Manning Monitor
Judge B. I. Salinger Rites Held Monday
Judge B. I. Salinger, well known politician, died at his home at 726 North Main Street, Carroll, Iowa, Friday morning, July 10, 1931. The deceased was 71 years of age.
Funeral services were held Monday at the home with Rev. S. Grant Lewis of Harlan in charge.
Judge Salinger was the son of German people, poor, but of good stock. Through hard toil and endless effort this boy studied and worked his way upward. After teaching school for some time he studied law and finally received a seat on the supreme court bench of the state.
He was widely known as an orator and for many years was campaign speaker for the republican national committee. He delivered the Memorial day address at Carroll this year.
Benjamin I. Salinger was born May 14, 1860, in Wronke, Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, he came to the United States at the age of nine years. His education was rather meager, his parents wanting him to fit himself for business, for which he had no taste. He worked at various occupations, ever determined to be a lawyer.
He studied whenever he could and spent some time at Cornell college. He was known at that time as "The Boy Orator." For a time he practiced law in Spencer, but because of his extreme youth failed.
In 1880 he was married to Miss Lucy M. Boylan. He then came to Manning where he organized a school, and taught here for two years, the directors paying part and the patrons part.
He was admitted to the bar before Judge Loofborrow in Audubon and was soon afterward naturalized in Carroll. After a brief association in the nature of a partnership P. Brigham and J.W. Lindsay, Mr. Salinger practiced here until the fall of 1897 when he removed to Carroll and formed a law partnership with Geoge Korte. He had a large practice in law courts of Western Iowa.
Mr. Salinger was recognized as one of the ablest campaign speakers in the United States.
His Political Career ---- From "Progressive Men of Iowa"
He was chairman of the congressional convention which first nominated J.P. Dolliver for congress in 1888, and the speech he made there made him famous. The republican national committee sent him to the Atlantic coast to make speeches for Harrison and he spoke about thirty times in New York City. The next year he was chairman of the republican state convention. He was always a republican and for many years was one of its chief speakers in every campaign.
In 1894, he was elected reporter of the supreme court and re-elected in 1898. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, of the United Workmen, and the Knights of Pythias. He had no opposition for election to the position of Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias in Iowa in 1899.
Judge Salinger was elected to the supreme bench of Iowa in November 1914, and took office the following year. He was one of the first two elected under the non-partisan judiciary law, which was later repealed. He served one term of six years.
After his service on the bench he was appointed a special prosecutor by the United States department of Justice and prosecuted important cases for the government. Later he had important cases before the supreme court of the United States.
In his later years of practice, which he carried on alone, he had few jury cases and did not often make personal appearances in court.
A writer of voluminous and painstaking briefs, Judge Salinger was the opposite as a speaker. He did not make long speeches, but had the happy faculty of concentrating his thoughts in comparatively few words. A master of the language, his orations were remembered and treasured by his auditors.
Mr. Salinger is survived by his widow and three children.
They are Benjamin I., Jr., of Chicago, Louis H., and Mrs. J.P. Minchen of Carroll.
Mr. Salinger was a member of Manual lodge 450 and Salona Chapter 231 of Manning. He had never transferred to Carroll.
The following from Manning attended the funeral: Douglas Rogers, Mrs. Ray Jeager, Henry Frahm, Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Easterly, Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Carpenter, Mr. and Mrs. W. Potthast, O.W. Wyatt, Clifford Johnson, R. Essbach, C.C. Kenyon, J.A. Lewis, H.E. Meyers, W.B. Parrott, Dr. R.B. Kelsey, Mrs. H.D. Hinz, P.H. Jones.
Judge Salinger's health had not been the best in later years but he had not been thought seriously ill. He had been at the office yesterday. A poor boy, son of Christian people of good stock but not of many material possessions and himself an immigrant to this country with his parents, he worked his way upwards...
Benjamin I. Salinger, was born May 14, 1860, Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, and was brought to the U.S. at the age of 9 years. The family settled in Butler County. The father's name was Louis Salinger and his mother's name was Rosalia Simmer. Louis Salinger had been in his day, a fur buyer and merchant and after his retirement lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Benjamin attended schools in Germany from the time he was 5 years old until he came to this country. After that time he had a varied experience trying to get an education. The family was poor and wanted him to earn money and fit himself for business for which he had no taste, preferring to read and study. The boy had a rather hard life for a few years and engaged in quite a few occupations, such as farming, clerking, working in a bank, all the time determined to be a lawyer.
He studied whenever he could, went to school some, spent some time at Cornell College at Mt. Vernon, and then started out as the "boy orator" delivering an address titled "Women want bread as well as ballot." He started teaching school and was befriended by Judge Chase of Webster City.
He moved to Ida County, where he taught school near where Holstein now stands. The wages were small and the tribulations many. When his school was finished he herded cattle and worked for farmers at such jobs as he could get, all the time keeping up his reading by getting books from a small circulating library in Ida Grove...
While working as a farm hand he met his present wife, and after he began to teach near Cherokee, used to walk across the country fourteen miles to see her. Subsequently he taught the winter term of school in that neighborhood and boarded at her father's house.
In the spring of 1880, he was married to this young woman, Miss Lucy M. Boylan, and managed to get to Manning where he organized a school, the directors paying part and the patron's part. He remained there in that position two years, working under many difficulties. The school grew to six rooms, scattered in store rooms on the Main Street. He did other teaching at the same time and kept up his law studies.
He was admitted to the bar before Judge Loofborrow in Audubon and was soon afterward naturalized in Carroll and went into partnership with Emory S. Blazer who involved the firm in liabilities, which Mr. Salinger conscientiously paid to the last cent, partly by traveling for one of the insurance companies that Blazer had wronged.
After a brief association in the nature of a partnership with L.P. Brigham and J.W. Lindsay, Mr. Salinger practiced alone until the fall of 1897 when he removed to Carroll and formed a law partnership with George W. Korte.
He had a large practice in law courts of western Iowa. Mr. Salinger was recognized as one of the ablest campaign speakers in the United States and had been engaged by the national committee in all parts of the country.
He was chairman of the congressional convention which first nominated J.P. Dolliver for congress and the speech he made there made him famous. The republican national committee sent him to the Atlantic coast to make speeches for Harrison and he spoke about thirty times in New York City. The next year he was chairman of the state Republican convention. In 1894, he was elected reporter of the Supreme Court and re-elected in 1898.
Judge Salinger was elected to the Supreme Bench of Iowa in November 1914 and took office the following year. He was one of the first two elected under the non-partisan judiciary law, which was later repealed. He served one term of six years. After his service on the bench he was appointed a special prosecutor by the United States Department of Justice and prosecuted important cases in Chicago for the government. Later he had important cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
In his later years of practice, which he carried on alone, he had few jury cases and did not often make personal appearances in court. A writer of voluminous and painstaking briefs, Judge Salinger was the opposite as speaker. He did not make long speeches, but had the happy faculty of concentrating his thoughts in comparatively few words. A master of the language, his orations were remembered and treasured by his auditors.
Mr. Salinger is survived by his widow and three children. They are Benjamin I. Jr., of Chicago; Louis H., and Mrs. J.P. Minchen of Carroll.
Burial was in City Cemetery, Carroll, Iowa.