James Franklin Ailshie papers, 1902-1931

The majority of James Ailshie's correspondence is dated from late 1902, 1903, and early 1904. There are a few letters in 1906 and 1907, and then none until those in 1918 which deal with his plans to run for the short term Senate seat replacing the late Senator Brady.

On Wednesday, October 28, 1903, the Ailshie house in Grangeville burned to the ground. There are several letters in November and December sympathizing with Ailshie on his loss. Other letters inquire about his daughter's health.

When James Ailshie was elected to the Idaho supreme court in 1903 his legal work in Grangeville was given to A.S. Hardy and there are a number of letters between them dealing with legal matters. There are also many letters to Ailshie from clients concerning their cases, as well as some from friends which are of a personal nature. Other letters in 1903 include those to railway officials for transportation passes, and those to communications companies for franks.

When it was decided to build a supreme court building and library in Lewiston in 1903, Ailshie was asked to be on the commission, but, being on the court he declined the honor, citing Article 5, Section 7 of the state constitution. There are, however, many letters dealing with the library and building, notably those between Ailshie and James Babb, W.A. Hall, Hardy, and John Morrison.

When Judge Beaty resigned from the U.S. Court for the district of Idaho in March of 1907 Ailshie was a candidate to replace him. Some of the letters in 1906 and 1907 deal with this event.

Of particular interest to the University of Idaho Library is a letter to Judge Ailshie from Margaret Sweet of Grangeville dated January 27, 1904, in which she requests information on the new Lewiston Library. She states that her sister Belle is completing her studies at Illinois Library School and has accepted a position in Clinton, Iowa, but Margaret wishes her sister to be closer and therefore would like to send her information on the opportunity in Lewiston. In 1905, after spending a year in Clinton, Belle Sweet came to the University of Idaho, Moscow, as the only librarian, and remained until her retirement in 1948.

At the beginning of the first folder are several miscellaneous letters. The first, dated June 2, 1905, is a copy of a "chain letter" sent by Ailshie, the purpose of which was to raise money for a monument to President William McKinley in Ohio; the second is a carbon copy of the last two pages of an unsigned letter, probably written in 1918 or 1919, dealing with political matters; and the last is a letter from an unidentified writer which tells of the visit of Lucie Ailshie and the two Ailshie children to Tennessee, probably written in 1903.

The last folder, labeled "Strahorn-Steunenberg (1897)" contains letters between Robert E. Strahorn of Boston and Governor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho concerning the payment of a warrant issued by the Regents of the University of Idaho to an Isaac W. Sherrill of Poughkeepsie, New York, which was drawn on Moscow National Bank, at that time in the hands of the bank examiner. These letters, since they do not involve James Ailshie, are not listed in the following list of correspondents, nor have file cards been made.

File cards have been made for the correspondence of James Ailshie, giving date of the correspondence, whether the letter was incoming or outgoing, and In some cases the subject of the letter is also included on the card. The following list includes only names and years of correspondence.

Alphabetical by correspondent

In 1918, when James Ailshie was considering running for the U.S. Senate, he requested mailing lists from the office of the late Senator Brady and also from Representative Addison T. Smith. The lists he received, together with several others, are contained in this series. The first folder contains lists of active republicans which were sent to Ailshie by Representative Smith on April 6, 1918. These are organized by county and precinct and include the counties of Ada,, Adams, Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Blaine, Boise, Bonneville, Canyon, Cassia, Elmore, Freemont, Latah, and Treffrey precinct in Kootenai county. The second folder contains lists of county electors for Ada, Adams, Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Blaine, Boise, Bonner, Bonneville, Canyon, Cassia, Custer, Elmore, Franklin, Freemont, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lemhi, Lincoln, Nez Perce, Oneida, Owyhee, Twin Falls, and Washington counties. Some of these list only names, others include information on occupation, party affiliation, religion, and memberships in such organizations as Elks, Masons, or I.O.O.F. It should be mentioned that pages are frequently missing from these lists, so they cannot be considered as complete lists.

Following Smith's advice, Ailshie had a list compiled of Idaho club women; the list includes the counties of Ada, Adams, Bannock, Bonneville, Canyon, Cassia, Elmore, Freemont, Gooding, Kootenai, Latah, Lemhi, Lincoln, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Twin Falls, and Washington. Another list is that of the I.O.O.F. officers and secretaries. The sister group of the Odd Fellows, the Rebekah's, supplied Ailshie with a list of officers for 1918, and a copy of the 1914 list of secretaries.

Among the miscellaneous lists is one headed "List to go to Gem State Rural" which is dated July 28, 1914 and contains a penciled note that it was used as a mailing list in August of 1914. There is also a four page list of names typed on Senator Brady's official stationery which is presumably the portion of his mailing list which was supplied to Judge Ailshie.

The single folder of clippings contains articles from various Idaho newspapers giving the 1918 election results. There is also an article on Senator Borah's arrival in Idaho, and several miscellaneous short articles.

The first item in this series is a 23 page list headed "Mining Corporations Qualified to do Business in the State of Idaho. It contains the names and addresses of approximately 420 mining corporations, the mining district in which they operate, and the county in which the mine is located. More than half of the mining corporations listed operate in Shoshone County, others are in the counties of Ada, Adams, Bannock, Bear Lake, Benewah, Blaine, Boise, Bonner, Cassia, Clearwater, Custer, Elmore, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lemhi, Owyhee and Washington.

The first legal case is that of H.O. Brown and R.E. Brown (Brown Brothers Sheep Company) vs. A.N. House. The "Memorandum Brief" prepared for District Court of the Eleventh Judicial District of the State of Idaho in and for the county of Twin Falls, states that the purpose of the case is to determine if House and Hertz were partners at the time of the purchase of sheep, and if House is liable for the payment. The remaining attached sheets are legal citations. There is a four page section entitled "Burden of Proof," which deals, in legal terms, with the existence or non-existence of a partnership, but does not give specifics in regard to the Brown & Brown vs. House case. The next section, headed "Existence of a Partnership Question for Jury," is concerned with the jury's role in deciding if a partnership existed and whether a particular transaction was conducted by an individual or a partner on behalf of the firm. The final sheet is a "Notice of Issue" dated June 6, 1927.

The next case is R.C. Little vs. Myron H. Wells and L.A. Chapin. This case involves the right of Little to collect delinquent property taxes from the trustee and receiver in bankruptcy of the apartment building of William G. Reed. The documents were prepared for hearings in the District Court of the United States for the District of Idaho, Southern Division.

The first item is the "Brief of R.C. Little, Mortgage Lien Claimant" (In the Matter of William G. Reed, Bankrupt). It gives the history of the case: Reed borrowed money from Little's father to build an apartment house and gave the real estate first mortgage note, secured by real estate mortgage as security. Reed was to pay taxes and insurance, but defaulted in the payment of taxes in 1926, and also failed to insure the property; therefore, Little was compelled to pay the insurance premium. In February 1927 an involuntary petition in bankruptcy was filed against William Reed and trustees were appointed for the estate. Little then instituted a suit to foreclose the real estate mortgage; this action was permitted by the court. The trustees challenged the validity of the mortgage, but it was found to be valid.

The "Brief of R.C. Little, Mortgage Lien Claimant (Rents and Profits in Payment of Taxes)" gives a brief chronological history of the case, stating also that at the sale of the property R.C. Little became the purchaser for the amount of his lien. The court was then asked to decide whether he was to have the net rents and profits after the sale, but prior to his possession of the property, applied to the taxes.

The "Brief of the Defendants" was filed in response to an order directing them to show cause why the trustees should not be directed to pay the petitioner $5029.36 in delinquent taxes. This brief also deals with the estate of a bankrupt under Idaho Statutes. There are many penciled notes and underlinings on this copy of the brief.

When the decision of the court went against R.C. Little he appealed the decision. The final item concerning this case is a 62 page printed volume entitled "Transcript of the Record" prepared for the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This contains the major District Court proceedings dealing with the case, including the petition for appeal. The clerks certificate of accuracy of the transcript is dated April 6, 1929.

In 1910 the Potlatch Lumber Company made application to purchase approximately 24,000 acres of state land in Latah and Clearwater counties, in the vicinity of Elk River, having already purchased the timber on the land. The "Argument of the Potlatch Lumber Company in Support of Application to Purchase the Fee Simple Title to Approximately 24,000 Acres of State Land, the Timber on Which it Already Owns" dated June 20, 1910, states that when the timber was purchased in 1902 the company was given 20 years in which to remove it. Now the timber they want is remote and difficult to log, and cannot be removed economically in a short time without using destructive logging methods. They give various mathematical calculations pointing out why it would be more profitable for the state to sell the land to them now than offer it for general sale after it was logged.

On June 30, 1911, C.A. Hagan, Chairman of Latah County Republican Central Committee, and Wm. E. Lee, Secretary of the same organization, sent a letter to the members of the Idaho State Land Board protesting the proposed sale of land to the Potlatch Lumber Company, suggesting the land should go instead to individuals who would use it for agriculture and stock raising. They also suggest postponing a decision on the sale of the land until after the next general election, thus giving the people a chance to express their opinion.

The third and final item is entitled "In the Matter of the Proposed Sale of 24,000 Acres of State Land to the Potlatch Lumber Company. Argument of the Potlatch Lumber Company Before the State Board of Land Commissioners, Boise, Idaho, August 2, 1911.11 This simply reiterates the contents of their previous argument dated June 20, 1910, and adds that for reasons of conservation much of the timber should be left standing for a number of years. It also discusses the reaction of individuals in the area who hold small timber plots to the proposed sale of such a large tract of land to the Potlatch Lumber Company.

The case of United States vs. William F. Kettenbach, George H. Kester, William Dwyer and Harvey J. Steffey was heard in the District Court of the United States for the District of Idaho, Northern Division. The four defendants were indicted by the grand jury on November 5, 1909 on three counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States out of large tracts of timber land, by inducing others to buy the land, then to convey it to one of the defendants. After the indictment was returned, demurrers and pleas in abatement were filed by Kettenbach, Kester, and Dwyer. The first legal document in this case is entitled "Brief of Defendants on Plea in Abatement"; it charges that the jury received "illegal and incompetent evidence" and that the "Court gave the Grand Jury erroneous instructions as to what evidence they should consider." This document contains many citations of legal suits dealing with illegal evidence. Later the attorneys for the same defendants filed "Additional Authorities in Support of Demurrer and Plea in Abatement."

"The Memorandum of Argument on Behalf of the United States" gives the background and chronological developments of the case, including the fact that demurrers and pleas in abatement had been filed for three of the defendants. It also deals at length with the statute of limitations as applied to conspiracy. In response to this the four defendants filed the "Reply Brief of Defendants" which again sets forth reasons why the charges should be dropped. The final item is "Authorities in Support of Application for Change of Venue."

James Ailshie's connection with the above cases is not known; he was neither lawyer for defense nor prosecution. The cases were not appealed to the Idaho Supreme Court.

The final series in the Ailshie papers is a folder of income tax returns or the years 1915-1931, the years of Ailshie's residence in Coeur d'Alene. Joint returns were filed for 1915-1918, then, in 1919, taking advantage of the community property laws, Lucie Ailshie began filing returns, claiming one half husband's income, thus considerably reducing their tax. (For example, in preparing the joint return for 1919 their tax was $1,509.17, but by filing the community property laws, the total tax was $993.54. A joint return in 1920 showed the tax due at $807.87, while the amended community property showed the tax at $454.14 ($227.07 x 2)). Included for some years are James Ailshie's penciled notes of income from various clients and also itemized business deductions.