In the Winter of 1854, a bill was introduced to divide the State of Ohio, for United States judicial purposes, into two districts. The members of the Cleveland Bar pressed the matter vigorously, and after a sharp struggle in Congress, the bill creating the United States Court for the Northern District of Ohio was passed. During the pendency of the measure, and when the prospects were unfavorable for its passage, Judge Willson was chosen by the Cleveland Bar to proceed to Washington and labor in the interest of the bill. This was done, and the final triumph of the bill was doubtless owing in great measure to his unwearied industry in its behalf. In March, 1855, President Pierce appointed Mr. Willson judge of the District Court just authorized. The formation of the court and the appointment of Judge Willson as its presiding officer, gave general satisfaction. A banquet was held by the lawyers to celebrate the event, and although Judge Willson was a strong political partizan, the leading lawyers of all parties vied with each other in testifying their entire confidence in the ability and impartiality of the new judge. Nor was their confidence misplaced. In becoming a judge he ceased to be a politician, and no purely political, or personal, motives swayed his decisions. He was admitted by all to have been an upright judge. The new court found plenty to do. In addition to the ordinary criminal and civil business, the location of the court on the lake border brought to it a large amount of admiralty cases. In such cases, the extensive knowledge and critical acumen of Judge Willson were favorably displayed. Many of his decisions were models of deep research and lucid statement. One of his earliest decisions of this character was in relation to maritime liens. The steamboat America had been abandoned and sunk, and only a part of her tackle and rigging saved. These were attached for debt for materials, and the question arose on the legality of the claim against articles no longer a part of the vessel. Judge Willson held that the maritime lien of men for wages, and material men for supplies, is a proprietary interest in the vessel itself, and can not be diverted by the acts of the owner or by any casualty, until the claim is paid, and that such lien inheres to the ship and all her parts wherever found and whoever may be the owner. In the case of L. Wick _vs._ the schooner Samuel Strong, in 1855, Judge Willson reviewed the history and intent of the common carrier act of Ohio, in an opinion of much interest. A case, not in admiralty, but in the criminal business of the court, gave the judge another opportunity for falling back on his inexhaustible stores of legal and historical knowledge. The question was on the point whether the action of a grand jury was legal in returning a bill of indictment found only by fourteen members, the fifteenth member being absent and taking no part in the proceedings. Judge Willson reviewed the matter at length,