plaintiff" The Judge then said to the attorney for plaintiff: " You have done well, young man; you cleaned that old attorney out beautifully," and closed the case up with a good, hearty laugh.
The fourth term of court was held September 22, 1857. The officers of the court were: Judge, James D. Thompson, of Eldora; Clerk, Wm. Thompson; Sheriff, Geo. Childs; Prosecuting Attorney, Jas. S. Frazier. At this term of court John Scott, E. B. Potter and A. D. Shaw were admitted as attorneys of the court, and J. L. Dana made his first appearance in the courts of Story bounty, he having been previously admitted to practice in Marshall County, Iowa. Judge Thompson was succeeded by Hon. John Porter, of Hardin County, whose first term of court commenced April 18, 1859; S. S. Webb, Clerk; W. P. Hepburn, District Attorney. (It would seem we were placed in the Thirteenth Judicial District in 1856-'57, but on March 20,1858, the State was re-districted and Story County was placed in the Eleventh Judicial District, to which it now [1876] belongs.) Judge Porter served till January, 1876, when he resigned, and the Hon. D. D. Chase, then District Attorney, was appointed to fill the vacancy. Mr. Hepburn, Prosecuting Attorney under Judge Porter's first term, resigned in 1861 and entered the army as Captain of Company "B," of the 2d Iowa cavalry. D. D. Chase was appointed to fill the vacancy, and held the office until he was appointed Judge in 1866; then Chase was appointed Judge, and John H. Bradley, of Marshall county, was appointed District Attorney. D. D. Chase held the office of Judge until the first of January, 1875, when Isaac J. Mitchell, of Boone County, the present incumbent (1876) succeeded him. John H. Bradley held the office of District Attorney until January 1, 1869, at which time he was succeeded by M. D. O'Connell, of Webster County, who is the present incumbent (1876). By an act of the Legislature of the State, the third of April, 1868, the Circuit Court system was established. The first Judge under this new court was Henry Hudson, of Boone County, who was elected at the general election in 1868, and served from January 1, 1869, to 1873; and John H. Bradley, of Marshall county, succeeded him. The present officers of the courts are (1876): Isaac J. Mitchell, of Boone County, District Judge; M. D. O'Connell, District Attorney, of Webster County; John H. Bradley, Circuit Judge, of Marshall County; J. A. Fitchpatrick, Clerk of District and Circuit Courts. Attorneys of the court now (1876) engaged in the practice, in the order of their commencing practice: J. S. Frazier, J. L. Dana, F. D. Thompson, L. Irwin, S. F. Balliet, Nevada; N. A. Rainbolt, C. E. Turner, McCarthy, Stevens & Underwood. Ames; J. R. Gage, M. C. ALLEN, J. R. McDonald, C. II. Balliet, Dyer & Gallup, Nevada; L. S. Nelson, Colo. Our design is only to give a history of the organization of the court and its officers at the early settlement of the county at a time when the records of the court were imperfectly kept, and also to relate a few of the many court scenes which characterized its proceedings, and which could not appear of record, but are known only to eye-wit-