Mr. Hormel has been declared by the older members of the bar as a remarkable man for adroitness in a law suit and for knowledge at every stage of the case. He was a person of many parts and varied culture, who just before he had turned fifty was literally worn out on account of the strenuous life he had been living. He set his stakes high and paid the penalty.
Just after the Civil war a number of young men drifted into Linn county, a number of whom had seen service and who later became lawyers, doctors, and bankers in this and adjoining counties.
Among a number of attorneys who located here during the '60s these may be mentioned: Mason P. Mills, John J. Powell, Charles B. Keeler, Frank Hormel, Judge Leach, Judge Spangler, T. J. Dudley, Jr., A. R. West, H. G. Bowman, D. L. Palmer, J. C. Davis, J. W. Bull, A. V. Eastman, Henry Rickel, C. M. Hollis, C. S. Lake, Judge J. D. Giffin, Colonel Charles A. Clark, B. F. Heins, and many others. These were all young men and all became more or less noted in the legal profession, as well as socially and politically.
Mase Mills was a business getter, but not a sound lawyer. He neither had the ability nor inclination for discrimination. He said of himself that in his native place when a boy, when a medicine faker threw out peanuts for the boys to fight over, he always got his share. In the rough and tumble of law suits he was fairly successful for the reason that he always associated himself with lawyers of ability. He was a jolly good fellow, a great mixer, and knew men.
Mr. Powell had been in the army, was a college graduate, and soon took a leading place among the attorneys at the bar in this county. He passed away in January, 1908, one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of the city of Cedar Rapids.
Benjamin Franklin Heins was in his day and generation a much talked of man. Of Ben Heins many stories may be told. He was noted for getting his English mixed and his penmanship conformed to no rule, while Murray's grammar had never come under his notice. A wag once demurred to Ben's petition as follows: To count one, for the reason that it could not be read; to count two, because it was unintelligible, and the demur was sustained. Ben ran for alderman and gave up a day or two before election, as he had one hundred votes to the good. The day after election his friends met at his office to ascertain the cause of his defeat, when Ben broke out, "Well, gentlemen, I did not know till today that there were two hundred liars in my ward."
