Crawfordsville and entered on the practice of the law, where he lived until 1859. He was elected to the Thirtyfirst Congress, from the old Eighth District, in August, 1849, and served one term. In 1856 he was elected Attorney General of Indiana, being the first chosen to this office by the people, and was re-elected in 1858, serving in all four years. He was not a candidate for a third term. In the spring of 1859, he removed to Indianapolis and entered upon the practice of the law, forming a partnership with Addison L. Roache, ex-Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana. In 1864, Mr. McDonald was nominated for Governor of Indiana by the Democratic State Convention, and made a joint canvass with Oliver P. Morton, the Republican nominee. At the election he received six thousand more votes for Governor than the State ticket did in 1862, when the entire Democratic State ticket, together with a majority in both branches of the General Assembly, was elected. Mr. Morton was elected, however, by nearly twenty thousand votes. In 1868, E. M. McDonald became the law partner of his father, and the next year Addison L. Roache retired from the firm. E. M. McDonald died January 1, 1873. Frank B. McDonald, his youngest son, has since become the law partner of Mr. McDonald. Senator McDonald's wife died on September 7, 1872. the 15th of September, 1874, he married Araminta W. Vance, of Crawfordsville, who died February 2, 1875. Throughout his entire life he has strictly adhered to his resolution to follow the law, and make a success of his profession. He has been engaged in some of the most important cases that have been tried in the State since his admission to the bar. Among the early cases which created excitement throughout the State was The State versus Sidney Owens. The defendant was charged with murder by poison. The prosecution was conducted by Judge Gregory, of Lafayette, and Lew Wallace, of Crawfordsville, aided by a strong public prejudice. The case was success

fully defended, much to the surprise of the entire bar. He was of counsel for the defendants in the celebrated case of the United States versus Bowles, Milligan and Horsey, tried for conspiracy and treason by a military commission at Indianapolis, and sentenced to be hung. The case was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, where several important constitutional questions arose as to the relation of the general government to the States, the war power of the government and the rights of the citizen. The defendants were released by the Supreme Court. He was of counsel for the defendants in the noted case of Beebe versus The State, in which the Supreme Court decided that the enactment which was known as the Maine Liquor Law was unconstitutional. He was also in the widely-known case of The State versus Abrams, charged with complicity in the horrible "Cold Springs" murder, tried in the Marion County Criminal Court. He was one of the attorneys for the parties who assailed the constitutionality of what was known as the Baxter Liquor

Law.

In the Supreme Court of the State and the Federal Court he has taken an active part in many important cases; one of the most important being the case of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway Company versus the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central Railway Company, in which were involved a net-work of railroad interests and large sums of money, depending upon the validity and construction of a ninety-nine years' lease. He made the principal argument for the objectors in the count of the electoral vote of Louisiana, before the Electoral Commission appointed to determine the result of the Presidential election of 1876. Mr. McDonald thinks that the creation of this commission was the exercise of a doubtful power in a case of apparent necessity. Joseph Ewing McDonald was elected to the United States Senate for six years, to succeed Daniel D. Pratt, and took his

seat March 5, 1875. He was chairman of the committee on public lands, and the second member of the judiciary committee of the Senate, ranking as one of the best lawyers of that body. He is, and always has been, a firm, consistent Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, as personified in the political life of Andrew Jackson. He believes the true idea of American Democracy is to preserve, unimpaired, all the rights reserved to the States respectively, and to the people, without infringing upon any of the powers delegated to the General Government by the Constitution; and that constitutional government is of the first importance and a necessity to the perpetuity of the American Union. He believes in the virtue of the people, and in their ability and purpose to maintain their institutions inviolate against the assaults of designing men. He was a member of the Senate committee which visited New Orleans to investigate the count of the vote of Louisiana in the contest of 1876. He was also on the Teller-Wallace committee, to investigate frauds in elections in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He was chairman of the Democratic State Convention in 1868, and of the Democratic State Central Committee during the campaigns of 1868 and 1874. As an orator, both at the bar and on the hustings, he is cool, logical and forcible; as a citizen, he has the confidence and respect of all who know him, regardless of political creeds. He has traveled extensively in his own country, and is thoroughly acquainted with its institutions and people. In religion he is a Christian and a member of the Episcopal church. He is regarded by all parties as a statesman of acknowledged merit. His views. are broad and comprehensive on all questions of public interest; not a man of expedients, but stating his views clearly and boldly, leaving the result to the candid judgment of the people. The opinions of his most bitter opponents are never treated with disdain. Few men have enjoyed the uniform confidence of their fellow-citizens to

the extent that he has. For his steadfastness of purpose, his honest desire of accomplishing what is best, the people have given him a home in their hearts, and bestowed upon him the greatest honors. Their confidence has never been betrayed or sacrificed for personal aggrandizement. The writer of this brief sketch has had evidence of this constantly forced upon him, during an intimate knowledge of the subject for many years. It must, in truth, be said that his marked characteristic is his uniform sincerity, which inspires universal confidence. Confucius recognized the worth of such a man when he said: "Faithfulness and sincerity are the highest things." Carlyle wrote of one with such virtues: "I should say sincerity, a great genuine sincerity, is the first characteristic of all men in any way heroic."

CHAPTER XVII.

SAMUEL J. RANDALL.

AMUEL J. RANDALL, of Philadelphia, who represents the Third Congressional District of Pennsylvania, in the United States Congress, is a son of the late Josiah Randall, a man well known, and whose memory is pleasantly preserved in the "City of Brotherly Love." He was for many years a man of influence in Pennsylvania politics, being first a Democrat, and then an admirer and follower of Henry Clay; but when the Whigs became largely anti-slavery in their views, he again embraced the Democratic faith, and so remained.

anan.

Samuel J. was born in Philadelphia, October 10, 1828, where he received a good academic education, pursuing his studies with a view to mercantile life. His school-days over, he entered the counting-room of a mercantile house; but his father's training had developed in him a fondness for political life, and the duties of a merchant were perforce rather distasteful. In 1856, he accompanied his father to Cincinnati, to assist in the nomination of BuchFor four years Mr. Randall was a member of the City Council, familiarizing himself with city politics and making the acquaintance which was afterward to push his political fortunes. In 1858, he was elected to the State Senate, of which he was a conspicuous member. When, in the spring of 1861, the civil war began, Mr. Randall was in the Legislature and was also a member of the "First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry," which took its name from a company formed in 1774. Immediately after the fall of Fort Sumter, the troop tendered its services to the government, and were accepted May 13, 1861, for