incomparable capacity and ability as a 
 Judge, we can well say that Judge Humphrey 
 was one of the roses which made of his friend- 
 ship and acquaintance one of the sweet and 
 lasting memories of this life.
 
 Presentation of Portrait 25 
 
 If I could characterize him further I would 
 
 say, as Byroii said of another: 
 
 **A truer, nobler, trustier heart. 
 More loving and more loyal. 
 Never beat within a human breast." 
 
 And could I write one epitaph to place upon 
 
 his tombstone here in the City where he lived 
 
 and died, I would write : 
 
 '*Like Lincoln, whom he loved, the 
 world is richer because he lived, the world 
 is poorer because he died/' 
 
 And so your Honors, I come today as the 
 representative of the lawyers who practice at 
 this bar and on their behalf present to this 
 Court the portrait of our late friend and Judge. 
 
 May I express the hope, yes more, the belief, 
 that it will only add to the inspiration of those 
 who sit here and work here, which these other 
 portraits gave to him, and that here in this 
 Court Room, as it does now and as it has always 
 done, his standards of absolute impartiality,
 
 26 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 fearless independence, unfaltering justice and 
 untarnished honor may ev er be the watchword 
 of those who occupy the exalted and powerful 
 position of Judge of this Court. 
 
 And may the record of his service here and 
 his life as a citizen, his integrity and his honor, 
 his great character be ever to all of us an in- 
 spiration to perform our full duty as members 
 of a great profession whose great traditions and 
 splendid history have contributed so greatly to 
 the splendid government and institutions 
 which are our birthright and our heritage as 
 citizens of a great nation.
 
 Acceptance by the Court 
 
 FitzHenry, District Judge: 
 
 The motion to accept the portrait of the 
 Hon, J Otis Humphrey will of course be al- 
 lowed, and the portrait will be accepted with 
 the sincere thanks of the Court to the donors. 
 
 HE remarks of Mr. Camp- 
 bell, President of the Illinois 
 State Bar Association, are 
 peculiarly appropriate and 
 thoroughly justified by the 
 life, work and record of the distinguished 
 jurist whom we endeavor to honor today. 
 
 27 
 
 te 
 
 ^?(^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 |1 1 
 
 1 
 
 :^»|
 
 28 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 The ceremonies of this hour complete, in a 
 way, the judicial history of this Court for the 
 first century of its existence. 
 
 When Illinois was admitted into the Union 
 and the District comprised the entire State of 
 Illinois, the presiding Judge was Nathaniel 
 Pope, who, prior to the passage of the enabling 
 act taking the Illinois Territory into the Union, 
 had represented the Territory as a Delegate to 
 Congress. He was succeeded by Judge 
 Thomas Drummond, whose district was also 
 the entire State. When first appointed. Judge 
 Drummond was a resident of Galena, but after- 
 wards took up his residence in the City of 
 Chicago, and continued as Judge of the Dis- 
 trict until the District was divided into the 
 Northern and Southern Districts, when he was 
 assigned to thei Northern District. Judge 
 Samuel Treat resigned his position as Judge of 
 the Supreme Court of Illinois to accept the ap-
 
 Presentation of Portrait 29 
 
 pointment by President Pierce, in 1855, as the 
 Judge of the Southern District. On the death 
 of Judge Treat in 1887, William Joshua Allen 
 came to the bench of this Court and was the 
 fourth Judge. Upon his death in January, 
 1901, Judge Humphrey was appointed as the 
 fifth Judge. 
 
 So, with the ceremonies of the day, we are 
 placing upon the walls of this Court room the 
 portrait of the fifth Judge of the United States 
 Court for the territory now comprising this 
 judicial district. It is true that many of the 
 counties of Illinois which were formerly asso- 
 ciated with the thirty-nine counties now com- 
 prising the district have been presided over by 
 other judges and undoubtedly during that 
 period other judges from other districts in the 
 circuit held court in this District. 
 
 It is about twenty years ago that a similar 
 ceremony occurred in this Court room. At
 
 30 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 that time the portraits of the four Justices of 
 the Supreme Court and the four District 
 Judges, as well as the portrait of Judge 
 Gresham, were presented to the Court, and 
 from the date of their acceptance they were un- 
 doubtedly the source of much inspiration, 
 courage and strength to Judge Humphrey, and 
 the other judges who have occupied this bench. 
 
 Judge Humphrey had taken a considerable 
 part in the efforts of the Bar to assemble these 
 pictures and present them to the Court, and it 
 is indeed fitting that now his portrait should 
 be added to the galaxy which adorns the walls 
 of this court room. 
 
 It was Ruskin who said : 'Tainting, with all 
 its technicalities, difficulties and peculiar ends, 
 is nothing but a noble and expressive language, 
 invaluable as the vehicle of thought, but by 
 itself nothing."
 
 Presentation of Portrait 31 
 
 The artist in this instance speaks in a noble 
 and in an expressive language. He has not 
 only studied the likenesses in existence of the 
 deceased jurist, but he has also studied his 
 thoughts, ambitions, hopes, and character, and 
 they have all found crystalization in the por- 
 trait which is presented today. Indeed, in this 
 instance, the artist has spoken in a *'noble and 
 expressive language," and to the presiding 
 Judge of this Court it will be, in a way, the 
 presence of the exalted character, his thoughts, 
 ideals and ambitions in this court room, and it, 
 with its associate portraits, will be the source 
 of strength, energy and courage to Judge 
 Humphrey's successors. 
 
 Upon this occasion I feel, as the distin- 
 guished gentleman who has just closed his 
 eulogy felt, that the most appropriate thing 
 that could be said upon this occasion was what 
 Judge Humphrey said himself from this bench
 
 32 Presentation of Portrait 
 
 when, about twenty years ago, the other por- 
 traits were presented to him. It was the closing 
 sentence or two that were spoken by the Judge 
 and I am going to avail myself of the privilege 
 of using the same words: 
 
 *'To the Court they will be a constant 
 source of sympathy and strength ; to coun- 
 sel, an inspiration encouraging the best 
 that is in him to ripen into the best he can 
 do; to jurors, witnesses and auditors, a 
 reminder of the noble record already made 
 and a pledge that the future shall be alike 
 secure. To all, these portraits will stand 
 for absolute impartiality, fearless inde- 
 pendence, unfaltering justice and untar- 
 nished honor." 
 
 This portrait will be gratefully received into 
 the custody of the Court and it will have a 
 permanent place on the walls of this Court 
 room. It will also be ordered that the proceed- 
 ings of the day, including the address of Mr. 
 Campbell, which has just been delivered, be
 
 Presentation of Portrait 33 
 
 spread at large upon the records of this Court, 
 and Mr. Clerk, it is so ordered. 
 
 Is there any other business to come before 
 the Court? If not, Mr. Bailiff, you may ad- 
 journ Court until ten o'clock tomorrow morn- 
 ing. 
 
 Adjourned.
 
 The following Memorial was presented to 
 the United States District Court for the South- 
 ern District of Illinois, at Springfield, on the 
 15th day of October, igi8, and recorded in 
 Book 2, page 731, of the Daily Record of 
 Court Proceedings. As it furnishes important 
 data on the life of Judge Humphrey, the Com- 
 mittee is glad to make it available to his friends. 
 
 34
 
 A Memorial Commemorative 
 
 of the Life and Character of 
 Honorable J Otis Humphrey 
 
 JN Friday, June 14, 1918, in 
 the City of Springfield, Illinois, 
 Honorable J Otis Humphrey, 
 United States District Judge for 
 the Southern District of Illinois, departed this 
 life. 
 
 Judge Humphrey was a native of Morgan 
 County, Illinois, having been born in that 
 County December 30, 1850. He was the son 
 of William and Sarah Stocker Humphrey. He 
 was descended from an old English family. 
 Major Humphrey, his great-grandfather, won 
 his title as the commander of a battalion of the 
 
 35
 
 36 Memorial 
 
 Fourth Rhode Island Infantry of the Amer- 
 ican army during the War of Independence. 
 
 Later, members of the Humphrey family 
 came West, and Judge Humphrey's parents 
 settled in Morgan County, Illinois, where his 
 father, William Humphrey, died in 1893. 
 
 Judge Humphrey was reared on a farm in 
 Auburn Township, Sangamon County, and his 
 early education was secured in the District 
 School. Later he attended the High School at 
 Virden, Macoupin County, for two years, after 
 which he spent five years in Shurtlefif College, 
 Upper Alton, Illinois. After graduation he 
 taught for two years in that college. 
 
 He later entered the law office of Robinson, 
 Knapp & Shutt, in Springfield, and in 1880 he 
 was admitted to the bar, working that year in 
 the office of Hon. John A. Chestnut, super- 
 visor of the census for the Eighth District of 
 Illinois. In 1881 and 1882 he was a clerk in
 
 Memorial 37 
 
 the offices of the Illinois Railroad and Ware- 
 house Commission. In 1883 he formed a law 
 partnership with Hon. Henry S. Greene and 
 Frank Burnett, this firm continuing until Mr. 
 Frank Burnett left Springfield to go West, the 
 firm then continuing under the style of Greene 
 & Humphrey. 
 
 Mr. Henry S. Greene was one of the best 
 known lawyers in the middle West and had 
 previously been associated in partnership with 
 Hon. Milton Hay and Hon. David T. Littler, 
 the firm having been Hay, Greene & Littler. 
 During the existence of the firm of Greene, 
 Burnett & Humphrey, both Mr. Hay and Mr. 
 Littler had offices adjoining those of the new 
 firm, and Judge Humphrey had the rare op- 
 portunity of personal association and advice 
 with these most able and representative men. 
 After the death of Mr. Greene, Judge Humph- 
 rey formed a partnership with R. H. Mc-
 
 38 Memorial 
 
 Anulty and Walter M. Allen, the firm being 
 styled Humphrey, McAnulty & Allen, and 
 continuing in the active practice of the law in 
 this city until 1901, when Judge Humphrey 
 was appointed to the Federal Bench. 
 
 Judge Humphrey was for many years prom- 
 inent in the politics of the Republican party in 
 Illinois. His political activities began in 1876 
 under the tutilage of the late Hon. Shelby M. 
 Cullom, who was that year elected Governor 
 of Illinois. In 1884 he was an elector on the 
 Republican ticket in the Cleveland-Blaine 
 campaign. In 1896 he was a delegate to the 
 National Republican Convention in St. Louis. 
 He was for four years Chairman of the San- 
 gamon County Republican Committee. On 
 July I, 1897, President McKinley appointed 
 him United States District Attorney for the 
 Southern District of Illinois, and in 1901 he 
 was appointed Judge of the United States
 
 Memorial 39 
 
 I. 
 
 District Court for the Southern District of 
 Illinois, to succeed Judge William J. Allen, 
 deceased. 
 
 He was married in 1879 to Miss Mary E. 
 Scott, daughter of the Rev. A. H. Scott, a 
 Baptist Clergyman. He is survived by his 
 widow, four daughters. Misses Mary, Maude 
 and Grace Humphrey, and Ruth, wife of E. 
 Booth Gruendike, and one son, Sergeant Otis 
 Scott Humphrey, in the ''Rainbow Division" 
 of General Pershing's army in France, who 
 was engaged in the practice of law w ith Walter 
 McClellan Allen and Henry A. Converse in 
 this city when the United States declared war 
 on Germany but who shortly after went to New 
 York City, where he enlisted as a private. 
 
 The death of Judge Humphrey removed 
 from the bench an able, conscientious, fearless 
 and virile Judge, and deprived the State of 
 Illinois of one of its most distinguished citi-
 
 40 Memorial 
 
 zens. Judge Humphrey was a man of varied 
 interests and activities, into all of which he put 
 the force of his intense enthusiasm. 
 
 He had all the physical attributes of a real 
 man. He was strong, active, tireless, impres- 
 sive in speech and bearing, dignified, but 
 friendly and approachable. In a high degree 
 he possessed those rare qualities that make a 
 real executive and true leader of men. He had 
 decision of purpose and the courage to back 
 his judgment. 
 
 First and foremost, he was a lawyer and 
 Jurist, although maintaining a close touch with 
 the business and farming interests of Central 
 Illinois. He was closely identified with the 
 civic life of his home city, and was public 
 spirited and patriotic in the truest sense. 
 
 His respect for the law was profound. To 
 him the law was to be obeyed and enforced as 
 written, yet to be tempered with mercy, and to
 
 Memorial 41 
 
 those principles he was ever true, whether as a 
 private practitioner at the Sangamon County 
 Bar, or as a public prosecutor when United 
 States District Attorney, or as Judge upon the 
 Federal bench. 
 
 He regarded the law as a science — the 
 noblest creation of human logic and reason. 
 To him the Constitution was the rock upon 
 which rested securely the rights of the Ameri- 
 can people. He firmly believed in the broad 
 construction of the Constitution, and in a 
 strong government clothed with ample powers, 
 fully equipped and designed to protect our 
 liberties and property. 
 
 To him a thoroughly equipped and finished 
 lawyer was the finest type of an educated, up- 
 right and broad-minded man, an exemplary 
 citizen, one to be respected and esteemed. 
 
 As a lawyer Judge Humphrey was diligent, 
 forceful and ever ready to maintain with judg-
 
 42 Memorial 
 
 ment and strength the cause of his clients. He 
 feared no antagonist, and could be fairly called 
 a fighting lawyer. 
 
 As United States Attorney he was an able 
 and vigorous prosecutor, and while in that 
 office established a reputation that made him 
 the logical selection for the Federal bench. 
 
 As a Federal Judge he sat in all the United 
 States District Courts in the State of Illinois, 
 and was frequently assigned to try cases in the 
 United States District Courts of Indiana and 
 Wisconsin. He also frequently sat upon the 
 United States Circuit Court of Appeals, for 
 the Seventh Judicial Circuit. 
 
 At the time of his death, Judge Humphrey 
 had for a number of years been the senior 
 United States District Judge in the Seventh 
 Judicial Circuit. His judicial duties brought 
 him in close touch with many of the eminent 
 lawyers of the American Bar, and he early
 
 Memorial 43 
 
 gained the reputation of being an able, vigor- 
 ous and fearless Judge. Before him were tried 
 many cases of national importance, and his 
 written opinions, whether sitting as a District 
 Judge or as a member of the United States 
 Circuit Court of Appeals, were well reasoned 
 and finely expressed, and received high com- 
 mendation from the bench and the bar. 
 
 He took the keenest pleasure in the society 
 of eminent jurists and lawyers, and as he ad- 
 vanced in years, he became more and more 
 imbued with respect and regard for the law 
 and the courts. He read extensively, being 
 particularly interested in the history of nations 
 and great men. Such research added to his 
 store of knowledge of the growth and develop- 
 ment of the law. 
 
 It can be justly said that he graced the bench 
 with learning, fidelity and industry. He main- 
 tained the highest traditions of the Federal
 
 44 Memorial 
 
 Judiciary. He surrounded himself in his 
 Court Room with the portraits of all the Fed- 
 eral Judges who had ever sat in this District, 
 and he also secured portraits of the great Chief 
 Justice Marshall and of Justices Chase, Harlan 
 and David Davis of the United States Supreme 
 Court. He studied the personal traits of these 
 eminent jurists, and daily drew inspirations 
 from' their splendid characters. 
 
 Before going upon the bench, he was most 
 active in politics, being an ardent Republican. 
 He w^as a natural leader of men, and in the 
 councils of his party he was recognized as able 
 and forceful. He was pre-eminently the Re- 
 publican leader of Sangamon County, and 
 was also recognized throughout the State as 
 one of the most faithful and effective supporters 
 of the late Shelby M. Cullom. 
 
 His devotion to the interests of Mr. Cullom 
 was intense, and extended over a period of
 
 Memorial 45 
 
 more than thirty years, and Mr. Cullom recip- 
 rocated by recognizing his services in selecting 
 him for preferment, and always expressed the 
 keenest satisfaction in his selection. 
 
 While in active practice. Judge Humphrey 
 made excellent business connections. He was 
 one of the founders of The Franklin Life 
 Insurance Company, and for twelve years 
 prior to his death was the first vice-president of 
 this institution. He was also a director in the 
 Illinois National Bank and the Sangamon 
 Loan & Trust Company. He was one of a 
 number of business men v^ho erected the Odd 
 Fellows Building, and was also active in the 
 erection of the Illinois National Bank and the 
 Franklin Life Insurance building, three of the 
 finest business buildings in Springfield. 
 
 He was intensely interested in the develop- 
 ment of farm lands in the Mississippi Valley. 
 He regarded farming and stock raising as a
 
 46 Memorial 
 
 science, and to better equip himself, while on 
 the bench, he took a course of lectures in agri- 
 culture in the University of Illinois, and read 
 extensively upon the art of farming and stock 
 raising. 
 
 He acquired large holdings of land in Illi- 
 nois and Arkansas, having an abiding faith 
 that the Mississippi Valley was the garden spot 
 of the World, far surpassing even the Valley of 
 the Nile. 
 
 In fraternal circles he was for many years 
 devoted to the Order of Odd Fellows, and was 
 the recipient of the highest honors bestowed by 
 that Order in this State. He was devoted to the 
 Odd Fellows Orphans Home at Lincoln, 
 Illinois, of which he was for many years a 
 trustee and practically the managing and di- 
 recting spirit. He was also a member of St. 
 Paul's Lodge No. 500, Ancient Free and Ac- 
 cepted Masons, and w^as an active member of
 
 Memorial 47 
 
 the Sangamo Club and of the Illini Country 
 Club. ^ 
 
 Judge Humphrey believed thoroughly in 
 the growth and development of educational in- 
 stitutions, and his interest in such was recog- 
 nized by his selection as a trustee for Shurtleff 
 College at Upper Alton, Illinois, and as Trus- 
 tee for the University of Chicago. He con- 
 sidered it the duty of everyone to secure the 
 broadest and most liberal education possible, 
 both in schools of learning and by travel, and 
 these views he consistently carried out in the 
 education of his immediate family. He studied 
 with his children the masters of literature, 
 poetry, art, history and music and gave to them 
 the opportunity of extensive travel. 
 
 His natural fondness for art lead him to 
 study the master productions. This he did with 
 rare wisdom and discernment. He delighted 
 in seeking out in the great art collections of
 
 48 Memorial 
 
 this country and abroad the famous originals. 
 He became a judge of good pictures, and se- 
 lected for his own home works of real merit. 
 
 Judge Humphrey was closely identified with 
 the civic welfare and activities of Springfield, 
 and was frequently called upon to advise in 
 matters of local moment. Whenever he ac- 
 cepted service upon a committee he worked 
 with a will, and effectively. Whenever he ac- 
 cepted the chairmanship of a committee he not 
 only worked with a will but saw to it that every- 
 one else also worked. The fact that he was 
 identified with a movement meant that success 
 was assured. 
 
 He devoted much time to the study of the 
 life and character of Abraham Lincoln, and 
 became a recognized authority on the facts and 
 literature pertaining to his life. 
 
 He was the organizer of the Lincoln Cen- 
 tennial Association, formed to celebrate the
 
 Memorial 49 
 
 looth anniversary of the birth of the great 
 Emancipator. This celebration was February 
 I2th, 1909, and was one of the notable events 
 in the history of Springfield. To this city, for 
 this celebration, came eminent statesmen, am- 
 bassadors and orators. The event was a bril- 
 liant and notable success. Annually thereafter 
 the natal day of Lincoln was celebrated in 
 Springfield under the auspices of this Asso- 
 ciation. On each of these occasions Judge 
 Humphrey was re-elected President and pre- 
 sided with rare grace and dignity. 
 
 It was his ambition to make Springfield a 
 mecca to which annually would come a pil- 
 grimage to do homage to our First Citizen. 
 He had hoped to gradually accumulate a col- 
 lection of masterly addresses by famous men, 
 delivered at the annual Lincoln Banquets. He 
 had hoped that these addresses might be a dis- 
 tinct addition to the literature on Lincoln — a
 
 50 Memorial 
 
 sort of Lincolnia in a class by itself. This was 
 a noble ambition, a great lofty idea, a real de- 
 sire to leave to posterity something fitting in 
 memory of our martyred President. 
 
 Being a native son of Illinois, Judge 
 Humphrey took the greatest pride in the his- 
 tory of his native State. He read everything 
 he could find written about Illinois history. 
 He regularly attended the meetings of the Illi- 
 nois Historical Society, and few men in this 
 State were so well versed as he in the history 
 and story of this great Prairie State and its 
 people. 
 
 Nathaniel Pope, the first United States Dis- 
 trict Judge in Illinois, was also Territorial 
 Governor and delegate to Congress, when 
 Illinois was admitted to the Union. Judge 
 Humphrey delighted to recount the splendid 
 work Nathaniel Pope did in fixing the bounda- 
 ries of the new State. He was want to regard
 
 Memorial 51 
 
 the prophetic vision of Nathaniel Pope as 
 almost inspired, and he considered the work of 
 Pope as a priceless heritage handed down to 
 the succeeding Federal Judges. Doubtless 
 Judge Humphrey's love of Illinois history 
 was the inspiration that moved Miss Grace 
 Humphrey, his daughter, to write her most 
 commendable History of Illinois. 
 
 When the.Great War laid its scourge upon 
 the World Judge Humphrey studied and pon- 
 dered the underlying causes. He saw that 
 inevitably the United States must throw its 
 weight into the scales for humanity and liberty. 
 His love of country and faith in the American 
 nation became uppermost in his thoughts and 
 conversation. If possible he acquired an 
 additional fervor when his only son and eldest 
 daughter journeyed to France to take their 
 places in the great struggle.
 
 52 Memorial 
 
 When the first Red Cross Drive was started 
 in Sangamon County, Judge Humphrey was 
 the logical man to lead. The enthusiasm with 
 which he entered upon this campaign and the 
 signal success that crowned the effort, is a 
 matter of such recent history that the mere 
 mention of it suffices to bring it vividly before 
 us. The second Red Cross Drive found him 
 in the hospital, but he promptly made his con- 
 tribution and sent it to headquarters, there to 
 help put Sangamon County so gloriously over 
 the top. 
 
 Religiously Judge Humphrey was a Baptist 
 and was a consistent and regular attendant at 
 the Central Baptist Church. He was active in 
 church life, but was in no sense a narrow sec- 
 tarian. He was most tolerant of the religious 
 belief of others, but firmly believed that a re- 
 ligious life was essential to the welfare of all 
 right thinking men.
 
 Memorial 53 
 
 In his family relations Judge Humphrey 
 was ideal, being devoted to his wife and chil- 
 dren. His ever present desire was to amply 
 provide for their immediate needs and their 
 future welfare. To that end he had the laud- 
 able ambition to leave to them the priceless 
 heritage of a good name and character. It can 
 be fairly said that his ambition for personal 
 preferment was more for those who were near 
 and dear to him than for himself. 
 
 His fatal illness was unexpected. He was 
 taken off in the full tide of his strength and 
 reputation. Our last recollection of him will 
 be that of a man possessed of all his mental and 
 physical powers. It seemed that he had many 
 years of further development and usefulness 
 before him, and we mourn what seems to us to 
 be his untimely end — but, knowing him as we 
 did, we must feel that he would have wished to 
 pass to the other side, rather than to have lin-
 
 54 Memorial 
 
 gered on a helpless invalid, bereft of the physi- 
 cal power and energy that had been his in such 
 a marked degree. 
 
 And so we prepare this memorial as a brief 
 and simple tribute to the life and character of 
 J Otis Humphrey. 
 
 He was an ideal citizen, an exemplary hus- 
 band and father, an able lawyer, an eminent 
 Jurist, a fitting example of all of us. His death 
 is a blow to this community and he will be 
 missed and mourned by all.
 
 ^
 
 ^