[Champion S. Chase was born in the town of Cornish, New Hampshire, and in his boyhood worked upon his father's farm. He received a liberal education at the Kimball Union Institute, Meriden, N. H., and at the age of twenty-one commenced business life as a teacher in the academy at Amsterdam, N. Y. Later he studied law at Buffalo and was admitted to the bar at Canandaigua, in 1847. Removing to the West, he opened a law office at Racine, Wis., about the first of May, 1848, and continued there in suc-

cessful practice until he entered the army in 1862. In 1857 he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, on motion of Daniel Webster. Two years later the Governor of Wisconsin commissioned him as Brigadier General of the State militia. In the same year he was elected to the Board of Education of the city of Racine and became its president. In 1856 he was a delegate to the first National Republican convention at Philadelphia, and assisted in the nomination of Gen. John C. Fremont. In the same year he was elected to the State Senate and served two terms, during the first term being chairman of the Committee on Corporations, and in the second, of the judiciary Committee; and in the latter capacity, in 1858, he supervised the revision of the State statutes. In 1959 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney

of the First Judicial District of the State. In 1862, upon the recommendation of Salmon P. Chase, President Lincoln appointed him Paymaster of Volunteers, with rank of Major. In 1865 be served in the Gulf campaign and was promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel. In 1866 he was honorably mustered out, his last year of service being on the Rio Grande. On leaving the army Col. Chase came to Omaha and resumed the practice of his profession. In 1867 he was appointed Attorney General for the State, in office which be filled for two years with great ability. In the same year he was elected one of the board of trustees of Brownell Hall, young ladies' institute of Omaha which position be has filled ever since. In 1869 he was appointed by the Governor one of the regents of the State University for six years. In 1874 he was elected

Mayor of Omaha for a term of one year, and in 1875, by an overwhelming majority, was re-elected for two years (the term of office having been extended), making him Centennial Mayor. In 1879 he was elected Mayor for the third time, and again in 1883 for the fourth time. In 1881, by authority of the Council, he compiled the ordinances of the city. In 1886 he was unanimously chosen president of the Nebraska State Humane Society, which position, he now holds. He has also for many years been a prominent member of the Omaha Board of Trade, and during the last few years has, as a delegate, represented the State and the Board in five National Missouri River Improvement conventions. Of Col. Chase's speeches in these conventions, perhaps the most notable was the one made at St. Paul, and afterward published in pamphlet form, entitled, "Corn is King in Nebraska." Throughout his public career Col. Chase has been conspicuous for his untiring energy, his faithful and fearless performance of duty, his devotion to the interests of his constituents and his adherence to his friends. As a public speaker, impromptu or otherwise, he has few equals in the State, and many of his addresses and orations have been published in various forms. He has been a lifelong friend of the oppressed, and his humane sympathies and charitable disposition peculiarly fit him for his position as president of the State Humane Society. As Mayor, Col. Chase was, from the first, in favor of the most extensive range of public improvements which the financial condition of the city would allow, and during his Centennial term he projected and recommended to the city council, in one of his messages, the establishment of a system of parks and boulevards substantially on the same plan and along the same routes as those most talked of and desired today, by the public spirited citizens of Omaha.

interests were championed in the Council by O. D. Richardson and T. G. Goodwill, and in the House by A. J. Poppleton and A. J. Hanscom. Many exciting scenes occurred during the capital fight. Dr. Miller described the scenes of those early legislative days in an article in the Omaha Herald, of which the following is an extract:

   Hanscom and Poppleton carried the art of winking to its highest perfection in those days. The latter was always first recognized by Speaker Hanscom when he wanted the floor. The Speaker was particular about keeping order. Any refractory member opposed to Omaha who

refused to take his seat when ordered to, was emphatically notified that if he didn't sit down he would get knocked down. The result was usually satisfactory to the Speaker. The excitement over the capitol question was, at times, very great. The lobbies, we remember, were once crowded with the respective parties to the contest, armed with bludgeons, brick-bats and pistols. A fight was thought to be imminent, but it did not occur.

   The capital question having been settled, the remainder of the session of the Legislature was devoted to the organization of counties, the location of county seats, the granting of ferry and toll-bridge privileges, and the passage of a complete code of laws for the territory.