Talk:Joseph Helm

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Following is a lengthy excerpt from a public domain source that can be referenced in this article:

Some one has said the history of a race is embedded in its surnames. Domesday Book furnishes nearly all modern English patronymics, numbering about three hundred thousand heads of families, forebearers of the surnames of the English speaking men and women of to-day. The names of Andrew and Emma de Helme are also inscribed upon the rolls of the Antiquarian Society of Normandy.

An interesting fact concerning this surname is its heraldic associations. Cassis tutissima virtus, or " virtue is the safest helmet," was the motto of the founders of this family in the days of chivalry. The shield was charged with a steel helmet on a field of gold, while the crest consisted of a demi-dragon holding in a dexter claw across, and supporting with the sinister an escutcheon also charged with a helmet.

It is not proposed to trace in this paper the family genealogy of Chief Justice Helm to this ancient source. The origin and significance of his name is all that is contemplated. But in this search a characteristic of the man—this descendant, it will be assumed, of this old English family,was found embedded in the motto just quoted, "True courage is the safest helmet,'" a sentiment which the career of Chief Justice Helm as a soldier, civilian and jurist has attested in a striking manner.

His earliest recollections date back only a short period beyond his eighth year when his mother died and left him without property and among strangers in Iowa, with his father absent in California, seeking, vainly it seems, to better his fortunes, or rather his misfortunes. But there is in his rising from that humble horizon to the position of Chief Justice of Colorado, within the period of one generation, one of the most remarkable instances of success in the history of this Western country. It is a career that befittingly illustrates the ancient family sentiment whether his blood was fetched from thence, or whether he is what he is, regardless of the law of heredity.

His father, a native of the state of New York, was of English descent— that is about all that is known on that line. His mother, a Canadian by birth, was of Scotch ancestry. They removed to Chicago where Joseph C. Helm was born June 30, 1848. A removal to Prescot, Canada, soon afterwards followed. Here and now begin his recollections of the privations, not the pleasures, of his boyhood. About 1854 his mother removed to Iowa, his father then being gold-seeker upon the Pacific Coast.

Five years after his mother's death, when a thirteen year old boy, he enlisted in the First Battalion, 13 U. S. Infantry, at the outbreak of the Rebellion, and was mustered as a private, but on account of his age and slight physique was detailed as a drummer boy. After two years, in this capacity, he entered the ranks as a private. He was in active field service most of the time from 1861 to 1865, and remained in the army nearly a year after the close of the war, receiving an honorable discharge in 1866. He was in many of the engagements in which his battalion distinguished itself, notably Champion Hills, Vicksburg (campaign, seige, and assault), Jackson and Colliersville. The latter was one of the most hotly contested of the war for numbers engaged and duration. Gen. Sherman and escort (the First Battalion) had been surrounded by the Confederates under Gen. Chalmers, whose forces outnumbered the Federals seven to one, and were also supported by a battery of five guns. Sherman was en roitie to Chattanooga, and was surprised as well as surrounded. The conflict lasted from noon until almost evening when the rebels retreated, having, however, taken a number of prisoners, one of whom was the boy-soldier Helm. He was taken to Mobile, then to Atlanta, and then to Richmond and

placed upon Belle Isle; was afterwards paroled and exchanged, and immediately rejoined his regiment at Nashville.

When Gen. McPherson was killed before Atlanta young Helm was detailed as one of the special escort to accompany that lamented soldier to Clyde, Ohio. After the expiration of his original enlistment, he re-entered the service as a veteran and was assighed to Gen. Hancock's corps, in which he served until his final mustejr out in 1866.

In modest vein Judge Helm has written a historical sketch of the First Battalion, which contains many incidents of thrilling interest. One is as follows, depicting the first approach to Vicksburg, which occurred in 1862:

"On December 20th the battalion went into action five miles from the city, at the battle of Chickasaw Bayou. Though this was its initial engagement, and though exposed from early in the morning until dark to a destructive fire of musketry, the men conducted themselves like veterans. The conspicuous coolness and gallantry displayed, and the marked efficiency shown while acting as sharpshooters, won words of commendation from the Brigade and Corps commanders. Its casualties, though not comparable with its losses in later battles, were amptly sufficient to make its baptism a stern reality.

"We will never forget the long, dreary, rainy night that followed this engagement. We were lost. We had retreated after dark to low, swampy, and unfamiliar ground, where in the morning we discovered high water mark on the trees several feet above our heads. The ground was so level and the night so dark that we could not find a dry spot upon which to rest. We were compelled to stand up all night long without fire, in the cold, drenching rain; for to have lain down and gone to sleep in our exhausted condition would have been certain death. Bayonents were fixed and muskets were inverted and stuck in the marshy ground to keep them from filling with water. And such muskets! transformed in the short space of one night from clean, bright and effective weapons.to guns of a rusty and almost worthless condition. Add to this the dispiriting rumor circulated during the night that we were to dig our way through the rebel breastworks in the early morning, and it will be confessed even at this distant day that the outlook for the morrow was indeed a gloomy one. With all our fervent patriotism, even though it had been backed with the prospect of a General's commission, there would have been no inducement for some of us to have remained could we have honorably retired. But with the returning day and the inspiration drained from a quart cup of hot coffee that feeling vanished never to return."

The five years of absence from school in the war had passed like a dismal dream. He awoke to realize that he was far behind those of his age in point of education. When, therefore,

he entered the State University of Iowa, in the fall of 1866, the youth of eighteen found himself classed with those who were but eight years of age when he became a Union soldier.

The assertion is ventured that Judge Helm never was subjected to a severer test of manhood than the embarassment caused by this disparity of age when he entered his class. There is not a. moment in the history of this gentleman when the unalloyed metal of this character shone more brightly than when he resolved under these circumstances to go on in pursuit of an education.

He attended that institution the ensuing four years, making his expenses, above a few hundred dollars saved from the army, by work during summer vacations, and by various employments during the school year.

In 1870 he accepted the position of principal of the 'public schools of Van Buren, Arkansas, at which place he remained one year. Two years immediately afterwards he was principal of the high school in Little Rock. In 1873 he returned to the State University of Iowa and entered the law department, graduating therefrom in the summer of 1874, second in a class of ninety-four.

There could have been no time wasted in accomplishing this within the period named. The days must have uttered speech and the nights showed knowledge to the diligent and aspiring student whose college life was thus crowned at last with gleaming success. The mental dissipation incident to camp life was followed by mental discipline and development as exceptional and noteworthy as it is ever the privilege of the historian to record.

Early in 1875 he came to Colorado and located at Colorado Springs, when he began to lead the life of a lawyer. The following year he was elected to the lower house of the First General Assembly from El Paso county. He was elected to the State Senate two years afterwards, representing the tenth district, and served at the legislative sessions of 1877-79. In the fall of 1880 he resigned as State Senator to accept the office of Judge of the Fourth Judicial District to succeed and fill the unexpired term of Hon. Thomas M. Bowen, lateU. S. Senator. Judge Helm's district at that time contained fourteen counties, including Lake, with the city of Leadville. He was elected to the Supreme Bench of Colorado in the fall of 1882, and entered upon the duties of that office in January, 1883, at the age of 34 years. In January of the present year he succeeded under the State Constitution, by virtue of seniority in service, to the position of Chief Justice of Colorado.

The following tribute to Chief Justice Helm was written by a prominent lawyer and ex-judge of Denver, as a contribution to the history of the Bar and Bench of Colorado:

"His recognized abilities as a lawyer, and his sterling qualities as a man, early secured for him the esteem and confidence of his professional brethren, and of the people among whom he lived;

and won for him such success, both as lawyer and legislator, as but few persons achieve in so short a time.

"It is the universal testimony of the lawyers who practised, as well as of the litigants whose cases were adjudicated in the District Courts over which Judge Helm presided, that he was a model trial judge. Firm, but always courteous; industrious and seeking to dispatch the business of the court, but never confused or impatient; always having perfect control of himself, he easily controlled and guided the proceedings of his court, without giving offense to any one.

"During the past six years many novel and important questions have been passed upon and decided, by the Supreme Court of the state, in which Judge Helm has prepared the opinions of the Court. These opinions bear indubitable evidence of careful and extended research, and show the possession by him, of an honest, clear, logical mind; the grasp of legal principles, the unfailing purpose and independent courage, which surely lead him to right conclusions. It is but simple justice to say, that the marked abilities he has shown in the discharge of his duties on the Supreme Bench of the state, have fully justified the confidence of his friends, and already firmly established for him an enviable position and reputation as a jurist."

Judge Helm married, in 1881, Miss Marcia Stewart of Colorado Springs.

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