It has been alike suggested of biography, that it cannot be securely trusted in the portrayal of the living. And this is no doubt true where political or partisan objects are sought to be subserved. But with this exception the most faithful portraits may naturally be expected where the subjects of them are before us, and familiarly known to us. And so that the hand refrains from those warmer tints which personal friendship might inspire, and simply aims at sketches which the general judgment may recognize and approve, the task, however difficult, cannot be said to be unsafe.
Thomas Bolton was born in Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, November 29th, 1809. His father was an extensive farmer in that section of western New York, where rich fields, and flowing streams, and beautiful scenery, are happily combined.
At seventeen he entered the High School on Temple Hill, in Geneseo, where he fitted for college; and in the Fall of 1829, he entered Harvard University, where he graduated in 1833, the first in his class in mathematics. In this connection, it is pleasant to advert to the fact that his most intimate schoolmate, classmate and fellow graduate, was Hon. Moses Kelly, who was afterwards his partner in the law for many years at Cleveland, and that between the two from boyhood down to the present day, there has been a steadfast and unbroken life-friendship almost fraternal, both now in affluence, but still living side by side. Such life-long friendships are unusual, but whenever they do exist, they imply the presence in both parties of true and trusty qualities which preserve their character as pure cement, exposed to any atmosphere, or tried in any furnace.
[Illustration: Yours Truly, Thomas Bolton]
After graduating, Mr. Bolton entered upon the study of law at Canandaigua, in the office of John G. Spencer, now deceased, but then a strong and distinguished name in the profession. At the end of a year he came west, to seek a permanent location to further pursue his studies and enter upon the practice, first stopping at Cleveland, on finding that any further west was hardly within the pale of civilization. Cleveland itself was then, September, 1834, but a mere village, of about twenty-five hundred inhabitants. Superior street had not been graded, and at its western terminus was higher than the first story of the Atwater Block, and the bank of the lake extended fifteen rods out beyond the present Union Depot. The village did not become a city till 1836, when at a public meeting to determine upon the corporate limits, Mr. Bolton was appointed on a committee to draft the charter, and urged that both sides of the river should be embraced, but was overruled, and Ohio City was established on the other side of the river as a sort of rival, but since consolidated with Cleveland. His connection with city affairs was renewed as Councilman in 1839, and as Alderman in 1841.
But to go back to his professional life. Having studied law in the office of James L. Conger, at Cleveland, for a year, he was admitted to the Bar in September, 1835, by the Supreme Court of Ohio, on the Circuit, Chief Justice Peter Hitchcock, that Nestor among judges, then presiding. He was in partnership with Mr. Conger for a year, when he bought him out and sent for his old college friend, Mr. Kelly, with whom he formed a partnership, which continued until the Fall of 1856, a period of twenty years, when he was elected to the Bench.
As bearing upon his political career, it may be narrated, that in the Fall of 1839, he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, at which time the Whig party was largely in the ascendancy, commanding from 1,500 to 2,000 majority, though he was a Democrat and nominated by the Democrats for the office. Two years later, at the expiration of his term, he was strongly solicited by both parties to take the office another term, but declined in consequence of the inadequacy of the salary.
An incident occurred during his term as prosecuting attorney which had a marked effect upon the politics of Cleveland and its vicinity. Up to 1841, slave-owners were in the habit of sending their agents to Cleveland and causing their runaway slaves to be arrested and taken before a magistrate, when a warrant would be obtained to return the slave, and he would be carried back into slavery. All this was done openly and publicly, creating little or no excitement, and Mr. Bolton, in the practice of his profession, was more frequently employed for this purpose than any other attorney in the city. In the Spring of 1841, three negroes, who were claimed as slaves, had run away from New Orleans and were in Buffalo. The agent of their master applied to a law firm in Cleveland for assistance. At that time, slaves arrested in Buffalo were in the habit of claiming a trial by jury, which was granted. To avoid a jury, with its sympathies, it was thought advisable to get the negroes into Ohio, and, accordingly, one of the attorneys, the agent and a negro of Cleveland, repaired to Buffalo. On their return the three negroes came with them, and it was said they had been kidnapped. On their arrival at Cleveland, the negroes were arrested under the law of Congress as fugitives from service, and lodged in the county jail. This information coming to the ears of the few Abolitionists then in the city, among others the late Hon. Edward Wade and Hon. John A. Foot, lawyers at the time in full practice, they applied to the jailor for admission to consult with the negroes. But public opinion was so strongly prejudiced against the Abolitionists that neither the jailor nor the sheriff would permit any of them to communicate with the prisoners. Accidentally, a colored man inquired of Mr. Bolton if he would take up their defence. He readily assented, and being prosecuting attorney of the county, and it being well understood that he was not an Abolitionist, the doors of the jail were readily opened to him, and he immediately made preparations for a vigorous defence of the prisoners. A writ of habeas corpus was immediately applied for to Judge Barber, one of the associate judges at the time; the negroes were brought before him, and their case continued for ninety days, to prepare for a defence.
When it was known about town that Mr. Bolton had undertaken the defence of the negroes, great indignation was excited, and many threatened to tear down his office, and to use violence toward his person. This only aroused him to greater energy and effort in behalf of the prisoners. In the meantime indictments were procured in Buffalo against the alleged kidnappers, and the excitement in the city greatly increased, so that on the day of the trial the court-house was packed with people. After an investigation, which lasted two days, the court discharged the defendants and they went acquit.
From the iniquitous proceeding in the case, and the manner in which it was prosecuted, and the excitement it produced, the community was led to reflect upon the iniquity of the system and the oppression of the law; and from that day till the slave-girl Lucy was sent back into Virginia slavery, in 1862, (to appease, it is said, the wrath of the rebels,) not a negro was sent back into slavery from the city of Cleveland, or county of Cuyahoga.