Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 February 1912 — RENSSELAER ATTORNEY IN BIG CHICAGO LAWSUIT [ARTICLE]

RENSSELAER ATTORNEY IN BIG CHICAGO LAWSUIT

W. H. Parkison Trying to Get Share of J. J. Lawler Property for Mike -.Lawler’s Children.

W. H. Parkison, a Rensselaer attorney, has been in Chicago quite a little lately, where he is working t» secure for the widow of Michael Lawler, a division of the lands and property of John J. Lawler, the extensive Jasper and Newton county land owner and Chicago cattleman. For some years Mike Lawler was associated with his brother John in business and frequently came to Rensselaer with him. - Mike died two or three years ago and Mr. Parkison associated himsel with a Chicago attorney, named Samuel C. Herron, and together they represented Mike’s widow and her two children in an effort to procure a division of the estate of John J. Lawler, contending that John and Mike were full partners in the'business and the land ownership and that .Mike’s widow was entitled to half of the big estate. Attorney Parkison worked diligently for a long time on the matter and just at a time when he thought he bad it in good shape he was surprised one day to receive a check from his Chicago collegue for $250, stating that the case had been satisfactorily settled and that was his part of the attorney fee allowed by the court. Attorney Parkison was not satisfied and determined to ascertain the nature of the settlementteuade. He went to Chicago and found out that Mrs. Lawler had been given $15,00 and each of her two children $2,500 and that the attorney Cor them had been given SIO,OOO. The attorney, who had permitted Mr. Parkison to do practically all the work had sent him only $250 out of the large fee. Mr. Parkison went to* the court, Judges Charles S. Cutting, and laid the matter before him. He found Judge Cutting thoroughly fair and honest and the Judge appointed Attorney John A Swanson to make an investigation with a view to reopening the case. Attorney Parkison feels convinced that the court was deceived by the attorney with whom he was formerly associated and that the settlement would never have been permitted had the court been familial with the conditions. He hopes to -be able to have the case reopened and tc represent the widow of Mike Lawlei in« an effort to secure a division of the property of John J. Lawler.

to perpetuate bis memory, according to the widow. Mrs. Springer spent Wednesday discussing with architects and builders her plans for erecting cottages in her proposed industrial colony near Kniman, Ind. At the end of the conference she announced that she would take no definite steps for building until she had conferred with Frank Lloyd Wright, the Oak Park architect. Mrs. Springer said Mr. Wright will be one of her advisers, and she would probably depend upon his counsel in planning her buildings for the poor of Chicago whom she proposes to turn into agriculturists. Mr. Wright is now on his second spiritual hegira with Mamah Borthwick Cheney in hie bungalow at Spring Green, Wis. He as well as Oscar Lowell Triggs, is in somewhat of an exile, but Mrs. Springer plans to call both of them back and use their ideas in the execution of her industrial project. “Mrs. Springer’s colony is to be more than a purely agricultural one. Some of the pet ideas of Triggs on industrial art which he exploited inChicago years ago will be worked out if possible. “We will try to train craftsmen and artisans and to teach them to make with their own hands useful and beautiful things,” says Mrs. Springer. "My husband had decided views on purely utilitarian art It was his theory that usefullness should be the first prerogative in the construction of all things and it would necessarily follow that the < articles would be beautiful.

“Mr. Springer hated all useless things. That is the reason why be insisted on having ju> monument built over his grave. He used to say to me: "Don’t throw stones at the dead, but give bread to the living.’ He Insisted that graveyards yere the ugliest places In the land, because they were cluttered up with useless stones.”

The Springer lands in Jasper county have for some years been largely managed by Ex-Sheriff John O’Connor, of Kniman, who will probably have general management of the proponed settlement The tone Of the Tribune article will sound very strange here, in view of the fact that for some years the Springer Jasper county land has been mortgaged to almost its value and that for the past two years there hap

been a foreclosure proceeding in the Jasper circuit court This proceeding has been continued from term to tern by agreement of the parties, but it is generally considered here that Mr. Springer’s affairs have not been ir shape to undertake any real philanthropy and that his widow will be unable to put into practice the ideas expressed to The Tribune.