ON. SAMUEL MAXWELL, congressman from the third district of Nebraska, is one of the oldest and most highly honored citizens of this state, and enjoys a

national reputation as a judge and author of works on legal procedure. He was born at Lodi, a suburb of Syracuse, New York, May 20, 1826, and received his early education in the common schools. He moved with his father to Michigan when Detroit was but a village, and worked out for a time, pursuing his studies under the direction of a relative who possessed a classical education. In this way young Maxwell mastered

the higher branches, and taught school. Samuel's first political interest dates back to the old Harrison campaign of 1840. His father was a radical whig and the boy devoured with avidity "Log Cabin" literature edited by Horace Greeley. Many of the campaign songs of that period are still fresh in the judge's memory. After several years' close application, the son placed his parents in a good home, with the title in their own names. In 1852 he purchased a farm in Michigan and the next year was elected township clerk. In 1856 he sold his farm, paid his father's debts, migrated to Nebraska, and pre-empted 160 acres of land near Plattsmouth, which he has cultivated and improved. He returned to Michigan and studied law, and in 1859 was admitted to the bar after a rigid examination in open court. He was elected a delegate from Cass county to the first republican territorial convention of Nebraska, and was elected representative to the legislature from that county. He was three times elected to the legislature, served with distinction as chairman of the judiciary committee of the house during his second term, and in 1866 assisted in framing the new state constitution. This same year he was elected to the first state legislature, which met at Omaha. In 1867 the governor appointed him commissioner to select site for the capitol building and university lands. He was a member of the second constitutional convention which met at Lincoln in 1871. In 1872 he was elected judge of the supreme court for the term of six years. Supreme judges at that time were also judges of the district court, and Judge Maxwell located in Fremont in 1873, as the most accessible point. He was elected to

the constitutional convention of 1875 from Dodge county, and served as chairman of the judiciary committee. He was elected judge of the supreme court under the new constitution and was twice re-elected, in 1881 and 1887. In 1886 he was nominated for congress by the friends of free coinage of gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, and was elected by a plurality of 4,854 votes. He has published several of the most valuable works used in the western states on judicial procedure, some of which have run through several editions.

ON. WILLIAM L. STARK, representative in congress from the fourth Nebraska district, is a well

known lawyer of state reputation. He was born July 29, 1853 at Mystic, Connecticut, of Pilgrim ancestry. His youthful experience was not out of the average for that locality. He attended school half of the year and was a sailor the other half. He graduated from the Mystic Valley Institute in 1872. Emigrating afterwards to Wyoming, Stark county, Illinois, he clerked in a store and taught school. In 1876 he entered the Union College of law at Chicago, and at the close of his course was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of that state, in January, 1878. The next month thereafter he located in Hamilton county, Nebraska, before the advent of a railroad to that region, put in a large crop, only to see his entire labor and expenses brought to naught by a terrific hailstorm. On this occasion, as he puts it, his bright signs of promise and confidence were soon exchanged for the few dollars he had left to invest. He became superintendent of the city schools of Aurora, serving two years, and was for many years thereafter a member of the board of education. Mr. Stark was once appointed and five times elected judge of the county court of Hamilton county and declined a sixth nomination. In 1896 he was nominated by the populists and democrats of his district, and after a most able and effective canvass was elected by a majority of 500 over all opposition. In 1878 he was married to Miss Gertrude Ellsworth at Malone, New York, and three children have blessed the union, two of whom are now living.