CHAPTEK XXVI. 



THE ILLINOIS JUDICIAL ELECTIONS. 



THE FIRST CHARGE ALONG THE LINE. 



The judicial elections in Illinois, in the summer of 1873, 

 have the distinction of being the occasion on which the 

 Farmers Movement first showed its strength. There had 

 been plenty of speeches made, resolutions passed, and me 

 morials drafted, and the several bodies were in a tolerably 

 well organized shape. Farmers had become aware that the 

 only remedy for their grievances was a radical one the 

 use of the ballot-box. The first opportunity for a display 

 of their power came in June, 1873, when the time came 

 around for the election of Judges for the local courts, and 

 two Justices for the Supreme Bench. 



One of the retiring Justices was Chief Justice Lawrence, 

 a gentleman of unblemished name, and a jurist of very high 

 attainments. It was before Judge Lawrence that the ap 

 peal from the ruling of Judge Tipton, in the McLean County 

 test case, was heard, and it was by him that the decision 

 that the Illinois railroad law was unconstitutional was ren 

 dered. The attorneys of the Fifth Judicial District, where 

 the election was to take place, memoralized Judge Lawrence 

 to allow himself to be put in nomination for re-election, to 

 which he consented. The farmers felt themselves slighted 

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