The Great Reaper

Last Wednesday the people of this city, those connected with the University especially, were shoeked to leara of the sudden death of Hon. Wm. P. Wells, kent professor of law in the law department of the University. He was attending court at Detroit on that day and had just completed a brief argument. Taking his seat he commenced a conversation with an attorney, when all at once, without any warning his head dropped upon his friend's shoulder, and life went out almost in an instant. It is thought the cause was the bursting of one of the large blood vessels of the heart. He feit that death would come very suddenly to him, when it did come, and his son accompanied him to the court room that day because of this feeling. His remains were removed to his home in that city, and the sad news of tfye death communicated to his many friends. THE FUNERAL. The funeral of Prof. Wells was held at Detroit on Friday afternoon. The entire law faculty, President Angelí and upwards of 200 students of the law department attended, going by special train, and eaeh wearing the University colors, draped with mourning. They marched from the city hall in Detroit with the members of the Detroit bar to St. Paui's church, where the Episcopal service was observed. There were a large number of floral offerings, the finest being the one given by the students. BIOGEAPHICAL. The following is a brief biographical sketch of Prof. Wells : William Palmer Wells was born at St. Albans, Vermont, February 15, 1831. He received an academie education at the Franklin County Grammar School, at St. Albans, and then entered the University of Vermont, at Burlington, and after spending four years graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1851, and A. M. in 1854. After graduation he commenced the study of law at St. Albans. In 1852 he entered the law school of Harvard University, and in 1854 graduated with the degree of LL. B., receiving the highest honors of his class for a thesis on "The Adoption of the Principies of Equity Junsprudence into the Administration of the Common Law." The same year he received the degree of M. A. from the University of inont, and in 1854 was admitted to the bar of his native state at St. Albans. In January, 1856, he settled in Detroit, entering the law office of James V. Campbell. In March followiug he was admitted to the bar of Michigan, and in November of the same year became a partner of James V. Campbell, the partnership continuing until Judge Campbell's accession to the bench in 1858, as one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Michigan. From that time to the present, Professor Wells continued the practice of luw alone in Detroit. In 18(54 he was elected to the Michigan legislature. He was a member of the Detroit board of education at one time, and was nominated by President Johnson for assistant secretary of the treasury, but his noinination was not confirmed by the Senate, which was politically opposed to Johnson. He was a vice-president of the American Free Trade League. In 1874-1875, during the leave of absence of Judge Charles I. Walker, kent professor of law, Professor Wells was appointed to the vacancy. On Judge Walker's resignation, in 1870, he was appointed to the professorship, - a position he held until December, 1885, when he resigned because of the interference of its duties with his legal practice. The subjects assigned to this professorship, and of which Professor Wells had charge, were Corporations, Contracts, Commercial Law generally, Partnership and Agency. Upon his resignation an address was presented to him by the students, and resolutions of commendation adopted by the Regency. From January 1 , 1887, to the close of the college year, he held the position of lecturer on Constitutional History and Constitutional Law in the literary department, temporarily discharging the duties of Judge Cooley. In June, 1887, he was again called by the Regency to the Kent Professorship in the law school. Professor Wells was one of the earliest members of the American Bar Association, and for several years had been a member of General Council, and in 1888 was elected chairman of the General Council. SENATE MEMORIAL. The pages of our journal record the fact that during the past few years the University Senate has been sorely afliicted. Death has overtaken many of our most valuable counsellors, many of the oldest and most widely known of our number, and in the midst of our bereavement over the recent death of Professor Winchell, we are burdened with a new sorrow. On the fourth day of March, 1891, at the city of Detroit, William Palmer Wells, kent professor of law in the law department of the University of Michigan, died while in the active performance of his professional duties before the Wayne Circuit Court. He had just finished a short argument upon a question of minor importance, and appeared to be in perfect health, free f rom any physical or mental depression. Deatli came without Kiving my warning whatsoever. The people of the State of Michigan have met with a srreat loss. Professor Wells was, in the truest sense of the term, a public man. His time w;is freely given to the consideration of questions of national and state importance, and he was always ready and well equipped. In the many serious controversie8 that have ansen during the past thirty years over legal, eduoational, and political subjects, so comprehensive was his knowledge that he was seldom excluded from the forum of discussion for want of technical learning. He was a wise counsellor, and his views were eagerly sought for. ile frequently expressed them from the rostrum, and here he had but few equals. The force of his logic, the elegance of his diction, and the dignity and earnestness with which he discussed an issue, always commanded the admiration and respect of his adversarles. He gave much time to the study of problems in social and political economies. He was a vice-president of the American Free Trade League, and an honorary member of the Cobden Club of England. His opinions upon these questions were expressed on many public occasions, but it would be idle to attempt to enumérate his addresses. Those, however, which have attracted the most attention, are: "The Relations of Educated Men to American Politics," delivered to the associated alumni of the TTniversity ofVermont; "The Legislative Power in a Free Commonwealth," delivered at the legislative reunión in Lansing, in 1886 ; and "The Dartmouth College Case and Private Corporations," delivered the same year before the American Bar Association. In politics Professor Wells took an active part, but of political warfare that did not involve the discussion of principies he knew nothing; a strong party man, but not a politician in the popular sense. The people of the state mourn the loss of one who gave much of his best thought to the solution of vital public questions, without expecting or receiving any reward from the emoluments of office. He will be missed in the councils of the state. But íew men at the bar of this state have had a larger professional acquaintance than Professor "Wells. For the period of thirty-five years he was actively engaged in the "practice of law in the state and federal courts. He met in the trial of causes many practitioners of national reputation, and argued important constitutional queations before some of the ablest jurists of our country. He stood in the front rank of his profession, and glorifled t by his high standard of professional honor and legal attainment. He did not practice law as a means to the acquirement of wealth. Too often, perhaps, for bis own good he forgot the honorarium. To him the law was a sublime science, and the practice of the law a noble profession, which brought its reward in something other than financial resulta. Some of his most valuable work was without compensation. He was one of the members of the American Bar Association, and for several years a member of its Supreme Council. He has contributed mach to the advancement of law as a science and a profession. In 1874 Mr. Wells was appointed kent professor of law in the University of Michigan, which position he filled until December 1885, when his legal practice demanded his resignation. In June 1887, he was again called to the kent professorship, a position which he continued to occupy until his death. At the outset of his work in the University, Prof. Wells clearly indicated that his early training had been in the hands of masters. His student life was spent under the severe curriculum of the New England colleges of forty years ago. In 1851, he received the degree of bachelor of arts from the University of Vermont, and in 1854, the degree of master of arts from the same institution and the degree of bachelor of laws from Harvard University. Among his instructors at the Harvard law school were such men as Joel Parker, known to this day as the chief justice of New HampBhire, and Theophilus Parsons, still the leading authority on contracts in our courts. It is easy to see the influence of these great minds upon Professor Wells. The method of instruction, known as the lecture system, which they had adopted in the Harvard law school, and which was introduced in that institution by Joseph Story and Simon Greenleaf, was followed by Prof. Wells and his associates in the law department of our University. It is with a feeling of profound sorrow that we note the withdrawal from active service, of the last member of that distinguished law faculty, which may be said to have been influential in establishing our present system of instruction. As a law professor, Prof. Wells was a marked man among us, peculiarly qualified forthe position which he filled. Hia vast experience in litigation, his profound knowledge of technical law, his clearness of thought and force of expression, rendered his lectures of ffreat value to the students. Thousands of young men in this country mourn with as to-day over the loss sustained by the law department of the University. Above the average lawver, Professor Wells was distinguished for his broad ind liberal culture. During the year 1887, while engaged in the active practice of technicaJ law, he delivered lectures upon constitutional history anc constitutional law in the literary de parttnent of the University. The fac that he (lid this work so well only ind cates the compass of his mimi. No many active practitioners would fee themselves equipped for such an under taking. In liis person Prof. Wells was a dignifled and genial gentleman. liis manners were almost faultless. He was unobtrusive, but cordial, and, being somewhat retired in his habita, sought but little recreation in society. His leisure hours were spent in study. With the students he was patiënt ancf painstaking, and always in full gympathy with tlieir work. Ae a membêr of the faculty, he was a kind and considérate counsellor, uninfluenced by any pet theories or peculiar notions. We could always count upon his doing the right thing." During the present year, Prof. Wells has been in the regular performance of his duties in the University, and by previous arrangement was to have lectured to the law students last Friday, the day on which the law faculty and some three hundred students of the law department attended his funeral at St. Paui's church in the city of Detroit. The University Senate appreciating his most excellent qualities of mimi and heart, sympathize with the members of his family in this hourof deep sorrow.