60 
 
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 1A628 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 etches of some 
 of tlie I*^<Diminent 
 Members of the 
 Orange County Bar 
 
 f.WL 
 
 %iiim
 
 « 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 SKETCHES 
 
 OF SOME OF THE 
 
 Prominent Members of the 
 Orange County Bar 
 
 Prepared by 
 WALTER C. ANTHONY 
 
 Published by the 
 ORANGE COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
 
 Go 
 
 PREAMBLE 
 
 "To all persons to whom these presents shall 
 -come; Greeting!" 
 
 'Know ye' that the preparation of this little 
 book is due to a desire on the writer's part to 
 learn and record as much as possible regarding 
 the careers, the characteristics and the personal 
 appearance of the lawyers of Orange County in 
 former days : 
 
 The publication of the book is due to the 
 interest felt by the Orange County Bar Associ- 
 ation in the lawyers who have shaped the history 
 and moulded the professional ideals of the 
 Orange County bar of this day. 
 
 The writer is painfully aware of the imperfec- 
 tions of his part of the work. He owes much to 
 the assistance that has been given by friends, 
 especially by Hon. William Graham, L. L. D. ; 
 but even with that help the book falls far short 
 of being what it was intended to be. The most 
 perplexing problem connected with it has been 
 whom shall we include and whom omit? Prob- 
 ably some are included who should not have 
 been and doubtless a number are omitted who 
 were entitled to "honorable mention." If this 
 latter fact is the cause of disappointment or 
 dissatisfaction on the part of anybody I beg him 
 to remember that the work only professes to 
 contain sketches of some of tho distinguished 
 lawyers of the county. 
 
 The intention was to give in this volume 
 accounts of only such members of our bar as 
 had "dcpartefl out of this world" before this 
 work was begun, — to wit before January ist, 
 T917. A partial modification of this rule has 
 bf'cn made in the case of Mr. I.owis K. Carr.
 
 This has been done because no portrait of Mr_ 
 Carr can be found in any publication so far as 
 the writer is informed and unless it was con- 
 tained in this book the time would soon come 
 when it would be extremely difficult, perhaps 
 impossible, for the younger members of our bar 
 to learn what manner of man Mr. Carr appeared 
 to be. 
 
 In fact this last suggestion may be applied 
 with equal force to a number of the men whose 
 careers are sketched in this book. Of several of 
 them no portrait has ever been published; of 
 several others portraits are only to be found in 
 books that are out of print and hard to procure. 
 These facts go far towards justifying the publi- 
 cation of this work. 
 
 In a few years it would become well nigh 
 impossible to make a collection of the portraits 
 of the former leaders of our bar which would 
 be as nearly complete as is that contained in 
 this volume. 
 
 If any reader of these 'sketches' is offended by 
 the frequent appearance of the pronoun T — in 
 its various forms — will he kindly remember that 
 in a work of this kind it is extremely difficult to 
 avoid that objectionable feature. 
 
 The writer hopes that the labor involved in 
 the preparation of this little book will be some, 
 though a very inadequate, return for the invari- 
 able kindness and courtesy with which he has 
 been treated by his fellow-lawyers during the 
 many years that have elapsed since he came 
 among them and became a member of the Orange 
 County Bar. 
 
 WALTER C. ANTHONY. 
 
 Newhur^h, N. Y. 
 
 September, 19/7.
 
 Sketches of Some of the Prominent 
 Lawyers of Orange County. 
 
 The bar of Orange County has never been 
 without its full quota of exceptionally able men, 
 but never in its whole history had it a larger 
 proportion of distinguished members than it had 
 during the early years of the igth Century — or 
 in other words just about a hundred years ago. 
 
 Since then we have had many lawyers whose 
 homes v/ere in this county who were men of 
 state-wide reputation; but between 1800 and 
 1820 there were a number of the members of 
 our bar who were men of national repute. In 
 fact there is a tradition that Aaron Burr had an 
 office at Goshen at that time. Be that as it may 
 it is a fact that as Attorney General of this State 
 under appointment of Governor Clinton in 1789; 
 as a member of Assembly in 1800; and as a 
 member of the Constitutional Convention of 1801 
 (of which he was chosen President) he was in 
 each instance credited — or should I say debited? 
 — to "Orange County." 
 
 The reason why men of first class ability were 
 content then to settle at a distance from the 
 cities is not far to seek. In the year 1800 the 
 population of Oranp;e County was about thirty 
 thousand and that of New York City was about 
 sixty thousand. Albany had a population of 
 between five and six thousand. Outside of these 
 two cities there was no place of importance anv- 
 where in the State. In fact if Long; Island is 
 excepted nearly all there was of the State of 
 New York in the way of population was con-
 
 tained within a strip forty miles wide extending 
 from the East River to Saratoga, the Hudson 
 River being the middle of the line. 
 
 This situation which induced some of the 
 most prominent lawyers of the State to maintain 
 their offices at that time in the rural districts 
 was by no means confined to Orange County. 
 In Dutchess County James Kent had withdrawn 
 from active practice late in the i8th Century, 
 when he was appointed Judge of the Supreme 
 Court; Smith Thompson, Thomas J. Oakley, 
 James Emmet (ist) and others were still resi- 
 dent in that County. In Columbia County 
 Martin Van Buren (who ranked among the 
 greatest lawyers of the State prior to becoming 
 its greatest politician) ; Benjamin F. Butler, his 
 partner, who soon outstripped the senior member 
 of the firm in real forensic ability; and the in- 
 comparable Elisha Williams, one of the greatest 
 advocates this State has ever produced if the 
 traditions of the bar are to be credited, were 
 adorning the bar of that County during a number 
 of the early years of the igth Century. 
 
 To return to Orange County: — Among the 
 group of brilliant and able lawyers who resided 
 here at that time the leader of the bar was 
 unquestionably 
 
 JOHN DUER 
 
 who was born at Albany, N. Y., on October 7, 
 1782, and died at the home of his son, William, 
 on Staten Island on August 8, 1858. His father 
 (William Duer) was an army officer and was 
 stationed at Albany at the time of John's birth, 
 which occurred while the mother was visiting 
 her husband at the last named city. 
 
 In early life the subject of this sketch seems to
 
 JOHN" Dl'KU
 
 have been inclined to adopt his father's profes- 
 sion and at the age of sixteen he entered the 
 mihtary service. Apparently he soon tired of 
 this as he resigned after two years and a little 
 later began to "read law" in the office of Alex- 
 ander Hamilton in the City of New York. He 
 removed to Goshen in, or about the year 1800, 
 and was there married in 1804 to Annie Bedford 
 Bunner. Ruttenber and Clark's history of the 
 County states that her brother Rudolf Bunner 
 was John Duer's first partner in business. Mr. 
 Duer seems to have continued to make his home 
 at Goshen until about the year 1823. In the year 
 182 1 he was elected as a delegate from Orange 
 County to the Constitutional Convention which 
 was held that year and in that convention he 
 made a deep and lasting impression by his ability 
 and eloquence. The Constitution prepared by 
 that convention was adopted by vote of the 
 people and went into effect on January i, 1823. 
 The discussions in the convention had empha- 
 sized the need, which had been felt for a long 
 time, for a revision of the statutes of the State. 
 This work had been done, nominally, several 
 times prior to 1821 — but none of these so-called 
 'revisions' was anything more than a mere re- 
 enactment in a consolidated form of the existing 
 statutes as they had been passed from time to 
 time, with some amendments, suggested by the 
 revisers or inserted by the legislature ; there was 
 no attempt at systematic arrangement in any of 
 them. 
 
 As an outgrowth of the work of this Constitu- 
 tional Convention of 182 1 the legislature passed 
 an act in the year 1824 appointing James Kent, 
 (then ex-chancellor), Erastus Root, (then 
 Ivieutenant Governor), and P.rniamin F. Butler, 
 (then District Attorney of Albany County) to 
 revise the statutes of the State. It may safely 
 be guessed that Kent's selection was due to his 
 standing at the bar; Root's to his official position
 
 as Lieutenant Governor; and Butler's to the 
 influence of Martin Van Buren who had been 
 his partner in business and was then United 
 States Senator. Be this as it may the selection 
 of Mr. Butler was a most fortunate one. He was 
 not only a lawyer of exceptional ability but was 
 an extremely industrious and systematic worker; 
 and he only of the three original appointees 
 continued in the work of revision until it was 
 completed. Judge Kent declined to serve, and 
 the Governor — Yates — thereupon appointed John 
 Duer, the subject of this sketch, to fill the 
 vacancy thus arising, and he promptly accepted 
 the appointment. Mr. Root retired from the 
 Commission in 1825 and the Legislature there- 
 upon passed an act enlarging the powers of the 
 Revisers and substituting Henry Wheaton in 
 Mr. Root's place. This new member of the 
 Commission was at that time the Reporter for 
 the Supreme Court of the United States; later 
 he entered the diplomatic service of this country 
 and in March, 1827, resigned his office as Com- 
 missioner and in his place Mr. John C. Spencer 
 was appointed. This appointment was also a 
 fortunate one as Mr. Spencer was not only a 
 lawyer of first class ability but was withal an 
 untiring and indefatigable worker. 
 
 He remained on the Commission until its work 
 was completed in 1828 and on the loth day of 
 December in that year its third* (and final) 
 report was adopted by the Legislature and 
 became "the law of the land," to take effect 
 January i, 1830. Meanwhile Mr. Duer had found 
 it necessary to withdraw from the Commission 
 owing to the pressure of his professional engage- 
 ments, and possibly on account of the additional 
 work involved in connection with the office of 
 United States District Attorney (Southern 
 
 • Three Special Sessions of the Legislature were 
 helf] to consider and adopt the (three) reports of these 
 Commissioners. 
 
 8
 
 District of New York) to which he had been, or 
 was about to be, appointed. Butler and Spencer 
 completed the work without further assistance. 
 
 It is only fair to Mr. Duer's memory to say 
 that at the time he retired from the Commission 
 — which was late in the year 1827 or early in 
 1828 — its labors were well advanced towards 
 completion. The outline, scope and arrangement 
 of the whole work had been decided on and the 
 Commissioners reports theretofore made to and 
 adopted by the Legislature covered those de- 
 partments of the law which were peculiarly 
 involved and intricate. It is also due to his 
 memory to say that his fellow Commissioner, 
 Benjamin F. Butler, expressly and openly credit- 
 ed Mr. Duer with having first suggested the plan 
 for "a new and more scientific revision of the 
 statutes," and with being "the soul, the master 
 spirit, of the Commission." 
 
 It v/ould be impossible for anybody who was 
 not educated in the law to appreciate properly 
 the importance of the work done by these Com- 
 missioners. It has been of the utmost value to 
 the people of this State — and not to them only 
 but throughout the United States, for it has 
 served as the guide and basis of much of the 
 legislation of nearly every State — perhaps of all 
 the States — of the Union. No wonder that one 
 of these Commissioners (Butler) gave instruc- 
 tions that this inscription be engraved on his 
 monument, "A Commissioner 10 Revise the 
 Statute Laws of the State of New York." 
 
 The lawyers of this generation seldom realize, 
 if ever, the confusion and intricacy which marked 
 our legal system — if system it could be called — 
 prior to this revision of our statutes; and the 
 extent and accuracy of the knowledge of the law 
 as it then existed which was required in these 
 men to destroy the old structure and to replace 
 it with the new can hardly be appreciated. If 
 they had done nothing more than write off the
 
 old rubbish by which the title to real estate was 
 sought to be regulated and to replace it with the 
 present system they would have deserved the 
 lasting gratitude of their fellow citizens and of 
 all future generations. It was a jungle, a 
 labyrinth, full of springes and pitfalls : they made 
 it a comparatively plain and open highway — but 
 even yet the wayfaring man, though not a fool, 
 may easily err therein. Even yet the remark 
 made by one of the wittiest lawyers who ever 
 practiced in this County that "a knowledge of 
 the law of uses and trusts comes only through 
 fasting and prayer" holds true to a large extent. 
 It is a strait gate and "few there be that go in 
 thereat." But this branch of the law which is 
 now "deep" was then bottomless. And that 
 portion of the revised statutes which covers this 
 abstruse subject seems to have been prepared by 
 John Duer! No clearer proof of his surpassing 
 ability as a lawyer could be asked! 
 
 As showing the spirit in which this work was 
 done I quote a passage from a letter written by 
 Mr. Duer to one of his fellow Commissioners 
 regarding their work. He says, "Let us act and 
 labor under the belief that we are working for 
 posterity and that great results are dependent 
 (as I am convinced they are) upon our success." 
 In another letter he says, "I am satisfied that we 
 shall have to work continuously eight or ten 
 hours per day." 
 
 And what was their reward? In part it was 
 the consciousness of a public duty well done. 
 In part the gratitude (now almost forgotten) of 
 their fellow citizens and of their brother lawyers. 
 
 And what financially? Mr. Duer and Mr. 
 Spencer each received four thousand five hun- 
 dred dollars — and Mr. Butler was paid six 
 thousand five hundred dollars. His larger com- 
 pensation was due to his having been enp^apred 
 longer in the work and having prepared the 
 indexes. 
 
 10
 
 This compensation (?) was at the rate of about 
 twelve hundred dollars per year. Beggarly as 
 it seems it was far more liberal than the legis- 
 lature had planned to be, for in the original act 
 appointing the Commissioners it was provided 
 that their work should be completed in two 
 years and that their compensation should be one 
 thousand dollars each! 
 
 Mr. Duer held positions of great honor and 
 usefulness later in life, but it may well be 
 doubted whether he was ever able to render 
 another as great and enduring service to the 
 community as he did as one of the Commissioners 
 to revise the statutes of this State. In 1828 he 
 was appointed United States District Attorney 
 for the Southern District of New York and that 
 position he held for a year or two. In 1849 he 
 was elected to be one of the judges of the Super- 
 ior Court of New York City — a court since 
 abolished but which then had jurisdiction nearly 
 identical with that of the Supreme Court except 
 that it was confined to a more limited territory. 
 In May, 1857, he was appointed Chief Judge of 
 that Court and this position he held until his 
 death. His decisions are scattered through the 
 Superior Court reports which cover the years 
 when he was on the bench and they give evidence 
 of his legal ability and learning. 
 
 In addition to the work which he did as a 
 judge he reported the decisions of the Superior 
 Court during the last six years of his life. These 
 decisions constitute the six volumes of "Duer's 
 Reports." He also prepared — though this was 
 done earlier in his life — a treatise on Marine In- 
 surance which was very highly esteemed in its 
 day. 
 
 As has been stated already. John Duer's father 
 was an officer in the army of the United States. 
 His mother Catherine Alexander was a daughter 
 of William Alexander, the Lord Sterling of 
 Revolutionary days. Their children were Wil- 
 li
 
 liam, John and Alexander and perhaps others of 
 whom the writer has not learned. William was 
 scarcely less distinguished than John, having 
 been a justice of our State Supreme Court for 
 many years. Alexander v/as also a lawyer and 
 is said to have been in partnership with his 
 brother John at the time the latter removed from 
 Goshen. Alexander married Miss Maria Wes- 
 cott of Goshen. He died at a comparatively 
 early age leaving two daughters, one of whom 
 became the wife of Judge David 'F. Gedney. 
 The Duer family inherited, through their mother, 
 an interest in large and valuable tracts of land 
 lying in this County and in Southern Ulster 
 County and they were very possibly influenced 
 by that fact in choosing Goshen as their place of 
 residence. The record of litigation as to some 
 of these lands can be found in the nth volume 
 of Johnson's Reports at page 364 and again in 
 the 13th volume of same at page 536 under the 
 name of "Jackson ex. dem. Livingston against 
 DeLancey." 
 
 In 1804 John Duer married Annie Bedford 
 Bunner as already stated. Their home in 
 Goshen was spoken of for many years after they 
 removed to New York and down almost to the 
 present time as a center of all delightful and 
 uplifting influences. They and other leading 
 citizens of Goshen of that day gave a tone and 
 charm to society in that village which lasted for 
 more than half a century — and for aught the 
 writer knows is still felt. 
 
 John Duer is uniformly spoken of by those who 
 knew him as a remarkably eloquent man; a 
 ready and forcible speaker who had all the 
 attractive elements of the orator — a commanding 
 presence, persuasive manners, a melodious voice, 
 an unusually full and choice vocabulary and close 
 reasoning powers. His educational advantages 
 were not good but by diligent study and appli- 
 cation he overcame this impediment completely 
 
 12
 
 and became a profoundly learned man not only 
 along the lines of his own professional work but 
 in the broader fields of literature and philosophy. 
 It has been recorded by those who knew him well 
 that he could read Latin, French and Italian 
 without being aware that he was reading a 
 foreign language. Withal he was a Christian 
 gentleman of the highest and best type. Orange 
 County has a right to be proud that the character 
 and career of such a man were so largely shaped 
 in her midst and has reason to be thankful that 
 his ihfluence in behalf of good citizenship and 
 high culture was so long exerted among his 
 neighbors and friends in his early home. 
 
 He left several children — one of them, a son 
 named William, was at one time in the diplomatic 
 service of the United States Government ; and 
 two unmarried daughters who taught a school on 
 Staten Island down to a comparatively recent 
 date. 
 
 OGDEN HOFFMAN 
 
 The subject of this sketch came of a family of 
 marked distinction. His father, Josiah Odgen 
 Hoffman, was a lawyer of very high standing, 
 and his half-brother, Charles Fenno Hoffman, 
 was as well known in literary circles as was 
 Ogden among the lawyers. Murray Hoffman, a 
 cousin of his, was a lawyer of eminence and a 
 justice of the Superior Court. 
 
 Some facts appearing in the older reports of 
 the decisions of our courts have led me to sus- 
 pect that Ogden Hoffman was really named in 
 full for his father "Josiah Ogden" and that he 
 
 NOTK. — A brief, but «-xrcll<nt Hkftcli nf John Diior 
 l8 Klven In Hutt«:nhfT and Clark'H History of Ornnire 
 County, anfl the trlbutOH paid to hlH memory at th<; time 
 of hia death arc preflxed to the 6th volume of Duer'n 
 ReportH. 
 
 18
 
 (wisely) dropped the less euphonious name. In 
 many of the older cases for instance occurring 
 between 1800 and 1820 the attorney for one of 
 the litigants is stated to have been "J, O. Hoff- 
 man;" but about 1820 to 1825 several cases 
 appear in the reports in which one of the attor- 
 neys is stated to have been "J- O- Hoffman, Jr." 
 This was doubtless the one whom we know 
 merely as "Ogden Hoffman." See i Cowen's 
 Reports, page 45, and again same volume, page 
 58. In both these cases The Bank of Orange 
 County was plaintiff and in both Hoffman was 
 plaintiff's attorney. In other words it was 
 Goshen business and the attorney was "Ogden" 
 Hoffman in all probability.* 
 
 The elder of these two famous lawyers was 
 celebrated both for wit and for learning and 
 seems to have been as full of mischief and play- 
 fulness as a schoolboy all his life. Edwards in 
 his "Pleasantries About Courts and Lawyers" 
 gives several anecdotes of this "learned counsel- 
 lor" of the olden time one of which relates an 
 incident said to have occurred in the Court 
 House at Goshen and which consequently may 
 be not out of place here. Elisha Williams, the 
 famous advocate from Columbia County, was 
 summing up a case. Mr. Hoffman — Josiah O. — 
 in sheer mischief took occasion to inform a 
 brother lawyer sitting near him in the bar that 
 he was afraid one of the jurors did not hear that 
 superb speech as he was very hard of hearing. 
 He took care to say this in a "stage whisper" 
 which would be heard readily by Williams' client 
 who sat close to the gentleman to whom Hoff- 
 man spoke. The client fidgetted uncomfortably 
 for a few moments and then pulled Williams' 
 coat tail and whispered to him "speak louder, 
 Mr. Williams." As the speaker was then using 
 
 • This was not the only instance of this sort in the 
 Hoffman family. Murray Hoffman's name was David 
 Murray, but he dropped the "David." 
 
 14
 
 OrjDKN HOKKMAN
 
 the full volume of his powerful (but melodious) 
 voice the client's suggestion was not adopted and 
 presently Hoffman again whispered to his neigh- 
 bor that the deaf juror evidently did not hear 
 Mr. Williams as he was paying no attention at 
 all to what was being said. Again the client 
 tugged at Mr. Williams' coat and urged him, 
 "For heaven's sake speak louder, Mr. Williams." 
 Everybody in the courtroom began to see the 
 joke except the anxious client and v/hen Hoffman 
 said to his neighbor a few minutes later that 
 Williams would surely lose his case unless he 
 spoke louder the client could control himself no 
 longer and springing to his feet appealed to the 
 Court to direct Mr. Williams to speak loud 
 enough for the deaf juror to hear. What 
 happened next is not stated by Mr. Edwards but 
 no doubt Williams told Hoffman that he "owed 
 him one" and would pay him the first chance he 
 got. Such were some of the pranks of the grave 
 and dignified counsellors of a hundred years ago.* 
 Ogden Hoffman — or Josiah Ogden Hoffman 
 (2nd) — if that was really his full name — was 
 born on May 3, 1793, in the City of New York 
 and died in that City on May i, 1856. His 
 mother's maiden name v/as Mary Colden. She 
 was a daughter of David Colden who was the 
 youngest son of Lieutenant Governor Cadv/al- 
 lader Colden. Her father was obliged to leave this 
 country at the close of the Revolutionary War 
 on account of his sympathy with the English 
 cause. He and his family went to England. 
 There he soon died and his widow and children, 
 including this daughter, Mary, v/cre brought to 
 this country and made their home with Cad- 
 wallader Colden (2nd) at Coldenham in this 
 county. These facts possibly influenced Ogden 
 
 • Thp Court IToiisf of t)iiit flav )h phnwn at the 
 extrerrip left of the plrtnro of OoKhon whlfh anpoars 
 on nnothor pncf. It stoofl nhoiit whom tho f'ounfy 
 Clork'n ofTlro stnnrl.M now. Tho roiirt room wa.H on tho 
 second floor of that bullclinp at the west end 
 
 16
 
 Hoffman in his choice of Goshen as the place 
 where he would study law. He was among 
 relatives who were people of standing and influ- 
 ence. 
 
 One of the daughters of this lady, in other 
 words a sister of Ogden Hoffman, Matilda by 
 name, was betrothed to Washington Irving. 
 Her death at the age of seventeen left him so 
 deeply bereaved that he never met another 
 woman whom he could love and as is well known 
 he died a bachelor. 
 
 In 1812 the subject of this sketch graduated 
 from Columbia College and in 1814, on the last 
 day of that year, he was appointed a midshipman 
 in the United States Navy. The following year 
 he served under Commodore Decatur on the 
 "President" and with the Commodore was taken 
 prisoner. He seems to have obtained an early 
 release however, for he served again with Decatur 
 in the war with the Barbary States. In 18 16 he 
 resigned from the navy, much to the disgust of 
 Decatur who said that he regretted that such a 
 promising man had "left an honorable profession 
 for that of a lawyer." 
 
 Soon after this young Hoffman began to 
 "read law" in the office of his father in New York 
 City and a year or two later came to Goshen 
 and continued his legal studies there. At this 
 point in his career there is a bit of obscurity as 
 to his course. Some authorities state that he 
 studied law at Goshen with John Duer; others 
 merely say that he continued his studies at 
 Goshen with a lawyer of that place with whom he 
 afterwards formed a partnership. Furthermore 
 some of the biographical encyclopedias state, 
 in connection with their account of the life of 
 William H. Seward, that he studied law at 
 Goshen in the office of John Duer and Ogden 
 Hoffman. These statements seem to indicate 
 quite clearly that Duer and Hoffman were co- 
 partners in business in or about the year 1820, 
 
 16
 
 at Goshen. The circumstance is not of any great 
 importance of itself, perhaps, but it is certainly 
 of interest when the standing and ability of the 
 two men is taken into account. It is safe to say 
 that seldom, if ever, have two lawyers of such 
 pre-eminent ability and such wide reputation 
 been associated as copartners in business in this 
 County. What a team it must have been! And 
 when the fact that Seward was a student in their 
 office is added we have a group of three of the 
 ablest men in the State brought together in one 
 law office in the quiet little village of Goshen! 
 It is a noteworthy circumstance too that both 
 the members of this firm of Duer & Hoffman (if 
 such copartnership actually existed as it seems 
 almost certain was the case) should have had a 
 military experience — one in the Army and the 
 other in the Navy of the United States — before 
 entering on the study of the law. 
 
 Mr. Duer removed from Goshen to New York 
 in or about the year 1823 and Mr. Hoffman 
 followed him to that city a few years later, in 
 the year 1828 or thereabouts. He was elected 
 in 1826 to the Assembly from Orange County 
 and in 1828 from New York. He was District 
 Attorney of this County from 1823 to 1826. At 
 about the time of his removal from Goshen he 
 is said to have formed a copartnership with Mr. 
 George F. Talman but whether it had reference 
 to business matters at Goshen or to those in 
 New York City the writer has not learned. Be 
 that as it may it is certainly a fact that very 
 shortly after his removal to New York he formed 
 a partnership with Hugh Maxwell who was then 
 the District Attorney of that County. 
 
 Ogdcn Hoffman's career after he went to the 
 metropolis was so conspicuously successful and 
 prominent that his fame as a lawyer is probably 
 more widely known than that of any other attor- 
 ney who ever had his home in Orange County. 
 He filled the office of District Attorney of New 
 
 17
 
 York County from 1829 to 1835 ; was a repre- 
 sentative in the United States Congress for two 
 terms from 1837 ^^ 1840 ; was United States 
 District Attorney — for Southern District of New 
 York — in 1841 ; and Attorney General of this 
 State in 1853-4 a^d 5. This last mentioned office 
 had been filled by his father, Josiah Ogden Hoff- 
 man from 1795 to 1802. 
 
 As an advocate Ogden Hoffman stood among 
 the very first of his day. To great readiness and 
 fluency of speech he is said to have joined a voice 
 of such rare sweetness and charm, that it led to 
 his being spoken of frequently even to this day 
 as "the flute." For profound learning in the law 
 Mr. Duer was probably his superior but as an 
 advocate Hoffman seems to have 'oeen the more 
 popular of the two. In looking at the portraits 
 of the two men which are presented with this 
 article it suggests itself that very possibly Hoff- 
 man was the more "magnetic" of the two. He 
 looks it. 
 
 Fifty years ago when I was a student in the 
 office of Judge David F. Gedney, at Goshen, he 
 told me this anecdote about Mr. Hoffman. Not 
 many years after he removed to New York he 
 was brought back to this County to defend a 
 man who had been sued for breach of promise 
 of marriage. Mr. Samuel J. Wilkin of Goshen 
 was the attorney for the plaintiff and the trial 
 constituted a battle royal, for when Mr. Wilkin 
 was in good health he was equalled by few and 
 excelled by none before a jury. I speak of his 
 health because he was subject all his life to very 
 intense headaches which were likely to attack 
 him during any exciting trial and which com- 
 pletely prostrated him when they occurred. On 
 the trial of this breach of promise case, however, 
 he escaped without any such attack and when 
 the "summing up" was reached he was in fine 
 shape. Gedney as a boy of twelve or fourteen 
 years was in the court room and listened to the 
 
 18
 
 addresses of these two brilliant men and as he 
 himself told the story he said, "I listened en- 
 tranced to the speech of Mr. Hoffman and v/hen 
 it ended, and a hush fell upon the audience, it 
 seemed to me that Mr. Wilkin might as well 
 remain silent; that it would not be possible for 
 any mortal man to undo the effect of Mr. Hoff- 
 man's address to that jury. But Mr. Wilkin's 
 speech which followed was as much better than 
 Hoffman's as the latter's was better than one 
 that I could have made as a boy at that time." 
 Hoffman had then made a great reputation in 
 New York City and was naturally on his mettle 
 when brought back to try an important case 
 among his old neighbors. 
 
 The plaintiff had a verdict for fifteen hundred 
 dollars which in that day was unprecedented. 
 Mr. Hoffman was wild about it for, as he himself 
 stated it, the case was absolutely destitute of the 
 usual aggravating circumstances. 
 
 With such examples as these to learn from it 
 is not to be wondered at that Gedney himself 
 became a master of the art of public speaking. 
 
 In an indirect way Mr. Hoffman's connection 
 with the affairs of Orange County continued 
 after his death for ten or a dozen years subse- 
 quent to that event — in other v/ords about the 
 year 1870 his widow rented the old Sands place 
 just south of the "covered bridge" at Moodna 
 (in the Town of New Windsor) and resided 
 there for several years. 
 
 Mr. Hoffman was twice married. His first 
 wife was Miss Emily Burrall, whose father, 
 Jonathan Burrall, was at that time the cashier 
 of the Orange County Bank. Their marriage 
 occurred on June 27, i8ig. By her he had two 
 sons, Charles Burrall and Ogden. His second 
 marriage was to Miss Virginia E. Southard. It 
 occurred on November 15th. 1838. The issues 
 of this marriac;e were a son — Samuel Southard 
 and two daughters Mary Colden and Virginia
 
 Southard. The daughters are now (1916) living 
 in London, England. 
 
 His son Ogden was Judge of the United States 
 District Court for California for many years. 
 He died in San Francisco about the year i8gi. 
 Judge Gedney used to speak in the highest terms 
 of the conversational charms of this Judge Hoff- 
 man. In this respect Gedney claimed that the 
 younger man surpassed his father. Judge 
 Gedney said that he and the younger Hoffman 
 when they were lads together would often go 
 out of a morning gunning, and that many a time 
 when they had been out an hour or two they 
 would sit dovv^n and rest on a fallen tree or a 
 flat rail on a fence and there they would sit and 
 talk the livelong day forgetting everything else 
 until the sinking sun reminded them that their 
 day's hunting was ended. They must have been 
 wonderful talks for Gedney himself had very 
 great conversational charms. 
 
 SAMUEL J. WILKIN. 
 Born December 17, 1793. Died March 11, 1866. 
 
 Late in August, 1864, I entered the office of 
 David F. Gedney, at Goshen, as a student. At 
 that time Lincoln's second campaign was under 
 full swing. There was an important meeting 
 of Republicans to be held early in September — 
 an evening meeting — at Agricultural Hall which 
 then stood about where the grand stand of the 
 race course is now. 
 
 It was announced that Hon. Samuel J. Wilkin 
 would preside, and his active participation in a 
 political meeting seemed to be regarded as quite 
 an event. So much was said about it among the 
 people I met and Mr. Wilkin's high standing 
 and marked oratorical ability were so frequently
 
 s.\.Mri:i, .1 w ILK IX
 
 mentioned that I was all curiosity to see him and 
 hear him speak. When the meeting was organ- 
 ized and Mr. Wilkin took the chair I saw a 
 slender old gentleman, of distinguished appear- 
 ance and manner, whose hair, still dark though 
 streaked with gray, was very curly and whose 
 dark gray eyes were very piercing. His voice 
 was full and melodious, remarkably so for a man 
 of his age, — he must have been nearly three score 
 and ten years old. He made a few appropriate 
 remarks acknowledging the compliment, etc., 
 and they were smoothly and effectively express- 
 ed. Then a disturbing incident occurred. The 
 speaker of the evening failed to arrive owing to 
 his train being half an hour late and Mr. Wilkin 
 was entreated to keep the audience together 
 until the train arrived. He spoke for about half 
 an hour and his remarks were obviously unpre- 
 meditated and absolutely extemporaneous. 
 What he said was to the point and well said but 
 several of his friends said to me later, "He is 
 not the man he was in his prime." I was more 
 than pleased however to have heard a man of 
 Mr. Wilkin's reputation make a public address. 
 There are few now living who have had that 
 pleasure. 
 
 Later, as I saw Mr. Wilkin passing to and fro 
 on his daily trips to the Post Office I observed 
 a marked resemblance between him and a por- 
 trait I had seen of Rufus Choate, the famous 
 Boston lawyer. I spoke of this to Judge Gednej' 
 and he told me that such resemblance had been 
 noticed and spoken of several times before, 
 especially by people from Boston who saw 
 Choate frequently; and recently I have been told 
 by Mr. R. C. Coleman, son-in-law of Mr. Wilkin, 
 that the latter was not infrequently addressed as 
 'Mr. Choate' when in New York, Albany or 
 Washington. Such resemblance undoubtedly 
 existed and was quite striking and there was 
 much in the character, temperament and methods 
 
 n
 
 of the two men, in which they resembled each 
 other. Wilkin, like Choate, v«?as a rushing 
 torrent in speech — fiery — figurative — vehement 
 — and when angered terrible in his invective. 
 
 He himself told me an incident which 
 illustrates these traits of his character, — for I 
 became fairly well acquainted with him later and 
 called occasionally at his house, as like all lonely 
 old men he was always glad to see younger 
 people. In an action he tried in New York City 
 his opponent, being a metropolitan lawyer, went 
 out of his way to speak in a supercilious tone of 
 Mr. Wilkin as a country lawyer, a man from the 
 backwoods, or something of that sort — some- 
 thing at all events v,^hich aroused Mr. Wilkin's 
 indignation — and as he stated it, "When it came 
 my turn to address the jury (I was for the 
 plaintiff) I paid my respects to my opponent in 
 no measured terms. I don't know just what I 
 said but it must have hit hard for he caught up 
 his hat and left the court room in haste before 
 I had been speaking ten minutes; and when I 
 left the room an hour later (with a verdict in my 
 favor) m,y opponent was walking up and down 
 the corridor and grasping my hand he exclaimed, 
 "For God's sake don't do that again to me, Mr. 
 Wilkin." 
 
 In all his ways and methods whether profes- 
 sional or social Mr. Wilkin was a gentleman of 
 the old school, a refined, educated and scholarly 
 man. One of his literary diversions was the 
 perusal of the 'Odes of Horace' in the original. 
 Usually he was a serious man and intensely in 
 earnest but his humor was keen and delightful. 
 Once in conversing with him as we were speak- 
 ing of the virtue of economy I quoted a line from 
 Burns, "She gars auld claes leuk amaist as weel 
 as new," and he replied, "Well some people don't 
 look at it in just that way. There is the English 
 wit (he gave the name but I have forgotten it) 
 who says, *A rent may be looked upon as the 
 
 22
 
 accident of the day, but a patch is an indication 
 of premeditated poverty'." 
 
 As a slight indication of Mr. Wilkin's style of 
 stating a point let me give the sentence with 
 which he is said to have closed his argument in 
 an important will case in which he was for the 
 proponent. "And now, Mr. Surrogate, let me 
 say in closing, that if you reject this will upon 
 the grounds urged here you will, in effect, 
 inscribe upon the tombstones of half the men in 
 Orange County, 'HE DIED INTESTATE'." 
 Spoken in his forceful, impressive way, this is 
 said to have been a very telling peroration. 
 
 From Hon. William Graham, L. L. D., of 
 Dubuque, Iowa, I have a brief mention of a 
 Fourth of July oration which he heard Mr. Wilkin 
 deliver and v/hich he describes as "eloquent and 
 in some passages brilliant" and of his summing 
 up in defence of a young woman from Middle- 
 town who had been indicted for larceny. Mr. G. 
 says the address was masterly though it failed 
 to get a verdict, the jury standing eleven to one 
 for acquittal. Mr. Graham adds that the trial 
 nearly disrupted Middletov/n. 
 
 At the time Mr. Wilkin was in active practice 
 there was a lawyer named Bradner — Coe G. 
 Bradner — whose headquarters were in the west- 
 ern end of the County somewhere, whose busi- 
 ness methods were very unsatisfactory to all the 
 reputable lawyers of the County and particularly 
 to Mr. Wilkin. Several times an effort was made 
 under Mr. Wilkin's leadership to "throw 
 Bradner over the bar" but each time something 
 occurred to "save his bacon." Mr. Wilkin once 
 in discussing the matter remarked. "I wondered 
 for years why Coe G. Bradner had been created 
 and why he was permitted to live. But I have 
 solved the problem : — he is here merely to prove 
 the truth of the old Presbyterian theory of 
 •Total depravity'." 
 
 This Bradner was assaulted and battered as 
 
 21
 
 he claimed by one of his clients and brought suit 
 to recover his alleged damages. In order to 
 show malice he sought to prove that the defend- 
 ant had threatened before the assault that he 
 would 'go through Coe Bradner.' As a matter 
 of course Mr. Wilkin was attorney for the de- 
 fendant and in his summing up he described 
 what a startling experience anybody would have 
 who should really "go through" Coe G. Bradner. 
 He closed by remarking that the Harpers' could 
 reap a fortune by publishing "A Journey through 
 Coe G. Bradner, or Explorations in the Wilder- 
 ness of Sin." 
 
 Mr. Wilkin's home was in Goshen during his 
 whole lifetime except for about five years when 
 he attempted to establish himself in New York 
 City; but the hurlyburly of business there was 
 too great a strain for one of his nervous 
 temperament and rather delicate constitution 
 and he was obliged to return to his home in the 
 country. 
 
 I am reluctant to close this article with such 
 an imperfect and unsatisfactory glimpse of Mr. 
 Wilkin. He was really a most interesting and 
 attractive man and well worthy to rank with the 
 two — Duer and Hoffman — whose careers have 
 been sketched in the preceding pages of this 
 volume. His educational opportunities were 
 better than theirs as he was an alumnus of 
 Princeton College (as was also his father General 
 James W. Wilkin). Moreover he was more 
 completely an Orange County man than either 
 of those two as he was a native of the County 
 and excepting his brief residence in New York 
 City his whole life was spent here, which was 
 not the case with either of the others. 
 
 Among the older lawyers of the County in my 
 early days it was conceded by all that nothing 
 prevented Mr. Wilkin from becoming a leader 
 of the bar of this State except his unstable 
 health. He was subject to extremely severe 
 
 24
 
 nervous headaches which were uable to attack 
 him at the most inopportune times. 
 
 Judging from his reputation among those who 
 had known him in his prime I am doubtful 
 whether any son of this County was more richly 
 equipped for success at the bar than Samuel 
 Jones Wilkin. He was a son of James W. 
 Wilkin who was himself well worthy of a place 
 among the "Great Lawyers of Orange County" — 
 but he passed off of the scene of action so long 
 ago that no traditions in regard to him survived 
 to my time. All that is known about him is 
 stated in Ruttenber & Clark's History of the 
 County. 
 
 In order to show the principal events of his life 
 I add a memorandum of the public offices held 
 by the subject of this sketch. 
 
 Appointed in 1850 a Canal Appraiser — but 
 declined. 
 
 Member N. Y. State Senate— 1848-1849. 
 
 Member Assembly — 1824 and 1825. 
 
 District Attorney — May 28th to May 30th, 
 
 1835- 
 
 Member 22nd Congress — 1831-1833. 
 
 He seems to have held the ofhce of District 
 Attorney of this County for only two days. In 
 that day the office was an appointive one and he 
 doubtless declined the appointment. 
 
 In the year 1816 he married Sarah Wescott. 
 Their children — (who lived to adult age) — were, 
 Mary, wife of Joseph Ellis, of Mobile, Ala.; 
 Alexander — who became a Captain in the United 
 States Army; Wescott — who became a Judge of 
 the District Court of Minnesota; and Sarah W., 
 who became the wife of Hon. Roswell C. Cole- 
 man and was beloved by everybody who knew 
 her. 
 
 As is the case with most of the distinguished 
 lawyers his family name will not be perpetuated 
 among his descendants. 
 
 26
 
 JONATHAN FISK. 
 
 This gentleman could not properly be omitted 
 from these sketches of the distinguished lawyers 
 of Orange County for he was undoubtedly one 
 of the most famous members of our bar in his 
 day. 
 
 Unfortunately all traditions relating to him — 
 save that he was an exceptionally able and bril- 
 liant lawyer — have faded out and all that I can 
 state in regard to him is compiled from the 
 "History of Orange County and Newburgh" by 
 E. M. Ruttenber. The portrait which accom- 
 panies this article is taken from the same source. 
 
 Jonathan Fisk was born at Amherst, N. H., 
 on September 26, 1773. At the age of 19 years 
 he left home and obtained occupation as a school 
 teacher, holding a certificate which stated that 
 he was qualified to teach writing, English gram- 
 mar and arithmetic. In 1795 he had received 
 another certificate stating that he had lived for 
 several months in the family of Amos Wood at 
 Ware, N. H., where he had "read Greek and 
 Latin and attended to other branches of study, 
 by which he appeared well qualified to teach a 
 school" and that he had "maintained a good 
 moral character," In 1796 or '7 he began to study 
 law in the office of Peter Hawes in New York 
 City. He was without means of support other 
 than what his own industry could furnish but 
 earned enough by acting occasionally as an 
 amanuensis and by giving instruction to a class 
 of young men in the evening to enable him to 
 complete his studies. 
 
 In 1799 he was admitted to practice in the 
 Court of Common Pleas of Westchester County ; 
 in 1800 in the Supreme Court of the State and in 
 the Common Pleas of Orange and Ulster 
 Counties. In 1800 he removed to Newburgh. 
 In 1802 he was admitted as a Counselor of Law 
 in all the courts of the State of New York. 
 
 26
 
 JONATHAN IMSK
 
 He continued to reside in Newburgh until 
 1815 when he was appointed United States Dis- 
 trict Attorney — for the Southern District of New 
 York — whereupon he removed to New York City 
 where he continued to reside until 1820. In this 
 latter year he returned to Orange County and 
 purchased a farm a short distance west of the 
 (present) City of Newburgh — (the Lynde Bel- 
 knap farm) — and there he continued to reside 
 during the rest of his life. His death occurred 
 on July 13, 1832. 
 
 Prior to his removal to New York City he had 
 been twice elected to Congress — viz in 1808 and 
 in 1814. The office he resigned in June, 1815. 
 
 The account from which the foregoing facts 
 are taken adds: "As a citizen Mr. Fisk was 
 highly esteemed. The town records, the files of 
 our public journals and his ov/n manuscripts bear 
 testimony to the commanding position which he 
 occupied and to the superiority of his abilities. 
 The most important cases were submitted to 
 his care. * * * In person he was large and 
 of a presence that impressed all with whom he 
 had intercourse with a sense of his superiority." 
 While in Congress he incurred the displeasure 
 of John Randolph — (of Roanoak) — v/ho vented 
 some of his acrid remarks upon Mr. Fisk but the 
 latter retorted with such vigor as to win Ran- 
 dolph's respectful and friendly regard. He 
 seems to have retired from active practice at the 
 comparatively early age of forty-seven. What 
 may have been the reason for this is nowhere 
 stated in the account of his life. There was 
 some fault found in regard to the fees exacted by 
 him while holding office and a congressional 
 investigation followed. Fisk is said to have been 
 exonerated — but possibly his business may have 
 been seriously affected. 
 
 It does not take much to ruin a lawyer's 
 prospects. 
 
 27
 
 THOMAS McKISSOCK. 
 Born April 17, 1790. Died June 26, 1866. 
 
 In the Daily City Press (Newburgh) of 
 Monday, July 2, 1866, appears the following 
 obituary notice : 
 
 "THOMAS McKISSOCK" 
 
 "On Saturday last the mortal remains of the 
 late Thomas McKissock were committed to the 
 grave in the presence of a large circle of sorrow- 
 ing friends. The services at the church were 
 chaste and appropriate and free from the fulsome 
 eulogy which too often disfigures such solemni- 
 ties ; while the brief exercises at the grave, a 
 part of the sublime and beautiful Episcopal 
 burial service, were rendered in a manner mourn- 
 ful and solemnly impressive. 
 
 "It was grateful to know that his death was 
 preceded by no protracted illness, no suffering 
 and no mental alienation, but the powers of his 
 physical nature seem to have worn themselves 
 out and he passed away as placid and tranquil as 
 the infant sinks to rest upon the mother's lap. 
 The end of such a man demands something more 
 than the usual passing notice, for he had filled 
 many important trusts, had been identified with 
 much of the prosperity of this city, and left an 
 example of professional rectitude and excellence 
 which his younger brethren should not fail to 
 imitate. He had attained more than the usual 
 age allotted to his kind — for he was seventy-six 
 years of age — had survived the gentle companion 
 of his youth and manhood more than twenty 
 years, and had seen his children prosperously and 
 usefully settled. The object and end of his 
 existence seems to have been attained for he left 
 none of its duties and obligations unfulfilled. 
 
 "The deceased had not the advantage of what 
 is termed a university education. He had no 
 diploma from a college or other literary corpo- 
 ration. But he possessed that which colleges 
 
 28
 
 THOMAS McKISSOCK 
 
 Born - April 17, 1790 
 Died - Jum- 26, 1S66 
 
 No Portrait could be found. He 
 was one of the ablest lawyers of 
 his dav.
 
 and diplomas do not always impart, — a moderate 
 acquaintance with the Greek and Latin classics, 
 a good store of professional learning and the 
 principles of jurisprudence, and was well versed 
 in history and English literature. He had 
 studied medicine in his youth and made himself 
 somewhat acquainted with the kindred sciences 
 of botany, chemistry and anatomy. This was of 
 great service to him in the profession to which 
 he afterwards devoted himself. The leading 
 characteristics of his mind were strength and 
 power of analysis and deduction. He would 
 separate the various propositions of an argument 
 with great subtlety and power, exhibiting them 
 in their various phases and aspects, and enforce 
 his deductions with illustrations both apt and 
 beautiful. His arguments in the courts were 
 oftentimes a rare intellectual treat (as those will 
 remember who had the happiness to hear him) 
 sparkling with wit and humor which came 
 spontaneously and unbidden from his well-stored 
 memory and glowing imagination, as the light- 
 ning breaks upon the distant horizon in the 
 twilight of a summer evening. Passages from 
 the Scriptures, quotations from the best English 
 writers and allusions to the great actors and 
 events of history were freely employed to enforce 
 and embellish his arguments. 
 
 "He had a happy and genial temper, with a 
 keen sense of the ludicrous, seeing mirth and 
 amusement in incidents unnoticed by others. 
 These qualities, added to fine conversational 
 powers and a large store of entertaining anec- 
 dotes, rendered him a most agreeable companion. 
 He had been well instructed (as the children of 
 most Scotchmen of his time were) in the fnith 
 and doctrine of the Presbyterian Church, of 
 which his father was a conspicuous member, and 
 had a firm belief in the leading truths of the 
 Christian religion. He was too liberal and too 
 enlightened not to recognize that some of the 
 
 20
 
 incidents related in the Old Testament had been 
 put in doubt by the discoveries of modem 
 science, and the researches of learned men into 
 the origin and early history of our race ; but this 
 did not impair his belief in the fundamental 
 doctrines of the New Testament dispensation. 
 
 "In politics he was a Whig and a fast friend 
 of Henry Clay during the lifetime of that states- 
 man. He never acted or sympathized with the 
 Republicans, for his legal studies had rendered 
 him familiar with the limitations of the Con- 
 stitution and our complex and double system of 
 government by the union of the States as well 
 as by the States themselves acting within their 
 appropriate spheres. He saw, or thought he saw, 
 a tendency in the Republican leaders to break 
 down this distinction and to enlarge the powers 
 of the general government by circumscribing 
 those of the States. This heresy he resisted with 
 all his strength. He thought too that the war, 
 by temperate means, and moderate counsels, 
 might have been avoided. But when he saw his 
 country committed to the dread alternative, and 
 blood had flowed and men had fallen on the 
 battlefield he promptly ranged himself on the 
 side of the nation and exhorted his countrymen, 
 in the public assemblies, to spare neither blood, 
 nor treasure nor anguish nor suffering for the 
 protection and preservation of their great in- 
 heritance of free government. He, and such as 
 he, have received little credit for what they did; 
 but the time v/ill come when the nation will 
 recognize their patriotism and public spirit, 
 
 "If we should be asked to name the particular 
 qualities, moral or intellectual, to which Thomas 
 McKissock owed the strong hold he had upon 
 the public esteem, and his acknowleged power 
 and influence in his profession we should say, 
 principally his candor and ingenuousness, his 
 manliness and moral integritv- He disdained to 
 conceal what he was or what he thought. While- 
 
 30
 
 he reverenced learning and genius and talent, 
 from pretentious mediocrity and pompous dull- 
 ness he turned away with unaffected contempt. 
 Shams or pretenders he could not endure. Men 
 do not realize the temptations which constantly 
 beset a lawyer in large practice. The weak and 
 the feeble, the ignorant and unprotected are 
 often in his power ; and if he yields to the dictates 
 of greed and avarice rather than to those of 
 mercy and justice he may use his position to 
 enrich himself and perpetrate wrongs of which 
 the world will never know. 
 
 "The subject of this sketch was proof against 
 these temptations for no taint of dishonor or 
 professional misconduct was ever associated 
 with his name, and it may be safely averred that 
 the man or woman does not live who can say 
 with truth that he ever knowingly did them 
 wrong or did them wrong as the instrument of 
 others. When we remember that his practice 
 embraced a period of nearly half a century this 
 is great praise. Whatever other faults he had 
 he did not enlarge his fortune with the spoils of 
 helpless, unprotected and confiding people. 
 
 "Faults he doubtless had but they were more 
 than compensated by his many virtues. 
 
 "He had some professional defects which we 
 should not omit to notice. His handwriting was 
 wretched — so illegible that few could read it 
 without effort. This embarrassed him in the 
 preparation of his papers and made laborious and 
 irksome that which otherwise would have been 
 a source of real pleasure. Had the remedy been 
 applied at the outset of his career it could have 
 been overcome. He was careless and slovenly 
 in the arrangement and disposition of his books 
 and papers so that they were not always at his 
 command. Exact business men will imderstand 
 this and see that these things were formidable 
 impediments to successful progress. He had 
 also a habit of procrastination, — of postponing 
 
 31
 
 until tomorrow that which should have been 
 done today, — which often led to loss and incon- 
 venience. He was also singularly indifferent to 
 the acquisition of property. This was a great 
 defect, for wealth, united with such moral and 
 mental qualities as he had is a just source of 
 legitimate influence and imparts to the possessor 
 the power to do good which cannot be found else- 
 where. The love of money is said to be the root 
 of all evil. We do not accept the truth of the 
 maxim in its application to modern society. 
 On the contrary the love of money, tempered 
 with moderation and honesty of purpose, is 
 thought to be the foundation of much good. 
 It is oftentimes the first step in the improvement 
 of men of indifferent character. The liberty and 
 the power to acquire property and the comforts 
 and refinements which property and wealth alone 
 can impart, has done more for the elevation and 
 progress of the downtrodden classes of mankind, 
 than anything else that can be named. The 
 deceased's indifference to the accumulation of 
 wealth was the result, probably, of his nature 
 joined to the assurance that the income from his 
 professional labors would be sufficient for the 
 gratification of his moderate desires. 
 
 "Such are some of the outlines of Thomas 
 McKissock's character, furnished by one who 
 knew him well in his youth, his manhood, and 
 in his declining years, and who during that long 
 period received many proofs of his friendship and 
 regard. Peace to his remains. May he long 
 be remembered as an example for the imitation 
 and encouragement of others. May the flowers 
 that bloom above his grave grow fresher and 
 fairer and more fragrant with each succeeding 
 year. And may we not humbly and reverently 
 hope that the spirit which animated the frail 
 tenement committed to its kindred dust has been 
 summoned by the Divine Creator to a higher 
 and nobler state of being, the blessedness of 
 
 32
 
 which no eye hath seen nor hath it entered into 
 the heart of man to conceive." 
 
 William Graham, L. L. D,, of Dubuque, Iowa, 
 writes as follows about Judge McKissock : 
 
 "In my early days, even before reaching my 
 teens, I used to hear a great deal about the firm 
 of Newburgh lawyers. Bate and McKissock, but 
 while the firm name was mentioned the talks 
 were always of McKissock. Possibly this was 
 because he was a native of my home town, 
 Montgomery, and received his education at 
 Montgomery Academy. His father, Thomas 
 McKissock, was an Elder in Goodwill Church, 
 and one of the company who seceded and built 
 the church at Berea. His son after leaving the 
 Academy studied medicine, and v/as admitted to 
 practice. He began in his native town with his 
 office completely furnished according to the re- 
 quirements of that day. I remember hearing the 
 story told that his first call was to attend a 
 woman in her confinement, and he was so over- 
 come with sympathy for her sufferings that he 
 drove off to the nearest doctor, and sent him to 
 attend the patient, while he went Iiome and closed 
 his office, disposed of his library and instruments, 
 and left his profession forever. 
 
 "He then entered the office of Jonas Storey at 
 Newburgh, where he had for fellow-students 
 John B. Booth, afterward Surrogate of Orange 
 County, and District Judge of Iowa, and William 
 G. Belknap afterward Major General in the 
 United States Army. His career at the bar was 
 a long and honorable one. 
 
 "I doubt whether any of the array of splendid 
 jurists who have adorned the bar of Oranf^e 
 County, had a higher conception of a lawyer's 
 duty, or left a more stainless record than Judge 
 McKissock. I recall one story which I heard 
 before I ever saw him. A young member of the 
 bar was consulted about bringing suit on a mat- 
 ter in which the law might be in favor of the
 
 plaintiff, but decency and morality was against 
 him. The tempting fee offered, dazzled the 
 young man's vision, but distrusting his own 
 ability to carry the matter through, he laid it 
 before Judge McKissock, who heard him through, 
 and by a few questions put himself in full posses- 
 sion of the facts, and then in his emphatic manner 
 pointed out to his young friend the infamy which 
 would attend the attempt, and the certain ruin 
 it would bring upon him. The young man told 
 the story himself, and expressed his gratitude to 
 the Judge for saving him from ruin, and attri- 
 buted to his reproofs and advice at that time his 
 own rise to distinction in his profession. 
 
 "While I was a clerk in Judge Monell's office 
 in 'the fifties' Judge McKissock was a frequent 
 visitor, and his conversation was always interest- 
 ing and instructive and sometimes epigramatic. 
 Once, while a number of gentlemen were there, 
 the recent decease of a man, supposed to be very 
 wealthy and whose riches had been acquired by 
 devious means, was spoken of, and one gentle- 
 man inquired of Judge McKissock, 'What did he 
 leave?' 'Everything,' responded the Judge, 'he 
 didn't take a thing with him.' 
 
 "On another occasion when a number of gentle- 
 men were discussing the character of a certain 
 new comer into the community, one of them 
 related how this man, by his selfish conduct had 
 ruined the life and caused the premature death 
 of an accomplished young lady, and Judge Mc- 
 Kissock exploded, 'Well, Sir, if the Devil don't 
 get that man. Sir, I don't see any use in having 
 a Devil at all, Sir.' 
 
 "The late H. H. Heustis consulted him about a 
 case in which the pleadings were decidedly mixed, 
 going through everything from complaint to 
 surrebutter without reaching an issue. He sub- 
 mitted the papers to the Judge who examined 
 them carefully and then to Heustis' anxious 
 inquiry: 'What shall I put in next?', replied, 
 
 34
 
 ^Well, Sir, I don't know, what you will put in, 
 m, Sir, unless you put in a blasphemer. Sir.' 
 
 "Judge McKissock in his address to the jury 
 was full of animation and energy, and in his 
 arguments would often turn his back upon the 
 jury as though he was talking to the listeners in 
 the court rooms, and his gestures were very 
 constant and often vehement. I recall a story 
 often told of one of his contests with his fellow- 
 student. Judge Booth. This gentleman had 
 many peculiarities, but was a hard student and 
 careful in his preparation of his cases, and while 
 he did not possess the genius or power of 
 repartee of McKissock, they were not unevenly 
 matched. On this occasion McKissock had the 
 closing argument, and was bearing down heavily 
 on his opponent, who sat a little in the rear of 
 him shaking his head vigorously at the points 
 made by plaintiff's counsel. As McKissock pro- 
 ceeded in his address and as usual turned around 
 as though addressing the audience he caught 
 sight of Judge Booth's head indicating vigorous 
 dissent and burst out, 'Ah, Judge, you may shake 
 your head, sir, and you may shake your head, 
 sir, but there is nothing in it, sir.' 
 
 "In 1847 Bate was elected County Judge, the 
 first County Judge of Orange County, under the 
 Constitution of 1846, and McKissock was ap- 
 pointed v/ith Judge Whittlesey to fill in the old 
 Supreme Court the places of Judges Bronson and 
 Jewctt elected to the Court of Appeals. He 
 served one year in that tribunal and closed up 
 the business of the Old Supreme Court. His 
 published opinions are fonnd in V, Denio, and 
 are dear and able expositions of the law. In 
 1848 he was elected to Congress, and served one 
 term, giving v/arm support to the administrations 
 of Taylor and Fillmore, but on the breaking up 
 of the Whig party he afterward affiliated with 
 the Democratic partv. as did his predecessor in 
 Congress, Hon. D. B. St. John. 
 
 36
 
 "By the election of Bate to be County Judge, 
 and the elevation of McKissock to the Supreme 
 Court, their business was broken up, and when 
 McKissock returned from Congress his clients 
 had mostly formed other connections, and hence- 
 forth Judge McKissock was mostly employed 
 by other lawyers to argue their cases in the 
 higher courts, though he frequently tried cases 
 at the Circuit, and was always a formidable and 
 honorable antagonist, and was long held in 
 affectionate remembrance by his associates at 
 the bar. 
 
 "Judge McKissock's character was so upright, 
 and his treatment of others, especially young 
 men, so kindly that I never heard a word said 
 in disparagement of him or adverse comment on 
 him as a lawyer. 
 
 "Possibly this last statement is too broad. In 
 the case of Monell Ex. of Downing vs. Collyer 
 et al (for the death of Andrew J. Downing in 
 the burning of the Henry Clay) in which I heard 
 Tom George and Chauncey Belknap say Judge 
 McKissock was prepared to make the effort of 
 his life, he was pitted against Ambrose L. Jordan 
 of Hudson, who had been Attorney General while 
 Judge McKissock was on the bench. It was the 
 first time they had met in opposition to each other 
 and their clashes were so frequent as to bring 
 down on them the reproof of Judge Brown, 
 winding up with 'You are not trying this case 
 as well as younger men would.' After the 
 adjournment of the case over Sunday, Jordan 
 offered such terms of settlement that McKissock 
 lost not a minute in advising his client to accept 
 them. He thus won out for his client but lost 
 the eclat that would have attended the return of 
 a verdict in his favor. But it was just like him. 
 
 "I can recall the appearance of Judge Mc- 
 Kissock in the 'Fifties' very distinctlv, though 
 I do not recollect seeing him before I took up 
 my residence in Newburgh. I am not good in
 
 painting the portrait of an individual, but will 
 do my best to comply with your request. 
 
 "Judge McKissock was about five feet nine 
 inches in height, stout, and solidly built, but not 
 portly, square-shouldered and with a large chest. 
 His head was large and well shaped. His face, 
 almost square, was always cleanly shaven. His 
 eyes rather large and prominent and bright blue, 
 sometimes dancing with mirth and at others 
 blazing with indignation. His mouth was rather 
 large, while his chin bore evidence to his firm- 
 ness of character. His countenance, usually 
 placid, would light up with a pleasant smile on 
 greeting a friend, but was capable of assuming 
 a stern expression when facing a reluctant or 
 untruthful witness. His voice was distinct, and 
 his manner, while devoid of any trace of affecta- 
 tion or ostentation, was alert, quick, nervous and 
 animated, and when speaking to a miscellaneous 
 audience or addressing a jury, profuse in gesti- 
 culation, and never failed to gain and hold the 
 attention of his hearers. 
 
 "In the trial of a jury case his even temper and 
 self-control enabled him to steer his case skill- 
 fully from start to finish, undisturbed by adverse 
 rulings of the court, and unruffled by the efforts 
 of opposing counsel. Controlling himself he 
 enforced respect from his adversaries. Deferen- 
 tial to the court but firm and unyielding for 
 what he considered the rights of his clients; 
 courteous to his opponents, the apparent justice 
 of his positions commanded the careful consid- 
 eration of the bench, and the close attention of 
 the jury. After the lapse of more than sixty 
 years the fip;iire of Judge McKissock stands out 
 before me as one of the best specimens of the 
 bar of New York in his day." 
 
 87
 
 ADDENDA BY W. C. A. 
 
 Judge Gedney told this anecdote of McKissock. 
 
 An action was brought against a doctor for 
 malpractice. The plaintiff had sustained a com- 
 pound fracture of the bones of the leg. The 
 defendant was employed and set the leg but for 
 some reason the broken ends slipped past each 
 other and when the injured man got on his legs 
 again he found that the injured one was much 
 shorter than the other. He brought an action — 
 McKissock for the plaintiff, Gedney for the 
 defendant. 
 
 The defence was that the injured man had 
 eaten heartily in violation of the doctor's orders 
 and had in that way brought on a feverish con- 
 dition which caused him to flounce about in the 
 bed a good deal and this had loosened the 
 splints and allowed the bones to slip. 
 
 Gedney had a natural taste for anatomy. His 
 father was a physician as was also his elder 
 brother. He studied his case carefully and 
 when he came to the trial knev/ a whole lot about 
 the bones and muscles and ligaments of the leg, 
 — knew all their medical names and their con- 
 nections. In summing up the case he used this 
 knowledge and almost unconsciously applied the 
 technical medical names and description, arguing 
 that the doctor was not in fault but the patient 
 was to blame himself. Judge McKissock opened 
 his address by saying that the learning of his 
 brother Gedney had astonished him; that these 
 long Latin names would puzzle half the doctors 
 in the land. But there was once a man, said he, 
 who knew even more than my friend Gedney 
 does. His name was Solomon. You will find 
 him mentioned in the Bible. And he said: 
 "When a man's belly is full his bones are easy." 
 And there, said Gedney in telling about it, there 
 v/as my two hours speech all knocked into a 
 cocked hat in less than five minutes. The best 
 
 38
 
 of the joke was never discovered by Gedney. 
 McKissock seems to have humbugged the whole 
 crowd, Judge, jury and counsel, for there is no 
 sack expression nor any resembling it anywhere in 
 the Bible, 
 
 James S. Graham — the elder — studied with 
 Judge McKissock but being fond of society and 
 a great favorite he was somewhat irregular in 
 his attendance at the office. On one occasion one 
 of his young lady friends called there and asked 
 if Mr. Graham was in. McKissock answered very 
 suavely, "Not at present." An hour or so later 
 she returned and inquired, "Has Mr. Graham 
 returned yet?" The Judge replied somewhat 
 tartly, "No." 
 
 Shortly afterward she came again with the 
 same question and receiving the same answer 
 she innocently queried, "Why, he's studying law 
 in your office, isn't he?" The answer came in 
 one word with strong emphasis, '^occasionally/' 
 
 A young lawyer once bustled into McKissock's 
 office and in a hurried way asked him some ques- 
 tion in regard to the law affecting trusts. The 
 Judge's response was: "My dear young man, 
 don't you know that a knowledge of the law of 
 uses and trusts comes only through fasting and 
 prayer." 
 
 Judge Brown in his obituary notice mentions 
 McKissock's illegible handwriting. It was re- 
 puted to be exceedingly bad. It was told of him 
 that he once wrote a letter and addressed it to 
 a gentleman in Illinois. By a series of accidents 
 — or providential interpositions — the letter finally 
 reached its destination but the party who received 
 it could not read a single word of it. He there- 
 fore cut off the signature and pasted it on the 
 outside of an envelope. Then he cut off the 
 caption and pasted it beneath the signature. 
 Next he inclosed in this envelope what was left 
 of the letter and mailed it. Somebodv there 
 deciphered the N. Y, and when it reached there
 
 some of their interpreters read the Newburgh. 
 
 When it came here our postmaster recognized 
 Judge McKissock's writing and the letter was 
 delivered with his mail. When the Judge opened 
 it he could not read a line of it himself and in 
 his explosive way he said: "Abominable! 
 Atrocious! The man who couldn't write better 
 than that ought to be sent back to school." 
 Then, to see who the culprit was, he looked for 
 the signature. Finding it had been cut off he 
 looked at the address on the envelope and 
 recognizing there his own autograph he quietly 
 remarked : "Not as illegible as it looked to be." 
 
 This anecdote came from James G. Graham 
 (the elder) who studied — "occasionally" — in 
 McKissock's office and who himself wrote a 
 hand which taxed one's patience, and ingenuity 
 to decipher. 
 
 HON. JOHN W. BROWN. 
 
 Born at Dundee, Scotland, October ii, 1796. 
 Died September 6, 1875. 
 
 (The earlier portion of this sketch was prepared by 
 William Graham. L. I^. D.) 
 
 I never v/as present in Court when John W. 
 Brown was engaged as counsel but tv/ice : — Once 
 when Polly Bodine was tried for the murder of 
 her sister-in-law, in April, 1846, which was the 
 first time I was ever in a court of record. 
 David Graham, Jr., the author of Graham's 
 Practice, and one of the Code Commissioners, 
 opened the case for the defendant, and I have 
 always thought that it was that speech that made 
 me a lawyer. David Graham, Jr., A. L. Jordan, 
 and John W, Brown appeared for the defendant, 
 a wonderfully strong array. L. C. Clark, Dis- 
 trict Attorney for Richmond County where the. 
 murder occurred, and James R. Whiting, Dis- 
 trict Attorney of New York, for the prosecution. 
 
 40
 
 JOHN W. T'.UOWN
 
 The defendant had been convicted in New York, 
 and the Supreme Court granted a new trial 
 which was held in Newburgh before Judge 
 Barculo, the first case he tried as Judge. The 
 first witness for the defense was Judge Edmonds 
 before whom the case was tried in New York. 
 As I remember it Judge Brown examined this 
 witness as to the testimony some of the wit- 
 nesses for the State had given in the former 
 trial. Some of the witnesses for the prosecution 
 had disappeared and the defendant was acquitted. 
 
 On the other occasion I was in court when 
 Hon. William C. Hasbrouck was trying a case 
 which Judge Brown defended before Judge S. B. 
 Strong. It seemed to me that the plaintiff made 
 out a clear case, and that the trial Judge was of 
 the same opinion, but the jury promptly returned 
 a verdict of "no cause of action." I had often 
 heard it said that John W. Brown was almost 
 omnipotent with Orange County juries, and it 
 seemed to me then, though only a youth, from 
 the testimony and the charge of the Court, that 
 the personality of his counsel was all the defence 
 the defendant had. 
 
 While a law student I made it a point to attend 
 as often as possible the Sessions of Court when 
 held in Newburgh. I do not recall any that was 
 held there by any other judge during that time. 
 It v/as interesting to watch the jury while Judge 
 Brown was charging them. He had been all his 
 professional life a trial lawyer, and when charg- 
 ing the jury, he would take up the plaintiff's 
 side, and presently seemed to forget that he was 
 judf^e and not counsel, and would argue the case 
 for the plaintiff, and suddenly he would become 
 conscious of that fact, and would take up the 
 defendant's case, and argue that just as ably, 
 and all the time the jury were watching to see 
 which way he leaned, and if they could determine 
 that question, the side the jury thought he favor- 
 ed was sure of a verdict. 
 
 41
 
 But the jury did not always guess right. My 
 father used to tell of one occasion when he was 
 one of the panel, and when the jury retired, he 
 found that he stood alone. The case being an 
 important one and his conviction being very 
 strong, he stood out, and after a day and a half, 
 the judge discharged the jury. As it was about 
 noon court adjourned, and on coming out of the 
 Court House Judge Brown took father's arm and 
 walked down the street with him, and on the 
 way asked how the jury stood. He was answer- 
 ed, "Eleven to one." "Why," said the judge, 
 "that juror must be a very obstinate man. I 
 thought I charged the jury so strongly that I 
 expected a verdict for the plaintiff in a few 
 minutes. Who was the juror who stood out?" 
 Father admitted that he was the guilty party. 
 "You," said Judge Brown, "why I always con- 
 sidered you a sensible man." "But, Judge, I was 
 the only one that stood for the plaintiff." 
 
 Judge Brown was not only an excellent judge 
 in his ruling and decisions, but transacted busi- 
 ness promptly, and never permitted trials to 
 drag along. There v/as one member of the bar, 
 "of great bore but small calibre," who would 
 exhaust the patience of Job in cross-examination 
 of a witness. This was to Judge Brown almost 
 unendurable. Once at Goshen this counsel had 
 examined a witness at great length and to little 
 purpose, v/ith a long pause between each ques- 
 tion, and the judge would ask, "Are you through 
 
 with this witness, Mr. ?" "No, your 
 
 Honor," would be the reply, and then would 
 come a question that had been asked a half 
 dozen times before, until the judge broke out, 
 
 "You are through with this witness, Mr. . 
 
 You are through with him, sir. Witness leave 
 the stand." 
 
 This storv was told of the first time he held 
 Court in Westchester County. The previous 
 judges had been very easy, and the bar had 
 
 42
 
 fallen into a very slip-shod way of doing busi- 
 ness. Judge Brown on taking his seat empan- 
 nelled and charged the Grand Jury, and then 
 called the Criminal Docket and not a case was 
 ready. He then called the Civil Docket with the 
 same result. The judge leaned back in his chair, 
 and the talk of the proverbial "Dutch Uncle" 
 wasn't a circumstance to the blistering reproof 
 that the bar got from the bench. He wound up, 
 after stating that the expense to the county of 
 holding the court was about three hundred dol- 
 lars a day, by notifying the District Attorney 
 that when he held court there again, he would, 
 on the opening of court, call the Criminal 
 Docket, and if the State was not prepared in any 
 case, he would discharge the defendant on his 
 own recognisance, and that every case on the 
 Civil Docket would be tried or dismissed when 
 reached. It was said that no one could hire a 
 horse or man at the county seat that night for 
 love or money. They were all scouring the 
 county in search of witnesses to have them on 
 hand at the opening of court next morning. 
 That talk surely "speeded up" the dispatch of 
 litigated business in Westchester County. 
 
 The writer was admitted to the bar at the 
 General Term at Brooklyn in January, 1856. 
 He went to the city by the same train which 
 carried Judge Brown. A serious accident at 
 Spuyten Duyvel Bridge, to the train preceding 
 ours, prevented our getting to Brooklyn until 
 after four o'clock p. m. Then we were informed 
 that Judges Strong and Rockwell who were the 
 other judges, had adjourned the term until the 
 next Monday. On the adjourned day Judges 
 Brown and Rockwell appeared, but Judge Strong 
 was snowed up in the east part of Long Island. 
 They sent on to New York and borrowed Judge 
 E. P. Cowles, and appointed a committee to 
 examine the applicants for admission to the bar, 
 and adjourned sine die. Some time after, I took 
 
 4a
 
 my certificate to Judge Brown's office for his 
 signature, and he complained bitterly that he had 
 nothing to do, and said it was the first time since 
 he was admitted to the bar that he was absolutely 
 without business. But it was ten years after 
 before he retired from the bench he so ably 
 adorned. 
 
 Few persons, who knew Judge Brown only as 
 a hard-headed, hard-fighting lawyer of rigid 
 Presbyterian principles, suspected the tenderness 
 of feeling that hid behind his unpromising 
 exterior. In the summer of 1855 a man was 
 tried in Newburgh for the murder of his wife, 
 and, in spite of a vigorous defence by Judge Mc- 
 Kissock, was found guilty in the first degree, and 
 that mainly on the testimony of his own seven- 
 year-old son. When the judge pronounced 
 sentence of death upon him, he was observed to 
 be greatly affected, and at the close, broke down 
 in a paroxysm of tears. It was the first time I 
 ever heard a death sentence pronounced, (and 
 I have heard but one since) and a few days after, 
 I was in conversation with one of the judges of 
 another district, and related the circumstances 
 and added that I was told that it was the first 
 capital case that Judge Brown had tried. That 
 judge told me that he had tried eleven murder 
 cases in which verdicts of guilty had been re- 
 turned and that seven of the defendants had been 
 executed, and he had been on the bench only two 
 years longer than Judge Brown. At Judge 
 Brown's intercession the penalty was commuted 
 to imprisonment for life. 
 
 I understand your request in your last letter 
 for something further about Judge John W. 
 Brown to refer to his personal appearance. He 
 v/as tall with no superfluous flesh, but well pro- 
 portioned, active in his movements, dignified in 
 his manner but without any trace of stiffness, or 
 pomposity, accurate and incisive in speech and 
 keen in repartee, easy to approach and pleasant 
 
 44
 
 in conversation, yet he could hardly be termed 
 affable. I can not say much of his attitude at 
 the bar as I saw him in court only twice before 
 he became Judge, but I knew of his pov/er as 
 leader of the bar. As a judge he was always 
 dignified, prompt and accurate in his rulings, and 
 clear and impartial in his charges to the jury. 
 He was not only a hard worker but one who 
 loved to work, and the members of his profession 
 had unbounded confidence, not only in his ability, 
 but also in his integrity, and that confidence was 
 never abused. 
 
 Judge Brown v/as not only a hard worker but 
 he was also diligent in collecting the rewards of 
 his labors, and was equally diligent and prudent 
 in investing them. I remember hearing one 
 active member of the Newburgh bar remark 
 that only death, or a severe fit of sickness, would 
 keep Judge Brown away from his office on April 
 ist, the day the interest on his investments were 
 made payable. In him was the proverb of Solo- 
 mon verified: "Seest thou a man diligent in his 
 business! He shall stand before kings. He 
 shall not stand before mean men." 
 
 I think the oil painting of him which hangs in 
 the Court of Appeals is the best likeness of him 
 that I have ever seen, but the cut which appears 
 on page 158 of Ruttenber's "Newburgh" is very 
 good. 
 
 ADDENDA liV W. C. A. 
 
 In the foregoing sketch Mr. Graham has 
 referred to the Polly Bodine case. It was one 
 of Judge Brown's greatest forensic triumphs. 
 His summing up was said to be masterly. In 
 closing it he is reported to have said to the jurors 
 something like this: 
 
 "And now, gentlemen, if you shall find a 
 verdict against the accused, then, in days to 
 come, when I meet you, and demand to know, 
 ^s I shall, how you overcame the presumption 
 
 45
 
 of innocence to which the accused is entitled I 
 shall expect you, each one of you, to be prepared 
 to give me full and explicit reasons for your 
 verdict — for a woman's life is at stake." 
 
 John W. Brown was a man of unusual force 
 of intellect and of character. His ability and 
 integrity were not only conspicuous but were 
 felt, almost instinctively, by every one who had 
 any business transactions with him. He made 
 a very deep impression upon the men of his own 
 generation and that impression has not yet faded 
 out entirely, which is saying much for a lawyer's 
 influence, for usually when a member of that 
 profession "rests from his labors" his good works 
 are speedily forgotten. 
 
 He was a ready man, full of resources and 
 prompt and unhesitating in using them. One 
 instance occurs to me. In the days when 
 "Justices of the Sessions" sat with the Supreme 
 Court Justice in every criminal case the two 
 "Side Judges" in Dutchess County conspired to 
 take Judge Brown down a peg or two; so when 
 the District Attorney was urging the admissibil- 
 ity of certain evidence and the prisoner's counsel 
 was objecting vigorously one of the Session 
 Justices leaned over the bench and said to the 
 
 prisoner's lawyer: "Mr. X , we think 
 
 that evidence is entirely proper and shall admit 
 it." Judge Brown looked around at him and 
 merely said, "W-h-a-t !" The Side Judge replied, 
 "You needn't be uppish about it. Judge Brown. 
 We are the majority of this court and have de- 
 cided to admit the evidence." His co-conspirator 
 nodded assent. Judge Brown's high white silk 
 hat stood on the bench near him (he always wore 
 a white one in summer) and reaching for it he 
 put it on and started for the door, remarking in 
 his severest manner — (which was <very severe) 
 — "Perhaps you think you can run this Court 
 without my help." Instantly the question was 
 withdrawn vociferously, as likewise was the 
 
 4«
 
 objection and the judge returned to his seat 
 remarking with considerable asperity, "Very 
 well then ; I think that the proceedings here will 
 be conducted without further foolish interrup- 
 tions." 
 
 I might say that an incident somewhat similar 
 to the foregoing occurred in the Orange County 
 Court when Duryea was County Judge. The 
 evidence offered was expected to be of a particu- 
 larly indelicate character. There were many 
 itching ears in the audience — perhaps some on 
 the bench — waiting to hear that very testimony. 
 Duryea ruled it out as irrelevant. The Session 
 Justices overruled him and the evidence was 
 introduced. 
 
 The obituary notice which Judge Brown wrote 
 regarding Judge McKissock, which is printed in 
 another part of this book, gives a clearer view of 
 Brown than a dozen pages of description could. 
 
 His literary style, his manner of expressing 
 himself, whether in writing or orally, his ideals, 
 his point of view regarding some of the most 
 important questions of life, and the unflinching 
 truthfulness which led him to speak of the faults 
 of his dead friend all shine out clearly in that 
 article. That he failed to observe the rule, 
 "De mortuis nil nisi bonum," was equally 
 characteristic of him. He seems never to have 
 subscribed to the proposition that "the truth 
 should not be spoken at all times." This sort, 
 or quality of outspokenness may or may not be 
 due to a lack of tact but one who displays it is 
 sure to be thought lacking in that rarest of the 
 Christian p;races. 
 
 My residence was very near Judc;e Brown's 
 durinp^ the l?st three or four years of his life and 
 I came to know him well and can testify that he 
 was a kind and helpful neighbor and a wise 
 adviser even in matters outside of his professional 
 lines. Mr. Grnham has said, in the article which 
 accompanies this that Judge Brown loved to 
 
 47
 
 work. In that he is mistaken. The judge once 
 said to me that he dishked to work. He stated it 
 in this way: "It was always hard for me to 
 work. I had to drive myself to it. Now there 
 is Brewster — he doesn't deserve any credit for 
 working; he would rather work than be idle." 
 I told Brewster, years afterwards, of this conver- 
 sation and his reply was, "How little we really 
 know about those who stand nearest to us. I 
 always disliked to work — worse than Brown 
 ever did — and I do yet. During the many years 
 I was a clerk in his office if he had known me as 
 well as he thought he did he never would have 
 said that to you, or to anybody." 
 
 As Judge Brown says of McKissock, so I will 
 say of him, "faults he doubtless had" — but as to 
 these I cannot speak from personal knowledge. 
 The one quality in him which I observed which 
 most resembled a fault was that he seemed to me 
 to be entirely destitute of the sense of humor. 
 He was intensely serious and in earnest all the 
 time — a stern, self-reliant, isolated man. 
 
 In his old age, after he had retired from the 
 bench, an effort was made to bond the City of 
 Newburgh in aid of a railroad which was intend- 
 ed — (or proposed) — to be built from Newburgh 
 back into the western part of the county. A 
 public meeting was held at People's Hall to 
 discuss the proposition. The hall seated a thou- 
 sand to twelve hundred people and it was filled. 
 The audience had been packed with claquers in 
 favor of bonding the city. It was understood 
 that Judge Brown would speak in opposition to 
 the scheme. When he came forward from his 
 seat at the back of the stage and essayed to speak 
 bedlam broke loose. Hoots, catcalls, booings and 
 all manner of hideous noises filled the hall. 
 Judge Brown said a few words which nobody 
 heard ; it is doubtful if he heard them himself. 
 Then he v/alked back towards the seat he had iust 
 vacated and the crowd quieted down. They 
 
 48
 
 thought they had cowed the old gentleman and 
 that he was retreating — but they didn't know 
 John W. Brown, He deliberately dragged his 
 chair forward to the front of the stage and seated 
 himself on it with the remark, "Well, I can sit 
 as long as you can holler." The audience con- 
 cluded to hear his speech and he proceeded to 
 give the bonding scheme and the men who were 
 promoting it a dressing out that no one who 
 heard it has ever forgotten. 
 
 He began by saying something like this: "I 
 am an old man, about to die, and I do not reside 
 in this city, but I felt it my duty to come here 
 tonight to try to save my neighbors and 
 friends and former clients residing here from the 
 burden which would be put upon them and their 
 children and their children's children by the 
 adoption of this wicked scheme." And he went 
 on to discuss the project and the individuals v/ho 
 were back of it, without fear or favor. It would, 
 not be possible to say that this speech defeated 
 the scheme but it had great weight with the 
 people and the bonding project was defeated ; 
 the city was not bonded. 
 
 Judge Brown seems to have been about 
 twenty-five years old when, in 1822, he was 
 admitted to the practice of the law. The period 
 of study then required was extremely long. 
 Prior to his admission he had studied in the office 
 of Fisk & Case (Jonathan Fisk and Walter Case) 
 and after Mr. Fisk removed to New York City 
 about 1815 he continued in the office of Mr. Case 
 until he was admitted to the bar. His rise in his 
 chosen profession was rapid. In the trial of 
 cases he was a forceful and convincing advocate; 
 in his office he was a learned, clear and far-sight- 
 ed counsellor. No client ever suffered by reason 
 of committinpj his interests to the keeping of 
 John W. Brown no matter how able or famous 
 the opposing attorney might be. In his early 
 manhood he took an interest in military affairs 
 
 4!t
 
 and followed it up with his usual thoroughness 
 so that he finally became — in 1824 — the Colonel 
 of the militia of this district. In 1832 and again 
 in 1834 he was elected to represent this district 
 in the United States Congress. In 1849 he was 
 elected a Justice of the Supreme Court and that 
 office he continued to hold for sixteen years or 
 two terms — the term then running for eight 
 years. 
 
 At the expiration of his second term — January 
 I, 1866 — he retired to private life and refused to 
 accept professional employment though he con- 
 tinued to spend a few hours in his office each day 
 until nearly the time of his death. He left two 
 sons and several daughters. One of the sons, 
 Hon. Charles F. Brown, has surpassed his father's 
 fame as a jurist, and has rivaled it as a lawyer. 
 
 ISAAC R. VAN DUZER. 
 Died November 27, 1841. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that so few details 
 in regard to Mr. Van Duzer's life and work have 
 come down to our time. By universal consent 
 he is ranked among the most brilliant men who 
 ever practiced law in this county. 
 
 His death at the comparatively early age of 
 thirty-nine years cut off, in mid-career, a life 
 of very great promise. He was a member of 
 Assembly in 1832 and again in 1833 and District 
 Attorney of this county from 1829 to 1835. 
 
 He was once a candidate for Congress but was 
 defeated. Such is the brief record of his public 
 services. As a member of the Assembly, he pro- 
 duced such a favorable and lasting impression 
 upon his fellows that one of them spoke of him, 
 thirty years later, as a man of surpassing ability 
 and brilliance. It is told of him that he frequent- 
 
 60
 
 ISAAC K VAN IMZIOK
 
 ly dictated complicated legal documents to two 
 amanuenses at the same time, and that he 
 often drew indictments, (which then had to be 
 drawn with great care), in the public room of 
 the hotel in the midst of the greatest confusion 
 and distracting incidents. It is also known that 
 in his private practice he was pitted against the 
 ablest men at our bar. 
 
 Mr. Van Duzer married a sister of David F. 
 Gedney which resulted in a certain degree of 
 intimacy between the two families and Gedney 
 once spoke of his pleasant memories of a Christ- 
 mas dinner he had taken years before at the Van 
 Duzer homestead when all the Van Duzers were 
 present. It was a large family I think, and 
 Judge Gedney said he thought that taken all in 
 all they were the finest looking set of people he 
 had ever sat at table with. He spoke particularly 
 of the attractiveness of their hair which was, as 
 he described it, not curly but wavy and very 
 abundant. 
 
 The accompanying portrait of Mr. Van Duzer 
 fully justifies Judge Gedney's opinion as far as 
 this member of the family is concerned. 
 
 The Van Duzer homestead was in the Town 
 of Cornwall and there the subject of this sketch 
 was born on May 8th, 1802. He was licensed 
 in the year 1823 and forthwith opened an office 
 in the Village of Canterbury. 
 
 With his brilliant gifts he naturally found his 
 way to a larger place and had his health not failed 
 he would have been constrained ultimately to 
 seek the wider field afforded by the metropolis. 
 
 In Clark and Ruttenber's History of the 
 County I find a sketch of Mr. Van Duzer which 
 reads as though it had been written by Judge 
 Gedney — his brother-in-law. I quote from it that 
 which follows : "The general impression of those 
 now living who were brought into personal 
 contact with him is that he was one of the most 
 impressive and magnetic men of his day; that he 
 
 61
 
 was an orator of rare powers of eloquence and 
 logic and gifted with a magnificent voice." 
 
 DAVID F. GEDNEY. 
 By Tristram Coffin of the Dutchess County Bar. 
 
 I studied law in Goshen in the years 1862-3 ^^ 
 the office of the late Joseph W. Gott, an excellent 
 lawyer of that period. A few days after my 
 arrival in the village, a trial term of the Supreme 
 Court was held at the County Court House there, 
 Justice James Emott of Poughkeepsie presiding. 
 It was my first experience in attending court, 
 and I was much interested in all that occurred. 
 Every bench in the spacious room was filled with 
 people. The chairs of the bar enclosure were 
 also soon taken by lawyers from all sections of 
 Orange County, quite a number of whom bore 
 the outward marks of superior intelligence and 
 intellectual capacity. The one among them who 
 particularly attracted my attention was not in 
 my estimation in the last named select class. 
 Neither did I regard him to my satisfaction as 
 one of the other attorneys. Indeed I found my- 
 self doubting whether he had the right to enter 
 that exclusive place. He was evidently about 
 forty years of age, of medium height and weight, 
 simply but faultlessly dressed, and acted the part 
 of a quiet, dignified gentleman. The apparent 
 enigma was contained in his remarkable head. 
 His brow retreated so abruptly that there seemed 
 to be no room for the grey matter of a fine brain 
 or for scarcely any frontal brain above the loca- 
 tion of the perceptive faculties. His back head 
 was large and full. My knowledge of phrenology 
 certainly must have been very slight or the 
 science itself at fault in this instance for I re- 
 member distinctly that mentally I relegated him 
 to a place far down the scale, as one to whom 
 
 62
 
 I i.w II I 1'. <;i:i)Nj;v
 
 Nature had failed to allot even the average 
 amount of understanding. 
 
 My attention was soon diverted to the court 
 business, the making of motions, the call of the 
 calendar, etc. Later in the day when an import- 
 ant case was brought to trial, the man in question 
 was seated near some lawyers at one of the tables 
 in front of the jury. My only thought at the time 
 was that he must be one of the parties interested 
 in the suit, and this view was seemingly con- 
 firmed by several apparent consultations between 
 him and the active attorney who opened the case 
 for the plaintiff and examined his witnesses. In 
 the summing up a white-haired lawyer who 
 proved to be ex-Judge McKissock, of Newburgh, 
 made a very able plea for the defendant's side, 
 concluding with a caution to the members of the 
 jury not to allow their judgment to be unduly 
 swayed by the eloquence of his "friend on the 
 other side." 
 
 Imagine my surprise when the gentleman with 
 the strangely shaped head quietly rose and began 
 to address the jury as the senior counsel for the 
 plaintiff! At first his utterance was very slow 
 and rather loud, and there appeared to be evi- 
 dence of some embarrassment on his part. This, 
 however, disappeared as his mind gradually cast 
 aside the fetters that held it in temporary abey- 
 ance; his deep rich voice assumed a natural tone; 
 he soon appeared to forget himself and his sur- 
 roundings, and in the absolute silence of the 
 multitude, with every eye upon him and every 
 ear at attention, he proceeded to deliver one of 
 the finest forensic addresses that it has ever been 
 my privilege and delight to hear. Presently I 
 observed what had escaped my attention before, 
 that his face was one of much strength, every 
 feature plainly indicating it. His small eyes 
 which had seemed so ordinary, now, with pupils 
 dilated, shone brightly from their deep settings 
 and his moist face flushed as his mind, working
 
 at its maximum speed, taxed his well guarded 
 voice to its full capacity to keep pace with it. 
 He did not speak rapidly but there was no hesi- 
 tation and every word was well chosen and 
 weighty with meaning. The analysis of the 
 foundation facts and points of law, the strength 
 and weakness of the testimony of the various 
 witnesses pro and con, vivid illustrations and apt 
 and thrilling quotations from renowned authors, 
 all came steadily forth in a well articulated and 
 thoroughly supported volume that was irresisti- 
 ble in its convincing power. It was now plainly 
 apparent why the veteran and talented Mc- 
 Kissock spoke his warning words to the jury, 
 for the cause of his client surely needed all the 
 help it could obtain from any source. Nearing 
 the end, his voice grew low and more measured, 
 his manner more quiet, and in words not too 
 many or too few, he closed and deliberately 
 resumed his seat. Turning to a gentleman 
 sitting beside me I asked if he knew the name of 
 the speaker. His whispered reply was — "Judge 
 Gedney." I do not remember which party was 
 successful, but I have little doubt that the verdict 
 was for the plaintiff, else I should surely recall 
 what would have been in my opinion at that 
 time, a marked and not to be forgotten instance 
 of the miscarriage of justice ! 
 
 During my stay in Goshen I heard the Judge 
 speak a number of times, and always with 
 admiration, but throughout all the intervening 
 years that remarkable address has come first to 
 my memory when I have thought of him. I 
 have no doubt that it was one of his finest efforts. 
 It is difficult to imagine how it could have been 
 improved either in substance or in delivery. 
 Afterwards, I heard all the most prominent 
 speakers among the lawyers of the Orange 
 County bar of that day (and there were some 
 who possessed fine ability in that respect), but 
 in my estimation not one of them v/as his equal, 
 
 64
 
 and I doubt whether either one of the famous 
 quartette — Duer, Hoffman, Van Duzer and 
 Wilkin — of the preceding generation, surpassed 
 him. 
 
 In time I became somewhat acquainted with 
 the judge and still recall the purport of nearly 
 all the conversations I held with him. This fact 
 is evidence as to the impression he made upon 
 me. A few among these memories, which recur 
 to me as I write, may perhaps not be considered 
 out of place in this article. 
 
 One of his statements was that he never began 
 to address a jury or other audience without feel- 
 ing quite nervous and incapable of doing justice 
 to his subject, and that he only overcame it by 
 speaking at the outset in a strong voice and very 
 deliberately until he gained the proper poise. 
 He said that Secretary of State William H. 
 Seward, who was a distinguished speaker, once 
 told him that his experience was very similar. 
 
 For a few weeks I acted as the editor of the 
 Goshen Democrat, a Republican paper at the 
 request of Mr. Charles Meade, then its owner and 
 editor, during his absence on his summer vacation. 
 It was just before the battle of Gettysburg, and 
 the loyal people of the entire North were in a state 
 of great excitement and anxiety. Strange as it 
 may now appear, it is a fact that the hills and 
 valleys of Orange County were then infested by 
 many human copperheads, and my longest 
 editorial was devoted to them as connected with 
 the dire emergency then at hand — the great peril 
 that over-shadowed the Union cause by reason of 
 Lee's invasion. I had written the article hastily 
 but warmly, and used some forceful quotations. 
 Soon after the publication of the paper in which 
 the article appeared, I was much gratified by 
 receiving a call from the judge in the course of 
 which he remarked that it was one of his many 
 regrets that he could not recall more readily and 
 fully the fine passages he came across in his read- 
 
 66
 
 ing, when he needed them in speaking. He 
 seemed surprised when I smilingly assured him 
 that I thought he was greatly mistaken; that it 
 appeared to me that his memory served him 
 remarkably well in that respect. It was but one 
 of many evidences that existed of the innate 
 modesty of the man. 
 
 A student in one of the offices, upon finding in 
 the attic of the building a lot of French novels 
 of pronounced yellow character, fearing that he 
 might be tempted to read them, and without 
 ascertaining to whom they belonged, burned 
 them to ashes in the office stove. I happened to 
 be present among a small group of men, includ- 
 ing the judge, when the matter was mentioned, 
 and well remember how all possible criticism was 
 forestalled by his emphatic approval of the really 
 questionable act. 
 
 Judge Gedney was a constant and careful 
 reader of the best literature, classical and other- 
 wise. That propensity, viewed in connection 
 with his love for his home life (which was con- 
 genial and happy) accentuated by a certain 
 degree of apparent mental and physical indol- 
 ence, kept him from devoting sufficient time and 
 effort to his profession to enable him to build up 
 a large practice. It was very difficult for him to 
 become a steady worker, and he shrank from 
 engaging in any of the ordinary ways of influenc- 
 ing business to come to his office. It had to 
 reach him unsought or go elsewhere. It may 
 also be said that his courtly and refined manners 
 and address were entirely devoid of the "Hail 
 fellow well met" style, the exercise of which is 
 supposed to render its possessor popular with the 
 average class of people. 
 
 Had he chosen to have formed a partnership 
 with an affable, competent and industrious office 
 lawyer, it would doubtless have led to his far 
 more frequent appearance as an advocate in 
 court. His rare ability would then have been 
 
 66
 
 developed more fully and would have been more 
 generally recognized and appreciated. He was 
 well qualified by nature and cultivation to have 
 attained marked success, not only as a court 
 lawyer, but as an author, a clergyman, or public 
 lecturer. 
 
 Such are my principal memories of David F. 
 Gedney. I knew him for a brief period more 
 than fifty years ago, when he was in the prime of 
 his life. Other and more familiar pens than 
 mine must be enlisted if full justice is done him 
 and his career. To me he will always stand out 
 as the most gifted man at that distant day among 
 the lawyers of the historic village of Goshen and 
 of the grand old County of Orange. Those who 
 knew him best and properly valued his rare 
 qualities of mind and inspired strength and 
 facility of expression, saw him with keen regret, 
 go through life on a range far below that which 
 he was capable of attaining. There was a cluster 
 of pure mental diamonds in his brain, very few 
 of which were ever seen to sparkle, and all were 
 finally buried with him under the sod without 
 having been accorded the full opportunity right- 
 fully due them to display their brilliant qualities. 
 
 Netv York, May, 1917. 
 
 ADDENDA BY W. C. A. 
 
 My own first impressions of Judge Gedney 
 were similar to those of Mr. Coffin. I had heard 
 most favorable reports of him but had never 
 seen him until I went to his office one summer 
 morning in the year 1864 to ask if he would 
 receive me as a student. I recall a fcelinf^ of 
 surprise that one so celebrated as an advocate 
 could be so unprepossessing in appearance. But 
 his courtly manners and pleasant voice 
 coupled with the kindness with which he met 
 me soon won my admiration and all thought as 
 to his appearance was banished. 
 
 67
 
 I remained in his office as a student for nearly 
 a year and a half and a more considerate and 
 agreeable preceptor could not have been found. 
 He treated me with as much courtesy as though 
 I had been his equal in years and in professional 
 standing and it is not to be wondered at that I 
 came to regard him with sincere affection. 
 
 He was in some respects unlike any other 
 member of the profession in this county at that 
 time. He seemed to be made of finer material. 
 Delicate and sensitive to a fault he could drive 
 himself to face the rough and tumble of litigated 
 practice without a sign of reluctance. But he 
 infinitely preferred the paths of peace. 
 
 He loved music and pictures and flowers "and 
 everything that pretty is" and especially books. 
 
 His susceptibility to music was remarkable. 
 I recall a chance meeting of five or six young 
 people at his house one summer evening. One 
 of the number, (a Miss Bradish), had a lovely 
 voice and in the gloaming she played and sang 
 for half an hour or more, rendering among other 
 songs a number of plaintive Scotch ballads. The 
 sound of that music is in my ears yet. It was 
 exquisite. The room was in almost total dark- 
 ness. The next morning the judge said to me 
 that it was fortunate we were sitting in a darken- 
 ed room the preceding evening for the tears he 
 shed over those Scotch ballads would have dis- 
 graced him if they had been seen. Frequently 
 he would seat himself at the piano and "impro- 
 vise" delightfully. 
 
 As a reader he was omnivorous. He could 
 appreciate and enjoy anything from Bentham, 
 on Jurisprudence, to "The Arabian Nights." He 
 read French as easily as though it had been his 
 mother tongue, being master even of the black- 
 letter French. He had some familiarity with the 
 Italian language also. But in mathematics — 
 especially in mixed mathematics — he was sadly 
 deficient. He said to me once that he lacked the 
 
 68
 
 arithmetical instinct : that he could not add up 
 a column of figures with any confidence that he 
 would reach a correct result. But he added, "I 
 can beat Charley Winfield. He is worse than 
 I am." 
 
 Judge Barnard once said to me "that Gedney 
 is a most remarkable man. When he is counsel 
 in a cause he will sit there with his eyes shut 
 until you might think he was dead except that 
 occasionally his foot will wiggle a little and once 
 in a great while he will whisper a word or two 
 to the lav/yer who is trying the case. But when 
 it comes time for him to sum up he will address 
 the jury for an hour or two or three as the case 
 may demand and he won't miss a point as big as 
 a humming-bird's eye." 
 
 In speaking to a jury — or to a general audience 
 — Judge Gedney never shouted and never made 
 violent gestures. When he wanted to be unusu- 
 ally impressive he would drop his voice to a 
 lower tone and speak very deliberately. The 
 effect was magical. The entire audience would 
 fairly hold their breath to listen. One of the 
 sources of his popularity as a speaker was his 
 unusual power of arrangement. He would state 
 the facts or points of a very complicated situation 
 in such a simple and clean-cut way — so free from 
 involutions and complications — that every listen- 
 er could follow him without any effort. It was 
 a pleasure — a delight even — to listen to him. 
 I think I never knew him to have to say "I 
 omitted to mention this in its proper place." 
 When he had finished the discussion of one 
 branch of his case he was through with it and 
 it was presented in such a way that it needed no 
 furtlier words from him to convey fully and pre- 
 cisely the view he wished his hearers to take. 
 In other words his arguments were like his 
 sentences simply perfect in their arrangement. 
 All this was accomplished without the slightest 
 appearance of effort or preparation on his part. 
 
 60
 
 "Charley" Winfield once said to me — after he 
 had removed from the county and was practicing 
 in New York City — that he regarded "Dave" 
 Gedney as the most remarkable man in some 
 respects that he had ever known. Said Winfield, 
 "I always liked to have a little time for preparing 
 to sum up. I usually tried to get the noon recess 
 for that purpose or even an adjournment over 
 night. But it never seemed to make any differ- 
 ence with Gedney. I have sent men to talk with 
 him during a recess and to keep him so occupied 
 that he would not be able to make any prepara- 
 tion for his speech — but it made no difference. 
 He spoke just as well, just as smoothly and with 
 as perfect an arrangement of his arguments as 
 though he had had any amount of time for 
 preparation." 
 
 One particular in which Judge Gedney excelled 
 was in his power to say caustic things in a quiet 
 way and in very few words. For example : An 
 attorney whom he did not like or trust was 
 summing up a case for the defendant. Gedney 
 was to follow him for the plaintiff. The defend- 
 ant's attorney in closing his argument said a 
 whole lot of things about the eloquence of the 
 gentleman who was to follow him — that the jury 
 must be on their guard, etc., etc. Gedney quietly 
 remarked as he opened his address, "I feel that 
 I have been besmeared and besmirched by these 
 hypocritical compliments." 
 
 One summer afternoon half a dozen lawyers, — 
 Gedney among them — had gathered, as they 
 frequently did, in front of Champion's office. 
 Easy chairs had been brought out and everything 
 was going as "merry as a marriage bell." The 
 subject under discussion was the "Cheechunk 
 Ditch" case — then a matter of great importance. 
 Presently William F. Sharpe joined the party. 
 At that time he was very diligently courting the 
 lovely woman who soon after became his — second 
 — wife. As she was many years his junior he 
 
 60
 
 was extremely sensitive just then about his age. 
 Something led him to say petulantly, "Well prob- 
 ably Dave Gedney can tell us all about this; he 
 knows all about everything." Gedney quietly 
 remarked, "It would be far more interesting to 
 hear Mr. Sharpe tell what LaFayette said to him 
 on his second visit to this country." Sharpe was 
 "up in the air" at once, and lost his temper com- 
 pletely. He had no further interest in the 
 "Cheechunk Ditch" and soon started for home. 
 
 In a case — or batch of cases — where Mr. Gott 
 represented the plaintiffs and Judge Gedney the 
 defendant there had been some talk of a com- 
 promise. Finally Mr. Gott named a sum — a big 
 one — for which his clients would settle. Gedney 
 replied with the suavity of a Chesterfield, "Mr. 
 Gott, my client would prefer that his estate 
 should not be administered on before he is dead." 
 
 In a very hotly contested murder case Gedney 
 was associated with the District Attorney and 
 was called upon of course to make the closing 
 appeal to the jury. One of the witnesses for the 
 accused was a man named Price and the testi- 
 mony he gave was important. Gedney thought 
 it necessary to break down this testimony if 
 possible and he spoke with some acrimony of 
 the ease with which such evidence could be pro- 
 cured "if the Price was forthcoming" and if 
 one could "find the Price'' The next morning 
 he met Price on the street and greeted him with 
 a polite "good morning" but was rebuffed with a 
 gruff "go to hell." Sensitive as he was this did 
 not disturb Gedney in the least. He felt that he 
 had merely done his duty and enjoyed a hearty 
 but quiet laugh over Price's discourtesy. I have 
 reason to think that Price's testimony in the case 
 was not true but from my knowledge of the man 
 I believe he gave it honestly. This murder case 
 will be referred to again in a later portion of this 
 volume. 
 
 Judge Gedney was not a diligent student of 
 
 01
 
 the law. I have often wondered how he acquired 
 as much knowledge of the law applicable to the 
 cases he tried as he evinced. He was no "case 
 lawyer." His library was sadly deficient, espec- 
 ially in the way of digests and elementary 
 treatises. He had a good knowledge of the 
 underlying principles of jurisprudence and he had 
 the "legal instinct" and these sufficed for that 
 part of a lawyer's work which he was chiefly 
 called on to transact, viz., the presentation of 
 causes to juries. He was also in the habit of 
 talking legal questions over with Mr. Joseph W. 
 Gott and I know that from these conversations 
 he often obtained valuable assistance in arriving 
 at sound conclusions. One other trait should be 
 mentioned. Judge Gedney had a keen and de- 
 lightful sense of humor. He seldom perpetrated 
 a joke but he could appreciate and enjoy one 
 thoroughly. 
 
 I think I have given enough details about 
 Judge Gedney to show — dimly I fear — what 
 manner of man he was. He was not peculiar — 
 but he was exceptional. If he could have been 
 spurred to do his best and his utmost he would 
 have risen to marked eminence, or else, by 
 reason of his somewhat delicate constitution, 
 would have worn out at middle life. As it was 
 his even manner of life and somewhat indolent 
 ways preserved him to nearly three score years 
 and eight. He died on the 21st day of June, 1888. 
 As he himself once stated it to me he "took an 
 early start" having been born on Monday, 
 January i, 1821, at one o'clock in the morning. 
 He held but two public offices. During the 
 years i857-'8 and '9 he was District Attorney of 
 Orange County and in 1864 to 1868 he was the 
 County Judge of that county. 
 
 In the trial of a case Judge Gedney was 
 courteous and considerate invariably, more 
 especially towards young men. He did not often 
 examine the witnesses but when he did you 
 
 fi2
 
 might expect an unusually smooth, polished and 
 thorough piece of work. 
 
 Even in cross-examination he treated the 
 witness with the utmost courtesy — but he was 
 as merciless as fate towards a witness who pre- 
 varicated. He would drive such an one to the 
 wall unflinchingly but all the while with unfail- 
 ing politeness and suavity. From beginning to 
 end it was a treat to watch Judge Gedney try a 
 case and sum it up. 
 
 He married Henrietta Duer. Their descend- 
 ants now living are a daughter (not married) and 
 one or two granddaughters. On the male side 
 his family is extinct and his family name will die 
 out, — as is the case with nearly all the men whose 
 careers are sketched in this volume. 
 
 CHARLES H. WINFIELD. 
 
 "Hon. Charles H. Winfield, eminent lawyer, 
 great orator, renowned public prosecutor, patri- 
 otic legislator, magnetic man — son of Dr. Charles 
 Winfield, was born near Pine Bush, April 22, 
 X822, and died at Walden, June 10, 1888. He 
 graduated at Montgomery Academy, April, 1842, 
 and prosecuted his law studies in the office of 
 Hon. Charles Borland at Montgomery. He was 
 admitted to the bar in 1846, and practiced law 
 for a brief period in Chester. Orange County, 
 N. Y. 
 
 "In 1847 he formed a law partnership with 
 William F. Sharp, at Goshen, which continued 
 for twenty-five years. On April 5, 1868, he united 
 in marriage with Miss Nancy Jane Crav/ford 
 of Montgomery, who survives him. In 1850 he 
 was elected District Attorney of Orange County, 
 which office he filled for six years with great 
 reputation. In 1H6?. he was elected to Congress, 
 and was re-elected in 1864. 
 
 63
 
 "In 1872 he formed a law partnership with 
 Anthon and Leeds in New York City, which 
 continued until 1884, when ill health compelled 
 him to retire. His fame as an orator is secure. 
 Space fails to record any of his very many 
 oratorical triumphs. He was religious, reveren- 
 tial, benevolent, social, companionable — there 
 was never discovered in him any trace of exclus- 
 iveness, arrogance or affectation. His brain 
 power was such that he was capable of filling 
 with credit any office in the gift of the people. 
 On Sunday, June 10, 1888, "Children's Day," as 
 he was addressing an audience at the American 
 Reformed Church in Walden, an attack of heart 
 disease suddenly ended his mortal life forever." 
 
 The foregoing brief but comprehensive account 
 of Mr. Winfield's life and public services is 
 copied from one of the numbers of "The Wallkill 
 Valley Souvenir." 
 
 It is passing strange that one who filled so 
 large a place in the minds of the people of Orange 
 County during a considerable portion of his life 
 time has left so little in the way of tradition or 
 anecdote for us to recall. The fact is he was very 
 like the general run of men, only bigger. He was 
 a large man physically and of decidedly more 
 than average size mentally. The impression he 
 produced upon his contemporaries was largely 
 due — principally due I think — to his impressive- 
 ness as a speaker. He was a ready, a fluent and a 
 forcible talker and at times vehement and declam- 
 atory. He appealed more frequently and more 
 successfully to the emotions and sympathies of 
 his hearers than has any other lawyer at our bar 
 in my day. He would at times move his audience 
 to tears and would shed tears himself. He had 
 a way when he was speaking of running his hand 
 through his curly hair — it was black in those 
 days — and mopping up the perspiration on his 
 brow with his red silk handkerchief. 
 
 He and Gedney were about the same age and 
 
 64
 
 •II \i:r,i:s Ji ^^ im ii;M'
 
 though rivals in a way for honors as orators they 
 were the best of friends always. But no two men 
 could differ more in their general make-up than 
 they did. Winfield was bluff, hearty, outspoken, 
 democratic. Gedney was a patrician; reserved, 
 undemonstrative and aristocratic. 
 
 Winfield would throw himself and his likes 
 and dislikes into his case. I once saw him get 
 an acquittal of a young fellow who was on trial 
 for some minor crime and the ground on which 
 he asked (and got) the verdict was that this 
 young man's parents had befriended him when 
 he was a struggling young lawyer down at 
 Chester. This plea and a few tears did the job. 
 Gedney on the other hand felt that the ethics of 
 the profession did not permit him to go outside 
 of the evidence in the case in order to influence 
 the jury. He intentionally refrained from saying 
 how that evidence had impressed him — never 
 saying, "I am convinced" — "I am sure" — or any 
 such expressions of his individual conclusions or 
 feelings. 
 
 Mr. Winfield v;as a Member of Congress 
 during the Civil War and being a "War Demo- 
 crat" he was in favor with the administration. 
 On one occasion he called at the White House in 
 company with a friend and after their business 
 with the President had been transacted, he 
 invited them to stay and have ten minutes' talk 
 with him. Something that was said led Winfield 
 to say, "that reminds me of a story. Mr. President, 
 that you are said to have told to Mr. So and So 
 from North Carolina,"— and he told the story. 
 Lincoln had a good laugh over it and then said, 
 "I never told that story, Mr. Winfield. In fact 
 I never heard it before. The truth is I very 
 seldom tell a funny story.— but I know a few 
 good ones." And. as Winfield told the anecdote, 
 he added the President's eyes twinkled when he 
 spoke of knowing some "pjood ones." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln made a deep impression on Mr.
 
 Winfield. The latter was heard to say, several 
 times, that he regarded Lincoln as the ablest man 
 and one of the best he had ever met, and he added 
 that the President was particularly strong in one 
 point where he had not had credit for it — namely 
 he was the shrewdest politician in the land. 
 
 Mr. Winfield's life was full of superficial and 
 temporary triumphs and of profound and lasting 
 disappointments. He was a man of warm affec- 
 tions and his heart was wrung by the death of 
 his children — (six I have been informed) — who 
 died in early childhood. His desire to be elevated 
 to the Supreme Court Bench was not gratified 
 and this was the occasion of profound disappoint- 
 ment to him. His last years were spent in 
 retirement from active life, among friends and 
 relatives in the neighborhood of his boyhood 
 home. There his life was cheered and comforted 
 by the society and ministrations of his devoted 
 wife and his affectionate relatives. 
 
 During Mr. Winfield's term of office as District 
 Attorney of this county — which office he held 
 from 1850 to 1856 — an encounter occurred in New 
 York City between two noted prize-fighters, Bill 
 
 Poole and Baker, which resulted in Baker's 
 
 shooting Poole. The injured man lived for a 
 number of days though it was said the bullet 
 penetrated his heart. Meantime Baker had fled 
 to — or for — Europe, but was overtaken by a 
 faster ship at the Madeiras and brought back. 
 The case was one which aroused intense interest 
 among all the sporting men — and all the small 
 boys — in this part of the country. It was deemed 
 impossible to get a fair trial in New York City 
 so the case was sent to Orange County and Win- 
 field won wide renown for the skill and ability he 
 displayed in that trial. Even yet you will occas- 
 ionally hear old men speak of that case and of 
 the part Winfield took in trying it. He was 
 pitted against one of the ablest men at the New 
 York Bar in that day, James T. Brady, who 
 
 66
 
 defended Baker. As was usually the case where 
 Brady defended, his client was not convicted but 
 the People's case was well presented. Brady 
 was a wizard before a jury. 
 
 The last "messenger" came to Mr. Winfield 
 with startling suddenness. A Sunday School 
 convention was in session at one of the churches 
 in Walden and Mr. Winfield was to make an 
 address. With his usual attention to the details 
 of such occasions he had chosen to occupy one 
 of the pews at the side of the pulpit partly facing 
 the congregation. When the time came for him 
 to deliver his speech he stepped out into the aisle 
 in front of that pew and made an address which 
 delighted all who heard it. As he was closing 
 it he spoke of the hope which every worker in 
 the Sunday School might justly entertain that 
 great good would flow from his work though 
 such results might never be seen by him who did 
 the work. He closed with the expression ; 
 "Would to God that my own life had been more 
 given to such work." So saying, he fell in the 
 aisle and "in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
 eye" was dead. 
 
 "Sic transit gloria mundi." 
 
 In the trial of a case Mr. Winfield was 
 somewhat aggressive and at times impatient and 
 overbearing even with his own witnesses. For 
 instance, once when his own client had given 
 testimony somewhat at variance with what Win- 
 field had expected and the latter was trying to 
 get him to modify it the witness declined to do 
 so and said in a conceited way, "I know what I'm 
 about, sir." Winfield came back at him fiercely 
 with the remark, "Nobody would suppose it from 
 the way you act." In one of his early "horse" 
 cases an odd incident is said to have occurred. 
 A witness swore that the horse in question was 
 about sixteen feet high. "You mean sixteen 
 hands." said Winfield. "That's what I said." re- 
 plied the witness. This led to a hot controversy 
 
 87
 
 between the two until the justice was appealed to. 
 He and several bystanders agreed with Winfield. 
 By this time the witness was fighting mad and 
 declared, "I mean to stand by my testimony. 
 I shan't admit that I swore to a lie. What I said 
 was true and you may call it hands or feet or 
 whatever else you damned choose." So the horse 
 stood on the justice's minutes as sixteen feet tall. 
 It is unfortunate that "horse" cases have so 
 nearly died out in this day. They afforded lots 
 of amusement in the days of "lang syne." 
 
 WILLIAM F. SHARPE. 
 Born December 13, 1806. Died April 10, 1893. 
 
 The Sharpe homestead was somewhere in 
 Connecticut — at Abingdon I think — and there 
 the subject of this sketch was born. During his 
 active and energetic life in this county Mr. 
 Sharpe would hardly have been credited with any 
 great amount of sentiment but he had enough 
 fondness for the old home to retain ownership of 
 it through all the reverses of his later years and 
 finally v/ent there to spend his old age and it was 
 there, I am informed, that he died, at the advanced 
 age of upwards of eighty-six years. For many 
 years Mr. Sharpe was deemed, and probably was, 
 a wealthy man. His home in Goshen was the 
 center of a generous and stately hospitality. In 
 the following sketch of Mr. Sharpe's life which 
 was prepared by Hon. R. C. Coleman who was a 
 student in the office of Sharpe & Winfield, a 
 reason is given for the reverses which overtook 
 him in his later years but it occurs to me that in 
 addition to that cause assigned by Mr. Coleman 
 it is quite probable that the dissolution of the firm 
 of Sharpe & Winfield, which occurred in the year 
 1872, had an injurious effect upon Mr. Sharpe's 
 
 68
 
 WII.I.IAM !•• SIIAltr
 
 business as a lawyer. He was a vigorous and 
 industrious man of a somewhat aggressive dis- 
 position but a pleasant companion and a genial 
 host. Mr. Coleman writes as follows: 
 
 "Temperamentally Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Win- 
 field were very different. Mr. Sharpe in business 
 was cold, calculating and unemotional, but just. 
 I never heard his integrity questioned. I have 
 heard it said his idea of a compromise was to get 
 it all for his client. In his home he was hospita- 
 ble and cheerful, quite as much so to the younger 
 men as to the older. Mr. Winfield was always 
 sociable and a generous liver. Professional work 
 was irksome to him, except when in court. He 
 was a skillful and rapid draftsman of pleadings 
 and other legal documents, which Mr. Sharpe 
 would afterwards go over mercilessly, boil down 
 and correct, resulting in the end in a sound piece 
 of work. In business, Mr. Sharpe was the hard 
 working, painstaking member, while Mr. Winfield 
 was the brilliant one who brought most of the 
 litigated business to the office and Mr. Sharpe, 
 the management of estates and general law 
 business. Winfield preferred to do his work 
 early in the morning before the others arrived 
 — Sharpe was always to be found at his desk 
 during office hours. Both undoubtedly knew the 
 need one had for the other in business though 
 they both chafed under it. Unquestionably they 
 did for a number of years the largest and best law 
 business in their end of the county, if not in the 
 whole county. 
 
 "Mr. Sharpe began practice in Middletown and 
 Mr. Winfield in Chester, but both soon settled 
 in Goshen. In life Mr. Sharpe was a saver and 
 Mr. Winfield a spender, but in the end both died 
 poor — one from unfortunate investments in real 
 estate; the otlicr from lack of thrift and from 
 prodigality. Naturally Mr. Winfield made hosts 
 of friends and Mr. Sharpe fewer, but those were 
 truer."
 
 THE FULLERTONS. 
 
 Three of this family became members of the 
 bar of this county, viz. : Daniel, William and 
 Stephen Whittaker. The oldest of these three, 
 Daniel, can hardly be said to have been one of 
 the prominent lawyers of the county but it was 
 not due to any lack of native ability on his part 
 that he failed to attain to that distinction. In 
 the opinion of the older members of our bar he 
 was as richly endowed by nature as was either 
 of his more famous brothers. He had the quick- 
 ness of wit and readiness of resource of William 
 and the tact and astuteness of Stephen W. In 
 eloquence of speech he probably surpassed either 
 of the others for he was of a more emotional 
 nature than they and he gave ready and fluent 
 expression to sentiments of pity or sympathy. 
 The bar of this county lost what might have been 
 a very prominent member when Daniel Fullerton 
 failed to make the most and the best of the powers 
 that had been given him. He died in the year 
 1865 at the age of about fifty-one years — having 
 been born on February loth, 1814. 
 
 Turning now to the two members of this family 
 who became prominent at our bar, — William and 
 Stephen W. — these facts are to be recorded: 
 William was born on May ist, 181 7, and died on 
 March i8th, 1900. Stephen Whittaker (who was 
 named for his father) was born on October 17, 
 1823, and died on April 3rd, 1902. Their early 
 home was in the Town of Minisink where their 
 father was a man of considerable influence for a 
 good many years. For one term he was the 
 member of Assembly from his district; for 
 five years Associate County Judge; and for six- 
 teen years consecutively a Justice of the Peace. 
 
 These offices while of no great importance in 
 themselves show that the elder Fullerton was 
 held in good esteem bv his neighbors and it may 
 be that the fact of his holding them and the 
 
 TO
 
 nature of the business to which they led him to 
 give more or less of his time had some influence 
 in causing three of his sons to adopt the law as 
 their vocation. 
 
 These sons all resembled their father strongly 
 in physical traits and in mental equipment. They 
 were all like him of average stature, rather under 
 than over, all sturdy and "stocky" built, all very 
 quick and active, both physically and mentally. 
 The youngest of the three — Stephen W. — had 
 rather more of his mother's traits than the other 
 two had. His caution and his remarkable tact 
 seem to have been inherited chiefly from her. 
 She was a Stephens — Esther Stephens — and came 
 of Puritan ancestry. She was recognized by all 
 her neighbors to be a woman of very superior 
 mental equipment, of great tact and far-sighted- 
 ness and of uncommonly good judgment. It is 
 worthy of record that both the grandmothers of 
 the distinguished men concerning whom this 
 sketch is written were sufferers by reason of the 
 Indian depredations at the time of our Revolu- 
 tionary War. Their mother's mother was named 
 Amy Cooley and her mother was killed by the 
 savages in one of their raids near Middletown. 
 Three of the children of the family were taken 
 at the same time into captivity — from which, by 
 the bye, they never returned save that one of 
 them came, many years later, for a short visit 
 to the neighborhood of his old home. 
 
 On the other side of the house, — their father's 
 mother was Mary — (Polly) — Whittaker and she 
 was one of the school children whose faces were 
 marked with paint by Brandt in order that their 
 lives might be spared by his savage followers at 
 the time of the Wyoming massacre. She fled, 
 with other survivors of that tragedy throiin;h the 
 wilderness towards her old home in Orange 
 Countv. 
 
 WIT.LIAM FULT>ERTON was the second 
 son, — the third child — born into this family 
 
 71
 
 which, by the bye, ultimately consisted of seven 
 sons and five daughters. He seems to have 
 enjoyed better educational opportunities in his 
 youth than did any of his brothers or sisters so 
 that at the age of eighteen years he was prepared 
 to enter the junior class at Union College. There 
 he remained only one year but withdrew "in good 
 standing" as the records of the college show. His 
 class — that of 1837 — contained an unusual num- 
 ber of young men who afterwards rose to 
 positions of eminent distinction and the acquaint- 
 ances then made must have exerted a strong 
 influence on all Fullerton's subsequent life. 
 Among his college classmates was Joseph W. 
 Gott who became one of the prominent lawyers 
 of this county a few years later. 
 
 After leaving college Mr. Fullerton is said to 
 have gone to the South and taught school for a 
 short time. This rumor I have been unable to 
 verify but if it is correct his stay at the South 
 must have been brief as he studied law with 
 William C. Hasbrouck in Newburgh and was 
 admitted to the Bar in 1839. 
 
 His success in his chosen profession was 
 marked and his progress to the front rank was 
 very rapid. He had all the elements of a great 
 nisi prius lawyer. Other members of the Bar 
 of this county of that day surpassed him in elo- 
 quence of speech beyond a doubt, but in the 
 management of litigated business he had no 
 superior and probably no equal. He was sur- 
 passingly keen, quick and adroit; very energetic 
 and industrious; more a "man of the people'' 
 than most of his competitors and a smooth, ready 
 and forcible speaker. As a cross-examiner he 
 became famous so much so that he was known 
 as "the great American cross-examiner." 
 
 In the year 1852 he was pitted against Charles 
 O'Connor, of New York Citv, who was then one 
 of the leading lawyers of this country, in some 
 litigation connected with the construction of the 
 
 72
 
 ^r .. »k;«^ 'V,:>s^t»i<5«S3»9fci:-f;;«:«%*'*«5;^';^ 
 
 WIIJJAM irivLEKTON
 
 Hudson River Railroad. The matter had been 
 argued at considerable length before Judge 
 Emmott at Poughkeepsie. At the close of the 
 argument both attorneys asked leave to submit 
 briefs. The judge seemed to feel that briefs 
 should have been prepared before the argument 
 and said that they might have until Saturday, 
 which was then two days off, for submitting 
 printed briefs. O'Connor deemed it impossible 
 to get the work done in the alloted time and 
 made no attempt to do so but Fullerton got 
 Judge McKissock to help him and together they 
 went to the printing office of E, M. Ruttenber 
 and there the three worked nearly all night, 
 McKissock stating the points of law and naming 
 the cases which covered the point ; Fullerton 
 looking up the case as reported and stating the 
 language in which the proposition should be 
 briefed and Ruttenber setting the type. In the 
 morning the brief was on the press and the next 
 morning it was in the judge's hands, and was a 
 winning argument. O'Connor was so impressed 
 by Mr. Fullerton's management of this case that 
 he offered him a partnership. This was accepted 
 and Mr. Fullerton removed to New York in the 
 year 1853 and a co-partnership was formed then 
 or about that time under the firm name of 
 O'Connor, Fullerton & Dunning, — the last being 
 also an Orange County man, viz., Benjamin F. 
 Dunning. 
 
 From this time on Mr. Fullerton's connection 
 with Orange County affairs may be said to have 
 ceased, though he retained his residence at New- 
 burgh as long as he lived. It need only be added 
 that he was thenceforth engaged in most of the 
 important law suits tried in the metropolis and 
 his standing as one of the greatest trial lawyers 
 of this country was universally conceded. 
 
 During his earlier years in New York he was 
 sometimes spoken of there among the court 
 attendants as "the Orange County cyclone" and 
 
 78
 
 his methods were watched with much interest 
 and some curiosity. 
 
 It is told of him that soon after going to the 
 city he was employed to try a case in Admiralty. 
 The hangers-on about court assumed that he 
 didn't know anything about a sea-going vessel 
 and they gathered to watch the trial and enjoy 
 the sight of the country lawyer's discomfiture. 
 But they were doomed to disappointment. Mr. 
 Fullerton spent the entire night preceding the 
 day of the trial on board the vessel to which the 
 action related and before morning he had learned 
 the name and use of every spar and sail and rope 
 and was completely armed and equipped for the 
 fray. 
 
 In a number of cases in which he was the 
 plaintiff's attorney, Mr. Fullerton has been 
 known to call the defendant as his first witness 
 and then by a careful and skillful examination 
 get this witness to commit himself to a theory 
 which could be destroyed later by plaintiff's other 
 witnesses. The delicate treatment required in 
 such a manoeuvre will be appreciated by those 
 who may have ventured to try it. 
 
 William Fullerton's most conspicuous partici- 
 pation in any Orange County litigation after he 
 removed to New York was in connection with 
 the Berdell cases. 
 
 As to the merits or demerits of those cases I 
 shall not attempt to speak. I know that they 
 nearly disrupted every social circle in Goshen. 
 The Fullertons were opposed to Mr. Berdell in 
 those actions and their management of them was 
 masterly. Mr. Berdell was a man of wide busi- 
 ness experience, — an ex-president of the Erie 
 Railway Company and well able to defend him- 
 self when on the witness stand. His cross- 
 examination by the Fullertons, first by Stephen 
 W. and then by William on the trial of one of 
 those actions was one of the most striking 
 examples of the art of cross-examination ever 
 
 74
 
 witnessed in this county. In three different 
 instances Mr. Berdell was driven from point to 
 point in attempting to explain some of his trans- 
 actions until finally he was compelled to say, 
 "I cannot explain that." Taking into account 
 the mental equipment of the witness and his 
 business experience this was a very remarkable 
 exhibition of the ability and ingenuity of the 
 men who were questioning him. 
 
 There was one painful experience in Mr. 
 Fullerton's life to which I must refer because 
 some reader of this sketch might misconstrue 
 my silence. He was indicted at one time for 
 alleged frauds upon the United States Govern- 
 ment in connection with the settlement of some 
 actions for penalties wherein he had been retain- 
 ed to assist the United States District Attorney. 
 I happen to know the motive for this attack upon 
 Mr. Fullerton and am able to state that there 
 was absolutely no substantial basis for the 
 accusation. This was shown conclusively at the 
 trial for the presiding judge directed the Jury to 
 acquit the accused. Such a charge, however 
 baseless it may be, leaves a scar on any lawyer's 
 reputation and doubtless Mr. Fullerton was 
 pained most deeply and injured to some extent 
 in his business by this baseless and malicious 
 accusation. 
 
 The only public office ever held by the subject 
 of this sketch so far as I have been able to learn 
 was that of a Justice of the Supreme Court, to 
 which he was appointed in August, 1867, to fill 
 the vacancy caused by the death of Judge 
 Scrugham. Under the arrangement which then 
 prevailed in this State by which certain of the 
 Supreme Court Judges became members of the 
 Court of Appeals during the last year of their 
 official term Mr. Fullerton was for a short time 
 a member of the highest court of this State. It 
 is worthy of remark that at that same time John 
 K. Porter was also a member of that august 
 
 Ti'i
 
 tribunal and these two men had been classmates 
 in college thirty years before. 
 
 STEPHEN W. FULLERTON was the sixth 
 child — the fourth son — of the family and was 
 named for his father. When only about sixteen 
 years old he caine to the City of Newburgh and 
 obtained a position as junior clerk in the post 
 office. This was at the time that his brother 
 William began to practice and it was not long 
 before Stephen W. was taken into his brother's 
 ofSce and began to read law. He was admitted 
 to the bar in due course and began his profes- 
 sional life by forming a co-partnership with his 
 brother Daniel whose office was at Slate Hill. 
 It must have been hard work for the two to get 
 a living at the law in such a little and remote 
 village as that. It was for that reason probably 
 that Stephen Fullerton returned to Newburgh 
 a few years later in pursuance of the suggestion 
 of his brother William. Here he slowly, but 
 surely, made his way to the front rank of the 
 profession and upon the removal of William to 
 New York in 1853 Stephen W. succeeded to a 
 considerable share of the business of the older 
 brother. 
 
 He remained at Newburgh until 1873 when he 
 removed to New York and formed a partnership 
 with his brother William and two other lawyers 
 under the firm name of Fullerton, Knox & Cros- 
 by. The connection was an unfortunate one 
 because of the misconduct of one of the junior 
 partners; and at the end of four or five years of 
 hard work the firm was dissolved and the Fuller- 
 tons found themselves saddled with a heavy 
 indebtedness which it took them several years to 
 discharge. These things interfered more or less 
 v/ith Mr. Fullerton's success as a metropolitan 
 lawyer but in spite of them he progressed stead- 
 ily, though slowly, towards "the very first line" 
 and came to be recognized by his fellow-lawyers 
 as fully equal to his brother William in all the 
 
 76
 
 s'n:i'iii;.\ w iri,i,i;i:Ti 'X
 
 qualities which go to make a great lawyer. His 
 success would have continued, doubtless, had it 
 not been for a very serious injury which he re- 
 ceived in the year 189 1 by being thrown from his 
 wagon while driving in Central Park. His horse 
 was a very high-spirited one and when the bit 
 broke Mr. Fullerton had no control of him. He 
 was thrown from the wagon and fell heavily, 
 striking upon his head. For twenty-eight hours 
 he was unconscious and he never fully recovered ; 
 he was never quite the same as before. His 
 phenomenal mental powers had lost an undefin- 
 able something which left him less able to cope 
 with the duties and problems of his professional 
 work. He fought on however as best he could 
 till the end — always the same courageous, 
 unselfish, generous, lovable man. The deepest 
 sorrow of his old age arose from his inability to 
 aid others and his need of help from others. The 
 last three or four years of his life were spent at 
 Middletown, near the scenes of his boyhood days, 
 and there the final summons came to him on 
 April 3, igo2 — in the form of a stroke of paralysis. 
 
 At a meeting of the bar held at Newburgh to 
 adopt resolutions of respect eloquent tributes to 
 his worth were paid by Mr. Charles Rushmore of 
 New York, by Mr. Luther R. Marsh, of Middle- 
 town, (formerly a partner of Daniel Webster), 
 and by Hon. M. H. Hirschberg, the presiding 
 justice of the Appellate Division of the Supreme 
 Court — who was, in early life, a student in Mr. 
 Fullerton's office. These addresses were all 
 admirable but that of Judge Hirschberg was pre- 
 eminently so and was so fit and just a tribute 
 to Mr. Fullerton's memory that I shall quote 
 from it freely. Judge Hirschberg said : 
 
 "His greatness was innate. It was the result 
 of native talent and genius and not at all of 
 adventitious aid or fortunate surroundings. He 
 had a mind that was at once alert, sagacious, clear, 
 powerful and comprehensive ; a temperament 
 
 77
 
 that threw him, body and soul, into his cHent's 
 cause so that he would win if he could; not for 
 gain, as in this commercial age, but, if need be, at 
 the sacrifice of every dollar he possessed; and 
 withal a shrewdness, an adroitness, an instinctive 
 subtlety in the comprehension of human nature 
 and its complicated motives and impulses and in 
 anticipating its least expected manifestations 
 only equalled, if at all, in the marvelous creations 
 of fiction. I shall not hesitate to express the 
 opinion as a deliberate judgment, formed after 
 nearly thirty-six years of experience and obser- 
 vation, that in his prime, when he was in the 
 plentitude of his health and vigor, the issue of 
 fortune, of honor, aye, of life itself, was as safe 
 in his professional keeping as in that of any other 
 man, however high in standing and repute, who 
 then practiced law in the State of New York. 
 
 "To speak of Judge Fullerton as a man is to 
 speak wholly of sweetness, gentleness, kindness 
 and geniality, companionship, whole-souled 
 friendliness and generosity. His heart was as 
 large as his mind. His friendship was heroic in 
 its loyalty, of that rare kind that brooks neither 
 offense nor calumny, but adheres alike through 
 evil and through good report. With him no lie 
 about a friend could ever gain a hearing. 
 
 "His life was full of stainless honor, modest 
 usefulness and manly self-respect. A noble and 
 commanding figure has floated down the current 
 of our contemporaneous life into the mysterious 
 and fathomless sea of the unknown. A great heart 
 has ceased to throb ; a mighty voice is stilled." 
 
 During his residence in this county he filled 
 various public offices. He was a member of 
 Assembly in 1858 ; a member of the Constitutional 
 Convention of 1867 ; District Attorney of the 
 county in 1868 to 1871 ; County Judge from 1872 
 to 1878. His personal popularity was unbounded 
 and whenever he ran for office he was elected by 
 heavy majorities. 
 
 78
 
 He was generous to a fault. The writer of 
 this sketch had a somewhat intimate knowledge 
 of his charities and is able to state that he gave 
 away during his lifetime enough to have consti- 
 tuted a very considerable fortune. Indeed his 
 generosity seemed to an observer somewhat 
 indiscriminate and injudicious but it was consist- 
 ent when once you grasped the underlying 
 motive. He gave help not because the recipient 
 deserved, but because he needed it. He imitated 
 Him who "sendeth rain on the evil and on the 
 good." A truer, kinder, more loyal or more 
 courageous heart never beat. A keener, clearer, 
 more vigorous mind it has never been my good 
 fortune to come in contact with. 
 
 During the period of his stay in this county 
 he formed two co-partnerships. The first was 
 with Charles H. Van Wyck, who was afterwards 
 a Member of Congress, a Colonel in the Union 
 Army during the Civil War, and still later a 
 United States Senator from Nebraska, who was 
 known by the irreverent youths of the West as 
 "Crazy Horse Van Wyck." 
 
 His second partnership was with the writer of 
 this sketch who cherishes the memory of that 
 relation with much pride and satisfaction. It 
 continued until Mr. Fullerton removed to New 
 York City. 
 
 William Fullerton had one son and one 
 daughter. The son pre-deceased him and died in 
 early manhood, unmarried. The daughter is still 
 
 livinf^; (1917) and is the widow of Rudd. 
 
 She has one child, a daughter, Alice, (now Mrs. 
 Otis), who has three sons. 
 
 Stephen W. Fullerton left one son, Frank, who 
 is still living to the best of deponent's knowledge 
 and belief. 
 
 Daniel Fullerton left several children and a 
 number of his grandchildren still survive. One 
 of the latter is a practicing lawyer — Henry B. 
 Fullerton — whose office is at Port Jervis.
 
 (The following sketch was prepared by William 
 Graham, L. L. D., at Mr. Anthony's request.) 
 
 HON. JOHN JAMES MONELL. 
 
 Like General Borland, William C. Hasbrouck 
 and Judge McKissock, Judge Monell was a native 
 of the Town of Montgomery. His parents, 
 Samuel and Elvira (Scott) Monell, both sleep 
 in the cemetery adjoining Goodwill Church, both 
 having been members of that organization. Like 
 each of the lawyers above named, he was a 
 student at Montgomery Academy, but was pre- 
 pared for college by that distinguished scholar 
 and preacher. Rev. Dr. James R. Wilson of 
 Coldenham. He was graduated at Union Col- 
 lege in the class of 1833, standing well toward 
 the front in a class which included many able 
 men, two of whom were afterward distinguished 
 Judges of the Supreme Court. He studied law 
 under Hon. John W. Brown, was admitted to 
 the bar in 1837, and immediately entered upon 
 practice in Newburgh, and soon attained a high 
 rank in his profession, and was successful both 
 in winning his cases, and in obtaining a proper 
 return for his labor. 
 
 As a lawyer he was careful in the preparation 
 of his cases, accurate in his pleadings, laborious 
 in preparing his briefs, clear, cogent and concise 
 in his presentation of the law to the court, 
 luminous, convincing and attractive in his ad- 
 dresses to the jury, and, whether on the winning 
 or the losing side, never failed to protect and 
 preserve the rights of his clients. 
 
 In his earlier life he was a pronounced Demo- 
 crat, prominent and influential in the counsels of 
 his party. He received the nomination for 
 Congress in 1846, but owing to the dissensions 
 between the factions of his party, was defeated. 
 In 1859 he was elected County Julge, and served 
 one term which was the only elective office he 
 
 80
 
 JOHN .7, MONEI.L
 
 ever held. In the latter part of his life he 
 a£&liated with the Republicans. 
 
 In every movement for the civic improvement 
 of Newburgh he was active and prominent. No 
 more public-spirited citizen lived in the town. 
 His hand and voice and purse were freely given 
 to every effort for benefiting or beautifying the 
 city. His public addresses in behalf of such 
 efforts were full of eloquence and beauty, and no 
 public enterprise for worthy objects failed to 
 receive his support. 
 
 Judge Monell was possessed of a singularly 
 equable temper which notwithstanding his high 
 spirit he held under strict control. I never saw 
 him out of temper but once though often sorely 
 tried. On this occasion a brother lawyer, at 
 whose request he had consented to the continu- 
 ance of a case in a Justice Court several times 
 for his accommodation, claimed that the case was 
 adjourned out of court. The case though a 
 small one involved an important question on 
 which the plaintiff wished to obtain a ruling from 
 the General Term. The defendant's counsel 
 succeeded in obliging the plaintiff to bring a new 
 suit, but Judge Monell never took his word for 
 anything afterward. 
 
 I began the study of law under Judge Monell 
 in the fall of 1852 but did not enter his office 
 until May, 1853 ; from that time until my removal 
 to Iowa, our association was much closer than is 
 usual between preceptor and scholnr, and I learn- 
 ed to admire the clearness of his perceptions, and 
 the soundness of his judgment. Few men ever 
 possessed a kinder heart, a fact that some, who 
 were by no means his friends, were not slow to 
 take advantage of. I have known few men who 
 were more caf^cr or persistent in pursuit of the 
 "AImip:hty Dollar." and still fewer who were 
 more liberal in dispensing it after it was won. 
 There was not the least trace of the miser about 
 him. It was for the satisfaction of winning that 
 
 HI
 
 made him so keen in the contest, and when he 
 had won he was ready to share the fruits of 
 victory in the advancement of civic righteous- 
 ness, or the adornment of the "City Beautiful." 
 
 When the heart is kind it is generally tender 
 and sensitive, and to such a person the contests 
 of the court room in the trial of cases often 
 become distasteful, and when other avenues open 
 upon vistas of greater profit, with less wear and 
 tear of sensibility, it is no wonder that men who 
 possess rare gifts of persuasiveness, and large 
 stores of legal knowledge, prefer the less con- 
 spicuous and more profitable employment of 
 their talents. I am satisfied in my own mind 
 that it was some such considerations which led 
 William C. Hasbrouck and Judge Monell to 
 withdraw largely from litigated business, and 
 devote themselves to the management of large 
 estates. 
 
 The last interview I had with Judge Monell 
 was a few months before his death. He insisted 
 that I should go home with him to dinner, and 
 as we sat on the porch of his spacious residence 
 overlooking the noble bay with its grand sur- 
 roundings, v/hich he loved so much, he told me 
 more of his life than he had ever told before. 
 Among other things he said that he inherited 
 from his father a certain amount of money, and 
 a calculation of what it would amount to if he 
 invested it and accumulated the interest, demon- 
 strated that if he lived till his sixty-fifth birthday 
 he would have a fortune ample enough for him 
 to retire on, and he then made a resolution that 
 he would keep his patrimony accumulating, and 
 not spend a dollar of it, and that he would live 
 upon his earnine^s at the bar, and not stint him- 
 self as long as he kept within his income from 
 that source. He said he had adhered to that 
 resolve all his life, and that the legacy he had 
 received from his father was still intact with all 
 its accumulated dividends. He further said that 
 
 82
 
 as he approached his sixty-fifth birthday he saw 
 his fortune was more than double what he had 
 resolved to retire on, but his health was excel- 
 lent, and all his mental powers unimpaired: 
 That his business was never better, or more 
 profitable, and his office in New York, on the 
 days he was there, was crowded with clients. It 
 was a severe struggle with him whether he 
 should keep on at work, or retire when his 
 powers and his business were at the maximum. 
 He said that on his sixty-fifth birthday he went 
 to his office, and after reviewing the situation 
 fought the problem out with himself, with the 
 result that he took all the papers relating to the 
 cases then under his charge to Cassedy and 
 Brown, and asked them to try the cases for him, 
 and from that day he had not interested himself 
 in any business except that of his own, or his 
 family. He added that I could scarcely under- 
 stand how much he had enjoyed his retired life, 
 resting under his own vine and fig tree, or 
 rusticating on his farm at White Lake. 
 
 In that conversation I tried to express my 
 sense of obligation to him for his aid and counsel 
 to which he would not listen, but said that if he 
 had aided me in any respect it was because he 
 liked to do it and it was a source of real enjoy- 
 ment to him, but if I felt under any obligation to 
 him I could discharge it by doing as much for 
 some other student of law, and "you know," 
 said he, "it is our business and duty to help 
 others." And so at the sunset of that summer 
 day we parted to meet no more on earth, but 
 while memory endures the recollection of the 
 kindness of heart and the grace of character of 
 Judge Monell will not fade from my mind. 
 
 ADDENDA BY W. C. A. 
 
 Judge Monell was twice married. His first 
 wife was Mary C. Smith (of Connecticut), a 
 woman of unusual attractiveness and of consider-
 
 able literary cleverness. During her life-time 
 their home was in the City of Newburgh and was 
 a sort of social center. Every person of note 
 who visited this city was almost sure to be invited 
 to spend some part of his stay with the Monells 
 and a congenial circle of friends would be gath- 
 ered there to meet him. Their home was famous 
 for its charming hospitality. Judge Monell's 
 second wife was Caroline E., daughter of John 
 P. DeWint and widow of Andrew J. Downing 
 ("the father of American architecture"). Her 
 ancestral home was at Beacon and Judge Monell 
 therefore sold his Newburgh home and built a 
 new one on the Fishkill side of the river. 
 
 Judge Monell was a graceful, easy speaker, 
 who was always listened to with pleasure, — a 
 scholarly, thoughtful and cultivated gentleman. 
 His hospitable ways continued in a marked de- 
 gree as long as he lived. 
 
 He was born February 24, 1813, and died April 
 22, 1885. Graduated (Union College) 1833; 
 admitted to the bar in 1837. ^^ ^^^^ one child, 
 a daughter who married Fred S. Wait, a lawyer, 
 the author of several text-books on legal subjects. 
 
 JOHN G. WILKIN 
 
 was born on October 22nd, 1818, in what is now 
 the Town of Hamptonburgh in this county. His 
 education was obtained principally at the Mont- 
 gomery Academy where he was a student for a 
 number of years. Afterwards he taught school 
 at Monticello, N. Y., for several years and seems 
 to have combined with that occupation the study 
 of the law, which he pursued in the office of 
 William B. Wright who afterwards became a 
 Justice of the Supreme Court, an Associate 
 Judge of the Court of Appeals and a lawyer of 
 marked distinction. Judge Wright was an 
 
 84
 
 JOHN C. Wll-KIN
 
 Orange County man — (born at Newburgh) — and 
 began his professional career here. He would 
 well deserve a place in this book were it not for 
 the fact that his work as a lawyer while he con- 
 tinued to be a member of the Orange County Bar 
 gave little indication, if any, of the ability he 
 possessed and little promise of the success he 
 achieved. His real work was all done after he 
 removed from this county. 
 
 After spending several years in Judge Wright's 
 office Mr. Wilkin entered the office of General 
 A. C. Niven of Monticello. 
 
 In October, 1842, he was admitted as an 
 attorney and in 1845 as a counselor at law. 
 Meantime — in January, 1843 — he had opened an 
 office in Middletown and he continued to make 
 that place his home and to maintain his office 
 there up to the time of his death which occurred 
 on the 19th day of January, 1889. 
 
 Under the militia system then in force in this 
 State he was a Brigadier Judge Advocate and 
 under the legal system he was an examiner in 
 chancery. He was the first Special County 
 Judge and the second County Judge to be elected 
 in this county. To the latter office he was elected 
 in November, 1851; and again in 1881 he was 
 chosen to the same position. From 1861 to 1869 
 he was the United States Revenue Collector for 
 this district. The office was an appointive one 
 and the general feeling among the older lawyers 
 of the county was that Judge Wilkin had im- 
 paired his standing as a lawyer by accepting it. 
 
 Mr. Wilkin was a large, fine looking man of 
 impressive presence and agreeable manners. 
 For many years he was the leader of the Middle- 
 town bar. This assertion applies more to his 
 position as an office lawyer than as an advocate. 
 
 In the trial of cases some of the members of 
 the bar could fairly challenge his leadership but 
 it seemed to me that the important and profitable 
 legal business of Middletown and its vicinity
 
 found its way, generally, to Mr. Wilkin's office. 
 
 He had the reputation, and I doubt not deserv- 
 ed it, of being "learned in the law." Aside from 
 this his business experience had been consider- 
 able and he had good practical common sense. 
 Whenever he had an important case to be tried 
 he usually associated Gedney or Fullerton with 
 himself in connection with the work in court. 
 He may at times have employed Winfield for this 
 part of his business though I do not recall such 
 an instance now. He was a very pronounced 
 Republican and though he undoubtedly would 
 consult his clients' wishes as to the trial counsel 
 to be employed his political leaning prompted 
 him, if the choice was left to him, to select either 
 Gedney or Fullerton. 
 
 Charles C. McQuoid, a very promising young 
 lawyer, residing in Middletown, who died at an 
 early age — (in his thirties I think) — was his 
 partner in business for a time and looked after 
 the litigated business of the firm. 
 
 Judge Wilkin was possessed of much force of 
 character and had a strong — but not a winsome — 
 personality. His industry was marked ; his 
 loyalty to his friends was sincere; his diligence 
 in protecting and promoting the interests of his 
 clients was intense ; his integrity was unquestion- 
 ed and unquestionable. Take him for all in all 
 he was well adapted to be a leader in a young, 
 growing, active place, such as Middletown then 
 was and he naturally became one of the most 
 prominent men in that community. I am de- 
 scribing the man as I saw him. My acquaintance 
 with him was not especially intimate, and I have 
 therefore tried — but in vain — to induce some of 
 the Middletown lawyers who knew him well to 
 write this sketch. 
 
 86
 
 JOSEPH W. GOTT. 
 Bom May 25, 1814. Died January 6, 1869. 
 
 In his day Mr, Gott was a power in this 
 county. His influence was not due to any office 
 or position which he held but to the inherent 
 quaHties of the man himself. His health was 
 never robust and for a number of years prior to 
 his death he had to husband his strength care- 
 fully: he had no surplus energy to devote to 
 pursuits outside of his own business matters and 
 those of his clients. Not that he failed to take 
 a keen interest in public affairs and to exert all 
 the influence of his strong personality and com- 
 manding ability in behalf of every cause that 
 commended itself to his judgment and conscience 
 — but all this had to be done in a quiet way. 
 
 His accurate and extensive knowledge of the 
 law combined with sound judgment and admir- 
 able business habits led to his employment as 
 counsel in most of the heavy transactions which 
 arose in the western end of the county and I feel 
 justified in asserting that he was more frequently 
 called upon for advice by his fellow-lawyers than 
 was any other lawyer in the county at that time. 
 
 When I was a student in Goshen in 1864-5, 
 Mr. Gott was in declining health. He knew that 
 his days were numbered and must be few but 
 his courage never failed and his devotion to his 
 business never flagged. Day after day he was 
 at his desk, always cheerful, always thoughtful 
 of others and never demanding or expecting any 
 consideration or favors on account of the condi- 
 tion of his health. In fact nothing would dis- 
 turb him more quickly than an intimation that 
 his infirm health entitled him to any different 
 treatment from that extended to people who were 
 well and vigorous. And so he went to his death 
 "without fear and without reproach" at the com- 
 paratively early age of fifty-nine years. 
 
 Mr. Gott did not cultivate litigated business. 
 
 8T
 
 When compelled to look after a client's interests 
 in court he usually associated Judge Gedney with 
 himself and the two together made a combination 
 of very unusual ability. In his early practice he 
 is reputed to have tried a considerable number 
 of cases but the strain upon his health and the 
 tax on his patience led him later to forego work 
 of that sort. In fact his partnership with Samuel 
 J. Wilkin during the early years of his career 
 naturally tended to develop in him a preference 
 for the work of the office while his partner looked 
 after the court business. 
 
 Hon. R. C. Coleman was managing clerk in 
 Mr. Gott's office for some four years — 1865-8 — 
 and was thus brought into very close relations 
 with him and he writes thus concerning him: 
 "His kindly consideration and helpfulness to me 
 in my inexperience * * * were in keeping 
 with his kindness of heart and his unselfish 
 nature and have always been to me reason for 
 bearing him in most grateful remembrance." 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born at 
 Austerlitz, Columbia County, N. Y. He entered 
 Union College in 1834 and graduated in 1837. 
 Immediately after that he came to Goshen and 
 became principal of Farmer's Hall Academy. 
 
 Two years later he began the study of the law 
 and entered the office of Van Duzer & Sharpe. 
 In 1842 he was admitted to the bar and for a 
 number of years during his early career he was 
 in partnership with Samuel J. Wilkin. 
 
 He served for several years also as post master 
 at Goshen and was, at one time, one of the 
 proprietors and editors of The Goshen Democrat. 
 
 His intense application to business during this 
 period of his life is thought to have contributed 
 to the illness which ultimately caused his death. 
 
 Shortly after Joseph F. Barnard, of Pough- 
 keepsie, was elected — for the first time — a Justice 
 of the Supreme Court, Stephen W. Fullerton 
 was questioned in regard to Barnard's standing 
 
 88
 
 JOSKPH W. OOTT
 
 as a lawyer. The query was "is he an able law- 
 yer?" "Very decidedly so," replied Fullerton. 
 "As good a lawyer as Mr. Gott?" was the next 
 question. The answer was, "I don't know about 
 that — ']oe' Gott is a confoundedly good lawyer." 
 This shows the estimation in which Mr. Gott 
 was held by a brother lawyer who had had 
 abundant opportunity to take his measure and 
 who was well qualified to judge as to his ability. 
 
 EUGENE A. BREWSTER. 
 
 Born in New York City, April 13, 1827. 
 Died December 14, 1898. 
 
 In Mr. Brewster were combined such diverse 
 traits of character as to make him seem like two 
 different men. In his office and in all business 
 transaction he was reserved, austere, distant 
 and seemingly unsympathetic. In his intercourse 
 with friends where the restraints of business were 
 thrown aside he was companionable and genial. 
 He was a student and clerk in the office of John 
 W. Brown for six or seven years and would seem 
 to have been to some extent an unconscious 
 imitator of his preceptor. He lacked, however, 
 the power of influencing his fellow-men by his 
 spoken words which Judge Brown possessed in 
 such a pre-eminent degree. Before a referee or 
 a judge or even a bench of judges Mr. Brewster 
 argued a legal question well ; but before a jury 
 he was not at all successful. His manner con- 
 veyed the impression that he himself did not 
 really believe the propositions which he was 
 urging the jury to adopt. In other words he did 
 not give the impression of being in dead earnest. 
 Not that there was anything lirrht or trifling 
 either in his manner or in the substance of his 
 
 89
 
 remarks. It was rather due to an appearance oi 
 reserve; he did not seem to put his heart and 
 soul into it. He was entirely destitute of 
 "magnetism;" yet no man could take a deeper 
 concern in the success of his clients or guard 
 their interests more carefully than did Mr. Brew- 
 ster. His sense of what was due from a lawyer 
 to his clients was very keen as was also his sense 
 of what was due to the lawyer from the client. 
 He has been known to decline to do business 
 for a person who expressed dissatisfaction with 
 his charge for his services. His idea was that 
 as soon as a client lacked absolute faith in his 
 attorney's integrity and good judgment the re- 
 lation should terminate. His charges for legal 
 services were never excessive; in fact they were 
 usually less than might have been properly charg- 
 ed by a lawyer of his standing. This was another 
 of the traits that he had brought with him from 
 Judge Brown's office — and it continued to influ- 
 ence him strongly as long as he lived. Notwith- 
 standing all this he was the most successful 
 lawyer, in a financial way, that has ever been a 
 member of our County Bar and probably of any 
 one practicing in this section of the State. 
 Starting with very limited means he accumulated 
 a very handsome fortune. This was done by his 
 own unaided efforts and without any profits from 
 speculative ventures. It is true that he had a 
 succession of managing clerks in his office who 
 all (save one who died early) became, later in 
 life, successful and able lawyers, but this does 
 not detract from the credit due Mr. Brewster for 
 so organizing and conducting his business that it 
 was largely profitable. Neither was his accumu- 
 lation of wealth due to any miserly economy. He 
 was a liberal giver to causes or people that he 
 felt deserved it, and a free and generous liver. 
 It is true he did not "carry his heart on his 
 sleeve" but whenever an appeal was made to him 
 which his judgment approved of he was willing 
 
 90
 
 EUOKNR A, P.nKWSTRR
 
 and able to give assistance and to give liberally. 
 There are lawyers a plenty who are alivays 
 willing to "lend a hand" but never able to do 
 much. Mr. Brewster was not a promiscuous 
 giver — (or lender, which often amounts to the 
 same thing in the end) — but was always able to 
 do what the situation demanded. 
 
 For a number of years — say from i860 to 
 1870 — the important office business of this county 
 was done largely by Mr. Brewster at Newburgh 
 and Mr. Gott at Goshen. They were both excel- 
 lent lawyers, both very prompt and diligent in 
 attending to business, always ready to meet en- 
 gagements on time and very seldom, if ever, 
 asking postponements. They resembled each 
 other too, in this, that they were very skillful 
 pleaders. Documents prepared by either of them 
 were invariably brief, crisp and admirably ex- 
 pressed. It is worthy of remark that these two 
 office lawyers were much more successful in 
 getting and retaining a fair reward for their labor" 
 than were their more famous and conspicuous 
 professional friends the "court lawyers" who 
 practiced side by side with them. 
 
 Mr. Brewster was for many years the attorney 
 and a director of The National Bank of New- 
 burgh and attorney for the Newburgh Savings 
 Bank. He was a Warden of St. George's Protes- 
 tant Episcopal Church and deeply interested in 
 its prosperity. He held no public office except 
 such as were connected with our local city affairs. 
 
 His career can be summed up in these words: 
 "He was devoted to his profession and was an 
 able, honorable and successful lawyer." 
 
 91
 
 (The following sketch was prepared by Hon. 
 William Graham, L. L. D., of Dubuque, Iowa.) 
 
 HON. WILLIAM C. HASBROUCK. 
 Born August 23, 1800. Died November 5, 1870. 
 
 Like General Borland and Judge McKissock, 
 William C. Hasbrouck was a native of the Town 
 of Montgomery and like them, also was educated 
 at Montgomery Academy; thence he went to 
 Union College, from which he was graduated 
 with distinguished honor in 1822, After his ad- 
 mission to the bar he settled in Newburgh and 
 the rest of his life was passed in close connection 
 with its activities. He was a close student, an 
 accurate lawyer, a thorough man of business, and 
 of untiring industry. After many years of suc- 
 cessful practice, he gradually withdrew from 
 litigated business, and devoted himself to the 
 management of the financial affairs of his numer- 
 ous clients. His management of these affairs 
 was so careful and sagacious that his business 
 attained large proportions. I remember hearing 
 it said that he was the best real estate lawyer in 
 Orange County if not in the Judicial District. 
 
 Either his partner, or one of his clerks told me 
 that he kept a copy of every negotiable instru- 
 ment that ever passed through his hands, and an 
 abstract of any deed or mortgage ; and they were 
 so filed away and indexed that in a few minutes 
 he could produce any of them, and the array of 
 boxes, two or three shelves deep around his 
 office, made it easy to believe the statement. 
 
 A polished gentleman of graceful manners, of 
 easy address, and an interesting speaker, delight- 
 ful in conversation, overflowing with anecdote, 
 a genial companion, an accomplished host, I have 
 met few men whom I admired more than the 
 subject of this sketch. His manner toward the 
 younger members of the bar, and students of 
 law, was most agreeable. There was none of 
 
 92
 
 W Il^IvIAM (". IIASHKOUCK
 
 that haughty condescension, or frigid dignity 
 that some assume, nor on the other hand, was 
 there any lowering of the consciousness of what 
 was due to himself by reason of his age and exper- 
 ience. His attitude and action seemed to say, 
 "Boys, I have been one of you myself. I know 
 just how you feel and expect some day I will 
 meet you on the same plane with myself." 
 
 At the October, 1855, General Term, Mr. 
 Hasbrouck was chairman of the committee to 
 examine applicants for admission to the bar, 
 among them John Miller and John D. Gurnee 
 from his own ofBce, He did not spare them any 
 more than the others. (I did not apply at that 
 term, not feeling myself competent ; possibly I 
 felt that if I failed to pass I would rather fail at 
 some other place than at my own home, so I 
 waited till the January term at Brooklyn, 
 Nevertheless, at their persistent solicitation, I 
 "crammed" two young fellows, Frank P. DeWint 
 and Henry E. Davies, Jr., for their examination 
 and they passed). At the close of the examina- 
 tion Mr. Hasbrouck gave a short talk of advice 
 to the class, one sentence of which has always 
 stuck in my memory : "Young gentlemen! Learn 
 all the tricks of the law, but never practice any 
 of them." This was strictly in accord with his 
 own conduct, for I do not believe that the roll 
 of the New York bar contains the name of one 
 who was more honorable in his practice, or who 
 observed with greater or more punctilious recti- 
 tude the ethics of his profession than the subject 
 of this sketch. 
 
 Mr. Hasbrouck once gave mc this leaf from 
 his own experience. A client in Dutchess County 
 entertained some fears as to the validity of his 
 title to his farm, and he told him to bring out his 
 deeds, which he did a day or two afterward, a 
 bushel basket full. The counsellor examined 
 them all with his usual circumspection, and 
 wrote an opinion sustaining the validity of his
 
 title. In this examination he found inside of 
 one of the old deeds, three one hundred dollar 
 bills of the Bank of Newburgh of the issue of 
 1817. He placed these in a drawer, and when 
 his client came over he read his opinion, at which 
 the client was delighted. He then asked Mr. 
 Hasbrouck the amount of his fee, and he answer- 
 ed that in examining the papers he had found 
 some old documents that had no reference to the 
 title, but as he was himself something of an 
 antiquarian these were of some value to him, and 
 with his client's permission he would accept them 
 in full payment. The client was glad to get off 
 so easy, and expressed himself as more than 
 satisfied, and was about to depart, when the 
 counsellor suggested that perhaps he had better 
 see the documents himself, and produced the 
 bank notes at which the client was thunder- 
 struck. They took them to the bank which 
 promptly redeemed them, though they had been 
 out of the bank for a third of a century. The 
 client would have had the lawyer keep them as 
 he had said, but Mr. Hasbrouck refused, but did 
 accept one of them. Subsequently his client in- 
 formed him that after the family had talked it 
 over, it was recalled that his father had furnished 
 Poughkeepsie with some sloop loads of cobble- 
 stone in 1817 to pave some of its streets, and 
 complained that in the final settlment he had 
 been in some way beaten out of $300.00. 
 He had probably got the deed from the clerk's 
 office that same day and placed the notes in it 
 for safe keeping, and forgot what he had done 
 with them. 
 
 Mr. Hasbrouck was a Whig in his early days 
 and was the candidate of that party for Congress 
 in the great contest of 1844, but was beaten by 
 General Niven of Sullivan County. In 1846 he 
 was elected to the Legislature, over my father, 
 and was chosen Speaker of the Assembly of 1847, 
 and I have heard from members of that body 
 
 94
 
 many commendations for the urbanity and im- 
 partiality with which he presided over its 
 deHberations. 
 
 The following incident illustrative of his 
 character was related to me by one of the officers 
 of the defrauded bank : 
 
 "Mr, Hasbrouck took a great interest in a 
 young friend of his and aided him largely, and 
 placed him in a position which enabled him to 
 defraud a bank with which Mr. Hasbrouck had 
 extensive dealings out of a large sum of money. 
 When this came to light, and the walls of the 
 penitentiary loomed large before the young man, 
 Mr. Hasbrouck voluntarily made good to the 
 bank the amount of its loss, and by his influence 
 and watchfulness brought the young man, whom 
 he had saved from imprisonment back to the 
 paths of integrity and usefulness : Saving thus 
 'a soul from death, and hiding a multitude of 
 sins'." 
 
 ADDENDA BY W. C. A. 
 
 The foregoing sketch of Mr. Hasbrouck's 
 career, prepared by Mr. Graham, seems to me so 
 just and so well expressed that I have adopted it 
 without change. It requires however a few 
 words of explanation, and a slight correction. 
 The "General Term," at the time mentioned by 
 Mr. Graham, and for many years afterwards, was 
 held in October of each year at Newburgh; in 
 May at Poughkeepsie ; and the other terms (two) 
 were held at Brooklyn. 
 
 Mr. Hasbrouck did not come to Newburgh 
 directly from college. Soon after graduating he 
 became Principal of the Academy at Franklin, 
 Tennessee. A year or two later he removed to 
 Goshen, N. Y., and became Principal of the 
 Farmers' Hall Academy. — At Goshen he studied 
 law and was admitted to the bar in 1826. 
 
 Mr. Graham has stated in his sketch of Judp;e 
 Monell, what I believe to be the main reason why 
 Mr. Hasbrouck withdrew, as he did almost 
 
 05
 
 entirely, from litigated practice and engaged in 
 the work of investing money for his many 
 wealthy clients. He was a very sensitive man 
 and did not enjoy the asperities of active litiga- 
 tion. There were other reasons at that time due 
 to the character and unusual strength of the 
 competition which any one seeking to succeed as 
 a trial lawyer had to meet. He drifted into this 
 real estate business probably between 1840 and 
 1850. 
 
 John W. Brown, then the leader of our bar, 
 was in his prime; McKissock, in some respects 
 his superior, was in active practice; Samuel J. 
 Wilkin, the peer of either of them, was still a 
 formidable competitor ; Gedney and Winfield and 
 William Fullerton were rapidly rising to promi- 
 nence at the bar of the county. It was no place 
 for anybody to compete unless he loved the fray 
 and feared no foe. 
 
 Another fact, or group of facts, that probably 
 influenced Mr. Hasbrouck in choosing the special 
 line of work in which he engaged was his wide 
 family connection both on his own side and 
 among his wife's relatives with people of large 
 wealth who had money to invest. In that day it 
 was not as easy to invest money with seeming 
 safety as it has been of late years. There were 
 few railroad bonds, if any — municipal bonds were 
 almost unknown — and public utility bonds had 
 not been dreamed of. This part of the State 
 would not absorb any more money on good bonds 
 and mortgages. Mr. Hasbrouck therefore turned 
 to the western part of the State for mortgage in- 
 vestments and I have understood on good author- 
 ity that so long as he continued in charge of the 
 business himself, which was for many years, not 
 a penny of his clients* money, principal or inter- 
 est, was lost. His integrity was proverbial. He 
 enjoyed the absolute confidence of his clients. 
 His carefulness was extreme. For instance, he al- 
 ways required the mortgagor (and his wife if she 
 
 96
 
 liK.NJAMlN l'. I'UUVhIA
 
 joined in the mortgage) to make affidavit that 
 he — or they — were severally upwards of twenty- 
 one years old. On one occasion the mortgagor 
 forgot that he had made such an affidavit and 
 threatened to defend a foreclosure suit on the 
 plea of infancy, but changed his mind at once 
 when his affidavit was produced. Nothing but 
 pity for his family on Mr. Hasbrouck's part 
 saved the rascal from indictment. 
 
 William C. Hasbrouck was an ornament and 
 a credit to the bar of this county. 
 
 (The following sketch was prepared by Hon. 
 R. C. Coleman). 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN DURYEA. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin Duryea who was born in 
 the Town of Blooming Grove was the son of 
 James Duryea and Mary Heard Duryea and 
 prepared for college at the Montgomery Acad- 
 emy, entered Union College in the Junior class 
 in his eighteenth year and graduated in the class 
 of 1835, with high honors and especial encomiums 
 from the faculty for having delivered the ablest 
 oration in Hebrew ever heard from an alumnus 
 of the college. After graduation he was Princi- 
 pal of the Montgomery Academy for a short time, 
 then studied medicine for awhile, but, finding it 
 distasteful, took up the study of the law in the 
 office of Van Duzer & Sharpe and was admitted 
 to the bar in the winter of 1839. 
 
 He was elected Surrogate of the county and 
 later a County Judge. While Surrogate he 
 established the power of that Court to punish 
 by imprisonment contempt of its decrees, his 
 decision being confirmed by the Court of Appeals. 
 
 Mr. Duryea stood high in the estimation of 
 his fellow-lawyers as being well read and ground- 
 ed in legal principles and a safe adviser. In 
 
 P7
 
 manners he was always courteous and consider- 
 ate. At the time of his death, in 1872, in the 
 fifty-seventh year, he was the senior partner in 
 the firm of Duryea & Bacon, having continuously 
 practiced law in Goshen since he began. 
 
 BENJAMIN F. DUNNING. 
 
 During the ten years, or thereabouts, that Mr. 
 Dunning had his office at Goshen he attained a 
 position at our Bar which fully entitles him to 
 be classed among the distinguished lawyers of 
 this county; and his reputation was maintained 
 and enhanced after he removed to New York 
 City. He was born in the Town of Minisink 
 on April 15th, 18 19, and graduated from Union 
 College in the class of 1840. 
 
 For several years after graduating he studied 
 law at Goshen in the office of Wescott & Gedney 
 and then opened an office of his own. This he 
 maintained until the year 1853 when he removed 
 to New York City to become assistant to Charles 
 O'Connor who was then United States District 
 Attorney — (Southern District of New York) — 
 and who was one of the leaders of the bar of 
 this country. Shortly after this he entered into 
 partnership with Mr. O'Connor and at the same 
 time, or about the same time, William Fullerton 
 became a member of the co-partnership, the firm 
 name being O'Connor, Fullerton & Dunning. 
 Thenceforth his professional career was devoted 
 to his work in New York City though he continu- 
 ed to maintain a summer home in this county 
 during his v/hole life-time. 
 
 Mr. Dunning was one of the most thorough- 
 goins; business men I have ever met. Figuratively 
 speaking he never failed to dot an "i" or to cross 
 a "t". This trait was shown even in his use 
 and pronunciation of words. He was very
 
 lii;X.I.\.MI.\ |-. Ur.NNl.NC
 
 4
 
 careful to choose the precise word he needed and 
 in pronouncing a word he never slurred a single 
 syllable. This tendency to great accuracy and 
 thoroughness appeared to mark all his trans- 
 actions and made him a most excellent coun- 
 sellor. 
 
 During his stay in this county it was his 
 custom to associate William Fullerton with him 
 in the trial of his important cases and the two 
 men made a combination which it would be 
 difficult to equal anywhere. 
 
 My personal acquaintance with Mr. Dunning 
 though slight was sufficient to enable me to state 
 that he was a high toned, urbane gentleman 
 whose manners were charming and whose con- 
 versation was delightful. For a number of years 
 during my earlier practice the firm was Dunning, 
 Edsall & Hart ; later it became Dunning, Edsall, 
 Hart & Fowler. The last named being the son- 
 in-law of Mr. Dunning and in recent years, until 
 his death, the President of the New York, 
 Ontario & Western Railroad. 
 
 Mr. Dunning was prominent in New York 
 City, not only professionally but socially. He 
 was an Elder in the "Brick Church" (Presby- 
 terian) at Fifth Avenue and Thirty-seventh 
 Street for forty years. 
 
 His death occurred on October i6th, 1896, at 
 his home in New York City. 
 
 JAMES G. GRAHAM. 
 
 It was my privilege to know the subject of this 
 sketch intimately during?: the last twenty or 
 twenty-five years of his life, — in fact from the 
 time he removed to Ncwburgh in 1866 until his 
 death — and it is a "labor of love" to write about 
 him. He had those traits of character which 
 
 00
 
 were sure to win the affection of anybody who 
 came to know him well. I doubt if he had an 
 enemy in the world — nor can I conceive of his 
 doing or saying anything that would justify any 
 person entertaining an unfriendly feeling toward 
 him. Full of kindness, geniality, cheerfulness 
 and unselfishness he was an ideal companion, a 
 loyal friend, a model citizen, an urbane gentle- 
 man and a sincere Christian. A young lady once 
 said of him that he was "the dearest little man 
 in the world" and she wasn't far wrong. 
 
 He was witty, suggestive, well read, and 
 possessed of a keen appreciation of good litera- 
 ture — and these qualities, joined to a pleasant 
 and easy manner of speaking, caused him to be 
 listened to with pleasure whenever he addressed 
 an audience. "Stump speaking" was much more 
 of a feature in political campaigns years ago 
 than it is now and Mr. Graham was very often 
 called upon to assist in that line of v/ork. 
 For many years no political campaign of im- 
 portance was conducted without addresses by 
 him being heard in most of the villages of this 
 county and of Southern Ulster. As an after- 
 dinner speaker he had few rivals and no superior 
 in this part of the world. 
 
 I cannot but think that it was unfortunate for 
 Mr. Graham that he began his professional life in 
 a little, isolated country village — Shawangunk, 
 now Wallkill, where he had no competition. If 
 there had been a good, active, energetic lawyer 
 residing in that same community it would have 
 developed in Mr. Graham a more combative 
 spirit, greater self-assertion and more readiness 
 in the use of his resources. 
 
 The imperfect development of these qualities 
 in him interfered with his success as a trial law- 
 yer. It may be that his removal from Ulster 
 County to Orange when he had reached middle 
 age also had an influence in preventing him from 
 attaining that position among the prominent trial 
 
 100
 
 .lAMKS r; rjRAHAM
 
 V 
 
 lawyers of this county which his ability and 
 character entitled him to hold. 
 
 He came to Newburgh when he was nearly 
 forty-five years old and it is not easy — usually 
 not possible — for any lawyer at that age, to build 
 up a business in a new place. Whatever the 
 reason was it is undoubtedly a fact that Mr. 
 Graham appeared less frequently in connection 
 with litigated business in the courts of this 
 county than might have been anticipated on the 
 part of a man of his gifts. To some extent he 
 retained his clientage among Ulster County 
 people and was active in the courts there to a 
 greater degree, I think, than he was in our 
 county. 
 
 As a counsellor he was careful, painstaking and 
 safe and this branch of his practice would have 
 been, in the hands of any one less scrupulously 
 honest than he, the source of an income much 
 larger than it yielded him. As he managed it 
 
 "Along the cool sequestered vale of life 
 He kept the noiseless tenor of his way" 
 
 receiving the blessing prayed for by Agur of old 
 who said, "Give me neither poverty nor riches." 
 
 He was a member of the Assembly from Ulster 
 County for one term and from Orange County 
 for two terms, and was the City Attorney for the 
 City of Newburgh for six years. He was a 
 director of the Middletown State Asvhim and 
 one of the Trustees of Washington's Headquar- 
 ters at Newburgh. This completes the list, I 
 think, of the public offices held by one who would 
 have graced any station to which he might have 
 been elect^ed. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born at Shawnn- 
 gunk, N. Y., on October 29. 1821. His early 
 education was obtained at the common school of 
 his native p'ace and later at the Newburgh 
 Academy. After n;radunting at that institution 
 he entered Columbia College and there graduated 
 
 ini
 
 in 1840. He studied law at Newburgh with 
 Bate & McKissock until 1843 when he was 
 licensed. From that time until 1866 his office 
 was in his native village but in the last named 
 year he removed to Newburgh and there continu- 
 ed to reside and have his office for the remainder 
 of his life. 
 
 Death came to him on January 19, 1896, very 
 peacefully but suddenly though he had been in 
 poor health for several months. He died respect- 
 ed by all and beloved by all who knew him well. 
 Peace be to his memory. May the forget-me-not 
 and the amaranth grow upon his grave as em- 
 blems of the lasting remembrance in which he 
 deserves to be held. 
 
 DAVID A. SCOTT. 
 
 David A. Scott was the son of James Scott. 
 He was born in the Town of Montgomery, 
 Orange County, N. Y., August 18, 1825, and 
 died suddenly at Indian Lake, in the Adiron- 
 dacks, August 24, 1890. During the interval of 
 sixty-five years covered by these dates, but more 
 especially during his active manhood, his experi- 
 ences and his usefulness were varied. After 
 graduating at the Montgomery Academy and 
 subsequently at Wesleyan University, he taught 
 school for some years in South Carolina, but 
 ultimately took up the study of law in Newburgh, 
 and was admitted to the bar in 1856. 
 
 Thirty-four years of professional life and the 
 manner in which it was passed won for him not 
 only reasonable success, but gained for him the 
 respect and esteem of his contemporaries and 
 the confidence of the public. He had no eminent 
 rank as a trial lawyer, but was one whose integ- 
 rity was without question and whose judgment 
 
 103
 
 1>A\'1L) A. SCOTT
 
 was a safe reliance. Moreover his aptitude in 
 unraveling accounts — even the most intricate — 
 was phenomenal ; and this faculty, in combination 
 with his judicial mind, his courteous manner and 
 his keen sense of equity, made him an ideal 
 Surrogate. 
 
 Mr. Scott held the office of Surrogate of the 
 county for two terms (January, iS6o, to January, 
 1866), and at their expiration entered into part- 
 nership with M. H. Hirschberg, under the firm 
 name of Scott & Hirschberg, in which relation 
 he remained until his death, devoting his atten- 
 tion especially to office work, including very 
 largely the settlement of estates and references 
 involving important and complicated questions. 
 For the vocation of an advocate he had no marked 
 aptitude. 
 
 Aside from his professional life Mr. Scott took 
 an interest in the influences in society having for 
 their object the elevation of his fellows. He was 
 an active member of St. George's Episcopal 
 Church, filling acceptably the post of Lay Reader 
 when service in that capacity was required, and 
 also that of Superintendent of the Sunday School. 
 When death came to him it found him in the 
 field promoting the success of the Mission of his 
 Church, now the Church of the Good Shepherd. 
 Next to his church he was a devotee of the 
 ancient and honorable order of Free and Accepted 
 Masons. His service as a Trustee of Common 
 Schools from 1887 to the time of his death was 
 of unquestionable advantage to the schools and 
 to the public, and in private walks his charities 
 were many. 
 
 Regarding Mr. Scott's life as a whole the 
 evidence is cumulative that he wasted neither 
 his powers or his opportunities for usefulness — - 
 that the mean goal, "thvself," did not bound his 
 vision or confine his hand — that the force of his 
 example remains and will remain even though 
 his name shall wholly perish. Of him it may be 
 
 103
 
 said with truth that he was a loyal friend, a 
 useful citizen, a genial companionable gentleman. 
 
 ABRAM S. CASSEDY 
 
 was born at Ramapo, Rockland County, N. Y., 
 on November 29th, 1833. He graduated from 
 the State Normal School in 1853, and after study- 
 ing law with a Rockland County lawyer for a 
 short time he came to Goshen and continued his 
 legal studies with Wilkin & Gott at Goshen. 
 In 1857 he was admitted to practice as an attor- 
 ney and counsellor. For two years thereafter 
 he was the Deputy County Clerk of this county. 
 In 1859 he removed to the City of Newburgh and 
 embarked in practice on his own account. His 
 success here was marked from the first and he 
 acquired so good a standing at the bar that in 
 1862 he was elected District Attorney — (on the 
 Democratic ticket). He held that office until 
 January ist, 1866. This was immediately after 
 the Civil War when the whole country was in an 
 unsettled and disorderly condition. 
 
 At that time there was no Assistant District 
 Attorney in this county and no stenographer to 
 take grand jury minutes. Mr. Cassedy's official 
 duties consequently demanded an amount of at- 
 tention and labor that would have discouraged 
 most men. He had to be before the grand jury 
 nearly all day and at night until "some wee sma* 
 hour" was hard at work preparing indictments. 
 His faithful discharge of the duties of his office 
 under such discouraging circumstances entitled 
 him to much credit. 
 
 In 1880 he was ejected Mayor of the City of 
 Newburgh. This office he resij5:ned after a few 
 months — thus contradicting Andrew Ja'^kson's 
 assertion about office holders that "few die and 
 
 104
 
 AnilAM S. CASSEDY
 
 none resign." The two offices above mentioned 
 were the most important ones civer held by Mr. 
 Cassedy. His death occurred on April 29. rSgG. 
 For some ten or twelve years prior to his death 
 he was in partnership with Charles F. Brown and 
 the ability and trustworthiness of the members 
 of the firm together with the continuing influence 
 of the fame of John W. Brown resulted in bring- 
 ing a heavy and profitable business to their office. 
 
 In 1885 the mortgage against the West Shore 
 Railway — theretofore the New York, West 
 Shore and Buffalo Railway — was foreclosed and 
 Mr. Cassedy was appointed the referee to sell the 
 property and to distribute the proceeds. The 
 sale took place in the Court room of the New- 
 burgh Court House and the property sold for 
 twenty-two millions of dollars. These figures 
 completely dazed the auctioneer who was a Nev/- 
 burgh man and not accustomed to "think in 
 millions" and he kept announcing the bid as 
 twenty-two thousand dollars until Chauncey M. 
 Depew, the bidder, corrected him three times. 
 In distributing the proceeds of this sale Mr. 
 Cassedy drew one check for over a million dol- 
 lars. This he had framed later on when it had 
 gone through the bank and it still hangs in the 
 office of his son, William F. Cassedy. Up to that 
 time it was believed to be the largest amount 
 covered by a single check drawn on any bank in 
 Orange County — I think that is still true. 
 
 Mr. Cassedy left two sons one of whom is still 
 living and is a prominent member of the Orange 
 County Bar. 
 
 HENRY BACON. 
 
 Born March 14, 1846 at Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Died March 25, 1915. 
 
 In August, 1862, Mr. Bacon and I entered 
 Union College on the same day, — he in the sopho- 
 
 KX'.
 
 more class of the classical course and I in the 
 junior class of the scientific course. 
 
 The latter course at that time covered but three 
 years and consequently the unfriendly relations 
 which usually exist between the members of one 
 class and those of the class next above or below 
 their own was confined chiefly to the students in 
 the classical course. The "scientific" sopho- 
 mores were really freshmen or in other words 
 had just begun their college career. Most of my 
 own intimate 'acquaintances were in the class 
 behind my owr, I ma.'e Mr. Bacon's acquaint- 
 ance very soon aiter we entered college and when, 
 at the end of my junior year his roommate left 
 college and he invited me to share his room I 
 accepted with pleasure. We were "chums" dur- 
 ing my senior year and our relations were very 
 pleasant and friendly during all that time and 
 afterwards as long as he lived. 
 
 Even at that early day everybody who came 
 in contact with him was impressed by his ability 
 and the soundness of his judgment. He was 
 one of the youngest men in his class but one of 
 the most mature. There was never anything of 
 the "mollycoddle" about him. Self-reliant and 
 courageous to a marked degree he was always 
 prepared to give a reason for any theorv he held 
 and to maintain it against all comers. He was a 
 good student, more inclined to "the humanities" 
 than to mathematics, bvit good all around. His 
 standing in his class was excellent and he gradu- 
 ated in the first rank. 
 
 At the time of his graduation I had been study- 
 ing in Judge Gedney's office for a year amid 
 most delightful surroundings and .as I intended 
 to leave Goshen in the course of a few weeks 
 I wrote to Mr. Bacon advising him to become my 
 successor in the office. This he did. Our stay 
 at Goshen overlapped each other for two or three 
 months and during that time we were "chums" 
 again. 
 
 106
 
 iii;.\i;\' r. \i'<'.\
 
 Mr. Bacon completed his studies in time to be 
 examined at the *"General Term" held at Brook- 
 lyn in December, 18&6. He passed with flying 
 colors but being under twenty-one years of age 
 could not be sworn in until he attained his 
 majority. Soon after his admission he took two 
 important steps in his career, — he married and 
 formed a business co-partnership — Miss Helen 
 Brandreth of Ossining, N. Y., became his wife 
 and Benjamin F. Duryea, of Goshen, N. Y., be- 
 came his partner. Mr. Duryea was a well known 
 lawyer in that part of the county and had been 
 Surrogate of the county and County Judge. His 
 ability as an office lawyer was, recognized by all 
 the lawyers in the county. Judge G-dney and 
 Mr. Gott both stated to me that in their opinion 
 he had the finest legal mind of any man then 
 practicing at our bar. This partnership con- 
 tinued for several years under the firm name of 
 Duryea & Bacon. Then Judge Duryea's son, 
 Henry, was taken into the firm and it became 
 Duryea, Bacon & Duryea. Later, when Judge 
 Duryea died the firm name became Bacon & Dur- 
 yea. Mr. Joseph Merritt and Mr. Philip Rorty 
 subsequently became partners with Mr. Bacon — 
 and that brings the history of his business con- 
 nections down to the close of his life. 
 
 An incident which occurred while Mr. Bacon 
 and I were fellow-students in Judge Gedncy's 
 office was thoroughly characteristic of him 
 whether as boy or man. He had been "reading 
 law" for about a month when one day a farmer 
 from the Town of Warwick came into the office 
 and asked for the Judge. He was out of town for 
 several days. "Well," said the farmer, "perhaps 
 you could answer the question I wanted to ask 
 him." "Very likely," said Bacon; "what is it?" 
 "Well." said the farmer, "I made a contract with 
 a miller in our ncir^hborhood to sell him my crop 
 of wheat for a dollar and seventy-five cents a 
 bushel and the price has gone up to a dollar and 
 
 107
 
 eighty cents a bushel and I want to know if he 
 can make me stand to that bargain." 
 
 Bacon asked him how much wheat there was 
 and was told sixty bushels. Was any writing 
 signed? No. Any part of the price paid? No, 
 Any of the wheat delivered? Not a grain. Then 
 he can't hold you said Bacon. "Then he won't 
 get my wheat at that price," said the farmer and 
 with a very cheerful look on his face he was 
 leaving the office when Bacon halted him with 
 the suggestion that he had better pay for the legal 
 advice he had had. After considerable protest 
 the farmer paid the five dollars that Bacon de- 
 manded and the latter remarked as he folded the 
 bill up and put it in his pocketbook : "You can't 
 expect anybody to do your dirty work for noth- 
 ing." That farmer went home "a. sadder and a 
 wiser man." 
 
 Another incident which occurred in the office 
 at about that time will bear narrating. Bacon 
 was in the back office, I in the front one. It was 
 quite early; — Judge Gedney not down yet. In 
 
 those days a rough looking chap named S , 
 
 was in the habit of coming to the office to inter- 
 view the Judge. He was the wit and banterer 
 of the Monroe Mountains but looked like any- 
 thing but a quick-witted man. I knew by experi- 
 ence, something of the keenness and roughness 
 of his wit so when he began a conversation with 
 me with the remark, "You look as natural to me 
 as a natural fool but I can't call you by name," 
 I politely said, "My name is Anthony." Bacon 
 had heard the fillip I got and was laughing 
 boisterously in the back office. "Who's that in 
 
 there," said S. . "Suppose you look in and 
 
 make his acquaintance," said I. He proceeded 
 to interview Bacon and asked him several ques- 
 tions, — to which he received very brief and gruff 
 answers. Finally he began asking the names and 
 residences of Bacon's parents and the latter 
 suggested that S seemed to have a good 
 
 108
 
 deal of curiosity about his family. "No offence 
 meant, stranger," said S. "I wanted to know 
 about them because I realy think they must be 
 mighty nice people." Bacon was placated and 
 innocently asked, "Why?" "Well," said S., "if I 
 had been half as cross and ugly as you be my 
 parents would have knocked me in the head 
 before I was six weeks old." The laugh that 
 followed sweetened the day's work for Bacon and 
 
 me and although S didn't even smile, I 
 
 have no doubt he got a lot of satisfaction out of it. 
 Mr. Bacon's career after he was once fairly 
 started in his professional work was one of con- 
 tinuous and marked success. His good, sound 
 judgment, retentive memory, great diligence, 
 clear "legal instinct," and extreme thoroughness 
 in everything he did and in every detail of his 
 work made him in a few years one the leaders of 
 the bar of this county and of several of the 
 counties adjoining this. His success was chiefly 
 due to the thoroughness with which he prepared 
 his cases. His purpose was to know all the facts 
 — and all the law — bearing upon the case he was 
 about to try. His knowledge of the basic 
 principles of jurisprudence and of the leading 
 cases was extensive and accurate and it was 
 therefore comparatively easy for him to prepare 
 for the trial of his cases as they arose. In pre- 
 senting a case to the jury he was not particularly 
 happy. He talked easily and to the point and 
 was listened to with attention. His arguments 
 always deserved and received a respectful hear- 
 ing. But he was entirely destitute of that 
 mysterious quality called "magnetism" which 
 enables some speakers to be in close touch with 
 their audiences even when they have less to say 
 than Mr. Bacon usually had and say it less 
 smoothly than he. Nevertheless he became the 
 most prominent trial lawyer in the county. For 
 many years he was the trial counsel for the Erie 
 Railway Company in this county and, in Rock- 
 
 100
 
 land and Sullivan Counties and did a large amount 
 of work for that company in this section of the 
 State. 
 
 His independence and self-reliance were always 
 conspicuous features of his character. He at- 
 tached no importance to differences of social 
 standing or wealth. The only standards he 
 recognized were mental ability and moral worth 
 — and on this basis he treated everybody as he 
 thought they deserved. 
 
 In 1886 and again in 1888, Mr. Bacon was 
 elected on the Democratic ticket, the Representa- 
 tive in Congress from this district. He had 
 however little taste for public office and not much 
 aptitude for political finesse. He obtained an 
 excellent standing in Congress and was recogniz- 
 ed as a man of ability. He never held any other 
 public office so far as I know. 
 
 While at Washington he and his family became 
 intimately acquainted with Samuel J. Randall 
 and with his family. Randall was then the 
 Speaker of the House. A few years later, the 
 first Mrs. Bacon having died, meantime, Mr. 
 Bacon married Susan, a daughter of Mr. Randall. 
 She survived him — as did also a daughter (by the 
 first wife) who is now the wife of Doctor Brand- 
 reth Symonds. 
 
 One incident of Mr. Bacon's stay in Washing- 
 ton may be worth narrating here. 
 
 At that time J. C. Bancroft Davis was the 
 reporter of the decisions of the United States 
 Supreme Court. Having a fairly intimate ac- 
 quaintance with Mr. Davis I wrote to him 
 suggesting that I would appreciate any courtesies 
 he might extend to Mr. Bacon. This resulted in 
 a dinner at Mr. Davis' at which Mr. Bacon was 
 one of the guests and Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar — then 
 a Justice of the Supreme Court — was another. 
 After dinner Lamar and Davis talked over the 
 efforts made to bring about the recognition of the 
 Confederacy by England. Lamar had been sent 
 
 110
 
 to Russia in behalf of the Confederate States but 
 had stopped at London and was doing his utmost 
 to procure recognition for his government. Davis 
 was then Secretary of the American Legation at 
 London. The plots and counter-plots of that 
 momentous contest were discussed fully and very 
 freely by these two men in their after-dinner 
 conversation and Mr. Bacon declared that he 
 had never heard such interesting talk. 
 
 WILLIAM VANAMEE 
 
 was born at Albany, N. Y., on January g, 1847. 
 He was the son of Doctor Simon A. and Anna 
 Graham Vanamee. His parents removed to 
 Kingston, N. Y., while he was a child, — that 
 being the home of the original Vanamee — (or 
 van Naame) ancestor, who settled there in 1687. 
 
 The subject of this sketch received his 
 preparatory education at the Kingston Academy 
 and at the hands of a private tutor. 
 
 His legal study was conducted in the office of 
 Judge Groo at Middletown, beginning in 1866 
 and in May, 1868, he was examined at the General 
 Term held at Poughkeepsie and was duly ad- 
 mitted. Thenceforth for many years his home 
 and his office were in Middletown and there he 
 built up a large and lucrative business. Later, 
 seeking a wider field of practice, he removed to 
 Newburgh and for a short time had a business 
 connection in Brooklyn. N. Y., but continued to 
 have his domicile in Newburgh. and there he 
 died on May 7th, 1914. In 1886 he received the 
 degree of M. A. from Hamilton College. 
 
 Although Mr. Vanamee and I practiced law 
 side by side during the last fifteen or twenty 
 years of his life and were on terms of intimate 
 and friendly acquaintance I never felt that I 
 
 III
 
 really understood him. There was a sort of 
 indefiriable aloofness about him which seemed to 
 me to keep even his intimate friends at a dis- 
 tance; and yet he was friendly in his manner, 
 warm in his greetings * id seemingly sincere in 
 his friends/lips. That he was a man of superior 
 abii.lv and of unusual culture was evident to 
 everybody who sav/ anything of his work. He 
 was unquestionably the best nisi prius lawyer 
 resident in Middletov/n in his day. He tried a 
 case well and summfo it -ip with force and elo- 
 quence. Juries ' 'ler.rd him with pleasure and 
 v/henever he spoke before a miscellaneous audi- 
 ence his remarks were listened to with close 
 attention and spoken of afterwards in terms of 
 admiration. It is not intended as any criticism 
 of either his manner of speaking or of the sub- 
 stance of his addresses when I state that there 
 did not seem to be the same spontaneity about 
 his oratorical work that there was about that of 
 most of the other prominent advocates at our 
 bar. Gedney and Fullerton and Carr never 
 made any preparation for their jury speeches. 
 If Winfield prepared he concealed the fact very 
 successfully. Mr. Vanamee gave the impression 
 of having made careful preparation. His public 
 utterances "smelled of the lamp." If reading 
 maketh a full man, conversation a ready man and 
 v/riting an exact man as Lord Bacon said was 
 the case, Mr. Vanamee would give his hearers 
 the impression of being a reading man, — as indeed 
 he was; for if any man in the profession since 
 Judge Gedney's time has been as much of a lover 
 of good literature as Mr. Vanamee was the fact 
 has escaped my attention. He read very widely 
 and with keen discrimination. His addresses 
 were illuminated with apt quotations and telling 
 illustrations but I cannot sav of them as Judge 
 Brown does of Judge McKissock elsewhere in 
 this book that they "came spontaneously and 
 unbidden from his well-stored memory and glow- 
 
 112
 
 WIU^IAM \A\A.\IKK
 
 ing imagination, as the lightning breaks upon the 
 distant horizon in the twilight of a summer 
 evening." Rather they reminded one of Long- 
 fellow's lines: 
 
 "Thus at the flaming forge of Life 
 Our fortunes must be wrought, 
 Thus on its sounding anvil shaped 
 Each burning deed and thought." 
 
 Nevertheless Mr. Vanamee was a strong and 
 successful advocate and I am not prepared to say 
 that he did not win as large a percentage of his 
 cases as any of .ho^je lav/yers did whose names I 
 have mentioned and whose u.ethods I bnve 
 compared with his. 
 
 His literary style can be seen to advantage in 
 the article entitled, "The Bench a.'d Bar" in 
 Keadley's "History of Orange Coi ■ y" and I 
 risk no contradictions when I say that he has 
 presented a very dry and unpromising subject in 
 a graceful and captivating way. We may be 
 inclined to criticise it as too eulogistic of his 
 fellow-lawyers — of few more so than of the 
 writer of this sketch — but as to the charm with 
 which it is put there can hardly be two opinions. 
 That the various lawyers mentioned are extreme- 
 ly well spoken of is an indication of the feeling 
 Mr. Vanamee really entertained concerning them. 
 Those who knew him best assure me that he 
 never uttered an unpleasant word about any 
 fellow-lawyer but was actually filled with friend- 
 ly regard and the kindest feelings towards them 
 all. They speak too of his kindness of heart and 
 sympathy for the unfortunate — a tribute of more 
 worth than all the commendation that could be 
 paid to him as an advocate. 
 
 Mr. Vanamee died at a comparatively early 
 age. His health failed gradually — his physical 
 not his mental strength — and his condition was 
 such that for three or four years before he died 
 he could do no professional work except at the
 
 risk of his life. Had it not been for this, his 
 reputation and standing as an attorney might 
 have been even higher than they are. 
 
 He was twice married. His first wife was 
 Miss Ostroni of Goshen. Of thiu marriage three 
 children were born — two sons and a daughter, — 
 the latter being now the wife of Percy V. D. Gott 
 of Goshen. The sons, (named Talcott and 
 Parker respectively) are living, — one a physician 
 and the other a clergyman. Mr, Vanamee's 
 second wife v/as Miss Davis — before her marri- 
 age. Of this marriage there were no children. 
 She is still living. 
 
 LEWIS E. CARR. 
 
 *Mr. Carr was born at Salisbury, Herkimer 
 County, N. Y., on March loth, 1842. He was 
 educated in the public schools and at the Fair- 
 field Seminary. After leaving that institution he 
 studied law at the Albany Law School and in 
 1864 was admitted to the Bar at Albany. Soon 
 after that he settled at Port Jervis and began the 
 practice of his profession. 
 
 In that vocation his rise to eminence was rapid. 
 In 187 1 he was elected District Attorney of the 
 county; this office he held for one term. Mean- 
 time he had been appointed local counsel for the 
 Erie Railway Company and he retained that 
 position until he removed to Albany in 1893. 
 There he became Resident Counsel for the Dela- 
 ware & Hudson R. R. Company and that position 
 he still holds and fills. 
 
 The amount of work done by Mr. Carr while 
 he resided in this county would have killed most 
 
 • N. B. — No extended sketch of Mr. Carr Is intended 
 to be made here for reasons stated in the "Preamble" 
 to this book. 
 
 114
 
 HI99M9I 
 
 
 LKVVIS K. CAUK
 
 men and it is reported that he k still working as 
 h^.ird as ever; and yet, at the age of sev? ity-tivs 
 years his mind seems as vigorous and -cti'. -. as 
 it was in his pri ne and there i- scarcely ;i gray 
 hair in his head. 
 
 Mr. C'cirr has impressed me as one of irs ablest 
 r.ien of .ny geneiation practicing at our bar id 
 the T-'St fluent speaker among them. H-. is 
 moreover a truly eloquent man — for there is a 
 wide difference bft -veen fluency and eloquence. 
 Mr. Carr's idea •, thoughts, illustrations and argu- 
 ments keep p? e with his smooth and rapid flow 
 of words so tj at what he says is not only well 
 said but conveys a substantial chain of thoughts 
 in an interesting and impressive way. 
 
 May it be a long time before anvone is called 
 upon to write a sketch of him which treats him 
 as a man of the past. 
 
 iiii
 
 A List of the County Judges, Surrogates 
 
 and District Attorneys of the County 
 
 Since the Year 1800 
 
 COUNTY JUDGES. 
 
 Nathan H. White 
 Samuel S. Seward 
 Gilbert O. Fowler 
 Horace W. Elliott 
 Goldsmith Denniston 
 Allen M. Sherman 
 David W. Bate 
 John G. Wilkin 
 
 - A. H. 
 
 Benjamin F. Duryea 
 John J. Monell 
 David F, Gedney 
 Thomas George 
 Stephen W. Fullerton 
 
 — Charles F. Brown 
 John G. Wilkin 
 John J. Beattie 
 
 F. Seeger 
 
 SPECIAL COUNTY JUDGES. 
 
 John G. Wilkin 
 Robert Proudfit, Jr. 
 Charles Borland 
 James W. Taylor 
 E. Gedney Van Duzer 
 James W. Taylor 
 George W. Green 
 J. Hallock Drake 
 James W. Taylor 
 
 William J. Groo 
 Theron N. Little 
 Michael H. Hirschberg 
 Obadiah P. Howell 
 Amos Van Etten 
 Ferdinand V. Sanford 
 Henry B. Fullerton 
 Frank Lybolt 
 Herbert B. Royce 
 
 us
 
 SURROGATES. 
 
 Edward Ely 
 Job Noble 
 Edward Ely 
 Wheeler Case 
 David H. Tuthill 
 John B. Booth 
 Geors^e M. Grier 
 Charles Borland 
 
 Benjamin F. Duryea 
 James W. Fowler 
 John J. McConnell 
 David A. Scott 
 Gilbert O. Hulse 
 Henry A. V/adsworth 
 Roswell C. Coleman 
 O. P. Howell 
 
 John B. Swezey 
 
 SPECIAL SURROGATES. 
 
 Charles Borland 
 Frederick A. Hoyt 
 John V. D. Benedict 
 Henry C. Duryea 
 Bush 
 
 Daniel E. Pope 
 John P. Sears 
 George W. McElroy 
 John B. Swezey 
 Joseph M. Wilkin 
 
 Elwood C. Smith 
 
 DISTRICT ATTORNEYS. 
 (Were not county officials until 1818). 
 
 Samuel R. Betts 
 Henry G. Wisner 
 Ogdcn Hoffman 
 Charles Borland 
 Isaac R, Van Duzcr 
 Samuel J. Wilkin 
 Charles Borland, Jr. 
 Nathan Wcscott 
 Hugh B. Bull 
 Charles H. Winfield 
 David F. Gedncy 
 Charles C. MrOuoid 
 
 ''Henry M. 
 
 C 
 
 Abram S. Casscdy 
 
 --•John H. Drake 
 
 ■^ Stephen W. Fullerton 
 Lewis E. Carr 
 Charles F. Brown 
 Walter C. Anthony 
 Russell T. Headlcy 
 Michael H. Hirschbcrg 
 Abram V. N. Powelson 
 A. H. F. Seeger 
 Thomas C. Rogers 
 J. D. Wilson, Jr. 
 
 HirschbergJ, 

 
 OLD DAYS AND OLD WAYS 
 
 As a sort of summing up of what has gone 
 before I give here Mr. Graham's opinion regard- 
 ing some of the lawyers mentioned in the earher 
 portion of this book. He writes: 
 
 "In your last letter you intimate that you 
 would like to know my opinion as to the 
 comparative merits of several of the members 
 of the bar of Orange County. My estimate 
 may be very far wrong, but I will give it never- 
 theless. In my judgment, the greatest lawyer 
 who ever lived in Orange County was John Duer. 
 I do not know whether he was born in Orange 
 County, or not, but he practiced at Goshen for 
 a good many years before going to New York 
 City. He was associated with Benjamin F. 
 Butler, afterward Attorney General and Secre- 
 tary of War of the United States, and John C. 
 Spencer, who afterward was Secretary of State 
 of New York, and Secretary of the Treasury of 
 the United States, in the Revision of 1830 and 
 for no small share of that work he was responsi- 
 ble. Subsequently he was Judge and Chief 
 Justice of the Superior Court of New York City, 
 and at that time the Bench of that Court had no 
 superior on this side of the Atlantic, and his 
 judgments stood the test of time and critical 
 examination. 
 
 "Next to him I would place John W. Brown 
 (though born in Scotland) for breadth of learning 
 and power of elucidating abstract principles. 
 Next to him I think stood William Fullerton for 
 power of intellect, entire self-control and incis- 
 iveness in examination of witnesses, and in 
 presenting his case to the jury or the Court. 
 
 118
 
 Yet I am told that for breadth of intellect and 
 legal knowledge, and clearness of reasoning he 
 was surpassed by his brother, Stephen W. 
 Fullerton; but 'Whit' (as he was called in my 
 time) had not won his spurs when I came out 
 West. 
 
 "In reputation for brilliancy of argument, for 
 eloquence of speech and flood of illustration, 
 according to their reputation as it reached my 
 ears, Ogden Hoffman, Isaac R. Van Duzer and 
 Samuel J. Wilkin surpassed all others. For 
 ingenuity in marshaling the facts, for vigor of 
 expression and versatility in the management of 
 a case. Judge McKissock. For polish of manner 
 and speech and careful preservation of the rights 
 of his client. Judge Monell. I frequently heard 
 Winfield, but never heard Gedney make an ad- 
 dress of any kind, but speaking from knowledge 
 of one, and the reputation of the other, I would 
 say that as all around lawyers and advocates 
 they had few superiors. I should say that in 
 power of reasoning and force of logic they were 
 inferior to either of the Fullertons, but of a more 
 captivating manner in presenting their cases to 
 a jury or miscellaneous audience, over whom 
 their influence was deservedly great. 
 
 "My estimate may be largely erroneous but 
 such as it is you have it. 
 
 "I often heard Judge Booth speak of Henry G. 
 Wisner, but I can not give you anything that 
 would be of any assistance to you." 
 
 In my judgment Mr. Graham is about right. 
 
 Judge Barnard was once questioned as to the 
 comparative standing of the lawvers of Dutchess 
 County and Orange, and he replied: 
 
 "We have no man in Dntrhcss Covmty who 
 can try a case as 'Whit' I-'ullcrton can. There 
 is no man in Orange County who can sum up a 
 
 119
 
 case as Allard Anthony can. But Judge Gedney 
 and Mr. Gott make a team that cannot be equal- 
 ed in Dutchess or anywhere in this judicial 
 district in my opinion," (N, B. — The district 
 then included all of Long Island), 
 
 Judge Barnard had a very high opinion of 
 Fullerton's ability as a trial lawyer. He said 
 several times that "Whit" Fullerton and "Matt" 
 Carpenter — (later a United States Senator from 
 Wisconsin) — were the best cross-examiners he 
 had ever seen. Carpenter was counsel in a very 
 important murder case which was tried in 
 Dutchess County in or about the year 1865 and 
 he made a very favorable impression upon the 
 entire Bar of that county. 
 
 The Fullertons — William and "Whit" — were 
 probably the most skillful trial lawyers and 
 certainly the best cross-examiners we have ever 
 had in this county. Their methods were very 
 different but equally effective. William was 
 keen, quick and somewhat aggressive and woe 
 betide the witness who began a game of repartee 
 with him. Whittaker was more deliberate, more 
 cautious and more considerate of the witness. 
 He often said that unless the lawyer feels abso- 
 lutely sure that he can break a witness complete- 
 ly, he must never seem to be harsh with him, 
 for the sympathy of the jury is against the 
 lawyer and with the witness all the time until 
 the latter is clearly shown to be lying. Another 
 of his rules was not to cross-examine a witness 
 at all unless you had a distinct purpose in view 
 and a definite plan for accomplishing it. William 
 Fullerton used to say that he thought he could 
 catch any witness who was falsifying, provided 
 he could examine him long enough. In this 
 connection he said that he cross-examined the 
 leading witness in a very important will case — 
 involving half a million dollars — for two whole 
 days without tripping her un ; but he added : "I 
 got her the third day; caught her on arithmetic. 
 
 130
 
 She had sworn to her age early in her cross- 
 examination. On the third day I asked her what 
 her employment was at that time and when she 
 went to work in that position; then I asked her 
 about outside matters for a while so that she 
 would not become suspicious; then I questioned 
 her about what she was doing previous to the 
 latest employment and how long she was in that 
 place and then we talked about other matters 
 again; and so I led her backward step by step 
 until I could call her attention to the fact that 
 she must have been only four years old when she 
 was present at the execution of the will in ques- 
 tion about which she had testified very fully and 
 minutely. Then she went all to pieces. She 
 had lied about her age and also about the 
 execution of the will." 
 
 One of the questions about the lawyer of 
 former days which will naturally occur to a 
 lawyer of this present time is "what income did 
 his business yield?" 
 
 I have excellent reasons for thinking that no 
 lawyer in the county made five thousand dollars 
 per year, prior to the Civil War. During that 
 war some of them perhaps avera,2;ed that amount 
 — but they were few and far between. There 
 was an income tax during the later years of that 
 war, and the incomes reported throughout the 
 county were published in some of our news- 
 papers. They make what Horace Grccly used 
 to call "mighty interesting reading" now. 
 
 Making all due allowances for exemptions it 
 would seem that there was but one practicing 
 lawyer in Ncwburgh, and not one elsewhere in 
 the county, who reported an income of five 
 thousand dollars by the report made in August, 
 1865, and the one v/hose income exceeded that 
 
 m
 
 figure doubtless derived a considerable part of 
 it as interest on his investments. 
 
 It must be remembered that business expenses 
 were very trifling then. Office rent, stenogra- 
 phers, telephones, books and various incidentals 
 were then either very small or actually non- 
 existent. I doubt if there were half a dozen 
 lawyers in the county who employed any paid 
 clerical help about their offices, fifty years ago. 
 Living expenses also were very much less then 
 than they are now. It is probably a fair 
 proposition to say that any given income then 
 was worth fully as much as one twice as large 
 is today. 
 
 The charges for legal services increased 
 somewhat during the Civil War, — but not much; 
 and the "taxable costs" in litigated cases have 
 not been increased since 1848 to any appreciable 
 extent. The charges which lawyers make against 
 their clients in these days are doubtless decidedly 
 larger than they were formerly — but it is much 
 more satisfactory to "live off of the enemy's 
 country" as far as possible. The lawyers as a rule 
 attached less importance to the pecuniary end 
 of their business forty or fifty years ago than 
 thev do now. Gedney had no account books; 
 Fullerton kept no complete accounts. 
 
 In the old days there was far more practical 
 joking among the lawyers than there has been 
 of late years. They seemed to have more time 
 for it then than they have now. Much of it 
 centered about "Whit" Fullerton. He and all 
 his brothers were full of a spirit of mischief. 
 One incident "Whit" used to relate with great 
 glee. One day his father said to William, "Go 
 over to neighbor Smith's and ask him if he will 
 lend me his wheelbarrow." 
 
 After an hour or so William returned and 
 
 122
 
 reported to his father: "Yes, sir! He says he'll 
 lend it to you." 
 
 On another occasion Mr. Fullerton, the father, 
 was mending a dam on his farm. The material 
 needed was dug out of a bank on one side of the 
 stream and loaded in a cart and then hauled 
 across the half empty mill pond and used at the 
 farther end of the dam and race. William was 
 driving the oxen and the "old gentleman" and 
 "Whit" were helping. They walked behind the 
 cart until they came to the edge of the pond. 
 Then they would step up on the hind end of the 
 cart and ride across dry shod. Finally on one 
 of the return trips William could not resist the 
 temptation any longer. He stooped down and 
 unloosed the pin, — the cart tipped up, — and the 
 two passengers at its rear were spilled off into 
 a puddle of very muddy water a couple of feet 
 deep. Of course William got a thrashing but 
 that he expected. The fun fully repaid him. 
 
 I saw more of this spirit of practical fun in 
 "Whit" than I did in his brothers. One instance 
 recurs to my memory. 
 
 "Whit" and Judge Monell were in the latter's 
 private office adjusting some business matters 
 of importance when a pompous individual enter- 
 ed whose white cravat indicated his claim to 
 clerical standing. Monell had seen him or heard 
 of him before and at once recognized him as a 
 solicitor of contributions for some charity or 
 other. The caller asked whether Judge Monell 
 was in. The Judge, thinking it a good chance 
 to put a joke over on Fullerton, waved his hand 
 towards the latter and said : "That is Judge 
 Monell." No slightest change of expression 
 passed over Fullerton's face. He listened 
 patiently to the caller's story while Monell sat 
 by enjoying the situation. But a change "came 
 o'er the spirit of his dreams" when Fullerton 
 asked to sec the caller's subscription book and 
 with great deliberation wrote in it : "John J. 
 
 12»
 
 Monell, $10 ;" quietly remarking, "I shall have to 
 ask you to call a little later for the money — I 
 haven't the precise amount by me at present." 
 Needless to say that little joke cost Monell ten 
 dollars. 
 
 It was very difficult to corner Fullerton or to 
 get the better of him in an encounter of wits. 
 In an action which was on trial before Carr as 
 referee I was a party ; Fullerton was my attorney ; 
 Brewster — (E. A.) — and Brown — (Charles F., 
 afterwards 'J^^g^ Brown') — were opposed. I 
 had invested some money in a v/oolen mill and 
 was likely to lose some of it. Fullerton had lost 
 heavily not very long before in a patent hay 
 press — (He al'ways lost when he speculated 
 and usually when he invested). Brev/ster had a 
 lot of money tied up in cemetery stock which 
 paid no dividend and Brown was largely inter- 
 ested in a plaster mill which just then was giving 
 him considerable trouble and no profits. Brown 
 started the skirmish by saying of my investment 
 that he supposed it was all right but it seemed 
 to him a blamed queer thing for a lawyer to 
 invest his money in a woolen mill. 
 
 Fullerton's retort came like a flash, "No 
 queerer and no more risky than a plaster mill." 
 Then Brewster took a shot at Fullerton, remark- 
 ing, "Either of them is as safe as a hay press." 
 Again the retort came instantly, "Any of the 
 three is better than a bone yard." 
 
 John Kerr who was attorney for some of the 
 parties said: "I think I have no remarks to 
 make." It was a particularly neat specimen of 
 repartee — and Fullerton was full of that sort of 
 thing. 
 
 His neatest and most famous practical joke 
 resulted in a Newburgh Lothario making a 
 "date" with his own wife under the impression 
 that it was with another woman. A very worthy 
 woman came to Fullerton's office and showed 
 him a particularly ardent letter which she had 
 
 124
 
 received from a married man. She was furious 
 and wanted the writer of the letter sued at once. 
 Fullerton dissuaded her but said that if she 
 would follow his instructions implicitly she 
 should have complete revenge. At his dictation 
 she wrote a letter and mailed it to the Lothario 
 saying among many other things that she was 
 planning to go to the city on the barge * * * 
 on such a night and would try to secure state- 
 room Number 4, and if there was a gentle tap at 
 the door of that stateroom at precisely 11 o'clock 
 p. m., the door would be opened, — though the 
 room might be in darkness — and no violent 
 effort would be made to keep him out. Mean- 
 time Fullerton sent for the Lothario's wife, who 
 had consulted him several times about securing 
 a divorce from her husband. 
 
 The situation was explained to her — the name 
 of the lady not being mentioned — and she cheer- 
 fully consented to take the trip to New York on 
 the appointed night and carry out her part of 
 the play. At that time the barge in question was 
 commanded by a near-relative of Fullerton's and 
 he had no difficulty in securing stateroom No. 4 
 for the night he wished. 
 
 The rest of the story will readily suggest itself 
 to anybody who has read thus far. The plan 
 worked out precisely as Fullerton had designed. 
 It will be "relevant" for me to add that Mrs. 
 Lothario never had occasion afterwards to con- 
 sult Fullerton, or anybody else, about procuring 
 a divorce from her husband. 
 
 One case which came to the office soon after 
 I entered it as a student has always been 
 prominent in my memory. One day I saw a 
 young man — perhaps between twenty-five and 
 thirty years old — come into the outer office. He 
 was the incarnation of self-satisfaction; — as 
 "cockey" as a drum major. In that mood he 
 passed through the outer office, entered Fuller- 
 ton's private room, and the door was closed. 
 
 125
 
 Half an hour or so later he came out and I have 
 never seen, in all my life, so great a change 
 wrought in any other person in so short a time. 
 He was in a state bordering on collapse. It was 
 a good while after that before Fullerton told me 
 what had caused the change. It seems that a 
 few months before this interview a young man 
 residing not far from Newburgh had gone out 
 alone gunning. A few hours later his dead body 
 was found lying in a roadway in the woods and 
 near him was his gun, one barrel of which had 
 been discharged and the load had entered the 
 hunter's head from behind causing instant death. 
 Shortly after his burial his wife's brother began 
 to talk to his sister, (the widow), about the 
 money due to him from her husband, for which 
 he claimed that he held promissory notes made 
 by the husband. She felt sure something was 
 wrong and came to Fullerton for counsel. He 
 wrote to the claimant asking him to call at the 
 office and see what arrangement, if any, could 
 be made in regard to his claims against his 
 brother-in-law's estate and to be sure to bring 
 with him all notes or other papers in support 
 of his claim. It was in response to that invita- 
 tion that he entered the office when I first saw 
 him. 
 
 When the door closed behind him he was 
 given a seat facing the window which was back 
 of Mr. Fullerton and the latter could see every 
 movement of his countenance. The notes — three 
 in number — were produced. They aggregated 
 several hundred dollars. Fullerton questioned 
 the claimant about his business transactions 
 with the decedent and the consideration for the 
 notes and the explanation became somewhat 
 confused and indefinite. Then the circumstances 
 connected with the death of the deceased were 
 asked about and the tragedy of the event was 
 shown mercilessly by means of the questions 
 asked. Finally Fullerton said, "You think your 
 
 126
 
 brother-in-law was carrying his gun over his 
 shoulder with the butt end behind; that it slip- 
 ped out of his hand and when it struck the 
 ground one barrel was discharged and the shot 
 entering the head of decedent caused his death 
 instantly?" This theory was insisted on very 
 positively under skillful examination; the claim- 
 ant stated that the accident could not be 
 explained on any other theory. Then Fullerton 
 asked him if he didn't think it passing strange 
 that the charge of shot had passed downward 
 through the brain and not upward. This fact 
 was shown by the Coroner's minutes of which 
 Fullerton had a copy. 
 
 Fullerton then inquired about the making of 
 the notes and the claimant stated that he him- 
 self wrote the body of the documents; that his 
 brother-in-law signed them and immediately 
 delivered them to him and he had held them 
 ever since. He further said that his brother-in- 
 law had placed the revenue stamps on the notes ; 
 that he did it with his own hands before deliver- 
 ing the notes to claimant and cancelled them by 
 writing his initials on them. 
 
 "Precisely as they are now?" "Yes." "You 
 are absolutely sure of this?" "Yes." By this 
 time the claimant was very badly demoralized — 
 and his overthrow was completed when Fuller- 
 ton held the notes up in front of him and said, 
 "Don't you think that your brother-in-law was a 
 very far-sighted man to put revenue stamps on 
 these notes nearly three months before the law 
 required notes to be stamped?" The claimant 
 went all to pieces. The notes were marked 
 "surrendered and cancelled" and he managed to 
 sign his name to that statement and then he 
 made his way out of the office as best he could. 
 Fullerton added when he told me the story, "I 
 believe I could have convicted him of murder, 
 but his sister would not give her consent." 
 
 Mr. Fullerton's office table was always covered 
 
 127
 
 with bundles of papers and dozens of letters but 
 he disliked to have them touched or re-arranged. 
 One day when he was out of town I straightened 
 out the litter on his desk; the drawers were 
 empty so I distributed the rubbish among them 
 in alphabetical order. When he returned and 
 saw what an improvement (?) had been made 
 there was not the slightest change in his ex- 
 pression. A little later he called me and asked 
 "Where are the papers in against ?" 
 
 I showed him the proper drawer and explained 
 that the arrangement was strictly alphabetical, 
 the first drawers having the early letters of the 
 alphabet; the second some later letters and so 
 throughout. 
 
 Presently another batch of papers was asked 
 for. I produced it from the proper drawer, and 
 it,— like the former batch— was restored to its 
 place on the top of the flat desk — and Fullerton, 
 without the slightest change of expression on 
 his face, remarked, "No doubt your intentions 
 were good, Anthony; the trouble is you had too 
 damned many of them." 
 
 Ever since that day I always have tried to 
 avoid "butting in." 
 
 One of the famous cases of forty years ago 
 was that of vs. . 
 
 The action was based on four promissory 
 notes, each for several hundred dollars. The 
 body of the instruments had been written by the 
 plaintiff who claimed that the signature was that 
 of the defendant. Fullerton borrowed the 
 original instruments and succeeded in having 
 them imitated so perfectly in every particular 
 that we could only tell the copies from the 
 originals by means of a minute pin hole which 
 we made in each of the genuine notes. The 
 cashiers of our several city banks swore unhesi- 
 tatingly to the genuineness of the signature on 
 the copies. Finally the plaintiff himself swore 
 that the body of the copies was written by him 
 
 1S8
 
 and that the documents were signed by the 
 defendant in his presence. At this point he 
 became a little suspicious and remarked, "there 
 has been a lot of talk about forgery in this case ; 
 let me look at them closer." He took them up 
 close to the window and examined them minutely 
 and then said again that he himself wrote the 
 body of each note and the defendant signed each 
 one; that he was absolutely positive as to these 
 facts. Then Fullerton handed out the genuine 
 notes and quietly asked, "Well, how about 
 these?" The plaintiff was completely non- 
 plussed. The papers became mixed in his hand 
 and he could not tell one from another. Turn- 
 ing to Fullerton he exclaimed, "What kind of a 
 damned man are you, anyhow?" The plaintiff 
 succeeded in the action but there was nobody 
 in our local banks for several years after that 
 who could qualify as an expert on handwriting 
 and bear a cross-examination. 
 
 Another law suit which made an intense but 
 transient sensation in Newburgh in the "old 
 days" was spoken of as the "bouquet case." One 
 Lee, a queer chap, was deeply interested in a 
 young lady who lived on Newburgh's chief 
 residential street. He decided to serenade her 
 and took pains to let her know of his purpose 
 and when he intended to carry it out. He also 
 announced his intention to some of his young 
 men friends. This information came to the cars 
 of A., who was an inveterate joker, and he, on 
 the appointed evening, chartered a hand organ 
 grinder and piloted him to the young lady's 
 house. Here the organ was played vigorously 
 and A, having purposely clothed himself to 
 resemble Lee as much as possible, marched up 
 and down underneath her window. Of course 
 the young woman had provided herself with an
 
 elegant bouquet and although she thought a 
 "serenade" by a hand organ was a very strange 
 performance still as nobody ever knew what 
 queer thing to expect from Lee she threw out 
 the bouquet, — which A. picked up and with 
 many profound bows and wafted kisses marched 
 away, accompanied by the organ grinder. 
 
 Very shortly afterwards Lee appeared on the 
 scene with three or four musicians and the real 
 serenade began. But the young lady had no 
 more bouquets to bestow and being a good deal 
 mystified by this second serenade paid no 
 attention to it. 
 
 A few days later Lee learned the facts of the 
 case and sued A. in justice's court for the value 
 of the bouquet. The crowd attending the trial 
 soon outgrew the justice's office and an evening 
 session was held in the Court House. Here the 
 fun grew fast and furious. Lee was in dead 
 earnest. He was one of the sort who can never 
 see a joke, but everybody else in the crowded 
 room was convulsed with laughter. Finally, 
 after a solemn argument by Lee, who by the bye 
 was a law-student, and a humorous speech by 
 A's attorney, the case went to the jury who 
 brought in this verdict: "We find no cause of 
 action and we recommend the plaintiff to the 
 mercy of the Court and community." 
 
 Having told the foregoing story somewhat at 
 Lee's expense it is no more than fair for me to 
 show another side of his nature. He wrote and 
 published quite a bit of very fair prose and one 
 little poem which seems to me so good that I 
 give it complete. 
 
 His father was a clergyman and served for a 
 number of years as pastor of a church at Mont- 
 gomery. Some time after his death a lady, a 
 member of his congregation, gave the church a 
 pulpit Bible in memory of the dead pastor and 
 young Lee, the law student, sent her the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 lao
 
 LINES TO A LADY 
 
 On the presentation of a Pulpit Bible to the 
 
 Reformed Dutch Church of Montgomery, 
 
 September 30th, 1858. 
 
 Honored in the ancient Temple were the gifts 
 
 of Sheba's queen; 
 Grander yet the Magi's offerings to the lowly 
 
 Nazarene. 
 Sheba's crown is dust and ashes, no one knows 
 
 the Magi's grave; 
 But the Lord has not forgotten who they were 
 
 or what they gave. 
 
 Heaven's altar needs no incense, and the finest 
 gold is dim 
 
 In the presence of the glory ever overshadowing 
 Him; 
 
 But the record has been written that their mem- 
 ory should live. 
 
 For the spirit of the givers consecrates the 
 things they give. 
 
 In the grave yard sleeps the pastor by the church 
 he loved so well, 
 
 But the Word of God abideth, like a deathless 
 Evangel, — 
 
 And that Pulpit Bible preaches, while the pas- 
 tor's clearer eyes 
 
 See its mysteries unfolded in the light of 
 Paradise. 
 
 JOHN WILTSIE LEE. 
 
 If anybody connected in any way with the 
 legal profession in this county has ever produced 
 anything which came as near as those lines do 
 to being poetry, the writer's attention has not 
 been called to it. 
 
 131
 
 Something has been said in an earlier part of 
 this book about a case in which a man named 
 Price was a witness. In some respects the trial 
 of that case presented features of unusual inter- 
 est, and one of the most dramatic situations that 
 ever occurred in our Court House arose on that 
 trial. 
 
 A man whoinl will call X was on trial 
 
 under an indictment for murder in the first 
 degree. The victim was a woman with whom 
 he had been on friendly terms and with whom he 
 had been seen walking along a lonesome road 
 one evening. The next morning her body was 
 found in a gully at the side of that road. She 
 had been killed by some one who had caught up 
 a stone from the roadside and struck her with 
 it on the head. She was somewhat advanced in 
 pregnancy and this fact was supposed to have 
 led to her taking off. The accused, an unmar- 
 ried man, made his home with a near-relative 
 who kept a hotel in a neighboring village. The 
 strongest testimony against him was given by 
 a woman who lived nearly opposite this hotel, 
 who swore that between one and two o'clock of 
 the night the murder was committed she was in 
 bed but awake and heard some persons going up 
 the stoop of the hotel. She thereupon looked 
 out of her bedroom window and saw a man who 
 in figure and size resembled the accused, and a 
 woman who looked the size of the victim, going 
 up the hotel stoop; that she heard knocking at 
 the hotel door and conversation between some- 
 body inside the hotel and the man outside; that 
 the hotel door was then opened and the man and 
 the woman entered. This testimony with much 
 else less important made the situation look dark 
 for the accused. In order to meet it the Mr. 
 Price, already mentioned, went to the residence 
 of this witness, stretched himself upon the 
 bed in the same place the witness had sworn 
 she occupied, and found, — or testified that he 
 
 132
 
 found — that he could not see the stoop of the 
 hotel to any such extent as the woman had 
 sworn that she saw it. This merely shows how 
 much more a woman can see when her curiosity 
 is aroused and her suspicions excited than a man 
 can see under ordinary circumstances — for a man 
 and a <woman did go up that stoop and enter 
 that hotel on the night in question at the hour 
 and in the manner testified to by the woman. 
 
 It was years afterwards that the facts came to 
 my knowledge. The man who was mistaken for 
 the accused then told me the circumstances. At 
 
 the time of the trial of X the man I have 
 
 mentioned was a Justice of the Peace and by 
 pure accident was at Goshen and went to the 
 Court House merely to hear a murder case tired. 
 It happened, however, that one of the Justices 
 of Sessions was absent that morning and the 
 Presiding Justice (Barnard) as he v/as required 
 by law to do, appointed a Justice of the Peace to 
 act in place of the absentee. His choice fell 
 upon the man of whom I have spoken who, 
 without the slightest suspicion of what was com- 
 ing, took his seat on the Bench. The very first 
 witness called was this woman who had seen 
 the suspicious midnight visit to the hotel. And 
 as this acting Justice of Sessions told me the 
 story he said, "There I sat all that forenoon 
 literally sweating blood — for I tuas (he man tvho 
 tuent up that stoop that night. I had started out 
 with a lady friend on a lark and we had been 
 detained by a series of accidents until long after 
 midnight. 
 
 I could have cleared the whole thing up in 
 five minutes but I would have ruined the 
 woman's reputation. It was worse than any 
 nightmare I ever had — but I decided to let the 
 man take his chances rather than bring about 
 the certain destruction of the woman's good 
 name. The hotelkeeper stood true to her. too." 
 Fortunately, the accused was not convicted. 
 
 133
 
 Judge Gedney summed up for the People in 
 that case and portions of his speech are still 
 remembered by people who heard it. His per- 
 oration was particularly impressive. After 
 alluding very delicately to the fact that the 
 victim was pregnant he closed with these lines 
 from Byron's poem, "Don Juan" — (Canto IV, 
 Verse XXX) : 
 
 "She died, but not alone: she held within 
 A second principle of life, which might 
 Have dawned, a fair and sinless child of sin, 
 But closed its little being without light."* 
 
 As used by Judge Gedney with his perfect 
 enunciation and deep, clear, rich voice it made 
 a profound impression. The accused was thus 
 charged with a double murder — one of his vic- 
 tims being innocent beyond all question. 
 
 Fifty years ago, or thereabouts, there was a 
 trio of lawyers whose offices — (and homes) — 
 were at Port Jervis but whose field of practice 
 extended over a considerable section of this 
 State and a portion of northeastern Pennsylvania. 
 They are hardly entitled to be classed among the 
 prominent lawyers of this county but were all 
 keen, shrewd, adroit case triers with more natural 
 ability than legal attainments. 
 
 They were Oliver Young, Thomas J. Lyon and 
 James M. Allerton. Portraits of the two named 
 first above can be found in Ruttenber and 
 Clark's History of Orange County and for that 
 reason it is not deemed necessary to reproduce 
 them here. As to the third of the group — Aller- 
 ton — no portrait is known by the writer to exist, 
 and as he became the more widely known of the 
 
 • (N. B. I owe the location of this quotation to my 
 friend, Judge Hirschberg-). 
 
 134
 
 three, owing to his "forensic effort" which is 
 referred to later in this book somewhat at length 
 it is only fair that his likeness shall be included 
 here in order that the lawyers of Orange County 
 in years to come may see the portrait of the only 
 man among us all who ever made an address to 
 a jury which was "heard round the world.' 
 Allerton and Lyon not only tried a case well, but 
 they summed it up with force and ingenuity; 
 they were also clever as political "stump" speak- 
 ers. Young was a more quiet and sedate man 
 than the others but seemed to me to know rather 
 more law than they. 
 
 To afford a glimpse of Lyon engaged in the 
 trial of a case in the Supreme Court nearly fifty 
 years ago, let me give this : A witness opposed 
 to his client had produced a certificate of good 
 character, signed by some well known man, and 
 when Lyon came to discuss his testimony he 
 said: "When you see a man going about the 
 country with a certificate of good character in 
 his pocket you can make up your mind that he 
 expects to have to use it. Nobody goes armed 
 and equipped with that kind of ammunition un- 
 less he thinks somebody is going to accuse him 
 of being a thief. You jurors have no such 
 certificates in your pockets, neither has his 
 Honor, the Judge, and even we poor lawyers, 
 who are accused of lots of things that we are not 
 guilty of, we have no such documents in our 
 possession." 
 
 Lyon was a Methodist minister before he 
 studied law and had some educational advantages 
 which the others of this trio lacked. As a result 
 of this he acquired more influence and a better 
 standing politically so that he represented his 
 district in the Assembly for two terms, in 1869 
 and in 1870. 
 
 Of the three men here mentioned Allerton was 
 the most interesting. He was unique. In ap- 
 pearance, in manner, in gesture he was odd. He 
 
 llVi
 
 was too much of a man to be an object of ridicule 
 or to be laughed at, — except whe i he inteinicid to 
 make you laugh; then he v.'as simply irresistible; 
 his mock seriousness and gravity and his seeming 
 earnv^jtncss and sinceritj- v/ere too funny for 
 wordt;. He surpassed himself when responding 
 to a toast at a dinner whiciri Thomas George gave 
 to the lawyers of the cou ity immediately after 
 his election io the office of County Judge in 1867. 
 Fullertoi — S. W. — was the toastmaster <.::.'l he 
 indi '.ed Allerton to respond to the sen^ir, ent, 
 "First Impressions of the Orange 'Jouity Bar," 
 and the way in which he did it w is i lin itable. 
 He said that his first impressions of the lawyers 
 of the county were unfavorable. That one 
 beautiful spring morning, years before, he had 
 seen two "fellers" wandering about a "medder" 
 in. the neighborhood of a toll-gate which he then 
 k. - nd which then kept him after a pretty 
 po )i .'- hion — up on the Sparrowbush Turnpike. 
 One of them was a big, stout, curly-haired 
 "feller" — (here he looked hard at Winfield) — and 
 the other was a little "slimpsy" hatchet-faced 
 "chap" (here he turned his attention to Gedney). 
 At first he supposed that they were engineers 
 surveying a route for some new road or a branch 
 of the railroad as they were all the time dropping 
 strings into the ponds and pools down along the 
 "medder," trying to find how deep the water was 
 he supposed. It never entered his head to think 
 they were fishing for to his own personal knowl- 
 edge there hadn't been a fish caught in any of 
 those waters in more than twenty years past. 
 But he was astonished to learn soon afterwards 
 that they were fishing and that they were two of 
 the most prominent lawyers of this county. And 
 he added, "I naturally started out with a mighty 
 poor 'first impression of the Orange County bar'," 
 and again he looked hard at Winfield and Gedney. 
 By this time his audience was convulsed with 
 laughter, Winfield and Gedney as much so as the 
 
 ire
 
 r 
 
 -,?^ 
 
 
 JAMES M. AI-M:UT0N
 
 rest, but he went on with a solemn face, about 
 as follows: 
 
 'Not long after that a 'feller' came up to my 
 place who S£id he was the depu;;y sheriff and he 
 gave me a viry urgent invitation to come down 
 to Newburgh and attend court a week or two 
 later. I accepted the invitation — 'done* it in 
 writing, and two of my friends wagered a hun- 
 dr^jd and fifty dollars thac I would keep my word. 
 So when I was due at t^ewburgh of a Monday 
 morning at nine o'clock I was bound to be there 
 on time, I concluded to foot it down as vlie 
 walking was good and faro on the railroad a 
 'leeu";' expensive. I thtref.re started Sunday 
 mon.ing and that day covered the distance to 
 Washingtonville where I spent the night. The 
 next morning I started good and early and when 
 it come nine o'clock was sitting in the court 
 room and was about the only human being in 
 sight. Having nothing else to do I looked the 
 place over carefully and was a good deal puzzled 
 by an inscription over the door. For a good 
 while I could not make any sense at all out of it 
 but finally I thought I had made it out and I 
 wrote it down in my little book, which I've car- 
 ried ever 'sen' I was a boy." Here he took from 
 his coat-pocket a little well-worn memorandum 
 book and read, — or pretended to read from it, 
 as follows: "Post ignorant Irish jurors to eat 
 East River clams scientifically."" Shouts of 
 laughter greeted this sally but Allerton's face 
 was without a smile and he proceeded to distri- 
 bute several other good hits and finally closed 
 with something like this: "As I said awliilc ago 
 my first impressions of the Orange County 
 lawyers were rather unfavorable; but since I 
 became one of their number they have all treated 
 me always with so much kindness and consid- 
 eration that my opinion of them has improved 
 from year to year until I have come to consider 
 
 • Potlus Ignorantta Juris litlRiosa est. qu.nm scientla. 
 
 187
 
 them now a lot of blame good fellers "jintiy 
 and severally'." As may be imagined the ap- 
 plause was loud and long. 
 
 Allerton's address to the jury in his own 
 defence when he was on trial for assault and 
 battery was doubtless more widely read than any 
 other speech delivered before an Orange County 
 jury. 
 
 It is said to have been printed as a specimen 
 of Yankee wit in the newspapers wherever the 
 English language is spoken. That is one reason 
 why it is printed here entire. Another reason 
 is that it is even now very hard to find a copy of 
 it and before many years it would be entirely lost 
 to the Orange County lawyers. It was Allerton's 
 success on this trial that led him to study law. 
 
 "The following amusing case was tried at the 
 recent term of the Orange County Court and we 
 find it reported in the Newburgh Telegraph: 
 
 The People against James Allington. 
 District Attorney for People. 
 Prisoner in Person. 
 
 This was one of the most amusing trials ever 
 witnessed by bench or jury in this community. 
 The prisoner was indicted for an assault and 
 battery upon a man by the name of Dodder. 
 
 It seems that a plank-road had just been laid 
 in the Town of Minisink running through the 
 lands of said Dodder, and that Allington is the 
 the toll gatherer, and that the gate house is built 
 on, or adjoining the lands of Dodder. The other 
 facts will appear in evidence. 
 
 The case was duly opened by the District 
 Attorney when his Honor, the Judge, noticed the 
 defendant sitting within the bar, with pencil in 
 hand, ready to take down evidence, without 
 counsel. 
 
 "Have you no counsel, Mr. Allington?" inquir- 
 ed the Judge. 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 138
 
 "There are plenty of gentlemen around you 
 who would be willing to assist you." 
 
 "Well, Your Honor, I have feed one and 
 engaged another, and they both turn up missing, 
 and therefore I have concluded to try the case 
 myself." 
 
 "Very well, sir." 
 The District Attorney, after stating the case to 
 the jury, called the complainant, Mr. Dodder, 
 upon the stand, who testified as follows: 
 
 *'I know the defendant; he is a neighbor of 
 mine. I was driving his cows off my land when 
 he came out upon the road and stoned me. He 
 sent as many as a dozen at me and the last one 
 struck me upon the back of my neck. It hurt 
 me considerably; not very badly however, as the 
 rim of my hat hung down and it and my coat 
 collar prevented." 
 
 "You may examine him now, Mr. Allington," 
 said the District Attorney. 
 
 All eyes were now turned upon the defendant. 
 There he sat, busily engaged in taking notes. 
 A little, short, red-headed Yankee, with his feet 
 resting on the lower round of the chair and his 
 body bent forward at an angle of forty-five de- 
 grees. At that remark he snapped his head back 
 like a blade in a jack-knife, his eyes twinkled, 
 and in a shrill, loud voice he commenced : 
 
 "Have you been on good terms with the 
 defendant, — I mean me, Mr. Dodder?" 
 Dodder hesitated. 
 
 "Come, Mr. Dodder, have we been on good 
 terms?" 
 
 "I can't say," replied Dodder. 
 "Well recollect, Mr. Dodder, that you must 
 say." 
 
 "Say yes or no," interposed his Honor. 
 "Yes, or no," responded the defendant. 
 "I can't say that we are on speaking terms," 
 answered Dodder. 
 
 "Well, Mr. Dodder, you say that I struck you 
 
 lifit
 
 with a stone. Will you please state to the jury 
 whether it was the first stone that struck you?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "Did it not go fifteen feet to the right?" 
 
 "About that." 
 
 "Well, was it the second?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "Did not that go three feet over your head?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Were you not running after my cow with a 
 stake, — sharpened at one end? And did you not 
 knock her down? And was it not because you 
 would not stop that I sent the other stone at 
 you?" 
 
 "Well, sir, I must explain." 
 
 "None of your rigmaroles here, Mr. Dodder. 
 No explanations, sir, — yes, or no." 
 
 "I can't answer." 
 
 "You must answer. Come, sir, yes, or no." 
 
 "It wasn't a stake, it was a stick." 
 
 "Yes, two and one-half inches at the butt and 
 twelve feet long." 
 
 "No, sir, one inch across and tapering to the 
 end." 
 
 "You knocked the cow down, didn't you?" 
 
 "I struck at her, — can't say I struck her." 
 
 "Didn't she fall?" 
 
 "Can't say." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Dodder, you were chasing her were 
 you not?" 
 
 "I was in the road, sir, and she was on the side." 
 
 "Was it icy?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Snow deep?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Now will you say on your oath, Mr. Dodder, 
 that vou did not strike her?" 
 
 (Witness hesitating) — "I will not be positive." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Dodder, were you coming toward 
 me?" 
 
 "Yes, sir."
 
 "You was coming up the road and I was going 
 down?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "You did not run back at all, did you?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "You are sure you did not look or go back, 
 are you?" 
 
 "Certainly I am." 
 
 "Are you as positive of that as you are of all 
 the rest you have sworn to?" 
 
 "I am, sir." 
 
 "Well, sir, will you please to inform this jury 
 and myself how that stone came to strike you on 
 the back of the neck?" 
 
 Witness was evidently non-plussed and a roar 
 of laughter burst from bench, bar and jury, as 
 well as the spectators. 
 
 "I am not done with you yet," exclaimed the 
 defendant as Mr. Dodder seemed rather uneasy 
 and inclined to vacate the chair. 
 
 "Whose house do I live in, Mr. Dodder?" 
 
 "I consider it mine." 
 
 "Did you serve a notice on me not to use the 
 rooms, the garret or the cellar when I was mov- 
 ing in it?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Was there anything else to use, sir?" 
 
 "No. sir." 
 
 "Who built the house?" 
 
 "The Plank Road Company." 
 
 "In whose possession is it, Mr. Dodder?" 
 
 "Plank Road Company." 
 
 "How did you come to say that the house was 
 yours when the Company have it in possession 
 and built it?" 
 
 Another burst of laup;htcr followed tliis ques- 
 tion and poor Dodder looked as if he was sitting 
 upon a hctchcl. Dodder gave no reply. 
 
 "Now, Mr. Dodder, have you not been trying 
 to get me out of that house that you might get 
 your son in my place? And have you not been 
 
 141
 
 to the directors? and have you not applied to 
 them for your son? and have you not told them 
 things derogatory to my character? None of 
 your long preambles, Mr. Dodder, you know it 
 is so, and I am going to prove it, too. Yes or 
 no?" 
 
 "I can't answer; I must explain." 
 
 "No explanation, sir, — yes or no." 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Did you not go to three of the directors?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Did you not order a window put in the cellar 
 of the house, when building, and say you wanted 
 it there for your son's accommodation?" 
 
 "I might have done it." 
 
 "Did you not get a warrant out for me before 
 I was bound over to appear here? 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Did you not then swear that I had only 
 assaulted you by throwing stones but did not 
 hit you?" 
 
 Dodder was completely staggered again, — he 
 changed all manner of colors and moved about 
 very uneasily in his chair. 
 
 "Come, Mr. Dodder, answer," exclaimed the 
 defendant. 
 
 "I can't remember." 
 
 "Yes, you do, — come, think, did you then swear 
 I had hit you at all, sir?" 
 
 "I might not." 
 
 "How comes it that you remember it now, 
 three months after, and could not then?" 
 
 This was too much for poor Dodder. He look- 
 ed appealingly around for relief. Nothing met 
 his gaze but a room convulsed with laughter. 
 His legs seemed to be under magnetic influence 
 and in great desire to try their powers of loco- 
 motion. At last the defendant told him to go. 
 "That will do, Mr. Dodder,— I guess we are 
 through with you for the present,— and off he 
 shot as if death was behind him, while the whole 
 
 142
 
 bar fairly screamed as he made awful strides 
 down the aisle, and the court buried their faces 
 in their handkerchiefs and shook convulsively. 
 
 Dodder No. 2 was then called, — son of the old 
 Dodder, — who testified as follows : 
 
 "I was in the house, — heard a noise, — saw 
 father driving cows; saw defendant come out of 
 his house and throw stones. I ran out, and a 
 hill was between me and them, and when I got 
 up all was over. Saw defendant throw three 
 stones ; did not see any strike." 
 
 Cross-examined by defendant : 
 
 "You were in the house you say?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Is there not a hill twenty feet high between 
 your house and where I was?" 
 
 "About that." 
 
 "How many stone-walls also? About four?" 
 
 "About that." 
 
 "How many plank fences, or slab fences? 
 Two?" 
 
 "Only one, I think." 
 
 "Well, sir, how could you see through four 
 stone-walls, one slab fence, and a hill twenty feet 
 high? That will do, sir, you can go." 
 
 And, without waiting to reply, off went Dodder 
 No. 2. 
 
 District Attorney on the part of the people 
 here rested. 
 
 The defendant then, with all the gravity be- 
 coming such an important occasion, untwisted 
 his legs from the rounds of the chair, and with 
 more than usual dignity walked out in front of 
 the jury and offered his defence as follows: 
 
 "If you please. Your Honor, and Gentlemen of 
 the Jury — I am a green hand at this 'ere bizziness. 
 I am ashamed that such a little, small concern, 
 should ever come before an Orange County jury. 
 It was not my wish I am sure. I was taken up 
 once before and then he only swore to an assault; 
 but three months' thinking has put the battery 
 
 MR
 
 to it. I acknowledge the assault, but I am justi- 
 fied, for he was assaulting my cow. He has tried 
 to pick a quarrel with me ever since I went to 
 the gate. He stones my cows and my chickens 
 and I can't stand it. I threw the stones, I admit 
 it,— first fifteen feet to the right, then over his 
 head, and when I saw the cow fall as he knocked 
 her down then I did shave him, but I didn't hit 
 him,— and that ain't all, I'll prove it; and I ask 
 you farmers if you wouldn't do the same thing? 
 I can prove that he knocked her down by my 
 brother." 
 
 Defendant's brother was then called and stated 
 that it was Sunday when the occurrence happen- 
 ed; saw complainant. Dodder, running after and 
 striking at defendant's cows; saw him strike and 
 one fall; can't say he struck her; defendant ran 
 out and halloed to him; didn't mind; defendant 
 threw stones, — none hit him. I went out and 
 when I came up to Dodder he said defendant had 
 thrown stones at him but he had managed by 
 jumping and dodging not to have any hit him. 
 
 The testimony here closed. 
 
 The defendant then proceeded to sum up the 
 cause. His Honor dropped his pen; the jury 
 leaned forward; the members of the bar were 
 winking and nodding to one another, and a uni- 
 versal titter pervaded the room. 
 
 He commenced, — and his sharp, shrill voice 
 drowned all else : 
 
 "Gentlemen of the Jury : This is the first time 
 I was ever in such a pickle, — never did I before 
 appear before a jury of my country. This Mr. 
 Dodder has brought me here, and I have to ap- 
 peal to you not knowing whether you are 
 'Woolly Heads,' 'Silver Greys,' 'Hard Shells,' or 
 'Soft Shells.' But I think this Dodder will find 
 out before I am through that I am a 'harder 
 shell' than he imagined. 
 
 "You know, gentlemen, that I am in the employ 
 of the Mouqaup Valley, Forrestburgh and Port 
 
 114
 
 Jervis Plankroad Company as a gate-keeper. 
 This company, it seems, had sufficient confidence 
 in my integrity and honesty to place me in that 
 important station, and even if I should receive 
 $3,000 and steal $1,500 of it that is between me 
 and the company, and it's none of Dodder's 
 business. 
 
 "Now when this company sent me up along 
 this road to collect tolls this Dodder was one of 
 the inhabitants / found there in the <woods, and 
 I will say for him that he is a very fair specimen 
 of the rest of the population. But there isn't any 
 of them that appreciate all the benefits of this 
 Plank Road. 
 
 "It let out to civilization a class of people who 
 never before had an idea there was such a thing 
 as civilized life,— an^/ this Dodder is one of them. 
 It is a fact that soon after I moved up there a 
 young woman, sixteen years old, came down out 
 of the mountains on the Plank Road, one day, 
 and she had never been out before. She fairly 
 seemed surprised to see a <u>hite ma.n and after 
 asking a few questions went back into the woods. 
 This Dodder was my nearest neighbor, and a 
 good deal nearer than I wanted him, and I hadn't 
 been there long before I heard that he had been 
 lying about me to one of the directors, and I 
 soon found out that he wanted to get his son, 
 who was sworn here against me, in my place. 
 But he hasn't done it yet and if you don't convict 
 me I reckon he won't very soon. 
 
 "I won't take long to dispose of Dodder No. 2. 
 He testifies that he saw me throw three stones 
 at his father and saw the old man 'dodge.' On 
 cross-examination he says that he was in his 
 own house, in the 'woods, and had to look over a 
 hill twenty feet high and also over three slab 
 fences and two stone-walls. Well, if he tells the 
 truth all I wish is that I had young Dodder's 
 eyes! He certainly is a remarkable boy and 
 can't deny his 'father.' 
 
 Mb
 
 "I am willing to admit that I done wrong in 
 throwing stones at Dodder and I apologize to 
 all the world, and this county particularly, for it. 
 The doctors tell us that there are two causes for 
 all diseases, — pre-disposition and excitability — I 
 think it was the latter cause that moved me to 
 stone Dodder. 
 
 "I therefore confess myself guilty of the assault, 
 but the battery I deny, — and if you find me guilty 
 of the battery I will appeal from the decision to 
 the Court of High Heaven itself before I will 
 submit to it. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, you saw Mr. Dodder and 
 heard him swear against me. I asked him a 
 great many questions and I was sorry to hear 
 him answer as he did. I might have asked him 
 more questions, — I might have asked him if he 
 didn't kill my cai and if he didn't stone my 
 chickens because they trespassed in his woods, 
 where actually the rocks are so thick that the 
 cats can't find their way up through them. But 
 then I knew he would deny it and it would grieve 
 me to hear him. 
 
 "He admits that he was driving my three cows 
 up the road and that he struck at one of 'em, but 
 says it was with a small switch. I have proved 
 that this 'switch' was a pole about ten feet long 
 and about two inches across the butt end, and 
 I have also proved that when he struck the com) 
 fell. It is true my witness couldn't swear that 
 the stick hit her, he was so far off, but take the 
 blow and the fall together and we can guess the 
 rest. If you gentlemen should see me point a 
 gun at a man and pull the trigger, see the flash 
 and hear the report and at the same time see the 
 man drop, I think you would say that I shot him 
 although you might not see the ball strike him. 
 
 "Now the fact is, gentlemen, that on Sunday 
 I was lying on my lounge in my house when my 
 wife said that Dodder was chasing my cows. 
 I jumped up and pulled on my boots and went
 
 out of doors and saw Dodder and the cows com- 
 ing up the road. It is true he says that he was 
 not driving them, but says he and the cows was 
 both going along the road m one direction — and 
 this is as near as I could get him to the cows or 
 to the truth. But it is proved that the cows 
 were going along ahead of him and he was follow- 
 ing after them striking at them with his little 
 switch ten feet long and two inches across the 
 butt, and I reckon you'll think he was driving 
 them. 
 
 "I sung out to him 'Dodder, stop!' but he 
 didn't mind my order and I just threw a stone 
 in that direction, which went about fifteen feet 
 over his head, — at the same time going towards 
 him. He paid no attention and I sung out again, 
 'Dodder, stop!' Still he didn't mind me and then 
 I just threw another stone; — but on he came and 
 on I went and I threw the third stone which he 
 says hit him on the back of the neck, but this 
 I think is rather strange as we were going to- 
 wards each other as fast as we could go. But he 
 never slacked up and by this time we were within 
 about eight feet of each other. I halted and 
 hallooed at the top of my voice, "Dodder, ^why 
 in h—l don't you stop!" About then he did stop 
 and raised his ten-foot 'switch* as if to strike me. 
 I sang out, 'Mr. Dodder, look out! You may 
 wallup my cows but if you wallup me with that 
 switch you'll wallup an animal that'll hook — 
 (Here the orator made a gesture with his head as 
 if in the act of hooking, which was followed by 
 tumultuous shouts and laughter that continued 
 several minutes). 
 
 "Now, gentlemen, if you convict me this court 
 can fine me $250 and jug me for six months and 
 if you really think I ought to be convicted of this 
 assault say so, for I am in favor of living up to 
 the laws so long as they are laws, whether it is 
 the Fugitive Slave Law, the Nebraska bill, or the 
 Excise Laws. I will read you a little law how- 
 
 147
 
 ever which I have just seen in a book I found 
 here" — (the speaker picked up a book and read 
 as follows) : " 'Every man has a right to defend 
 himself from personal violence.' Now I don't 
 know whether that is a law or not but I find it 
 in a law book" — (a veteran member of the bar 
 who was sitting near the speaker remarked to 
 him that it was good law). "Well, gentlemen, 
 here is an old man who looks as if he might know 
 something and he says it's good law. Now if 
 you will turn to Barbour — something — page 399 
 you will find the same doctrine applies to cattle 
 — (great laughter). Therefore I take it I had a 
 right to defend my cows against Dodder's ten- 
 foot 'switch.' Why, gentlemen, nearly all my 
 wealth is invested in them three cows and you 
 can't wonder that I became a little excited when 
 I saw Dodder switching them with this ten-foot 
 pole. I am a poor man and have a large family, 
 consisting of a wife and six children, which I 
 reckon is doing very well for as small a man as 
 I am and I couldn't afford to let Dodder kill my 
 cow! 
 
 "Now, gentlemen, I don't believe you'll convict 
 me after what I have said, but if you do and this 
 court fines me $250 I shall 'repudiate,' because I 
 can't pay. And if I am jugged for six months 
 why these Dodders will have it all their own way 
 up there. But notwithstanding all this I am 
 willing to risk myself in your hands, and if you 
 think I ought to have stood by and not done any- 
 thing when I saw Dodder hammering my cows 
 why then I am 'a goner' — toll-gate and 'all. 
 
 "It is true I am a poor man, but not a mean one. 
 The name of Allington can be traced to the May- 
 flower. When she landed the pilgrims on Ply- 
 mouth Rock among the passengers was a widow, 
 Mary Allington, with four fatherless children, 
 and I am descended from that Puritan stock ; and 
 from that day to this there has never lived an 
 Allington who hadn't Yankee spirit enough to 
 
 148
 
 stone a Dodder for poling his cows, /'m done," 
 
 Roars of laughter, — during which the defend- 
 ant took his seat. After a few words from his 
 Honor the jury retired and in a few minutes 
 returned with a verdict of Not Guiliyl 
 
 Old Dodder and Dodder No. 2 were at that 
 instant seen plunging down the stairs leading to 
 the court yard with unbounded powers of loco- 
 motion ; when the yard was reached they fairly 
 ran and it is supposed never stopped until the 
 deep woods of Minisink hid them from the gaze 
 of men. 
 
 Allington heard the verdict with the sang froid 
 of a philosopher. No emotion was observable 
 other than taking an extra quid of tobacco into 
 his mouth. 
 
 It may be as well to remark that the District 
 Attorney declined to be pitted against his elo- 
 quent opponent and let the cause go by default 
 as he said not a word in reply to the defendant's 
 speech. The District Attorney was in a tight 
 place and took the wisest course to get out. It 
 is not often he meets with such a formidable 
 prisoner. 
 
 149
 
 Newburgh, N. v.: 
 
 News Printing and Publishing Company 
 
 1917
 
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