SIDNEY SEA.

     THE subject of this sketch was the most remarkable character that was ever associated with the Tiffin bar.  He was unlike other lawyers in almost every thing, and seemed to avoid assimilation on purpose.  In 1833 he had his office in the frame building on the south side of Market street, on in-lot No. 71, not occupied as a saloon.  When the writer became acquainted with him he was known by the name of Sidney Smith.  It is said that he was a graduate of the New Haven Law school, and that formerly he was a shoemaker by trade.  He was married when he moved from Portage county to Tiffin, in 1832, and very soon secured a very good practice.  He bought a farm in Scipio township, and laid out the larger portion of Republic.  In June, 1836, he published a notice in the Tiffin Gazette, that he would sell his lots in Republic, a valuable farm close by, another farm six miles from Tiffin, and one and one-half lots between the court house and the free bridge, because he wanted to go to some southern latitude.
     Two years thereafter he gave notice that he had left his property in the hands of Mr. Chapin to sell for him, and moved to Cincinnati, where he opened a law office.  It is said that he there wore his pants in his boots.  The boots had large red tops, on which were painted in gilt letters," Sidney Smith, attorney-at-law."
     About the latter part of 1840 he came back to Republic and opened a law office again in the name of Smith.  He took a very active part in the presidential campaign, and made the first speech when the Whigs raised their log cabin on the lot where the Commercial bank now stands.  In his political harangue on that day he was exceedingly personal and bitter.  This was on the 3d day of June, 1840.  He made many more speeches throughout Seneca county that summer and fall, but became so boisterous and abusive that the Whig central committee finally refused to make any further appointments for him.

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     The Whigs carried the day, as is well known, and whatever may have been the moving cause, other than that expressed in the petition itself, when the legislature met in Columbus, the following December, Mr. Smith sent a petition to that body, praying for the passage of a law to change his name from Sidney Smith to Sidney Sea.  The petition was all poetry, of his own manufacture, and being so utterly void of all reason, it was defeated in the senate, and on the 15th of January, 1841, on motion of Senator Haseltine, it was reconsidered, laid on the table, and finally passed on the 16th day of March, 1841.

     On one of the September muster-days, the "grand army" was drawn up in line from the river to Madison street, on Wsahington street, facing to the east.  Q. M. General Sea was on his high horse, in full uniform, and in his glory.  George W. Black had a bakery and small beer-shop, nearly opposite the National hall.  While the General was up street, a man

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COOPER K. WATSON.

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JOSEPH HOWARD.

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ROBERT D. PENNINGTON.

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GEORGE E. SENEY.

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WARREN PERRY NOBLE

was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, June 14, 1820.  His father's name was William Noble, and his mother's maiden name Rebecca Lytle.  The parents moved to Wayne county, Ohio, when they had three little children, and located in Salt Creek township, some ten miles east of Wooster.  In 1834 the family moved to Medina county,

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 where father Noble had bought a farm.  He lived there about two years, when he sold the farm, and taking with him his oldest son, came to Jackson township, where he had previously entered 120 acres, and built a small cabin upon it.  Then he returned for the family and brought them here in 1836.  The cabin proved to be too small for so large a family, and some of the boys had to sleep in the wagons until another adjoining cabin could be constructed.  By this time they had nine sons and one daughter.  The daughter, Mary, is the wife of Mr. Histe, one of the present county commissioners.  Of the sons but four are still living; the subject of this sketch, Warren Perry Noble, Harrison Noble, the present mayor of Tiffin, Captain Montgomery Noble, and John Noble, clerk of the court in Clay county, Kansas.
     Warren P. lived with his father on the farm, and as he grew up to boyhood, received such school education as the country afforded;  but nature had endowed him with a good physique, with a more than average amount of brain, and above all, with a spirit of industry and perseverance that knew no tiring.  He applied himself to his books, and was soon enabled to teach school in the neighborhood of his home, embracing Fostoria,  Mr. John Lawrence, Hon. Charles Foster, Rev. Jacob Caples, Junius V. Jones, were among his scholars, and others who have also become eminent in life.  In February, 1842, he entered the law office of Rawson and Pennington, in Tiffin, and in 1844 was admitted to the bar.  From that time to this day he has faithfully applied himself to the practice.
     In 1847, on the 17th day of August, he married Mary E., oldest daughter of Mr. F. Singer, of Tiffin.  Mrs. Noble died on the 9th of March, 1853, leaving Mr. Noble with three little children; two little girls and a baby boy but a few days old.  He raised and educated his children, and the girls are both married.  Belle is Mrs. William L. Bates, of Dayton, Ohio; Mary Ellen is Mrs. Silas W. Graff, residing at Tiffin, Ohio; Warren Frederick, the son, is a graduate of the Ohio State university, of the class of 1879, and is now reading law in his father's office.
     After living the life of a widower more than seventeen years, and raising his children until they were able to take care of themselves, Mr. Noble was married to Miss Alice M. Campbell, of Tiffin, Ohio, on the 27th day of September, 1870, and two most interesting little girls are the fruit of this marriage.
     In 1846 Mr. Noble was elected a member of the house of representatives of the general assembly of Ohio, and re-elected in 1847.  In the fall of 1848 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Seneca county, and

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re-elected in 1850, serving four years, except a short time before the expiration of his term, when he resigned.  In 1860 he was elected to the thirty-seventh congress over Judge Carey, the Whig candidate for his second term, and was re-elected to the thirty-eighth congress over Judge Wooster, of Norwalk, who was his colleague in the previous term, having been thrown into this district by the change of districts prior to the election.  Mr. Noble was a war Democrat, and served as such during the war to March 4th, 1865.
     He was one of the trustees of the Ohio state university for ten years, having been first appointed by Governor Hayes.  After the death of John T. Huss and the failure of the First National bank of Tiffin, Mr. Noble was appointed as its receiver.  He settled claims against the institution, amounting to $240,000, paying sixty cents on the dollar, and settled up the concern with the least litigation and in the shortest time of any bank that failed sine the inauguration of the present banking system.  He has been the president of the Commercial bank ever sine it started, in June, 1876, and is the president also of the Tiffin Mutual Aid association, and a member of the Tiffin board of education.  During the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio and the Mansfield Cold Water railroads, he took a very active part, as he always did in all public enterprises.
     Mr. Noble owes his great success in life to that indomitable industry, integrity and perseverance that have marked his whole life from his boyhood.
Source:  History of Seneca County : from the close of the Revolutionary War to July, 1880 - Springfield, Ohio: Transcript Print. Co., 1880 - Pages 380-381

WILLIAM H. GIBSON

was born in Ohio, May 16th, 1822, and soon thereafter his parents moved to Seneca County, in the same year.  His paternal grandparents were from Ireland, and his maternal grandparents from Wales.  He was reared on a farm in Honey creek, in Eden, and worked with his father, John Gibson, at the carpenter trade.  After he had attended the common schools, he attended one year at the Ashland academy.  He read law in Tiffin in the office of Rawson & Pennington, and was admitted to the bar in 1845.  He was the Whig candidate for attorney general in 1853, but was defeated.  He was elected treasurer of the state in  1855, and resigned in 1857.  He entered the army as colonel of the 49th O. V. I., in 1861, and commanded a brigade and division of the army of the Cumberland, leading his command in forty-two conflicts.  He left the army with the rank of brigadier-general, and resumed the practice of the law in Tiffin.  He quit the practice in 1872, and applied himself very industriously to railroad enterprises.  He bore a very conspicuous part in all the political campaigns ever since the organization

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of the Republican party.  He is an orator of no ordinary calibre, and during the past two yeas he preached under a license in the M. E. church.  When Governor Foster was inaugurated governor of Ohio on the second Monday in January last, General Gibson was appointed adjutant-general in Ohio, which office he holds to this day.

G. B. KEPPEL

was born May 8th, 1845, in Hopewell township, Seneca County, Ohio.  He graduated at Heidelberg college in 1869; was admitted to the bar in 1871, and is now the prosecuting attorney of the county.*
SHARON's NOTE:  Gilford B. Keppel, wife Emma and son Walter K. can be found in the 1900 census of Seneca County, Ohio in Clinton Twp within the City of Tiffin. - Film Series T623 - Roll 1320 - Page 117. - ALSO found in 1860 Census Seneca County, Ohio - Hopewell Twp. - Film Series M653 - Roll 1034 - Page 198 with his father Henry, mother, Elizabeth, siblings - Hiram, William, Rebecca, John & Charles.

NELSON L. BREWER

 was born in Washington county, Maryland, September 17th, 1832; graduated at Heidleberg in 1855; was admitted to the practice in 1858, and immediately located in Tiffin.
SOURCE:  History of Seneca Co., Ohio - Published by Transcript Printing Co., Springfield, Ohio - 1880 - Page 383

SHARON WICK'S NOTE:  Nelson Brewer can be found in the 1870 Census - Seneca Co., Ohio - 1st Wd. Tiffin - Film Series M593 - Roll 1266 - Page 331 with wife Harriet, children - Julia, Edward, Wallace and Belinda Lance and 80 year old Amaza Chidester.
He can again be found in the 1900 Census - Seneca Co. - Clinton Twp. in Film Series T623 - Roll 1320 - Page 79 - He his near the bottom of the page and it is very hard to read.
He can again be found in the 1910 Census - Seneca Co - 1st Wd. Tiffin - Film Series T624 - Roll 1229 Page 41 at 300 Market Street - Dwelling 19 Family 20 - aged 77 with his wife Harriet aged 71 - It is listed as his 2nd marriage
He is again listed in the 1920 Census - Seneca Co. - 1st Wd. Tiffin - Film Series T625 - Roll 1431 - Page 152 as Nelson A. Brewer aged 89 with his wife Harriet M. Brewer aged 81.  They are at 300 East Market Street in Dwelling 178 Family 203 living with John C. Pearson his son-in-law and Grace C., (Nelson's daughter) and their son John B. (Nelson's grand-son)

JACOB R. HUDDLE (HOTTAL)

JACOB K. HUDDLE (HOTTAL) was born October 8th, 1846, in Bloom Township, Seneca County, Ohio.  He is the seventeenth child of a family of eighteen children.  He was admitted to practice law in 1871.  In 1873 he edited the Tiffin Star with much ability.  Upon the failure of his enterprise, he returned to the practice.  Tracing back his family record he became satisfied that the family name is Hottal.
SHARON WICK'S NOTE:
J. K. Huddle, age 22 yrs. can be found in a Flenner boarding house in the 1870 Census - Seneca Co., Ohio - 1st Wd. Tiffin - Film Series M593 - Roll 1266 - Page 339 - Dwelling 444 Family 493
Jacob Huddle, age 33 yrs. can be found in 1880 Census - Seneca Co., Ohio - 5th Wd. Tiffin - Film Series - T9 - Roll 1065 - Page 243 - living on Main Street in Dwelling 74 - Family 90 as follows:
Jacob Huddle, Wife Ellen J. aged 29, Son Frank K. age9; Daughter Olive E. age 7; Daughter Anna M. age 5; Son Edward R. age 3; Daughter Cora M. age 1
I found a Jacob K. Hottal aged 63 in 1910 Census - Spartanburg Co., South Carolina - 6th  Wd. Spartanburg - Film Series T624 - Roll 1473 - page 246 as follows:
Lived at 123 Forest Street in Dwelling 315 Family 332
Jacob K. Hottal aged 63, Attorney at law & real estate dealer - Wife Ermine? age 38 yrs.; Daughters Olive age 23 or 25 and Alice M. age 26 yrs.; Grandson Louis K. age 10 yrs.; Nellie Cobb aged 27 a boarder and Edgar A. McCracken aged 27 a boarder.  Jacob K, his wife and daughters were all born in Ohio.  The others were born in South Carolina.
In 1920 I found the following:
1920 Census - South Carolina - Spartanburg Co., 6th Wd. Spartanburg - Film Series T625 - Roll 1711 - Page 199 - 123 Forest Street - Dwelling 332 - Family 413 -
Hottal, Samuel B. aged 36 - Head; Eula M. aged 29 - Wife; Samuel B., Jr. aged 8 - Son; Ruth aged 7 - daughter; Eula M. aged 4-6/12 - daughter - John V. age 5/12 - son; Jacob K. aged 75 and widowed - Father.  At this time Jacob K. was employed in Real Estate.

JOHN M'CAULEY

SHARON WICK'S NOTES:
1870 Census Seneca County - 1st Wd. Tiffin - Film Series M593 - Roll 1266 - Page 327 - Dwelling 285 Family 316:
John McCauley age 35 - attorney-at-law; Josephene age 33 - keeping house; Anna age 4; Mary age 3; Josephene age 8/12 and Elizabeth Kingsly age 20 - house keeper.  All born in Ohio.
1880 Census Seneca County - 2nd Wd. Tiffin - Film Series T9 - Roll 1065 - Page 196 - Dwelling 174 Family 178 -
This record is hard to read however the following can be seen:
John McCauley age 45 - Judge Comm. P. Court; Josephene age 42 - wife; Anna? age 12 - daughter; _____ age 13 - daughter; _attie age 9 - daughter; Fannie? age 6 - daughter; Grace age 3 - daughter; and Lydia ____ age 18 - servant.
1910 Census Seneca County - 2nd Wd. Tiffin - Film Series T624 - Roll 1229 - Page 71 - 181 Washington Street - Dwelling 44 Family 46 -
John McCauley age 75 - Head - Lawyer; Anna age 35 - daughter; and Ida Fritz age 36 - servant - All born in Ohio.  John's parents are listed as born (Scot) English.
1920 Census Seneca County - 2nd Wd. Tiffin - Film Series T625 - Roll 1431 - Page 197 - 181 Washington Street - Dwelling 138 - Family 145 -
John McCauley age 85 - Widowed Head; Mary Sayler age 50 - widowed daughter; Joshpine age 17 - granddaughter.  This census lists all born in Ohio and John's parents born in Scotland.

JACOB BUNN

was born June 6, 1847, in Thompson (Seneca County).  He graduated at Heidelberg college in 1870, and was admitted to the bar the year following, when he located in Tiffin.  He was elected probate judge of Seneca county in the fall of 1878.
SHARON WICK'S NOTES:
1870 Census - Seneca Co., Ohio - 1st Wd. Tiffin - Film Series M593 - Roll 1266 - Page 339 - Flenner Boarding House - Dwelling 444 - Family 493 -
Jacob Bunn age 24 b. Ohio - Was there the same time as J. K. Huddle who is in these biographies of Seneca Co., Ohio
1880 Census - Seneca Co., Ohio - Thompson - is an Elizabeth Bunn aged 72 yrs. living with her daughter.  C/b Jacob's mother?
1880 Census - Seneca Co., Ohio - 4th Wd. Tiffin - Film Series T9 - Roll 1054 - Page 228
Dwelling 57 Family 61 -
Hezekiah Groff age 68; Julia age 65 - wife; Jacob T. Bunn age 32 - Son in Law - Lawyer; Laura age 29 - daughter; Della Watson age 30 - boarder - Clk in Drug Store; Flora Watson age 23 - Boarder - Clk in Drug store; Ruth Guifford age 20 - servant.
1900 Census - Seneca Co., Ohio - Tiffin - Film Series T623 - Roll 1320 - Page 163 -
28 Monroe Street - Dwelling 324 Family 328 -
Julia Groff age 80 Head - Widowed; Edward age 48 - Son - Werner, Alice age 32 - Niece; Jacob F. Bunn age 5_ - s-in-law b. June 18_8 - Widowed.
1910 Census - Seneca Co., Ohio - Film Series T624 - Roll 1229 - Page 143 - 270 Millmore street - Dwelling 170 - Family 175 -
Jacob F. Bunn age 62 - 2nd marriage - Lawyer; Eugenia age 49 - Wife - 2nd marriage; Catharine Horton age 17 - step-daughter; John Planck? age 53; Cora Planck? age 59; Maggie Emick age 25 - servant; Jacob Y___ger age 60 - Servant.

FRANK DILDINE

Was born in Tiffin, Oct. 15th,  1849; graduated at the Tiffin high school, and afterwards attended the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, and graduated from the Heidelberg college in 1869; was admitted to the bar in 1872.

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HARRISON NOBLE.

Was born in Wayne county, Ohio, on the 28th of January, 1826, and was admitted to the bar in 1849, when he located in Tiffin.  He was city solicitor four years, and is now the mayor of the city.

NELSON B. LUTES.

Was born in Wyoming county, Pennsylvania, Mar. 1st, 1848; came to Tiffin in 1870, and was admitted to the bar in 1872.

JOHN H. RIDGELY

Was born August 16th, 1845, in Allegheny county, Maryland.  He is a graduate of Heidelberg college, and was admitted to practice law in December, 1869.

H. C. KEPPEL

Was born in Hopewell township, Mar. 20th, 1847.  He is graduate of Heidelberg college, and was admitted to practice law in 1872 and is now of the law firm of H. C. & G. B. Kepple; was married at Indianapolis to-day, June 29th, 1880.

J. H. PITTENGER

Was born December 10th, 1828, in Frederick county, Maryland; came to Tiffin with his father's family in 1830; was admitted to practice law in 1850, and for very many years was, and now is, of the law firm of Hall & Pittenger.

RUSH ABBOTT

Was born in Seneca county, Ohio, and was admitted to practice Apr. 12th, 1877, when he located in Tiffin.

NETTIE CRONISE AND FLORENCE CRONISE.

Sisters, and graduates of Heidelberg, natives of Tiffin, some six years ago were admitted to practice law; probably the first ladies in Ohio that entered the legal profession. They are both in the practice now.  One is practicing by herself, without a partner, and the other is in partnership with another lawyer.
     Among the very many remarkable things already related about Tiffin and Seneca county, the most remarkable of all is the fact, that here in Tiffin, two lawyers married each other, and are now raising two most lovely little daughters about three and four years old.  Let any other town in the United States say the like.

PERRY M. ADAMS

Was born Dec. 2, 1850, in Wood county, Ohio, read law in the

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office of W. P. Noble, was admitted to the bar Apr. 13, 1876, and is now of the firm of Noble & Adams.

UPTON F. CRAMER

Was born in Clinton township, Seneca county, Ohio, Jan. 9, 1842; graduated at Heidelberg college.  He was admitted to practice law in 1867.  He was elected probate judge three times, and was succeeded by Judge Bunn in 1877.

CHARLES H. CRAMER

Was born in Seneca county, Ohio, Aug. 20, 1847; was admitted to practice in Mansfield, in June, 1875, and located here.

LA FAYETTE L. LANG

Was born Apr. 10 1851, in Tiffin; attended Heidelberg college and Cleveland commercial institute.  He was teller in First National bank, read law in his father's office, and was admitted to practice in 1877, when he became the law partner of the father.

JOHN B. SCHWARTZ

Is the son of Augustus and Littia Schwartz, and was born in Austin, Texas, Nov. 1, 1854.  His mother is a Massony, whose father's family were among the early settlers in Hopewell, and came from Belgium.  She went with the family of Jesse Stem from here to Texas, where Stem was Indian agent, and where he was killed by some Indians.  John B. Schwartz was admitted to the bar in 1879 and located in Tiffin.

W. L. KERSHAW.

Ws born in New York city in November, 1856; was admitted to practice in Mansfield, Ohio, July 20, 1879, and settled in Tiffin soon thereafter.

H. J. WELLER

was born January 21, 1856, in Thompson township, in this county, and was admitted to the bar June 2, 1880, at the supreme court in Columbus.  He located in Tiffin immediately thereafter.

GERALD E. SULLIVAN

Was born June 20, 1856, at Tiffin, Ohio; was admitted to the bar and located in Tiffin Dec. 12, 1878.

JAMES F. LEAHY,

Was born May 14, 1855, in the county of Kerry, Ireland; was admitted to the bar in Tiffin Dec. 30, 1879, and then located here.

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JAMES PILLARS

WILLIAM LANG

     Want of room and want of desire to write my biography will make the story of the writer a very short time.
     Mont. Jarvis is the endand the highest peak of the Vosges moun-

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tains in the Palatinate in Germany.  A little south of its foot, and where the Vosges slope away by low hills into the bottom lands of the Rhine, and on its left bank in the Canton of Weimweiler, is the pleasant little town of Sippersfeld.  Here I was born on the 14th day of December, 1815.  I was the seventh child and the first son of Henry and Catherine Lang.
     Father kept me at school until we started for America.  It was his intention to prepare me for the profession of school teacher.  When we arrived in Tiffin on the 18th of August, 1833, my German education could not be utilized very well, and I entered the cabinet shop of D. H. Phillips, as an apprentice.  I worked at the trade seven years, when, in the spring of 1840, I entered the office of Mr. Joshua Seney to read law.  Mr. Sweney gave the practice no attention, and when Mr. Cowdery located in Tiffin late in the fall of the same year, at the suggestion of Mr. Seney, I entered Mr. Cowdery's office as a student.  On the 25th day of July, 1842, I was admitted to the practice at Lower Sandusky, Ohio.  Judge E. Lane administered the oath to me.  Judge D. Higgins was the chairman of the committee that examined me.  Brice J. Bartlett, John C. Spink, Cooper K. Watson, R. P. Buckland and others were members of the committee.
     In the fall of 1844 I was elected prosecuting attorney of Seneca County, and re-elected in 1846.  In 1851 I was elected the first probate judge of Seneca county, with the highest majority that Seneca county ever cast for any man to office.  In the fall of 1854 I was re-nominated by my party and would have been re-elected had it not been for the storm of Know-Nothingism that swept the country like a mad cyclone, in the fall of that year.  Seneca gave a majority of 1,400 for the Know-Nothings.  In 1859 I was nominated by the Democrats of Seneca county as a candidate for representative to the legislature, with Mr. Morris P. Skinner, Seneca county being entitled to two members that time.  Mr. Skinner (Democrat) and Mr. Jones (Republican) were elected.  It will interest but very few to relate the causes that led to my defeat.  In 1861 I was elected to the senate of Ohio from the counties of Seneca, Crawford and Wyandot, and re-elected in1863, serving four years and during the war.  In 1865 I was nominated by the Democratic party of Ohio as its candidate for lieutenant-governor, on the ticket with General G. W. Morgan or governor.  In the fall previous the state went Republican some 60,000 majority.  The campaign was a quiet one; there was no hope of a Democratic success, but with all, the Republican majority was reduced one-half.  General Morgan and myself made a vigorous campaign, and had but very little local aid, 

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working against hope.  In 1869 I was elected treasurer of Seneca county, and re-elected in 1871, serving four years.  It was the first mayor of the city of Tiffin, and the first president of the school board of Tiffin, and being a member of the same board now, I take great pride in holding the highest office that the law gives to any man.  I have now been at the Tiffin bar longer than any other lawyer connected with it, except it be brother Pennington.
     Just in time, and before these sheets go to the printer, I can add the fact, that at the Democratic state convention, held in Cleveland on Thursday, the 22d day of July, 1880.  I was nominated by acclamation as the candidate for secretary of state.  On my return to Tiffin on the day following, a large party of my friends and neighbors, some five hundred, with a band of music and carriages, met me at the depot in Tiffin and escorted me home.  Dr. J. A. Norton announced my nomination to the assembled crowd in front of the court house; W. P. Noble made a speech of welcome in glowing terms, and Republicans and Democrats joined in their hearty congratulations.  It was a scene the like of which Tiffin never witnessed before.  The ovation was a personal compliment, without distinction of party.  In record it here in gratitude as the happiest day of my life.  The good opinion of one's neighbors is a price far beyond the emoluments of office.

- END OF CHAPTER XXIII - BENCH & BAR -