20 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



For many years he had a wide practice and was engaged 

 in many cases of the greatest importance. He worked 

 unceasingly while carrying on a large practice and en- 

 gaged in intellectual exertions that would have exhausted 

 most men. But he never flagged; and in the midst of his 

 ardent professional labors he prepared a general digest 

 of the railway decisions that had been made in the United 

 States, which appeared in two volumes, under the title 

 of Lacey's Railway Digest, which came into general use 

 and made him known throughout the country. The first 

 edition of his work was published in 1875. Before that 

 he had prepared and published in one volume, a Digest 

 of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Iowa, supple- 

 menting the prior digests, each in one volume, of Judge 

 John F. Dillon and Professor William C. Hammond. I 

 may remark as a matter of legal history, that these were 

 supplemented by the digests prepared by the writer, in 

 four volumes, containing the decisions of the Supreme 

 Court from the earliest territorial period to the 57th Iowa 

 Report ; which in after years was in its turn superseded 

 by the Digest of Judge Emlin McClain. 



What has been said will, without entering into details, 

 illustrate not only his extraordinary ability and deep 

 learning as a lawyer, but also his working powers and 

 great endurance. To exemplify the latter qualities I may, 

 however, refer to the case of the State against Pleasant 

 Anderson for the murder of Chris McAllister, referred 

 to in my sketch of Daniel Anderson, and which attracted 

 wide public attention. I was employed to assist the 

 district attorney, John Donnell, of Sigourney, in the pros- 

 ecution; Major Lacey, with Judge H. B. Hendershott and 

 Daniel Anderson, appeared for the defense. The case 

 was tried at Oskaloosa, on change of venue from Wap- 

 ello county, and Major Lacey was active in conducting 

 the defense. The trial lasted two weeks with both day 



