BackSamuel S.
Carruthers was a native of Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was born in
1837. He came to Bloomfield in 1854, and commenced studying law in the office of
H. H. Trimble and James Baker. He was a brother-in-law of Judge Trimble, and
subsequently became his partner, and when Colonel Trimble and Baker entered the
army, in 1861, he succeeded to their practice. Baker was killed, as I have
before related, and on the return of Judge Trimble from the army and his
subsequent retirement from the bench, he and Carruthers formed a partnership
under the firm name of Trimble & Carruthers, which continued for many years,
and until Judge Trimble's removal to Keokuk, in 1882, after which Mr. Carruthers
continued the practice alone, to the time of his death in 1912.
He was an able
lawyer and had a large practice. For a number of years he was the local attorney
for the Wabash Railroad Company; of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Railroad Company, and of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad
Company.
As a man, Sam
Carruthers, as he was generally called, was universally beloved for his amiable
character and fine traits. His presence was always pleasing on any occasion. He
had about him the air and carried the influence of a natural-born gentleman. He
was perfectly self-composed, slow to anger, perennially unruffled. He liked
anecdotes and knew how to tell them. He was fond of good company, and to
everyone he joined he gave a fresh interest. The noble esteem in which he was
held was equaled only by the universal sorrow on the event of his death.
He had a fine
figure, a fine head, a pleasing, handsome face, and everything about him was
manly and attractive.
He was a Democrat in politics, and while he had no desire for office, he was competent to have filled any within the gift of the State. He accepted the position of delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1888, and that of a member of the Iowa Commission at the World's Fair, held at St. Louis, in 1904.
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