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- ORANGE SCOTT CLARK
Admitted to the Michigan Bar Association
O. Scott Clark was born in Hector, Seneca Co, New York in 1848, son ofJames and Mary (Swick)Clark. He came to Michigan with his parents in1856. His Father was a farmer and they located in Jackson County. MrClark graduated from Hillsdale College in 1872, He studied law with JonasH McGowan and afterward in Detroit with a well known attorney there. Hecame to Battle Creek in 1878, and since that time has made his home. He served the city for two years as city attorney, just after the adoptionof the new charter. He was re-elected prosecuting attorney for thiscounty in 1892 and it was during his term of office that the greatrailroad wreck on the Grand trunk occurred, and he did a splendid servicefor the city at that time. Mr Clark has a large practice, and at thepresent time is one of the foremost lawyers in our city.
Re: The Enquirer And Evening News, Battle Creek, Calhoun Co, Michigan.Date unknown.
VETERAN LAWYER SUGGESTS REDUCING SIZE OF JURIES.
July 13, 1935 The Enquirer And Evening News, Battle Creek,Calhoun Co, Michigan.
After more than 50 years of active practice, O Scott Clark, dean of theCalhoun County bar association who was 86 years old December 26, saysthat after all his experience he would select the same profession again.At the same time he advise young men to stay out of it were they to seekhis counsel. His reasons for this seeming paradox are: One should besure of his adaptability to the law, the same as to medicine, also, ittakes six years of college to prepare properly for the work and only asmall fraction of the lawyers make anything more than limited success;further, the profession is vastly overcrowded and, like nearly everythingelse, has become commercialized.
‘ In many counties in Michigan", Mr Clark declares, "the office ofprosecuting attorney is used as a feeder for the divorce mill. If I hadmy way the prosecuting attorney would be barred from having anything todo with divorces. In my years of experience with juries I have foundthat they run about 50/50 with their verdicts. That is they were rightabout half the time. If I had my way the verdict of a 12- man jury wouldbe carried by 10 and in the justice court six-man jury by five."
"Changing times have had their effect and modifications have started.The so called crime wave has had a tendency to bring modifications. Inthe early days, a client consulted an attorney to find out what the lawwould allow him to do and paid his fee for the information. Now hedoesn't care what the law si- it is what he wants to do, and the lawyerwho can figure the way out fro him is the one who gets the big money.
But lawyers as a whole are helpful and I have a great respect for themany honest and reputable lawyers I have known.
NEEDS LIBERALIZING.
" The law is tied up closer to precedent than any other business orprofession and it can be liberalized to advantage."
Mr Clark recalls that his first important trial was a murder case. He wasappointed by the court to defend frank House, charged with the murder ofGeorge Campbell on the Chidester farm in Convis township. House wasfound in possession of Campbell's team and watch, and the body of thevictim was later discovered in a well on the back of the farm.
His most bothersome trial came in later years, Mr Clark says, when heconducted the prosecution in a wreck case. The two grand trunk excursiontrains met in head-on collision near Nichols 7 Shepard"s and one of theconductors was prosecuted but not convicted on charges of negligence bydisobeying orders.
Mr Clark served seven years as city attorney under five differentMayors. He was first appointed in 1879 by C R Thompson; in 188 byJames Green, father of Charles Green and later on by frank Glapp, FredWebb and George S Barnes. He was prosecuting attorney for four years,beginning his service on January 1, 1894. More than thirty years ago hewas appointed United States Commissioner and still holds the officealthough he retired from active practice of law about a year ago.
YOUNGEST OF 14
Mr Clark is the youngest and the only member living of a family offourteen children. He was born December 26, 1848, on a farm in that partof Seneca county, New York, which is now Tyler County. When he was twoyears old the family moved to a farm six miles from the mouth of theNiagara River and between 14 & 15 miles from the falls, where they liveduntil he was eight. Mr Clark remembers he could hear the roar of thefalls and on clear days see the spray, but it was not until he was 30years old and went there on his wedding trip that he actually saw them.
Mr Clark began his education in "the little red schoolhouse" in New YorkIt was really red, he explains- of one room construction and painted red.Benches occupied three sides of the room and the desks were fastened tothe wall. Box stoves furnished heat. The winters in New York were cold,especially near the lakes, Mr Clark recalls, and the snow so deep andpacked so hard that it was often possible to drive over the fences. Thewinter he was 4 years of age, he says, he never missed a day of schoolalthough the snow was much of the time higher than his head. In 1856his family migrated to Michigan and his Father, the late James Clarkbought a farm in Washtenaw county near the county line, their villagebeing Grass lake, and their shopping town Jackson. In Michigan he alsoattended a little red school, which long since has been replaced with amodern building on what is now US 12. He remembers a particularlyexciting day, when one of his older brothers and three other husky boysthat the cracked and smokey box stove had been tolerated long enough.Upon leaving school they carried it out and threw it in the yard. Theepisode caused a panic among the girls of the school, but a new stove wasa result.
CUT OWN WOOD
Mr Clark later attended the Normal School at Leoni and in 1867 enteredMichigan Agriculture College. The institution then was only 10 yearsold. Going to college was not so soft in those days and there were nopush buttons for heat and water, Mr Clark recalls. The boys cut andsawed wood and carried water to their third floor rooms in thedormitory. Each room plainly furnished and heated with a stove,accommodated four boys. Vacation came during the winter months and thisallowed the boys to teach the winter terms in the various districtschools. For two winters, Mr Clark taught in Chelsea in the same schoolin which Senator Copeland taught in the 1880's. He spent his weekends athis farm home near Grass Lake and in order to be on time Monday morningat 5 a.m. Took a cold breakfast and walked to the station to catch thetrain for Chelsea, and then walked the rest of the way often breaking hisown path through the snow. In all he would cover six miles and then buildhis fire and do the janitor work, all for $25 dollars per month. In thefall of 1868 he entered Hillsdale College from which he graduated from in1872
and then began the study of law in the office of Bowen and McGowan inColdwater. Here things were not so easy, either, and he was required tomop out, collect bills and do other menial chores.
He was admitted to the Bar in 1875, after which he spent two years inDetroit, on salary, in the office of William S Edwards at 84 Griswold.In 1878 he came to Battle Creek, where in 1879 he formed partnership withthe late N H Briggs. This partnership existed for 20 years, with theoffices in the old Central National Bank building. When the bank wasrebuilt the partnership was dissolved and Mr Clark opened his office inthe same building and occupied it for 35 years. When this building wasto be replaced by the present structure He moved to the Minty block wherehe shared the reception room and library with Willard Knight, although nobusiness partnership was formed.
Mr Clark has been closely associated with the development of Battle Creekand was instrumental in securing Verona water, in opposition to thoseadvocating the Spring lakes, as a municipal supply. He enjoys reasonablygood health for one of his years and closely follows the trend of currentevents. His hobby is reading.
Mr Clark was married in 1879 to Miss Carrie Watson of Grass Lake, whodied in 1894. In 1896 he married Mrs Eda Mason of Battle Creek. Mr Clarkresided on Green Street until he built his home at the intersection ofMain and Bennett streets in 1882 where he resided until 11 years ago whenhe purchased his present home at 600 Northeast Capital Avenue. In 1894he purchased a cottage on Willow beach, Gull Lake, where he and hisfamily spend their summers.
His chief desire now, he says is to live long enough to see how MrRoosevelt works out his new ideas.
The Enquirer And Evening News, Battle Creek, Calhoun Co,Michigan. Feb 6, 1937
O.SCOTT CLARK.
Funeral Rites to Be Sunday.
funeral services for the late Attorney O.Scott Clark, 88 of 600 CapitalAve, northeast, dean of the Calhoun County bar and a prominent figure inthe city's life for a half a century, will be held at 2 pm Sunday at theFirst Congressional Church. The rev. Carleton Brooks Miller, pastoe ofthe church will officiate and interment will be in Oak Hill Cemetery.Serving as active pallbearers will be: Allen Giddings. Jr, Orville Mason,Robert S Fleming, Julius Harris, Ned Hannon, of Niles, and Alvin RHensler, of Grand Rapids.
The body will lie in state until one p.m. Sunday at the Farley FuneralHome, where friends may call to view the remains. The casket will beclosed before taken to the church for funeral rites.
Mr Clark died Thursday night at his home, death culminating a two yearillness which had confined him to his bed since he gave up active legalpractice in the fall of 1935. Despite his failing health, Mr Clarkretained a keen interest in public affairs until he was stricken with afatal heart attack only a few hours before his death. Thursday afternoonhe had read the contents of a news magazine and later talked with friendson current events. He complained of not feeling as well as usual aboutsix p.m.. Thursday.
Entering the legal profession when he came to Battle Creek in 1879, MrClark served 14 years as city attorney, four years as prosecutingattorney, and 30 years as United States Court Commissioner a positionwhich he held until the spring of 1935. Mr Clark was the "father ofpublic night schools" here and was the first to campaign for outdoorrecreational facilities for children of the city.
Mr Clark is survived by his widow Eda E, Ason, Frank Clark of Gull Lake;two step-daughters, Mrs Frank Grandin, of Philadelphia, and Mrs AMGiddings, of 22 Riverview Avenue; a stepson, O.H. Mason, of Detroit; and12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
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1848 - 1937 (88 years)