History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

181

first time I ever saw the old building. In company with my father and
mother who lived in the village of Commerce I, a mere boy, visited the
then village, now the city of Pontiac. The workmen were employed in
what seemed to me the hazardous occupation of putting in position the
iron figures of four large American eagles with outspread wings, which
were placed upon a tower arising from the center of the roof of the
building.
"It was stated by Mr. Perry that the active members of the Oakland
county bar at the time of the dedication of the building were Thomas J.
Drake; William Draper, Morgan L. Drake, Moses Wisner, Randolph
Manning, Augustus C. Baldwin, Charles Draper, A. B. Cudworth, Loren
L. Treat, Michael E. Crofoot, Jacob Van Valkenburg and Junius Ten
Eyck. It was my good fortune to know all of them except William
Draper and Randolph Manning, the last of whom was a justice of the
supreme court. For all these men the door on noiseless hinges has swung
wide and ushered them into what we call eternal life.
"Among the greatest lawyers I have ever known were Moses Wisner,
Augustus C. Baldwin and Michael E. Crofoot. Had the last named lived
in the metropolis of the state, he could have divided the honor which was
held for so many years by the able and learned George Van Ness Lothrop
of being recognized as standing at the head of the legal profession of
Michigan. Augustus C. Baldwin was a member of the legislature, a member of congress and circuit judge, and lived until a little more than a
year ago. Moses Wisner, as you all know, was governor of the state and
died while colonel of the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry. His handwriting was of such a character as to be almost indecipherable. Judge
A. H. Wilkinson of Detroit, an Oakland county boy who was admitted to
practice in Pontiac, related an occurence which happened in the old court
room. Thomas J. Drake who usually wore a silk hat, was a spare, thin
man, very careful of his personal appearance. Morgan L. Drake cared
little for dress, and one day when Thomas J. Drake came into the court
room to present a motion to the judge and placed his silk hat bottomside up on the table near Morgan L., he picked up an ink-stand and emptied its contents into the head covering. After completing his argument,
Thomas J. Drake took up his hat and with a dignified air started to leave
the room. Just before getting to the door he put his hat upon his head
with the result you might expect and, while the ink was running over
his face, he turned to the presiding judge and said 'I desire to solemnly
protest against the effort of Moses Wisner to write his name in my hat.'
"Upon the occasion of bidding farewell to the old court room it was
recalled by Judge Jacokes that in the old room Horace Greeley had delivered an address, and the citizens had from that rostrum heard the
political issues of the day discussed by such eminent men as Schuyler S.
Colfax, Thomas M. Hendricks, John C. Breckenridge and Cassius M.
Clay.
"It was also recalled that when fighting Dick Richardson, a favorite
not only of Oakland county-but of the commonwealth of Michigan, laid
down his life that the nation might be saved, his body lay in state for
three days in the old court room and was visited by thousands of people
who had respected and loved him. It was also recalled that when the