HON. GEORGE FLOURNOY, JR., who has signally distinguished the office of City and County Attorney of San Francisco, and who is yet one of the very youngest of my subjects, is a native of Texas, and is now (1889) about thirty-two years of age. He is the son of Col. George Flournoy, the noted advocate of the San Francisco bar, who long stood in the front rank of lawyers in the Lone Star State. The son was educated at Georgetown College, in the District of Columbia. He afterwards attended and graduated from the Law College at Richmond, Va. He began the practice of law in San Francisco, on his arrival from Texas in the year 1870. As a member of the prominent law firm of Flournoy, Mhoon & Flournoy, he soon justified the expectation of his father and his father's admirers. After about seven years' practice in this connection he received the unanimous nomination of the Democratic Convention for City and County Attorney of San Francisco, and was elected over Hon. John Lord Love, who was then the incumbent of the office, and who had been Attorney General of the State.

This, his first election, was in November, 1886. When his party convention was about to nominate for the office, the chairman of that body, Mr. I. Gutte, an influential and opulent merchant of the city, himself presented Mr. Flournoy's name. Mr. Russell J.Wilson, as a member of the bar, made a speech seconding the nomination, warmly testifying to his personal knowledge of Mr. Flournoy's sterling worth as a man, and of his eminent fitness for the place of counselor to the great city. Mr. Charles L. Ackerman followed on behalf of the bar, with these words:

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: I feel I should be wanting in a courtesy which I owe to this convention, and above all, to my esteemed friend, young Flournoy, if I remained silent at this the supreme moment of his political life. Who is there who has ever sat under the magic spell of old Flournoy's voice? [Applause.] Who is there that has witnessed him in his efforts at the bar or in the forum, when with matchless eloquence he has soared with easy wing to the highest heaven of fancy, but must admit and feel that something of the overflowing genius of that grand old apostle of Democracy must be the true inheritance of his lineal descendant? Let a man be ever so adverse to learning, let him be indifferent to books, but let him be reared under so eloquent a tutor as old Flournoy, and he must become a man of varied scholarship. But independent of the associations of father and son, I feel that I can safely say in this presence, and to the bar of the city and to the people at large, that the same industry, the same inspiration, the same genius that has elevated Flournoy Sr., to proud eminence, where he now stands, will in but a short time place his son proudly by his side. [Applause.] We ask, therefore, this nomination of young Flournoy, not as a requital of the services his gifted father may have rendered, but because he himself possesses that ability which justly entitles him to that office. Nominate him, gentlemen, and if elected it will be but placing a wreath of honor upon the brow of merit.

Mr. Flournoy so conducted his important office that at the end of his first term of two years his party re-nominated him by acclamation, and he was again elected Mr. Gutte was a member of the nominating convention,

and again presented his name with words of hearty commendation. I leave him in the office which his legal knowledge, his patience, energy and judgment have so signally adorned.

One of the most vigorous of the younger members of the San Francisco bar is Mr. JOSEPH ROTHSCHILD, who was born in that city in 1854. Mr. Rothschild attended the public schools of his native place, and afterward the State University. After graduating from the latter institution he entered Vale College, and pursued a two years' course of study in the law department thereof. He was presented by his classmates there with "the scales of justice," a prize given annually to the most popular student in the law class. After being admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Connecticut he returned to San Francisco, and at once entered upon the active work of the profession. He enjoyed a large acquaintance, and his talents and energy of character found quick recognition. He is one of the few for whom important cases seem to be waiting, and from the inception of his professional career he has been one of our busiest practitioners.

In the sphere of the fraternal orders Mr. Rothschild has long been prominent, and has accomplished much useful work. Among the places he holds is that of President of the I. O. B. B., a body representative of the wealth and intellect of our Hebrew citizens, and whose jurisdiction covers the entire Pacific coast. It is a signal proof of merit that those who know him best place him first.

Mr. Rothschild has had a leading part in local and State politics, in which field he has also attracted attention as a forcible speaker. He was elected by the Democracy a member of the San Francisco Board of Education, and served the two years' term, 1887-88. Besides having an important chairmanship, he was the trusted legal adviser of the Board. He was one of the minority of well-known lawyers who urged upon the people the adoption of the new Constitution of 1879. As a speaker, among Mr. Rothschild's happiest efforts thus far are to be named his response to the toast of "The Press," before the Grand Lodge I. O. B. B., at Sacramento, January 30, 1885, and his response to the toast of "The Bar," at the memorable Democratic Banquet at San Francisco, May 20, 1884.

The father of Mr. Rothschild died in San Francisco in May, 1888, leaving a considerable estate.

CHAPTER XLIII.

John H. Boalt-A Graduate of Amherst-A Mining and Mechanical Engineer-At the Universities of Heidelberg and Freiburg-In the War of the Rebellion-Turns to the Law in Nevada-On the Bench-Removal to San Francisco-On the Great Blythe Case -Personal Notes-His Bohemian Good Bye to George T. Bromley.

The kind reader will please turn his eye now to the most conspicuous figure in the great array of counsel in the famous Blythe case-that is, the determined struggle that is progressing in San Francisco over the four million dollar estate of the late Thomas H. Blythe. In such commanding view is the brilliant and busy bar leader whose story makes this chapter-a man, too, of signal attainments, who has "still found leisure for letters and philosophy."

John Henry Boalt was born at Norwalk, Ohio, on the 29th day of March, 1837. After graduating at Amherst College, he concluded to make mining and mechanical engineering his profession, and with that end in view he went to Germany, and spent one year in study at Heidelberg, and two years at the famous mining school at Frieburg, at which so many of our leading mining experts and engineers graduated. After completing his course at these universities, he spent some months travelling in Europe preparatory to his return to the United States. Our great war breaking out, he at once returned, entered the army and was appointed lieutenant in Company D of the 11th Ohio cavalry. He was soon after transferred to the Signal Corps, and placed on the staff of General Curtis at Fort Leavenworth, where he served until the close of the war.

Nevada had now been admitted as a State; the great Comstock lode had been discovered, and was yielding its output of the precious metals in such richness and quantity as had never before been known in the annals of mining. Naturally the young man turned his attention to this Eldorado. He located at Austin, Nevada, then a thriving mining camp called the Reese River Mining District, newly discovered in Lander county, and supposed at that time to equal if not excel the famous Comstock lode at Virginia City. Everything was life, activity, and speculation. In 1865 he formed a partnership at Austin with Charles A. Stetefeldt in the mining and assaying business. It was during their partnership that the Stetefeldt Furnace Company was formed, for the purpose of reducing metalliferous ores. The process, in which he was one of the promoters and owners, was patented, and from its success he and his associates derived a large revenue.

But this was not the vocation in life that came naturally to him. He soon abandoned it for the broader field of the law. His intimate associates at this time were members of the bar, and Austin had a bar which would be eminent in any city. Men of great legal attainments had come from all parts of the country, allured by accounts of the fabulous wealth of this new mining region. With such associates it is not strange that he drifted into the legal profession. His instincts, too, all turned in that direction. He delighted in discussing legal propositions, and loved the law as a science. If there is anything in the theory of heredity, it is well exemplified in his case. He came of a long line of illustrious ancestors, on both sides of his house, eminent in the legal profession as well as in politics and public life. His father, Charles L. Boalt, was a lawyer of large practice and high reputation in northern Ohio. His mother was a daughter of Roger Griswold, a great jurist in his day, and Secretary of War under John Adams; his greatgrandfather, Matthew Griswold, was governor of Connecticut, and president of the convention of that State which accepted the constitution of the United States; his great great grandfather, Roger Walcott, was governor of Connecticut, and father of Oliver Wolcott, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; his great uncle, Matthew Griswold, was Chief Justice of the State of Connecticut; and his uncle, Ebenezer Lane, was for a long period Chief Justice of the State of Ohio.

When the county of White Pine was formed out of Lander county, Judge Beatty, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, was Judge of the 6th Judicial District, Lander County, Nevada. He resigned to take the office of Judge of the new county of White Pine, and Judge Eoalt was appointed to fill his unexpired term, upon the unanimous request of the bar of Austin. At the expiration of his term of office he moved to San Francisco. He has never since held, nor been an aspirant for, any office. While devoting his time, however, exclusively to his profession, he has always evinced an active interest in politics, and upon all the leading issues of the day he has taken a prominent place. With his pen and in public speeches he has contributed much to the formation of public sentiment. An article published by him in the Overland Monthly in November, 1888, on the silver question-a masterly and exhaustive treatise on that intricate political problem has been largely quoted from by the leading statesmen of the day.

He read a paper on the Chinese question before the Berkeley club in August, 1877, in which he favored the exclusion of the Chinese race, as a policy necessary to the perpetuity of our form of government, and the advancement of our best interests. In this paper he showed conclusively that the Caucasian and Mongolian races are non-assimilating, and cannot live together harmoniously on the same soil unless one be in a state of servitude to the other. To him is largely due the agitation of the question of Chinese

immigration in the California legislature of 1877-78, which culminated in the passage of an act calling for a popular vote to test the views of the people of the State of California on the Chinese question. Hon. Creed Haymond, then in the State Senate, proposed the act and referred to this paper of Judge Boalt's as its source.

In his profession his education as a mining expert has stood him in good stead. In the great case of the Holmes Mining Company against the Northern Belle Mill and Mining Company, tried in the United States Circuit Court at Carson, Nevada, in which he was one of the leading counsel for the Holmes company, this was strikingly exemplified in the cross-examination of the expert witnesses of the opposing side. So successful was his advocacy in that case that his clients are now the owners of the whole of the Northern Belle Mining ground. He was leading counsel in the case of the United States against the Sierra Lumber Company, in which the defendants were charged with trespass for cutting timber on government land to an amount exceeding two millions of dollars in value. Although the plaintiff got a judgment, the amount was reduced to less than forty thousand dollarsreally a great victory for the defendants.

Judge Boalt first came to San Francisco in 1871, and soon thereafter the law partnership of Estee & Boalt was formed, which continued in existence until 1879, when it was dissolved by mutual consent. Judge Boalt then retired for a time from practice, and with his family went to Europe, where he spent about two years in travel. Returning to San Francisco he opened an office alone. He at once entered into a large, lucrative, and varied prac▪ tice, among his clients being some of the leading men of California, engaged in mining and other large industries. He also devoted much of his time to the law of patents, in which branch of practice he has achieved an enviable reputation.

While Judge Boalt is technical as a lawyer, his views are broad, and in all questions of legal intricacy his attention is given to the gist of the matter rather than to its form.

On the 1st of April, 1889, Judge Boalt formed a partnership with Hon: John Garber and Thomas B. Bishop. The firm of Garber, Boalt, & Bishop is in the estimation of some sound judges the strongest on the Pacific coast. Judge Boalt's argument lately delivered in the Superior Court of San Francisco for plaintiff on the demurrer of defendant, in the case of Spring Valley Water Works against the city and county of San Francisco, a case which has absorbed much of the public attention on account of its importance to the tax-payers of the city, is a masterly effort-one of the best products of his mind.

Judge Boalt is a man of fine presence, genial in disposition and universally beloved by his intimate associates. He is a great favorite with the bar,