The Green Bag September, 1911
Volume XXIII
Number 9
John Forrest Dillon BY GEORGE S. CLAY OF THE New YORK Crrv BAR YOUNG man, native of New York
State, by name John F. Dillon, a doctor of medicine, then just graduated and barely twenty years of age, left his home in Davenport, Iowa, in 1850,
to engage in the practice of his profes sion at the little town of Farmington, Iowa, on the Des Moines river. Fortu
nately for the legal profession, which now claims him as one of its most learned and illustrious members, the
conditions surrounding the practice of medicine at that time in the western country were too strenuous and exacting for his physical constitution to endure and he decided to return to his home
were loaned and his study of the law commenced.
On his return to Davenport he found it necessary to keep a drug store, and in his leisure continued the study of
law. He had no instructor or aid in his studies. As a law student he was never in a law office or a law school. But he was soon admitted to the bar,
became in 1852 prosecuting attorney of the county, and at the age of twenty seven was elected judge of the district court of the seventh judicial district of Iowa. He afterwards became judge of the Supreme Court of the state and was Chief Justice of that court when
During
appointed in 1869 by President Grant judge of the United States Circuit Court for the eighth judicial circuit.
the few months of his residence there he made the acquaintance of a young
with all the qualities requisite to a great
in Davenport.
He left Farmington with his mind
made up as to his life work.
lawyer, to whom he said one evening, "Howe, I have made a great mistake.
I cannot practise medicine in this coun try without being able to ride horse back, which I am utterly unable to do.
I might as well admit the mistake and turn my mind to something else. I shall read law. Tell me, what is the
first book that a student of the law re quires?" He answered, "Blackstone's Commentaries." “Have you got them?"
Judge Dillon was endowed by nature lawyer. He has a strong memory, con centration, industry, clearness of judg ment, and the ability to take a common
sense practical view of a case. A promi nent banker who frequently has occasion to obtain Judge Dillon's opinion of the legal aspects of his financial transactions is always desirous to know what the
Howe replied, “Yes, I have them and
Judge thinks of the matter in hand from the business side. "Ask the Judge," he would instruct his representative, "what he thinks of the ‘deal’ as an in
the Iowa Blue Book of Laws and those
vestor; would he put his own money
are the only books I have."
in the venture?"
The books
