Surname: Steele, Grant, Cooper, Hurst, Newby, Thrawley, Steele, Cooper, Ice, Higinbotham, Howren Compendium of Biography Of Henry County, Indiana B. F. Bowen 1920 WRIGHTER R. Steele, Holding worthy prestige among the public men of Henry County, enjoying popularity and maintaining a representative position as identified with the professional and social life of the city of New Castle, it is signally befitting that in this connection be given a resume of the life history of the well-known gentleman whose name forms the caption of this article—a man of marked ability and wide influence. In no profession is there a career more open to talent than that of the law and in no field of endeavor is there demanded a more careful preparation, a more thorough appreciation of the ethics of life or of the underlying principles which form the basis of human rights and privileges. Unflagging application, an intuitive wisdom and a determination fully to utilize the means at hand are the concomitants, which insure personal success and prestige in this great profession, standing as it does, the stern conservator of justice. It is a calling into which none should enter without a just recognition of the many obstacles to be encountered and overcome and the battles to be won, for success does not perch upon the falchion of every person who engages in the competitive fray, but comes only as the legitimate result of innate capacity, unmistakable ability, strengthened by long consecutive intellectual and professional discipline. The subject of this review, although comparatively a young man, has attained precedence as an able lawyer and successful practitioner, occupying a conspicuous place at the Henry county bar, and filling an important office, which has brought him in close touch with the court, his professional brethren and the public at large. James Steele, father of the subject, was born in Ohio, not far from the birthplace of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and when a boy accompanied his parents. John J. and Ann Steele, to Henry County, Indiana. His parents were among the early pioneers of the part of the state and died here a number of years ago at advanced ages. James Steele grew to maturity in the county of Henry and when a young man married Miss Matilda Cooper, whose father, Hon. Robert Cooper, a native of Indiana, represented this county in the lower house of the general assembly from 1838 to 1840 inclusive. Mr. Cooper was a man of considerable local prominence and lived for many years at the town of Rushville, where his death occurred long since, after reaching a ripe old age. James Steele was a blacksmith and. with the exception of four years spent in the army during the late Civil war, worked at the trade at Ogden and Knightstown until his death in 1898 at the age of sixty-three. He responded to the first call for volunteers, enlisting in 1861 in the Sixth Indiana for the three-months service. At the expiration of that time he joined the Sixteenth Indiana Infantry, upon the organization of which he was elected captain of Company G, and as such served with distinction until the fortunes of the Confederacy went down at Appomattox. He participated in a number of the bloodiest battles of the war, was three times wounded and was released from the service at the end of the struggle with a record for bravery and gallantry untended by the commission of a single unsoldierly act. During the last three years of his life he was totally blind, his eyesight failing as the direct result of one of his wounds. Politically he was an ardent Republican and fraternally held membership in the Grand Army of the Republic and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was three times married, Matilda Cooper being his second wife. By his first companion he had one son, Harry Steele, a blacksmith working at his trade in Knightstown. His other children are Charles, a blacksmith who died at Knightstown in 1890 at the age of forty years; Wrighter R., of this review, and Frank, who is engaged in the drug business at the above place. Mr. Steele’s third wife, who survives him, was Eliza R. Hurst, now living in Knightstown. Wrighter R. Steele was born in the village of Ogden, Spiceland township, Henry County, June 28; i866, and spent the first eleven years of his life at the place of his birth. In 1878 he was taken by his parents to Knightstown, where he grew to maturity, graduating from the high school of that city with the class of 1886. Impressed with a strong desire to enter the legal profession, he embraced every opportunity to cultivate those faculties which were deemed requisite to successful practice in the future; hence while yet a mere youth he manifested great fondness for forensic disputation and acquired no little skill in the usages incident thereto. His early purpose to become a lawyer was realized soon after completing his school course, entering in 1886 the office of Hon. L P. Newby, of Knightstown, under whose direction he prosecuted his legal studies until his admission to the Henry County bar two years later, effecting a co-partnership with his preceptor under the firm name of Newby & Steele, he practiced his profession at the above place until 1896, at which time he was elected prosecuting attorney of the fifty-third judicial circuit. The better to discharge the duties of his position, Mr. Steele removed to the county seat, where lie has since resided, devoting all of his time and attention to the office, the business of which .has been large, and at times exceedingly onerous. He assumed the duties of prosecutor in October of the above year and his career since then has been marked by duty ably and faithfully performed in behalf of law and order. Within the last four years he has been untiring in upholding the dignity of the state of Indiana by bringing lawbreakers to the bar of justice and securing convictions of criminals, his record in this respect surpassing that of any of his predecessors. Thus far he has succeeded in securing thirty-four commitments to the state prison, several for long terms and two for life sentences, the first ever meted out to criminals in the history of the county. Mr. Steele’s first case as prosecutor was a murder trial in which one John Thrawley was indicted for the willful and unprovoked killing of one of his neighbors. The usual plea of self-defense was entered by the attorneys for the defendant and a long and exceedingly hard legal battle was fought, during the progress of which the prosecuting attorney especially distinguished him-self, completely upsetting the plea and showing its fallacy and absurdity by indisputable evidence, backed by strong and logical argument, forcibly and elegantly presented, the jury returned a verdict of murder in the second degree and imposing a life sentence. The second murderer whom he prosecuted and whom he succeeded in convicting and sending to the penitentiary for a term of years was an employee of the Tin Plate Company of Middletown. Who killed the superintendent of the factory by crushing his skull with a piece of gas pipe. This was also a hotly contested case, characterized by ability on the parts of both prosecution and defense but the conflicting testimony was such as to render a verdict for murder in the first degree impossible. Additional to the above instances, it was Mr. Steele’s duty to prose cute two other prisoners charged with the heinous crime of murder and in the management cases he displayed ability, which strengthened his already well-established reputation as a prosecutor and won for him the praise of his professional brethren and the confidence of the public. In April, 1902, Mr. Steele, in connection with D. C. Ice and Samuel Higinbotham, organized and placed in operation the New Castle Shovel Company, which has a capacity of manufacturing one hundred dozen shovels daily. The enterprise is incorporated under the state law with a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars and employs about fifty men. Mr. Steele was elected its secretary, while Mr. Ice is the president, and Mr. Higinbotham is vice-president. Mr. Steele is an untiring worker and subordinates every other consideration, however important, to his strong desire to met out justice to the criminal and maintains the dignity and supremacy of the law. His habits of industry, with other qualities which guarantee ultimate promotion1 in his chosen calling, have tended to enlarge the area of his professional advancement and he stands today among those ranking highest in legal attainments. Studious and judicious in the preparation of his cases, painstaking and thorough in their presentation and untiring and absolutely fearless in their prosecution he maintains the soundness and justice of his position by strong arguments, frequently securing verdicts at the hands of juries by logical appeals presented with great magnetic force. Eminently popular as a lawyer he is equally so as a citizen, standing high in the respect and confidence of the public and by his pleasing personality and genial manners winning and retaining many warm personal friendships throughout the county. Prior to his election as prosecutor, he served for some time as city attorney of Knightstown, in which position he early gave evidence of the successful career which has since marked his course as a bright and enterprising member of a bar long noted for the high order of its talent. Like the majority of aggressive professional men, Mr. Steele takes an active interest in matters political, upholding the principles of the Republican Party and striving with all the power at his command to promote its success. As a member of the county central committee he has rendered valuable and effective services, both as a skillful planner of campaigns and an ardent worker at the polls; at the same time he is a courteous partisan, never stooping to the disreputable practice characteristic of the professional politician and office seeker. Mr. Steele is prominent in Odd Fellowship, having more than once been chosen to represent his lodge in the grand lodge and while there serving on various important committees and taking an active part in the deliberations. He was one of the committee, appointed in 1901 to receive the sovereign grand lodge, which met in Indianapolis in September of that year. He is also connected with the Pythian brotherhood, the Masonic fraternity, and as a member of the Sons of Veterans served one year as judge advocate of the Indiana division. The married life of Mr. Steele began on the 6th day of November 1895, when he and Miss Effie - Howren were united in the holy bonds of wedlock. Mrs. Steele is the daughter of Thomas J. Howren, of Knightstown, ex-county treasurer, and was born in the village of Greensboro. She was educated in the Knightstown public schools, is a lady of many sterling qualities and popular with a large circle of friends and a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. One son has come to brighten the home of Mr. and Mrs. Steele, James Thomas, an interesting lad in whom are centered many bright hopes for the future. Mr. Steele is a believer in revealed religion and uses his means as well as his influence to promote its efficiency as an agency for the moral and spiritual regeneration of humanity. Like his wife, he is a Methodist belonging with her to the congregation worshipping in New Castle. Of a social disposition Mr. Steele has by his courteous manner and genuine worth won a warm place in the hearts of his friends, whose name is legion.