His son, Herbert B. Royce, who enjoyed the advantages of both the

classical and law course at Cornell University, was launched from the

first into the activities of a busy office. Having been elected

special county judge he has enjoyed an opportunity, in presiding over

the trial terms of the County Court, to impress his abilities upon

the bar and the public to a degree and in a manner never before

enjoyed by a special county judge in the entire history of the

county. Before Judge Beattie's time the county judges were never very

considerate to the special county judges. They regarded them as

officers provided merely for the convenience of the bar in signing

orders and they affected to think that there might be some serious

question of jurisdiction involved in their trying and sentencing

criminals, even Judge Hirschberg and Judge Beattie were never

invited, as special county judges, to hold a term of court, but the

judges, when they could not act themselves, always brought in a

county judge of a neighboring county. Judge Beattie acted more

generously to his official coadjutor and when it became necessary for

him to surrender two terms of court. Judge Royce was requested to

hold them. This service was performed by him with such marked ability

and so greatly to the satisfaction of the entire bar and the public,

that Judge Seeger, who succeeded Judge Beattie in 1907, and who was

disqualified from sitting in any cases in which he, as district

attorney, had procured the indictments, again summoned Judge Royce

to the bench, when again he was enabled to give a public

demonstration of his judicial fitness and capacity and to prove that

it will never be necessary to call in a judge from a neighboring

county as long as Judge Royce remains special county judge.

Finn & Finn is the name of the firm of which Daniel Finn was the

senior member until it was ruthlessly dissolved by the untimely hand

of death, which overtook him without warning in the very midst of an

unusually active and prosperous career. Admitted to the bar in 1870

he began and, for thirty-five years continued his practice in

Middletown, becoming one of the most respected and influential of its

citizens as well as one of the ablest and most trusted of its bar. He

was especially versed in the law of wills. Nothing appealed more

strongly to his interest than the ambiguous provisions of a will and

the difficult questions raised as to their proper construction. His

opinions upon these were often submitted to the court with the result

that his judgment was invariably sustained.

He was the most imperturbable of men. Nothing agitated or even

ruffled him. He could lay down his pen to engage in an interview with

some irascible client and, after it was over, calmly resume work upon

his thoughtful brief at the very point at which it had been

interrupted. This faculty, the result of training as well as of

temperament, enabled him to accomplish a great deal of work. The day

was never spoiled for him by some untoward incident, unpleasant

letter or peevish client. Each day marked distinct progress in some

appointed task.

Mr. Finn, who drew the will of Mrs. Thrall, was deeply interested in

the noble institutions founded by her--the hospital and the library

in addition to the park--and it was largely through his influence

that her thoughts were directed to these beneficent objects. It was

also through his careful prevision that her testamentary wishes in

respect to an additional endowment for the hospital were not defeated

by statutory precautions. Mr. Finn foresaw that she might die within

the two months set apart, arbitrarily and without respect to

testamentary capacity, by the inscrutable wisdom of the legislature

as the fluctuating hiatus, that may or may not turn out to be the

vitiated period, within which testamentary benevolence must be

suspended; within which all tardy attempts of the passing soul to

make its peace with God or restitution to mankind must be overruled

and nullified in favor of worthless or distant relatives; but still

within the last day of which the cunning physician seeking to cheat

death of its prey and rapacity of its spoils, might so galvanize into

convulsive life the dissolving frame, might so fan into flickering

flame the vital spark that, in the race between greedy kindred and

melting charity, rapacity will lose by a single hour. In the case of

Mrs. Thrall there was no such dramatic suspense. She died twenty days

after the execution of her will; so that the bequests in her will and

codicil of twenty thousand dollars to Thrall Hospital, already

founded by her, were declared void. But Mr. Flinn also advised her to

give to her executors, Isaac R. Clements and Nathan M. Hallock,

individually, absolutely and outright all legacies which might for

any reason be declared void or ineffectual, and this provision was

incorporated in her codicil. After this provision had withstood in

the courts the attacks of relatives who claimed that it represented a

secret trust, equally as abhorrent to legislative solicitude for

relatives as a direct charitable bequest, Mr. Clements and Mr.

Hallock, in honorable recognition of Mrs. Thrall's wishes, as

expressed in her defeated bequests, but under no legal compulsion so

to do, turned over to Thrall Hospital the twenty thousand dollars

which came to them absolutely under this alternative provision. Thus

were Mr. Finn's wisdom and foresight, not only in respect to his

client's provision for the hospital but in respect to her bequest to

the city of Middletown for its library, amply justified by the event.

The bequest of $30,000, for the library was sustained by the courts.

These noble foundations--the library and the hospital--constitute an

enduring monument to the generosity of S. Maretta Thrall but are no

less a monument to the learning, skill and prescience of Daniel Finn.

The people of Middletown, though they have always recognized his

virtues and his abilities, but imperfectly understand the full

measure and extent of their indebtedness to his guiding hand and

public spirit. It is simple justice to his memory that the incidents

of his professional career bearing upon the public welfare should be

embraced in any work professing to be history.

Mr. Finn's intense affection for and loyalty to his _alma mater,_

Hamilton College, was a very pronounced and interesting trait of his

character. His only son, Frank H. Finn, also graduated from this

classic institution of learning which numbers among its alumni that

most intellectual of all living American statesmen, Elihu Root.

Frank H. Finn, upon being admitted to practice, entered into

partnership with his father under the firm name of Finn &

Finn--the name under which, notwithstanding his father's death, he

and his present partner, Arthur H. Payne, himself also a graduate of

Hamilton College, conduct their business. Every writ and process

issued by the present firm runs in the name of Finn & Finn, thus

perpetuating the potent influence, the fine example and the gentle

memory of one of the purest and ablest of Orange County lawyers. It

is unusual among lawyers to preserve the name, in a firm, of a

deceased partner. The only instance I recall is that of James C.

Carter, whose surviving partner, Lewis Cass Ledyard, has always, with

a tenderness and delicacy of sentiment so in consonance with his own

noble nature and chivalric character, kept Mr. Carter's name at the

head of his firm, through all ensuing changes. The filial reverence

shown by Frank H. Finn for his father's memory, his unwillingness to

let his father's name disappear at once beneath the cold waters of

swift forgetfulness, illuminates his own strong and sterling

character. Called upon suddenly to assume charge of many intricate

and involved cases pending in the office at the time of his father's

death he accepted and discharged the painful responsibility with a

dignity, firmness, manliness, courage and ability which commanded the

admiration and won the affection of the community. Though he owes

much indeed to his noble father, he has given abundant evidence of

his capacity to stand alone. He and his brilliant partner, Mr. Payne,

will bring no reproach upon the honored name still in their pious

keeping.

Henry W. Wiggins came to the bar two years later than Daniel Finn.

The business established by him in Middletown in 1872 is now carried

on by the firm of Henry W. & Russell Wiggins, father and son.

Henry W. Wiggins is especially distinguished for his knowledge of the

law of real estate, but his practice has always covered a wide range.

I well remember an important litigation between mill owners in which

Mr. Wiggins established the right of the upper owner to substitute a

turbine for an overshot wheel and to take water at a lower depth,

provided he did not use a greater quantity of water than before. His

success was the more notable and gratifying because he was opposed by

both Mr. Brewster and Mr. Winfield. But it has been in litigations

involving the liability of the city of Middletown for damages that

Mr. Wiggins has won many of his most conspicuous triumphs. He was, at

intervals, its corporation counsel for many years, his son Russell

now holding the position. It is safe to say that no city was ever

more ably served and carefully protected than the city of Middletown

was by Mr. Wiggins. No expensive condemnation proceeding in his

charge ever proved ineffective because of some flaw or oversight. No

suit for damages defended by him ever terminated in an extreme or

excessive verdict. His caution, vigilance and conscientiousness

combined with his sturdy independence in always standing his ground,

in always adhering inflexibly to any position once, after due

consideration, taken by him, have been of incalculable service to his

clientage and have resulted in saving to the city of Middletown alone

many thousands of dollars.

[Illustration: Charles G. Dill.]

Russell Wiggins also has enjoyed marked success in defending the

interests of the city. His recent victory in a case involving the

validity of the provision in the charter of the city of Middletown

making notice to the common council of snow or ice upon a sidewalk

prerequisite to an action for injuries sustained in consequence of

it, has attracted wide attention. Mr. Wiggins was overruled by the

special term and by the appellate division which held that this

provision exceeded the powers of the legislature and was, therefore,

unconstitutional. But Mr. Wiggins succeeded in convincing the Court

of Appeals, which, in an opinion embodying the arguments advanced by

him, sustained the validity of this provision of the charter, with

the result that all actions of this class are practically done away

with, it is not surprising that all the cities of the State have been

so impressed with the importance of Mr. Wiggins' victory that they

are now trying to secure a similar provision in their own charters.

It seems, indeed, somewhat hard that a total stranger, alighting from

a train on a dark night, should be compelled to proceed at his peril

along a city street, under conditions which physically exclude his

either having or giving notice, but Mr. Wiggins ingeniously persuaded

the Court of Appeals to say that this is a question for the

legislature and not for the courts, thus establishing a new

precedent, if not a new principle, in constitutional construction, in

a case sure to become a leading one; sure to be cited for many years

to come, in the courts of the entire country. In thus linking his

name at the very outset of his career, to a leading authority, Mr.

Wiggins has set for himself a hard task. He must now live up to his

own reputation--which there is abundant reason to believe he is

entirely able to do.

Cornelius E. Cuddeback, admitted to the bar in 1873, immediately

established in Port Jervis the business now carried on under the

firm name of C. E. & S. M. Cuddeback, his son Samuel M. having become

associated with him.

Mr. Cuddeback early became prominent in all the interests of the

community, social, business, legal and public--a position which he

maintains by virtue of his unquestioned integrity, great ability and

enormous industry. He was largely instrumental in straightening out

the affairs of the Port Jervis & Monticello Railroad Company, and he

has for many years been the attorney for the town of Deer Park and

the village (now the city) of Port Jervis. He has also been the

attorney for many public service corporations. His defense of the

Barrett Bridge Company in a test case tried at Goshen in June, 1905,

to determine the liability of the company for the deaths occasioned

by the sweeping away of the bridge over the Delaware River in a

freshet, furnishes a fine example of his characteristics as a lawyer.

The defense was prepared with a thoroughness, exhaustiveness and

comprehensiveness and conducted with a verve, vigor and vivacity

which carried everything before it, sweeping away the case of the

plaintiff as ruthlessly as the freshet swept away the bridge; leaving

little for the jury to do but to register the fact that the defense

had been completely successful.

Mr. Cuddeback finds in his son a lawyer well qualified to assume the

burdens of his practice when he shall be prepared to lay them down.

All the living lawyers thus far considered, except the sons and

daughter, will very soon be passing from the scene. The pages that

bear this imprint will scarcely be flung from the press before the

lawyers whose now familiar names they carry forward to a generation

that knows them not, will drop away, one by one, from their

accustomed places. So true is this, so strong is the author's sense

that only, by slight anticipation, do these pages commemorate the

departed, that nothing has been set down here which could not be

truthfully and becomingly said if they had gone before who yet, for a

little, linger. This, indeed, suggests the chief reason why the

present record, to be of any value, should include the living; for

long before this publication is superseded by a rival or a successor

the figures it portrays will have passed from action to remembrance.

In connection with this thought it is proper to point out that the

sketches and estimates now published bear this further resemblance to

veracious and posthumous biography--they have not been edited by the

subjects. The system adopted in some modern compilations of

permitting prominent men to write their own biographies, or of

procuring from them the data for less sympathetic treatment, has not

been followed here. Indeed, with a single accidental and

insignificant exception, not one lawyer has any knowledge of the

scope or purpose of this undertaking or has furnished any information

available for use in it. He who carelessly takes up this volume to

read about others will be covered with modest confusion to find

himself included in it. This is an attempt not to let a man speak for

himself, but to collect and crystallize in definite forms of

expression the floating particles of contemporary judgment upon his

character. It is for this reason, besides others, that so few

specific dates and irrelevant facts are given. They have not been

asked for. They are not needed. They do not fit with the scheme of

this work, which aims, perhaps presumptuously, but still

consistently, to be a gallery of portraits, not a table of

statistics. Of what possible interest is it to know the number of a

lawyer's children, or the building in which his office is located?

Character and achievement are the things that count.

It will be convenient at this point to return to the consideration of

the leading advocates now at the bar of the county. No one recognizes

more than advocates themselves their frequent indebtedness to the

great lawyers who, undisturbed by absorbing, distracting and

exhausting trials, apply to life's complex and varying conditions the

immutable principles of the common law. It implies no disparagement

of Winfield and Gedney to assume that the one often leaned upon the

judgment of his partner, William F. Sharpe, and that the other often

sought the wise counsel of his esteemed relative, Joseph W. Gott. At

the same time it cannot be doubted that public interest has always

centered upon the trial lawyer, for the obvious reason that the open

field, the public challenge, the combat of intellectual athletes, the

palm of victory appeal strongly to the imagination and dramatic

sense. There need, therefore, be no apology for making prominent in a

popular work those who engage the larger share of merely popular

interest.

There is no man at the bar of Orange County, or indeed anywhere, for

whom the term colorless would be so inept as it would be for Judge

Albert H. F. Seeger. He radiates color. He is the incarnation of

sunshine. He is the forerunner of gladness, sounding a proclamation

of hope and good cheer wherever he goes. No one would suppose that he

ever had a care or sorrow. Yet he must have had his share. He

performs more perfectly than any man I ever knew that mission which

Robert Louis Stevenson glorifies when he says:

"There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. A

happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound note.

He or she is a radiating focus of good will; and their entrance into

a room is as though another candle had been lighted. We need not care

whether they could prove the forty-seventh proposition; they do a

better thing than that, they practically demonstrate the great

theorem of the livableness of life."

But Judge Seeger can also prove the forty-seventh proposition. He can

usually prove anything he sets out to prove, as lawyers opposed to

him have often found to their dismay. And even when the law and the

facts are all against him and you have him thoroughly beaten,

according, to all the rules of the game, there will still be three to

six jurors who strangely refuse to believe that anything but

infallible argument could emanate from a personality so radiant. Not

that his propositions always need the support of his personality,

upon which, indeed, he never consciously presumes. He always builds

up a strong, solid, telling, convincing argument, delivered with

unaffected earnestness and artless sincerity.

And his sincerity really is artless. While he is personally the most

popular man in Orange County and while such preeminence can only be

attained by the use of popular arts, yet in his case they are

entirely legitimate and unstudied. He really does feel kindness when

he seems to. He really is interested in the things which interest

others. He really does love their babies, their dogs, their

horses--anything, in fact, but their automobiles. His bubbling

spirits and effervescent mirth, his ready wit and sparkling sally,

the ring of his laughter and the spell of his bonhomie are all the

genuine expression of a rich, ardent and impressionable nature.

It might be thought that such a man would be a time-server. Far from

it. There is not a trace of the demagogue in his composition. Much as

he would naturally desire to retain his remarkable popularity he

would fling it all away, if necessary, in the performance of his duty

or in the defense of law and order. He showed this unmistakably when

as district attorney he boldly held at bay the lawless mob, at a

personal risk which his official duties did not call upon him to

incur. Knowing then that he would soon be a candidate for a higher

office he cared not whether he made friends or enemies, whether he

lost votes or gained them; he simply saw his duty and went straight

for it. As it was, the very forces he antagonized respected him. When

this genial friend, this blithe companion became transformed into the

stern, unyielding, inexorable officer of the law the very mob he awed

retired to worship him, and when the time came it voted for him.

This mingling in Judge Seeger's character of the sterner and softer

elements, of courage and tenderness, manliness and simplicity,

firmness and forgiveness, has inspired in the people of Orange County

a respect and affection such as rarely attends upon a public man. His

election to the office of county judge was inevitable whether the

"organization" had been friendly or not. If it constitutes high

qualifications for this responsible position to possess a character

noble and sincere, a disposition just and fair, a judgment sound and

true, a mind well trained and informed, a knowledge of the law wide

and various, a knowledge of human nature keen and close, a sense of

public duty deep and earnest, then is the county of Orange indeed

fortunate that a judge as respected as John J. Beattie should be

followed by a successor so worthy as Albert H. F. Seeger.

From painting to stenography; from stenography to the law; from the

law to the recovery of a judgment for eight hundred thousand dollars

in 1906--that is the condensed history of Thomas Watts. As the

painting was, not of pictures but, of houses, it will readily be seen

that he is the most consummate embodiment of that familiar phrase,

the self-made man, that the Orange County bar possesses. After

working all day painting, often walking back several miles to his

home, he spent his evenings studying stenography. After acquiring

this art and while pursuing its practice as a court stenographer he

studied law assiduously, following carefully also the course of every

case that came under his notice in court and drawing out the able

judges and lawyers whom he met in conversation that was not less

instructive than edifying.

Born in England, about the same time that Judge Seeger was born in

Germany, and brought to this country at an early age by his parents,

as Judge Seeger was also, the career of both men is a striking

illustration of what may be accomplished in this land of opportunity,

without the social influence of generations of local ancestry, by

sheer pluck, perseverance, energy and ability.

Mr. Watts is a very nucleus of abounding and super-abounding energy.

He generates energy by a process of spontaneous mental combustion.

His mental activity is more continuous and intense than any I have

ever known. His mind never goes fallow, but seems to be constantly

fructified by the floating pollen in the business, legal or

intellectual atmosphere surrounding him. It is of course inevitable

that, with such a temperament, he should repeatedly cross the path of

people who would like to have him keep out of their way. But Mr.

Watts is so constituted that where other people are there would he be

also; and he is always willing to keep out of their way by letting

them step aside.

Yet, despite all his initiative, aggressiveness and combativeness

with respect to those who can meet him upon equal terms, he is

tenderness and generosity itself to the weak, the helpless and the

dependent. He has been known to pour out his bounty for years upon

those who appealed to his sympathy or invoked his aid. He has, in a

marked degree, the English love of fair play and is as ready to

acknowledge a mistake as he is to resent an injury. Often brusque and

impulsive in his manner when no offense is intended, and quick to

regret when it is, he is always surprised to find that others are not

so ready to forget as he is to forgive.

The fighting qualities of Mr. Watts are never shown to better

advantage than when he is asserting the rights of the poor and weak

against all the resources of corporate or individual wealth. He never

tires. His tenacity cannot be shaken. No reversal of the first

judgment dismays him. He enters upon the second or third trial with

as much vigor and vim as upon the first. In one case he more than

doubled upon the second trial the verdict obtained upon the first

trial. Indeed he has led in the securing of large verdicts, having

obtained the largest verdict in a death case ever rendered in the

county and the largest verdict, with one exception, ever rendered for

personal injuries.

The judgment for eight hundred thousand dollars to which reference

has been made was obtained by Mr. Watts in an action brought by him

for a contractor against a railroad company for extra work in the

building of a branch, disputed by the company. Mr. Watts examined and

cross-examined all the witnesses and, with the aid of his office

force, prepared the final argument. He was opposed by the finest

legal talent in the State and the case was tried before that learned,

eminent and profoundly respected judge, the Honorable Alton B.

Parker, sitting as referee. The case involved many intricate

questions of which Mr. Watts exhibited entire mastery. His management

of this case marks the zenith of his ability and reputation as a

trial lawyer. A lawyer who, before such a tribunal, wins such a case,

involving such large interests and attended with results of such

magnitude, for the judgment was not only obtained but settled, has

established his place, beyond all question, in the very front rank of

the trial lawyers of the State.

Mr. Watts excels in cross-examination. In a case brought by him for

injuries resulting from the explosion of a locomotive boiler, the

judge hesitated at the close of his case about letting it proceed,

but finally ruled that the railroad company should go on with its

proof, reserving the questions that troubled him. Mr. Watts thereupon

took the defendant's witnesses in hand and on cross-examination he

so completely established the liability of the company out of the

mouths of its own witnesses that all thought, not merely of non-suit,

but of defense even was abandoned and the company was thrown into a

panic. It made an offer in the recess and when the court convened

again to resume the case it was announced as settled.

Mr. Watts' addresses to the jury are marked by pith, point and

piquancy. He emphasizes the salient features of the case and lets all

minor or subordinate issues take care of themselves. His sturdy

defense of his client's rights, his strong individuality and his

intellectual force combine to make him a formidable opponent.

Perhaps no lawyer at the bar of Orange County ever received a more

emphatic, pronounced, unmistakable tribute of personal regard than

John C. R. Taylor, of Middletown, received at the election of 1906,

when, in a district opposed to him politically, he ran over four

thousand ahead of his ticket and was elected Senator by a majority of

over twelve hundred. The good opinion of him thus expressed by his

fellow citizens has been confirmed by his broad, patriotic,

statesmanlike course at Albany, which has attracted the attention and

commended him to the approbation, of the entire State, without

respect to party lines. The purity of his character, the singleness

of his motives, the soundness of his judgment and the independence of

his action carried him in a single session to a position of weight

and influence usually acquired only after several terms of

legislative service. Senator Taylor is one of those public servants

who believe that the State is a great business corporation of which

the Governor is president and each Senator a trustee. Under this

conviction he refuses to consider either party advantage or private

interests but seeks to ascertain solely what is best for the welfare

of the people and the cause of good government. Whether he can

repeat his phenomenal success at the polls under less favorable

conditions is of course uncertain. But whether he does or not he has

set an example of clean, straightforward, high-minded methods in

politics and legislation which will long be remembered in his

district. He has set a standard of political morals which will have

to be satisfied by any successor who hopes to retain the mandate of a

now aroused, vigilant, exacting and independent public conscience.

Senator Taylor's success at the bar was almost as immediate as his

later success in the Senate. Early in his practice he went to

Kingston to try a case against one of the leaders of the famous

Ulster County bar and obtained a verdict of $10,000 in an action

against the town of Shawangunk for damages resulting from a defective

bridge, a verdict which was subsequently paid after passing the

ordeal of all the courts. Judge Clearwater who presided over the

trial and whose qualifications as a critic will be conceded, since he

has himself made both the bar and bench illustrious, told me that he

had never seen a case more ably tried and presented than this case

was by Mr. Taylor.

Senator Taylor has the courage of the true lawyer. When a few years

ago he was engaged to defend a client accused of a shocking offense,

people went to him and said, "Why, you will be ruined if you defend

that man." He simply replied, "He is my client and I shall stand by

him to the end." Senator Taylor not only was not "ruined" but he

completely reversed public sentiment which had been misled from the

start, and established his client's entire innocence of the charge

against him in a crushing cross-examination of the first witness

which demonstrated its complete falsity.

Senator Taylor's professional ideals are as high as his political

ideals. He is an honorable foe, a straight lawyer, a cultured

gentleman.

Michael N. Kane, of Warwick, the most beautiful village in the

county, if not in the State, also received at the election of 1906 a

vote for the office of supreme court judge which strikingly attested

the admiration and regard in which he is held by his fellow citizens

in the county and district. He ran several thousand ahead of his

ticket but this was not sufficient to overcome the adverse majority

caused by the creation of the new ninth judicial district out of the

river counties. Mr. Kane has securely established his reputation as a

trial lawyer of conspicuous ability and success. He is frequently

employed as counsel in important cases and has never failed to

satisfy the expectations of both attorney and client. His preparation

of cases for trial is complete and masterly.

In the appellate courts his arguments are marked by a learning,

lucidity and power which always command attention and usually assent.

The breadth of character and fineness of moral fibre which have

contributed so largely to his professional success are displaced in

all his relations to his professional brethren, in which he is the

pattern and exemplar of uniform courtesy, consideration and

indulgence. While never imperiling the interests of a client to

accommodate a professional brother he is always able to find a way to

accommodate him without injuring his client. He never takes refuge in

the transparent pretext that his client will not consent, which is

the customary formula used to cover, though it does not conceal,

professional churlishness. In the very cases in which Mr. Kane has

been most generous to his opponents he has had the most complete

ultimate success; thus furnishing to his brethren of the bar an

object lesson from which they may learn that courtesy to each other

is entirely consistent with perfect loyalty to their client.

Mr. Kane's public spirit has always been a noticeable phase of his

character. His pride in and devotion to the interests of Warwick have

endeared him to his community which not only respects him as a lawyer

but esteems him as a neighbor and honors him as a citizen.

Ferdinand V. Sanford is another citizen of Warwick whose abilities

entitle him to rank among the trial lawyers of the county. Fluent in

speech, cultivated in manner and refined in character, his personal

charm imparts weight to his opinion and impulsion to his utterances.

He, too, is deeply interested in his beautiful village, the citizens

of which have bestowed upon him many marks of their favor and

confidence. His prominence in its affairs led to a most interesting

experience in the summer of 1906 when he represented his village at

the brilliant and imposing pageant held In old Warwick in England at

which he upheld the reputation abroad of American oratory in a most

graceful, felicitous and eloquent address.

Darwin W. Esmond, of Newburgh, prepares his cases for trial more

thoroughly than any lawyer I ever knew. His trial brief is

comprehensive, elaborate, and minute, even containing instructions in

reference to the cross-examination of the witnesses expected to be

called by his opponent. Every case likely to be cited by his opponent

is discussed and distinguished. Every pitfall into which his opponent

might seek to draw him is pointed out and provided against. If he

should die the day before a case is set down for trial and it should

be thought best, notwithstanding, to go on with the trial, any

experienced trial lawyer could, on a moment's notice, take his brief

and try the case without consulting an authority, seeing a witness,

or even talking with the client. He would find his opening to the

jury outlined for him, the statements of the witnesses arranged in

the order in which they should be adduced, the authorities bearing

upon a motion for non-suit carefully analyzed and, finally, the

points to be dwelt upon in the submission to the jury clearly

emphasized.

It is needless to say that such painstaking industry implies the most

conscientious devotion on the part of Mr. Esmond to his client's

cause--a devotion as earnest and intense when the amount involved is

small as when it is large. His theory is that a small case is just as

important to a poor man as a large case is to a rich one and that the

measure of duty, of fidelity and of devotion should be the same in

each.

But mere industry is of little avail in the law unless directed by

ability. It is a valuable supplement to ability, never a substitute

for it. Mr. Esmond has all the qualifications of an able trial

lawyer. I once saw him in Kingston pitted against one of the leaders

of the Ulster County bar overturn by the sheer force of his ability

and address, all the prejudices first formed against his client, the

defendant, in the mind of both court and jury, in a case in which the

plaintiff, an old man, was seeking the restoration of property turned

over by him to his son. I heard Judge Chester say that in the

beginning of the trial he thought the plaintiff was right but that as

the case proceeded his mind changed. This result was due solely to

the splendid defense made by Mr. Esmond in a case which from the

start was full of elements of danger and defeat.

Mr. Esmond has always taken a prominent part in the literary life of

the community and in the discussion of public topics. His services to

the Chautauqua society have been most valuable, while his own

addresses upon a large variety of topics have been a distinct

contribution to the literature of the subject.

It is fortunate indeed for Mr. Esmond at this time that he has all

these resources to fall back upon; else might he have been wholly

crushed by the cruel sorrow that came to him and his devoted wile in

the recent loss of their only child, Paul Warner Esmond, one of the

most precocious, promising and brilliant boys who ever lived. His

poems, dealing with the problems of life and death, are as mature,

reflective and suggestive as though written by a man of fifty. That

such a child of genius should be snatched away when the angel of

death leaves untouched so many circles from which one could be better

spared, is a mystery that has never ceased to perplex mankind.

[Illustration: E. A. Brewster]

Howard Thornton, of Newburgh, _bel-esprit,_ _bon-vivant_ and

raconteur, the favorite of society and the delight of dinner tables,

is not one whit less a good lawyer because he can smooth away the

difficulties of a hostess in entertaining her guests as easily as he

can glide over the difficulties of his client's case in court. The

best lawyers have always shone in society, from Hamilton to Choate,

and Mr. Thornton's social gifts have never interfered with his

devotion to his profession. Every morning, year in and year out, the

early riser can see Mr. Thornton at seven o'clock wending his way to

his office where by ten o'clock he has already accomplished a day's

work and is ready to talk with his clients.

Mr. Thornton has always found his chief pleasure in some abstruse

question arising out of the law of wills or of real estate. He has

been drawn into some very important litigations involving the

construction of the transfer tax law and his contentions have been

uniformly sustained by the Court of Appeals.

Mr. Thornton's service in the Assembly, of which he was for three

years a member, showed his capacity for public affairs. He was

chairman of the judiciary committee and took high rank in legislation

and politics. But his tastes incline him to the more arduous and less

devious duties of his profession in which he has gained the

reputation of an honorable, talented and brilliant lawyer.

Russel Headley, of Newburgh, is the son of the eminent historian Joel

T. Headley from whom, doubtless, he inherits those literary gifts

which account in part for the direction of his energies into the

field of legal authorship. But this is not the only reason. It is but

justice to him that it should be known that Mr. Headley was

interrupted in the very midst of a brilliant career at the bar by the

coming on of that most disqualifying of all infirmities for an

advocate--deafness. This naturally had the effect of turning Mr.

Headley to the labors of authorship for which his inherited tastes

and acquired accomplishments so well fitted him. His works upon

assignments, witnesses and criminal justice are well known to and

widely read by the profession.

Mr. Headley filled the position of district attorney of Orange County

for two terms. He especially distinguished himself at this time by

his abilities as a trial lawyer.

Mr. Headley accepted in 1902 and still holds a position in the legal

division of the State Excise Department at Albany. His research, his

faculty for writing sound, able, exhaustive opinions and his

knowledge of the law of pleadings make him a most valuable member of

the legal staff of that very important branch of the public service,

in which questions are constantly arising which could scarcely be

expected to come within the purview of an arm of the service devoted

to the enforcement of a single law. In this work Mr. Headley is able

to reconcile himself to the surrender of those more spectacular

triumphs of the court room in which his activities and his ambition

once found a more congenial field.

Cornelius L. Waring, of Newburgh, is an authority in the law of

municipal corporations. He was for many years the attorney for the

city, the interests of which he always most zealously and

successfully protected. He has a large general practice including

among his clients some wealthy business corporations.

Mr. Waring has had wide experience in the trial of cases. His manner

in court is marked by dignity, determination and persistence. He

never yields a point on his own side and he never fails to seize upon

the weak point in the case of his adversary. His arguments are terse,

direct and forceful, always commanding ready and respectful

attention.

Elmer E. Roosa, of the Newburgh bar, who was associated with Judge

Hirschberg at the time he ascended the bench, succeeded in large part

to the prestige of an office which had been established for nearly

thirty years. The confidence always reposed in him by Judge

Hirschberg is shared by a large body of devoted clients who find in

him a safe, discreet and honorable counselor.

Edward J. Collins, of Newburgh, who is associated in practice with

Judge Seeger, possesses in a high degree that dignity of bearing and

of character which well supports professional attainments of a

superior order. He has been honored by his fellow citizens by

repeated marks of their confidence. He was for some years president

of the common council of the city of Newburgh, a position which

brought into prominence his fine qualities of mind and character.

Henry R. Lydecker, of Newburgh, has the most amiable disposition of

any lawyer at the bar. If he were more self-assertive his abilities

would be more widely appreciated. He showed marked ability in his

service four successive winters in the attorney general's office at

Albany in the work of reviewing for constitutional and other

objections, the bills sent by the Legislature to the Governor. This

appointment was made each year and would not have been repeatedly

conferred unless the discharge of his important duties had proved to

be able and satisfactory.

Mr. Lydecker has recently received, at the instance of Presiding

Justice Hirschberg, an appointment upon the clerical force of the

Appellate Division--another evidence of the high opinion entertained

of him by governors, attorneys general and judges alike.

J. Renwick Thompson, Jr., of Newburgh, is still permitted to write

"junior" to a noble and conspicuous senior, who now for more than

fifty years has ministered over one of the most important churches

and congregations in Newburgh. Mr. Thompson's character and standing

wholly contradict the adage about "ministers' sons." In his keeping

all the traditions of an honorable lineage are safe, while a large

and increasing clientage can testify that in his hands are equally

safe all the interests committed to him.

Elwood C. Smith, who has an office in Turner as well as in Newburgh,

has advanced rapidly in reputation and standing. His agreeable

manners and attractive personality always create a favorable

impression sure to be confirmed by future acquaintance with his

character and abilities. He enjoys the respect of the community and

the confidence of a very considerable clientage.

N. Deyo Belknap, of Newburgh. has shown great talent in all his

appearances in court and is a rising aspirant for professional

honors. In an action brought by him for the construction of a will he

exhibited all the qualities of a mature and experienced practitioner.

His success at the bar has been immediate and pronounced.

R. H. Barnett, of Newburgh. has made a specialty of negligence

actions. Like his great exemplar, John M. Gardner, he never concedes

that he is beaten. He always renews the argument to the court, after

being non-suited, so undauntedly that the court often reverses itself

and lets the case go to the jury, before which Mr. Barnett meets with

unvarying success. A jury always admires pluck and pertinacity and

these qualities Mr. Barnett possesses in a marked degree.

Graham Witschief, of Newburgh, would attract attention in any

assembly for the intellectual cast of his features, which clearly

betoken unusual talent. This impression is at once confirmed when he

addresses the court. He so excels in the power of lucid statement

that by the time he has informed the court of the nature of the

controversy he has already produced the effect of an argument. This

faculty of seizing upon the crucial, controlling points of the case,

of applying the philosophical rather than the historical method, is

one of the rarest among lawyers, who usually narrate the facts in the

order in which they occurred, leaving the court to pick out the

essential, determining elements from a mass of more or less related

matter. This gift Mr. Witschief possesses to a degree so unusual that

it constitutes a large factor in the success which he has so rapidly

attained. He is a rising advocate, taking his place easily among the

leaders of the Orange County bar.

Benjamin McClung, of Newburgh, obtained, early in his practice, a

foremost position at the bar of the county. One of his first and most

notable victories, which attracted wide attention at the time, was

won in a proceeding instituted by him in 1892 to require the registry

board of the town of Highlands to strike from the register the names

of over a hundred soldiers quartered at West Point, who claimed the

right to vote in the village of Highland Falls, adjoining the

Government reservation. Mr. McClung took the position that the West

Point reservation is not a part of the territory of the State of New

York; that upon the cession of the territory by the State the general

government became invested with exclusive jurisdiction over it and

that persons resident within it are not entitled to vote. Mr.

McClung, notwithstanding the limited time at his disposal, upon the

very eve of an exciting election, made a most exhaustive and

convincing argument, collating all the authorities and relying

chiefly upon the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Fort

Leavenworth Railroad Company vs. Lowe, which involved the character

of Government property at Fort Leavenworth. Though he was opposed by

such eminent counsel as Judge Hirschberg, Walter C. Anthony and

Howard Thornton, his argument was sustained by the court and the law

upon the subject was finally established in this State.

His stubborn defense a few years ago of an unpopular client will be

long remembered. So strong was the public sentiment against his

client and so thoroughly had the court room been surcharged with this

sentiment that it was impossible for Mr. McClung to prevent his

client's conviction of the offense of receiving stolen property,

knowing it to be stolen. But, nothing daunted, Mr. McClung procured a

stay of the sentence, reversed the conviction on appeal, and on the

second trial cleared his client triumphantly, the court saying that

the proof for the prosecution did not make the slightest progress

toward fastening guilt upon the defendant. This case affords a

striking illustration of the dangers that often surround innocent men

in the artificially superheated atmosphere of a court room created by

an excited and credulous public opinion eager for a victim. Had it

not been for Mr. McClung's steadfast, stalwart and fearless exertions

in this case, in the face of much hostile criticism, an absolutely

innocent man, as subsequently ascertained by the court, would have

been consigned to the ignominy of a term in State prison. Mr.

McClung's action in thus stemming the tide of adverse, powerful and

malignant influences bent upon crushing and ruining his client cannot

be overestimated. It attests his place at the Orange County bar not

merely for intellectual ability but for that moral courage which

constitutes the very highest attribute, the noblest equipment of the

advocate.

That Mr. McClung's manly, independent and intrepid character is

understood and admired by the public was strikingly shown in the fall

of 1907 by his election to the office of mayor of the city of

Newburgh by a majority of over five hundred votes, overcoming an

adverse majority of about five hundred usually cast in that city

against the candidate of his party. The people evidently believed

that Mr. McClung is imbued with the idea that a municipal corporation

is, in its last analysis, simply a business corporation in which each

taxpayer is a stockholder, the aldermen its directors and the mayor

its business manager.

Mr. McClung has already shown that this confidence in his character

and aims is well founded. He may be relied upon to give the people a

purely business administration unfettered by political obligations

and uninfluenced by the desire to build up a personal machine or to

reward a band of hungry parasites.

Henry Kohl, of Newburgh, now the partner of Mr. McClung, is also a

fighter. His tastes and his sympathies incline him to espouse the

weaker cause, and he is often assigned by the court to defend those

who are unable to employ counsel. I remember a notable case in which

he was thus assigned arising out of the killing of a motorman by the

alleged criminal negligence of another motorman in causing a

collision. The indictment was for manslaughter and the trolley

company refused to give any assistance to the accused motorman, who

languished several months in the county jail while his case was being

tossed back and forth between the supreme and county courts. Mr. Kohl

took hold of the case and so stoutly convinced several jurors that

the fault was that of the company in not providing the motorman with

proper appliances that a disagreement was secured and the motorman

discharged on his own recognizance. This illustrates the quality of

Mr. Kohl's work--earnest, strong, enthusiastic, courageous, loyal.

Nothing dismays him. The more able and astute his opponent, the

better he is satisfied, since it proportionately increases his credit

in beating him, as he always expects to do, and frequently does.

Mr. Kohl is a verdict getter. His recent success in getting a verdict

for $9,000 in a negligence case was a gratifying one, while he also

recently secured a favorable settlement in a case against the city

growing out of the fall of a tree in a high wind, causing the death

of a young lady. The lawyers who start in to try a case against

Henry Kohl know that in him they will find an opponent equipped at

every point and with every art to sway a jury and to save his client.

He has forged his way ahead until now he is in the front rank of

Orange County's trial lawyers.

J. Bradley Scott, of Newburgh, is the son of that noble lawyer. David

A. Scott, whose precious legacy of an honorable name is guarded well

by the son, who came to the bar several years after his father's

death. He has developed far more fondness for the trial of cases than

his father had and has already achieved a distinct standing as a

trial lawyer. His recent success before the appellate courts, in the

case involving the right of a soda water establishment to refuse to

furnish soda water upon request to a colored person, has attracted

great attention. The case involves grave questions and far-reaching

consequences. Mr. Scott's broad, powerful and convincing argument in

it shows that he inherits not only the good name but also the fine

intellectual, discriminating qualities of his distinguished father.

George H. Decker, of Middletown, is the dean of its trial lawyers. He

is the one first asked upon every public occasion to voice its

spirit, or its purpose, filling in this respect the part so often

taken by Mr. Winfield, who was, by the way, until his death, always

one of Mr. Decker's warmest friends and admirers.

Possessed of a highly sensitive, responsive nature, a poetic,

imaginative temperament, an exquisitely nervous organization, his

fibre is almost too fine for the buffetings and shocks of the court

room. While his brilliant mind, his legal attainments and his

oratorical powers have always been exhibited in the court room to

great advantage and with marked success, yet he has often declined

conflicts in which, if he had entered upon them, not he, but his

opponent, would have had occasion to regret it. Mr. Decker has always

placed a far more modest estimate upon his own abilities than he

should have done, and a far lower estimate than that of the public,

by which he is unreservedly admired and respected.

Mr. Decker's gifts as a public speaker, his scholarly tastes and his

literary attainments are never shown to greater advantage than upon

the lecture platform, from which he has often instructed and

delighted a cultured audience. His recent series of brilliant

lectures upon Edgar Allan Poe will be long remembered.

Soon after Mr. Decker's admission to the bar in 1870 he formed a

partnership, under the name of McQuoid & Decker, with Henry M.

McQuoid, who died a few years later. Mr. McQuoid's portrait hangs in

Mr. Decker's office, but there is little else to remind us now of one

who once occupied a large place in the interest and attention of the

public. Mr. McQuoid was distinguished for bold, dashing, sparkling

qualities as a trial lawyer. Soon after Judge Groo moved from

Monticello to Middletown in 1866 he and Mr. McQuoid were opposed to

each other in a trial in which Mr. McQuoid disputed all of Judge

Groo's legal propositions with the prefatory remark, "That may be

good law in Sullivan County but it won't go in Orange County." After

Judge Groo had stood this as long as he thought he ought to, he

remarked, "I want you to understand that there are just as good

lawyers in Sullivan County as in Orange County." "Oh, yes," said

McQuoid, "I know that, but they all stay there."

Judge Groo himself enjoyed the sally and was himself very quick at a

retort. Once upon a trial in Goshen in which he was opposed by Judge

George W. Greene, who at one time occupied a prominent place at the

Orange County bar, subsequently living in New York, where he died,

Judge Greene asked the jurors the usual question, whether any of them

had ever done any business with Judge Groo, saying that if so he

would excuse them, whereupon Judge Groo said. "Are there any

gentlemen in the box who have ever done any business with Judge

Greene; if so I would like to have them remain."

Mr. McQuoid had a wonderful memory. He could entertain his friends by

the hour repeating passages from famous orations or works of poetry.

His memory treasured even a fugitive poem read once in a newspaper.

I recall an instance of this. One day when I was driving back with

him in a buggy from Circleville, where we had tried a case against

each other it was the local custom for the lawyers to drive out

together for their justice's court trials, he repeated to me a poem

he had seen in a newspaper written by Prime, the well known Eastern

traveler, in memory of a young girl, Claude Brownrigg, who had died

soon after he had told her of his travels in Palestine, as they

walked the beach one night in the moonlight. I told Mr. McQuoid I

would like a copy of it. So as soon as he got back to Middletown he

wrote it off for me. I have preserved it these thirty years and more.

Here are some of the lines:

"All this I wished as on the beach

Beside the sea I walked,

And to a young and white-robed girl,

As thus I wished I talked.

Talked of far travel, wanderings long,

And scenes in many lands,

And all the while the golden path

Led eastward from the sands.

"And she has crossed the shining path,

The path where moonbeams quiver,

And she is in Jerusalem,

Forever, yes, forever."

That lines like these should be repeated by him in coming back from a

commonplace suit in justice's court shows how thirty-five years ago

lawyers thought and talked of something besides law and politics,

money and stock markets.

The name of the McQuoids should not be permitted to fade from the

memory of the passing generation. His brother, Charles C. McQuoid,

who died in 1866, attained even greater prominence at the bar. He

enjoyed great personal popularity and his premature death at the age

of thirty-six from typhoid fever, contracted at the home of a client,

whose will he had been asked to draw, removed from the bar one of its

most conspicuous figures. His popularity is shown by his success in

defeating judge Gedney for district attorney by a narrow majority in

1859. He served as district attorney until 1862. Being succeeded by

Abram S. Cassedy, who in 1865 was succeeded by J. Hallock Drake,

another brilliant member of the Orange County bar who practiced in

Newburgh for some years but who subsequently settled in New York.

Charles G. Dill, now the Nestor of the Middletown bar, studied law

with Charles C. McQuoid, whose memory he holds in deep veneration.

Mr. Dill at one time enjoyed the largest practice in Middletown. It

is only lately that he has relaxed his devotion to business, now

spending several months each year in Florida, where he has extensive

interests.

Mr. Dill is the very soul of honor and integrity in all the relations

of life. The kindness of his heart is often obscured by the

brusqueness of his manner which sometimes gives strangers a wholly

erroneous impression of a disposition singularly generous, open and

buoyant. He is the precise opposite of the type represented by the

traditional cow that gives a good pail of milk and then kicks it

over. Mr. Dill kicks over the pail first and then proceeds to fill it

with the milk of human kindness. He generally explains at the

beginning how impossible it is for him to do anything for you and

ends by doing more for you than you asked or expected.

Mr. Dill's miscellaneous library is the best in Orange County. He is

a born, inveterate, irreclaimable bibliophile. A week that passes by

without his buying some old, rare or scarce volume is to him a

failure. The question of price is never considered. If he wants it he

gets it and that is all there is of it. He has built several

additions to his home to accommodate his treasures, but they

constantly overtax its capacity. They overflow and regurgitate in a

confusion that drives to despair the order fiend and the dust hunter.

Rosslyn M. Cox, who was for many years the partner of Mr. Dill and

who recently has entered into partnership with Mr. Watts, is one of

the most successful lawyers in Middletown. He is an expert in

accountings before the surrogate and before the bankruptcy courts,

but he is equally at home in a trial or in an argument before the

court. The esteem in which he is held is shown by his nomination in

1906 for the office of county judge.

Associated with Mr. Cox is Elmer N. Oakes, whose abilities in the

preparation of a case for trial are unique and remarkable. He is a

natural mechanic, understanding with ease the most difficult

adjustments, functions and forms of complicated machinery. The

knowledge displayed by him in respect to the construction and

operation of a locomotive boiler was an important element in the

success of several actions growing out of an explosion.

After preparing the case for trial Mr. Oakes is entirely competent to

try it. He has often examined and cross examined the witnesses but

distrusts his own powers when it comes to summing up the case to the

jury. When his modesty shall be replaced by greater assurance he will

be better known for his really solid attainments and fine abilities.

Abram F. Servin will probably never overcome his timidity at the

sound of his own voice in the presence of a jury, though he can

furnish enough law to other lawyers to keep them busy expounding it

to the courts. He has argued and won cases in the Court of Appeals

but his chief victories are carried off by other lawyers who argue

from the learned and exhaustive briefs prepared by him. He is an

expert in the preparation of a brief for the appellate courts. He

can take the printed record of a case of which he never heard and

construct from it a perfectly convincing brief upon either side.

Allen W. Corwin, who occupies the position of recorder of Middletown,

has displayed in the performance of his duties firmness tempered by

forbearance, judgment informed by conscience, justice controlled by

wisdom. His broad and humane policy in dealing with minor offenses,

united to his stern and rigid enforcement of the law in serious

cases, largely accounts for the almost entire freedom of Middletown

from crimes of pillage and violence.

Recorder William H. Hyndman, of Newburgh, has also succeeded during

the last few years in greatly reducing the number of crimes committed

in and about a city which was at one time infested by bold and

desperate criminals. A river town is always subject to greater

danger, through its opportunities for access and escape, but Recorder

Hyndman has earned the gratitude of the public for an administration

of the criminal law which has resulted in a marked improvement of the

conditions once prevalent in his jurisdiction.

Of course the discouragement of crime rests largely in the vigilance

of the district attorney of the county. Thomas C. Rogers, of

Middletown, the son of William H. Rogers, who himself could easily

have attained eminence at the bar if he had so chosen, was elected to

this office in 1906. He has already shown that in his hands the wise,

faithful and efficient enforcement of the criminal law may be

confidently depended upon. His previous administration for three

years of the office of assistant district attorney was distinguished

for unusual ability. He is amply qualified to uphold the traditions

of an office always ably filled by such men as Fullerton and Carr,

Brown and Hirschberg, Anthony and Headley, Powelson and Seeger.

J. D. Wilson, Jr., of Newburgh, who received the appointment as

assistant district attorney, to serve with Mr. Rogers, is well

qualified to sustain the burdens of the position, which are

necessarily very considerable when it is considered that he is

expected to exercise special vigilance in the entire eastern part of

the county, including Newburgh itself.

Wickham T. Shaw was one of the most alert assistant district

attorneys that Orange County ever had. He served in that capacity

under Judge Fullerton from 1868 to 1871, trying many of the cases.

His career at the bar of Middletown has afforded many opportunities

for the display of his knowledge of the criminal law, gained in that

association with one of the foremost lawyers of his time.

Abram V. N. Powelson never satisfied the expectations of his friends

until he came to the office of district attorney in 1897, a position

which he filled for seven years. They always knew that he had ability

and they always regretted that his retention of the office of justice

of the peace, for many years, prevented that recognition of his

abilities to which they were entitled. But the opportunity to show

his solid worth both as a lawyer and as a law officer came with his

entrance into a wider field of county administration in which he

acquitted himself with credit and distinction.

John F. Bradner, of Middletown, was also at one time closely

connected with the administration of the criminal law, having been

the recorder of Middletown for many years; a position in which he

presided with great dignity over many important and exciting trials.

Mr. Bradner is an advocate who enters upon a trial with all the

ardor and enthusiasm born of absolute conviction in the justice of

his cause, and he never fails to make a strong impression upon a

jury.

John L. Wiggins, of Middletown, son-in-law of Judge Groo and brother

of Willis H. Wiggins, an eminent member of the Ohio judiciary, is

distinguished for the earnestness, energy and enthusiasm with which

he espouses every cause committed to him. He is original and

resourceful. In an action brought once against his client for a

violation of the law in respect of adulterated milk, Mr. Wiggins

gravely argued to the jury that in his judgment the law was

unconstitutional. As the facts were clearly against his client, the

judge did not take the trouble to interrupt him, but was astonished

when the jury rendered a verdict in favor of Mr. Wiggins' client,

based wholly upon the constitutional argument.

The next day Mr. O'Neill, encouraged by Mr. Wiggins' tactics, entered

upon the same line of defense, but Judge Gaynor admonished by the

miscarriage of the day before, promptly suppressed it, and Mr.

O'Neill's client was convicted.

Alton J. Vail, of Middletown, is a lawyer whose modesty often

conceals his merits, which, however, are well known to his clients.

Mr. Vail has for many years transacted the business of the Middletown

Savings Bank. He is an authority upon titles and upon all questions

involving the law of real estate, his opinion upon these and kindred

questions having frequently been sustained by the courts. Wide

experience, sound judgment, conservative instincts, elevated

character, absolute probity and intense loyalty in friendship unite

in Alton J. Vail, the able lawyer, the honorable man, the upright

citizen.

A. C. N. Thompson, of Middletown, who is in partnership with Mr.

Dill, has abundant inspiration in his name. He is the son of John A.

Thompson, once a prominent lawyer of Monticello who, on account of

his admiration for one of the greatest lawyers of his day named him

after Archibald C. Niven.

Mr. Thompson has already shown one quality conspicuous in his

distinguished godfather--that of capacity for hard work. His energy

and self-denial in preparing himself for the bar while engaged in the

exacting duties of another calling, give promise of abundant success

in the career now opening before him.

Charles T. Vail, who entered upon a career of high promise at the

bar was cut down upon its threshold. No lawyer in Middletown ever had

the faculty of winning friends as easily as he. His sunny

disposition, affectionate nature and engaging manners won for him a

host of admirers, adherents and clients. Undimmed affection in many

hearts still sheds a tear over the untimely grave of Charlie Vail.

Dewitt Van Zandt, of the Middletown bar, was the son of that gifted

divine, Dr. Van Zandt, so long the beloved pastor of the brick church

at Montgomery. Coming to Middletown fresh from college, his sparkling

wit and ready repartee endeared him to a large circle of admiring

friends. But soon he was overtaken by broken health, which paralyzed

his energies and crumbled his ambitions. Through all the experiences

of a life that failed to fulfill its early promise, he maintained the

instincts, the manners and the bearing of the true gentleman. He

never lost the sweetness, serenity and gentleness of his disposition,

or the high standard of personal honor inherited from his revered

father. Fond meditation still tenderly dwells upon the fadeless

memory of DeWitt Van Zandt.

John G. Mills, of the Goshen bar, removed to Washington, where he

died in April, 1883. While necessity chained him to the law

inclination led him along the flowery paths of literature, his

talents and accomplishments brought him into relations with the great

and the gifted, one of his dearest friends being Robert G. Ingersoll,

who pronounced the oration at his funeral. Mr. Ingersoll said:

"My friends: Again we are face to face with the great mystery that

shrouds the world. We question, but there is no reply. Out on the

wide waste seas there drifts no spar. Over the desert of death the

sphinx gazes forever, but never speaks.

"In the very May of life another heart has ceased to beat. Night has

fallen upon noon. But he lived, he loved, he was loved. Wife and

children pressed their kisses on his lips. This is enough. The

longest life contains no more. This fills the vase of joy.

"He who lies here, clothed with the perfect peace of death, was a

kind and loving husband, a good father, a generous neighbor, an

honest man,--and these words build a monument of glory above the

humblest grave. He was always a child, sincere and frank, as full of

hope as spring. He divided all time into to-day and to-morrow.

To-morrow was without a cloud and of to-morrow he borrowed sunshine

for to-day. He was my friend. He will remain so. The living oft

become estranged; the dead are true. . . .

"With him immortality was the eternal consequences of his own acts.

He believed that every pure thought, every disinterested deed,

hastens the harvest of universal good. This is a religion that

enriches poverty; that enables us to bear the sorrows of the saddest

life; that peoples even solitude with happy millions yet to live,--a

religion born not of selfishness and fear, but of love, of gratitude

and hope,--a religion that digs wells to slake the thirst of others,

and gladly bears the burdens of the unborn.

"But in the presence of death how beliefs and dogmas wither and

decay! How loving words and deeds burst into blossom! Pluck from the

tree of any life these flowers, and there remain but the barren

thorns of bigotry and creed.

"All wish for happiness beyond this life. All hope to meet again the

loved and lost. In every heart there grows this sacred flower.

Immortality is a word that Hope through all the ages has been

whispering to Love. The miracle of thought we cannot comprehend. The

mystery of life and death we cannot comprehend. This chaos called the

world has never been explained. The golden bridge of life from gloom

emerges and on shadow rests. Beyond this we do not know. Fate is

speechless, destiny is dumb, and the secret of the future has never

yet been told. We love; we wait; we hope. The more we love, the more

we fear. Upon the tenderest heart the deepest shadows fall. All

paths, whether filled with thorns or flowers, end here. Here success

and failure are the same. The rag of wretchedness and the purple robe

of power all difference and distinction lose in the democracy of

death. Character survives; goodness lives; love is immortal."

Harrison W. Nanny, of Goshen, had a pathetic career. Possessed of

unusual talent and capacity he was handicapped in the practice of his

profession by an accident which paralyzed his energies, embittered

his solitary life and pressed to his rebellious lips the chalice of

mocking irony.

But while he was not resigned he was courageous. Some of the work

which he performed in suffering and illness is marked by a high

degree of intellectual power. Only his misfortunes prevented his

attaining prominence at the bar.

No one has a deeper affection for the memory of Mr. Nanny than his

old friend and partner, Charles L. Mead, who now lives in retirement

from the activities of his profession at his home in Middletown. Mr.

Mead has the unprecedented record of having served three terms in

succession as county treasurer--a striking proof of his influence,

his popularity and his qualifications for public office. During his

entire period of service not one of his political acts was ever

questioned and he surrendered the office crowned with the respect and

confidence of the public.

Bradford R. Champion, of the Goshen bar, was a contemporary of

Winfield and Gedney. While his talents were not brilliant or showy he

still possessed those solid, sterling qualities of mind and heart

which impart strength and vigor to individual character; which

inspire confidence in the community at large; which uphold the very

structure of society; which confer blessings upon every relation in

life and which bring peace and honor, repose and happiness to their

possessor.

The recent death of William H. Wyker removed one who, while not

prominent in the trial courts, possessed many endearing traits of

character and occupied a large place in the social and civil life of

Goshen. He was also in great favor and request as a speaker in

political campaigns. He could have taken his place among the trial

lawyers of the county, had he so chosen, but, he, too, suffered under

the disadvantage of having accepted the office of justice of the

peace--that abyss in which talent has so often found its unmarked

grave.

The late Benjamin F. Low, of the Middletown bar, was one of the most

genial spirits ever drawn into social relations with his fellow-men.

He fairly oozed companionship and good fellowship. He was also a good

lawyer, coming from a family of which Senator Henry A. Low, his

brother, was the most able and conspicuous member.

He had some notable successes at the bar. In the case of Josie Teets

against the city of Middletown he obtained a verdict for considerably

more than he would have got if it had not been for the mistake of his

opponent in the cross-examination of the plaintiff's physician. Dr.

William H. Dorrance, who, on the direct, had testified to only

moderate injuries to his patient as the result of her being thrown

over the dashboard on account of an obstruction in the street. But he

became nettled by the cross-examination and when he was finally

asked: "Now, doctor, tell me just what is the matter with this young

lady," he replied: "Why, Mr. O'Neill, there is not one organ or

function of that woman's body that works healthfully or naturally."

This brought up the verdict from $1,000, all that Mr. Low expected to

get, to $3,000. It was a lesson to all who heard it as to the danger

of giving a hostile witness too good an opening. As a matter of fact,

the woman is still living in vigorous health.

Louis S. Sterrit, of Newburgh, who died in April, 1907, left a void

in the hearts of a large and intimate circle. He enjoyed an extensive

clientage and the confidence of the entire community. He was the

attorney of that old, strong and conservative institution, the

Newburgh Savings Bank, and of many other institutions and societies.

His dignified presence, his affable manners, his substantial worth,

his sincerely religious character, his mental poise combined to

produce an impression upon the community which the corrosion of time

will, with difficulty, efface.

Mr. Sterrit was eminently public-spirited. In 1904 he erected at the

entrance of Woodlawn Cemetery, New Windsor, two very fine gates. He

also placed in the Union Presbyterian church of Newburgh a tablet in

memory of the late Rev. Alexander B. Jack, one of its pastors.

His generosity was unbounded. No client, however poor or humble,

ever failed of help or counsel because he lacked a fee.

The death in 1906 of Lewis W. Y. McCroskery, of the Newburgh bar,

created a general feeling of sorrow and a distinct sense of personal

loss. He had filled many offices which brought him into individual

relations with the entire community, and it is safe to assert that he

had not a single enemy. His appointment as postmaster by President

Cleveland was filled with credit to himself and usefulness to the

public service. His professional career was interrupted by this

service, but when he resumed his practice at the expiration of his

term his clients gathered about him again, for they and the bar alike

always appreciated deeply his amiable disposition, his spotless

character, his solid ability.

Joseph M. Leeper, of the Newburgh bar, also passed away in 1906. A

veteran of the Civil War his health did not permit him to engage in

active practice, but he took an honorable pride in his membership of

a profession which he never did one act to discredit.

The mention of Mr. Leeper suggests the name of one who should not be

suffered to fall into oblivion, for it was one of the strongest

passions of his own life to perpetuate the memory of the leaders of

the Orange County bar, by which he was especially deputed to prepare

and publish the memorial to Mr. Winfield. No one will dissent from a

passing tribute to the generous instincts and throbbing heart of

John K. Goldsmith.

Henry W. Chadeayne, elected in 1906 supervisor of the town of

Cornwall, but practicing in Newburgh, stands out as one of the few

men who always says what he thinks. You can always tell where to find

him, and that is just where he says he is. You do not have to go to

any one else to learn where he stands. Just ask him and you will

know. He has no patience with trimmers and time-servers. He always

takes the most straight road possible to any given end.

This rugged intellectual honesty constitutes a positive force and a

sterling asset. The public service and the legal profession have no

purer representative than Henry W. Chadeayne.

Among the members of the Newburgh bar who have risen rapidly to

prominence is James G. Graham, the son of the gifted lawyer already

referred to, whose full name he bears. Mr. Graham, after four years'

experience in public affairs at Albany, in the executive chamber,

accepted the office of deputy attorney-general, which he held two

years. This position, which has always been a most exacting one,

involving the trial and argument of cases of great magnitude, was

filled by Mr. Graham with marked ability and to the entire

satisfaction of the public. It was during his incumbency of this

position that Mr. Graham was chiefly instrumental in bringing about

the creation of the new ninth judicial district--a service for which

the Orange County bar can never be sufficiently grateful to him. It

is to his untiring and influential exertions that we are chiefly

indebted for the creation of a natural, homogeneous judicial

district, free from the blight and incubus of Kings County--a

district in which the accession to the bench of Judges Mills,

Tompkins and Morschauser insures the preservation of those standards

of judicial dignity, decorum, deliberation and, above all,

consideration for the rights and feelings of the bar, which have been

so nobly maintained by their distinguished colleague, Judge Keogh.

The Newburgh bar has many members of varying degrees of prominence

and experience, including the venerable Jesse F. Shafer, who was born

in 1828; Samuel E. Dimmick, who comes from a family of able lawyers;

Seward U. Round, who worthily bears the famous name bestowed upon him

at the time his father was principal of the Seward Institute at

Florida; Caleb H. Baumes, who is idolized by his brethren of the Odd

Fellows; Peter Cantline, aggressive, ambitious and rising, destined

to take his place among the foremost members of the Orange County

bar; James M. H. Wallace, earnest, forcible, unflinching,

indefatigable and intellectual; Charles W. U. Sneed, modest,

interesting and well informed; David C. Scott, patient, devoted and

industrious; Leroy Dickerson, engaging and efficient; John B. Corwin,

the fit successor of Louis S. Sterrit as attorney for the Newburgh

Savings Bank and, like him, retiring and reserved until the occasion

calls for action, when he is eloquent, convincing and powerful; Frank

W. Tompkins, popular and respected; George W. May, refined and

gentlemanly; Martin G. Mould, courteous and affable; W. J. Wygant,

unassuming and competent; Reeve Ketcham, faithful and energetic;

Reuben H. Hilton, U. S. Collector of the Port of Newburgh; Russell S.

Coutant, accomplished and scholarly; Nehemiah Fowler, solid and

dignified; A. D. and A. W. Lent, father and son, educated, amiable

and conscientious.

The Walden bar is adorned by the ardent, impulsive, enthusiastic,

brilliant A. S. Embler; by the earnest, thoughtful, learned Irving H.

Loughran; by the bustling, energetic, ambitious Anson J. Fowler, and

by the fine natural abilities of Caleb B. Birch, Jr.

Joseph M. Wilkin, of the Montgomery bar, bears an honored name--that

of his father, who for several years occupied a prominent position at

the bar of Tennessee, returning to Orange County at the opening of

the war on account of his pronounced Union sentiments. He was the

brother of Judge John G. Wilkin, already referred to, and the two had

many traits of character in common derived from their sterling

ancestry. It is not strange that the younger Joseph M. Wilkin should

exhibit in his present administration of the duties of special

surrogate the qualities which have always distinguished the members

of his famous and honorable family.

The bar of Montgomery is also strengthened by the high character and

unquestioned capacity of William L. Dickerson. But Montgomery has

ceased to be the center of legal interest which it was in the days

when Edward Van Orsdall organized a suit there at least once a week

and where he and that once well known member of the Goshen bar,

George W. Millspaugh, frequently tried out the issues before a jury

packed to beat one or the other.

The Middletown bar includes, among its well known members, Henry T.

Crist, whose personal popularity led to his election as coroner;

Russell M. Vernon, who has acquired a large practice in the

Surrogate's Court; Howard M. Starr, who is performing the duties of

justice of the peace; John Bright, whose alertness, readiness and

general information predestines him to an active career; Jeremiah E.

Barnes, who served most acceptably for several years as the recorder

of the city of Middletown; and Charles C. Elston, who has manfully

overcome many difficulties in establishing and maintaining his

position at the bar.

The Goshen bar includes among its honored members Charles W. Coleman,

who notwithstanding that he is a martyr to ill health and is

compelled to spend the winters in Florida, retains the confidence and

business of a host of personal friends; also William D. Mills, who

has learning enough to equip a dozen lawyers for successful practice.

Louis Bedell, of the Goshen bar, secured at Albany in the Assembly a

more powerful personal influence than any member from his district

ever enjoyed, with the exception of his former partner, George W.

Greene. This was, of course, partly due to the wisdom of the

electors in keeping him there. But Mr. Bedell's many qualifications

for success in public life accounted in a large degree for the extent

of his influence. A lawyer is always needed in either the Assembly or

the Senate and no amount of good fellowship or general intelligence

can make up for the lack of legal training and experience.

Joseph Merritt, of Goshen, whose diffidence prevents his coming into

prominence before the public is, however, unable to conceal from his

professional brethren his very superior legal attainments. He is a

lawyer of the very first rank. His opinion is respected and followed

in many instances in which the court is unaware that it is he who has

guided it to a correct conclusion.

Philip A. Rorty, of the Goshen bar, has gone rapidly to the front.

The wide experience gained by him in the extensive business

established by the firm of Bacon & Merritt, in which he is a partner,

has been used by him to great advantage. He is entrusted with the

preparation of important cases, in the trial of which also he takes a

considerable and highly creditable part. He is an expert in railroad

law and in the law of negligence.

T. Floyd Halstead, of Goshen, is the son of one of the most

warmhearted, noble, honorable men who ever lived--the late John R.

Halstead of Unionville. If he will but emulate in private and

professional life the virtues of his most estimable father he will be

sure to continue and confirm the success which has already in a large

measure attended upon him.

J. V. D. Benedict, of Warwick, represented his district in the

Assembly in the year 1877. His suavity of manner and moderation of

speech are the sincere reflection of a kind, generous and

affectionate nature.

His interest in various pursuits has interfered with the singleness

of his devotion to the law, but his opinion upon difficult questions

has often been sought and followed with the most satisfactory results

to himself and to his clients.

Clifford S. Beattie, of Warwick, who is associated in business with

his father, Judge Beattie, settled in his old home after a most valuable

and enlightening experience as one of the legal staff of the

Metropolitan Railway system in New York. He possesses an

individuality, an independence and a strength of character which

prevent his being overshadowed by the great reputation of his father.

But if he did not have these qualities he would not be a Beattie.

Lewis J. Stage, of Warwick, who is associated in business with Mr.

Kane, under the name of Kane & Stage, had the good sense to

voluntarily resign the office of justice of the peace--that grave of

professional ambition; that rock upon which so many a professional

career has foundered. Since then he has made strides in reputation

and influence.

Mr. Stage has always taken an active part in the educational,

philanthropic, historical and religious interests of the community.

His sincerity in this is manifest and unquestioned. He is free from

all forms of cant and pretense, sham and affectation.

John Miller, of Cornwall-on-Hudson, whose memory goes back to the

days of McKissock, is a veritable encyclopedia of the law; a

storehouse of principles and authorities; a reservoir of unlimited

capacity; a fountain of perennial flow. If he had been as able to

apply, discriminate and assimilate as he has been to accumulate

stores of knowledge his abilities would undoubtedly have been more

widely recognized.

Thomas S. Hulse, of Westtown, has long enjoyed the advantage of being

the only lawyer in town. He is often consulted upon the

controversies arising in it and his influence is always for peace

rather than strife, for settlement rather than litigation. His solid

worth of character commands for him universal and unchallenged

respect.

Frank R. Gump, of Highland Falls, signalized his entrance into

practice at the Orange County Bar by bringing the unusual action of a

man against a woman for her breach of promise in refusing to marry

him. He has been the attorney for some most important interests

involved in actions brought to determine priority of water rights.

The ability shown by him in the management of these cases and

especially in the examination and cross-examination of the witnesses

in several trials has given him a recognized position at the bar of

the county.

Frank Lybolt, of Port Jervis, who filled most competently a term of

office as special county judge, has tried some cases in the Supreme

Court with an intelligence, earnestness and spirit which attracted

the attention of his professional brethren.

Wilton Bennet, of Port Jervis, has given special attention to the

trial of criminal cases in which his zeal, earnestness, boldness and

eloquence have given to him many professional victories and to his

clients many occasions for profound and lasting gratitude.

William P. Gregg, of the Port Jervis bar, has, by his straightforward

and manly character, impressed himself most favorably upon the

community, this ability as a lawyer received deserved recognition in

January, 1907, when he was appointed the tax appraiser of Orange

County.

Henry B. Fullerton, of Port Jervis, greatly resembles in character

and ability his relative, Daniel Fullerton, who, though he did not

attain the eminence of his brothers, William and Stephen W.

Fullerton, possessed more original gifts and natural eloquence than

either of them.

The Port Jervis bar is also enriched by the fine character and

sterling abilities of Alfred Marvin and R. Edward Schofield.

William A. Parshall, of Port Jervis, who was at one time associated

with Mr. Carr in the protection of the interests of the Erie Railroad

Company, has won the respect of the community and of his professional

brethren by the high-minded, honorable, sincere and manly course

which he has always pursued in every walk of life, private, public

and professional.

His splendid vote in the autumn of 1907 for the office of surrogate

attests the popular esteem in which he is held.

John B. Swezey, his successful competitor, entered upon the duties of

the office of surrogate in January, 1908.

He was for many years the attorney for the Middletown State Hospital

and he has occupied many other positions of responsibility, the

duties of which he has always discharged with fidelity and ability.

His service as special surrogate brought the bar of the county into

close acquaintance with his superior judicial qualifications and

prepared it to expect his elevation to still higher judicial station.

Orange County has always been fortunate in its surrogates and the

friends of Judge Swezey confidently expect him to maintain unsullied

the traditions and the standards set by such predecessors as Scott

and Coleman, Wadsworth and Howell.

Obadiah P. Howell retired from the office of surrogate on the first

of January, 1908, after an incumbency of twelve years, with the

profound respect of the bar and of the public for both his character

and his attainments. Judge Howell possesses an evenly balanced, well

poised character which admirably fitted him for the duties of this

position.

His abilities as a lawyer were also brought into constant requisition

during his terms of office on account of the many new questions which

arose under the operation of the transfer tax statutes. These

questions were disposed of by him with rigid impartiality, zealous

regard for every interest represented, and deep anxiety to arrive at

a just and sound conclusion. His careful discrimination in applying

the principles of law involved has resulted in a body of decisions

which command the respect of both the bar and the judiciary.

Judge Howell was always most conservative. Such was his veneration

for the last wishes of a dying testator that if he ever felt it his

duty to set aside a will, the fact is not generally known. He gave no

encouragement to those frivolous and often merely speculative or

intimidating contests which have done so much to bring probate

administration into reproach in many jurisdictions.

Judge Howell always exhibited one characteristic which commands

special commendation. He never tolerated the merely perfunctory

performance of their duties by guardians appointed to represent the

interests of minors or incompetents. He exacted the most careful

investigation of their rights to the end that they should be fully

protected and he so exercised his authority in making appointments as

to insure this result. His administration will go down to history as

one of the purest and ablest in the annals of the county.

Roswell C. Coleman, who preceded Judge Howell in the office of

surrogate, occupying it for twelve years (1883-1895), entered upon

his duties with peculiar qualifications for their successful

discharge. His professional bent had always been in the direction of

practice in the Surrogate's Court and of interest in all the

questions arising in the construction of wills. Moreover he began his

practice with the senior Joseph W. Gott, an association from which he

could not fail to derive benefit as well as pleasure.

His eminently judicial temperament was early recognized by the judges

and by his associates with the result that, in the days when

references were far more common than they are now, owing to the

inadequacy of the judicial force and the necessity for auxiliary

requisitions upon the profession, Mr. Coleman was constantly

designated by the court and by consent of counsel to serve in

important references. His absolute fairness, his love of justice, his

freedom from influence and his unerring judgment made him the

favorite referee in the county during that entire period of

imperfect judicial service which was supplemented in him by an

ability fully equal to that of the judge appointing him. I remember

an occasion when judge Barnard, in announcing the selection of Mr.

Coleman as referee, remarked to the attorney, "Don't let him get

after you with his gun," referring to his well-known experience in

1875 as a member of the first American rifle team that ever went

abroad, Mr. Coleman returning with several prizes for his skillful

marksmanship.

Mr. Coleman's tenure of the office of surrogate was distinguished for

the display of those high judicial qualities with which the entire

bar had become acquainted in his frequent exercise of them as

referee. Indeed, so great was the respect in which they were held

that in many contests involving large interests, the parties

acquiesced in his decision as final, the defeated party taking no

appeal. This was notably the case in the matter of the will of John

S. Sammons, in which all his property was given to a church upon the

condition that it should care perpetually for his tomb. The church

took no appeal from the decision of Surrogate Coleman refusing to

admit the will to probate. The opinion of the surrogate is a masterly

review of the law of insane delusions as affecting testamentary

capacity, pointing out that a will may often be upheld notwithstanding

the presence of insane delusions when those delusions do not tend to

produce the will. But in this case the will was rejected because the

delusion under which the testator labored did govern him in the

disposition of his property, he having formed the delusion that his

body was to be preserved to the end of time and having given his

property to the church to secure the protection of his tomb from

disturbance. The opinion contains a very subtle, acute and interesting

discussion of other delusions cherished by the testator which would

not in themselves have invalidated the will, but which are considered

as bearing upon the liability of the testator to form a delusion by

which he was controlled in the disposition of his property.

Although the case attracted great attention, the opinion of the

surrogate never was reported. For this reason it is especially

appropriate that a partial report of it should be preserved in this

all too perishable record. The case constitutes, also, one of the

notable legal victories of Henry W. Wiggins, who appeared for the

contestants.

Mr. Coleman since his retirement from the bench has been honored with

many marks of continued confidence in his judicial qualifications.

No lawyer now living commands greater respect for the simplicity of

his life, the purity of his character, the force of his example, the

vigor of his manhood, the solidity of his attainments and the

genuineness of his learning than does Roswell C. Coleman.

Henry A. Wadsworth, who preceded Mr. Coleman in twelve years'

incumbency of the office of surrogate, brought to its duties a large

fund of practical knowledge, common sense and capacity for affairs.

His legal attainments were ample and he was deeply anxious in every

case to arrive at a sound and just decision. His place in the

affections of the bar was accurately as well as touchingly set forth

in the memorial address of Judge Hirschberg, in which he said:

"The sweetness and gentleness of his nature, his genial and frank

spirit, the generous impulses of his heart, and the broad and

engaging charity of his views are known best to the favored few who

rejoiced in his intimate companionship. His hand was open as the day

to melting charity. His dealings were ever plain, straightforward and

direct. He despised all shams and affectations. To his friends he was

the very soul of unselfish loyalty, and to the party which honored

both him and itself in his elevation, and in whose counsels he was

ever a trusted leader, he rendered always a manly and unfaltering

allegiance. A loving husband, an affectionate and indulgent father, a

wise, honest and safe adviser, an unstained lawyer, an incorruptible

judge, and a loyal friend are buried in his grave. And if amid the

good of his great nature there was mingled any blemish or alloy of

human fault or folly, let us to whom his name is now but a sweet and

tender memory:

"'No further seek his merits to disclose

Nor draw his frailties from their dread abode,

(There they alike in trembling hope repose)

The bosom of his Father and his God.'"

Gilbert O. Hulse, who preceded Mr. Wadsworth in the office of

surrogate, still survives at the age of eighty-four to relate his

reminiscences of the bench and bar of a previous generation. Before

coming to this office in 1868 he had enjoyed a large professional

experience which fully qualified him for his duties. He was engaged

in many notable cases, in one of which, attracting great attention at

the time, he established a lost will many years after it had been

wrongfully destroyed and secured the property till then denied to its

rightful owners, his clients. Much of his professional life has been

passed in the city of New York but he retains his residence in Orange

County, in which he was born in 1824, and with which his ancestors

had been identified since 1775.

The early part of the last century was marked by the rise in Orange

County of an able and progressive bar, whose courage and public

spirit contributed to keep alive the fires of exalted patriotism.

Jonathan Fisk, who removed to Newburgh in 1800, became one of the

most influential citizens of the county, being elected twice to

congress and being appointed twice United States attorney for the

Southern District of New York.

Henry G. Wisner, who was admitted in 1802, settled in Goshen in 1810,

where for thirty years he stood forth as its most prominent citizen,

its most active philanthropist and one of its foremost lawyers.

Walter Case, who also was admitted in 1802, settled in Newburgh,

serving in Congress and becoming the surrogate of the county in 1823

for a term of four years. His scholarly tastes and literary gifts

still find inherited expression through the cultured mind of his

descendant, Walter Case Anthony.

David W. Bate and Thomas McKissock, who were associated under the

name of Bate & McKissock, were strong and able men, exercising a wide

and potent influence. Judge Bate was elected county judge in 1847.

Judge McKissock was appointed supreme court judge to serve for a few

months and was elected to Congress in 1849.

William C. Hasbrouck, who studied with Mr. Wisner, was admitted in

1826 and began his practice in Newburgh. where he resided until his

death. He was speaker of the Assembly in 1847 and attracted attention

and admiration abroad as well as at home by a courtly presence and

charming address, united to robust manhood and sturdy principles. He

enjoyed the personal friendship of many prominent men of every shade

of opinion, including Sam Houston, Andrew Jackson and William H.

Seward. He died in 1870.

Benjamin F. Duryea filled a large place in the life of the county.

Admitted in 1839, he became surrogate in 1847 and county judge in

1855. His opinion upon any state of facts submitted to him was

regarded by his associates of the bar as conclusive upon the

questions of law involved. His son, Henry C. Duryea, whose career was

marred by precarious health, survived him until 1906.

Of all the able lawyers who have kept bright the fame of the Goshen

bar, perhaps no one ever exhibited greater force of character or made

a deeper impression upon his fellow citizens than Samuel J. Wilkin,

who was admitted to the bar in 1815 and who practiced in Goshen from

that time until his death in 1866. He served with distinction in

Congress and in the Senate of the State. His fiery eloquence,

commanding presence and lofty character live in traditions that will

long preserve his name from indifference or his memory from neglect.

His daughter Sara became the wife of ex-Surrogate Roswell C. Coleman.

His father, General James W. Wilkin, was also a distinguished man,

serving in the Senate, Assembly and Congress, and coming within one

vote of being elected to the United States Senate.

Oliver Young rose to conspicuous influence and weight in Port Jervis

soon after his removal there in 1849. He lived during the period of

political unrest which soon afterwards set in, and he was the

foremost champion of anti-slavery principles in the county at a time

when his sentiments were highly unpopular. He survived to see the

once decried abolitionists acclaimed by the arbitrament of war and

the verdict of history the most advanced statesmen of their century.

He died in 1871.

This brings our narrative to the point of time from which the direct

connection of the Orange County bar with the events of that stirring

period and with the subsequent history of the county has been traced.

When it is considered that, in the sixty years preceding the

publication of Eager's History of Orange County in 1847, no less than

one hundred and seventy-five lawyers were admitted to practice in

Orange County, their names appearing in the appendix to that volume;

and that, in the sixty years now elapsed since its publication, fully

as many more have been added to the number, it will readily be seen

how impossible it is to undertake, in one department of a general

county history, a sketch of many, among the living and the dead,

whose estimable career it would be a pleasure to follow and depict.

The purpose of this review and the treatment of its themes are

entirely different from the plan and method adopted in Ruttenber's

History of Orange County published in 1881, to which the reader is

referred for such dates as may not be accessible here in respect to

some of the lawyers who nourished before that time; while to Eager's

history is referred the reader who may seek simply the names of those

who were admitted to practice before 1847.

The bar of Orange County has also contributed to wider fields of

activity many who have reflected high honor upon the place of their

professional nativity. One of these was Benjamin F. Dunning, who,

when he was in practice in Goshen in 1853, was invited by the leader

of the New York bar, Charles O'Conor, to become associated with him.

That veteran of the Orange County clerk's office, Charles G. Elliot,

who has seen three generations of lawyers come upon the scene, told

me that he was in the clerk's office when Mr. Dunning received the

letter from Mr. O'Conor containing this proposition and saw him show

it to Nathan Westcott, then a leading lawyer of the county and once

its district attorney, whose brilliant career was interrupted by

paralysis resulting from a fall from a wagon. Mr. Westcott handed the

letter back to Mr. Dunning with the remark that Mr. Dunning would

never live to receive a higher honor than this evidence of Mr.

O'Conor's admiration and confidence. This confidence was abundantly

justified in the long years of Mr. Dunning's association with Mr.

O'Conor, which continued until Mr. O'Conor retired from practice.

William Fullerton also was invited by Charles O'Conor to New York,

where he soon established a reputation as the most superb

cross-examiner of his generation and as an advocate of remarkable

gifts. He retained until his death his residence in Newburgh, where

he had originally been associated in practice with James W. Fowler,

whose honorable service as the surrogate of Orange County from 1851

to 1855 is still remembered.

John Duer, after several years of practice in Goshen, went in 1820

to New York, where he became a justice of the Superior Court and the

author of several Valuable textbooks. His fame is preserved in his

writings, though these give no conception of the effect of his noble

presence and impassioned oratory.

Of course, the reputation which towers above that of any man ever

born in Orange County is that of William H. Seward, who studied law

in Goshen with John Duer and Ogden Hoffman. This is not because he

was a greater lawyer than either of his preceptors but because his

career as a United States senator in the period of excitement before

the Civil War, his valuable services as Secretary of State in the

crisis of our national life and his farseeing statesmanship in

acquiring the territory of Alaska, have written his name large upon

the roll of everlasting fame.

Ogden Hoffman, indeed, excelled him in all the attributes of a great

lawyer. Admitted to the bar in 1818 and elected district attorney of

Orange County in 1823, his transcendent abilities soon drew him to

New York, where he transfixed the wondering gaze of its brilliant

bar, which welcomed into its firmament this star of first magnitude.

Benjamin D. Silliman, one of its leaders, in an address made in 1889,

thus refers to him: "the fascinating Ogden Hoffman, the Erskine of

our bar, at which he became powerful and eminent and captivated all

by his art and his wonderful eloquence; his voice was music from the

note of a lute to the blast of a bugle." Luther R. Marsh, when

opposed to him once upon a trial, sought to forestall the dreaded

effect of the speech in which Hoffman was to follow by describing him

as one who "could rise upon the heaving exigencies of the moment, and

at whose bidding instant creations and mighty embodying of thought

and argument, sublime conceptions, glowing analogies and living

imagery burst as by miracle from the deep of mind in overshadowing

forms of majesty and power."

George Clinton and his nephew, DeWitt Clinton, are claimed by Ulster

County, because New Windsor, the town in which they were born was, at

the time, a part of Ulster County, it not having been set off to

Orange County until 1799. But their fame has passed beyond the

trivial rivalries of county pride. It belongs to the State and to the

Nation. George Clinton died in 1812, vice-president of the United

States. DeWitt Clinton died in 1828, governor of the State of New

York.

In our own time, too. Orange County has contributed to the bar of the

State many distinguished ornaments. The brilliant career of Lewis E.

Carr, once its district attorney, but now a member of the Albany bar,

has already been outlined.

George W. McElroy is a member of the Orange County bar, now

representing it at Albany, of which the bar is particularly proud. In

the intervals of his official duties in the Transfer Tax Bureau he

prepared a work upon the transfer tax law which affords abundant

evidence of his industry, research and learning.

Mr. McElroy's service as special surrogate of the county at the time

that he resided in Warwick, was distinguished for some opinions which

showed his marked qualifications for judicial station. He wrote an

opinion in a case involving the question whether the statute of

limitations runs in favor of an administrator, in which the doctrine

maintained by him was not generally accepted by the courts; but later

the courts adopted and enforced the view which he, at one time, was

almost alone in asserting.

Mr. McElroy is assured of a warm welcome from his brethren of the

Orange County bar when he is ready to exchange the weary, dreary,

depressing treadmill of department officialism for the pleasant,

refreshing, verdured paths of general practice.

John B. Kerr, of the Newburgh bar, is another lawyer of whom Orange

County is indeed proud, though he has now been separated for some

years from its personal associations and activities, having accepted

the position of general counsel for the New York, Ontario & Western

Railroad Company. In this responsible position he finds unusual

opportunity to exercise and develop those qualities of sound

judgment, rare foresight, steady poise and intellectual grasp in

which he so excels and of which his early career at the bar gave

abundant promise.

Thomas P. Fowler, whose home is in Warwick, and who was at one time a

member of the firm led by his distinguished father-in-law, Benjamin

F. Dunning, has acquired a position in the railroad and financial

world which reconciles him to his withdrawal from the activities of

his profession. The masterly ability shown by him in making the New

York, Ontario & Western Railroad Company one of the most important

and valuable railroad properties of the country has given him

national prominence and reputation.

John M. Gardner, formerly of the Newburgh bar, settled in New York,

where his chief reputation has been gained in actions against

corporations. He is a recognized authority in the law of negligence,

having won many important cases and having edited for some years a

series of reports specially devoted to cases of negligence. Mr.

Gardner was born in Warwick, to which lovely spot he frequently

returns. His career in Newburgh was distinguished by the same

qualities which have commanded success in a broader field. His fine

presence, unfailing resources, entire self-possession, tireless

energy, dauntless courage and impressive delivery combine to make him

one of the most formidable trial lawyers of the State.

Amos Van Etten, who began his practice in Port Jervis, removed to

Kingston, where he very soon established his title to recognition as

one of the leaders of the Ulster County bar, a position which he now

holds by general acknowledgment of both the bar and the public.

Mr. Van Etten, as the attorney for the New York Central Railroad, and

of other public service corporations, has been compelled to give his

chief attention to railroad and negligence law, though he commands

also a wide general practice. His success has been emphatic,

pronounced and permanent.

William H. Stoddard, formerly of the Middletown bar, has become a

prominent member of the Buffalo bar. He is original, independent and

entertaining in his addresses to juries, while his conversation is

full of wit, sally and anecdote.

One day there came to his office on old client whose wife had just

left him to take up her abode with another man. His client was in

deep dejection and wanted comfort. This is the way "Stod"--as he was

familiarly called by his friends--gave it to him. He said: "Cheer up,

John, brace up; why, there are a dozen men in Middletown who would be

glad to be in your shoes to-day."

Referring once to the wife of a friend, who was known to be a

termagant, he said: "She's the most even-tempered woman I ever

knew--always mad."

This faculty of bold, rapid characterization has always prevented him

from being dull either in his speeches or in social life. He is

nothing if not interesting. His rare qualities of mind and heart

endeared him to a large Orange County circle, which still

affectionately remembers him.

William S. Bennett, formerly of the Port Jervis bar, removed to New

York, where his career has been one of uninterrupted prosperity and

promotion. He is now representing his district in Congress, where he

has already achieved distinction in that most difficult of all places

in which to compel immediate recognition.

His abilities have been so conspicuous and the esteem of his

colleagues has been so unmistakably manifested that the attention of

the entire country has been fixed upon this still cherished son of

Orange County.

Not only has Orange County sent forth many lawyers whose names have

become famous throughout the world, but Orange County is the Mecca to

which many of the country's ablest lawyers repair to spend their

declining years, attracted by its beauty and invigorated by its

atmosphere. Benjamin F. Tracy, once secretary of the navy and long

one of the leading advocates of the bar of Brooklyn and New York, now

spends much of his time upon his beloved farm near Goshen. General

Henry L. Burnett, prominent in Ohio and New York, whose life of high

adventure and brilliant achievement possesses all the interest of

romance, also finds upon his Goshen estate the leisure in which to

charm a choice circle of friends old and new with reminiscences of

the famous men with whom he has been associated on equal terms and of

the stirring scenes in which he has so honorably and conspicuously

mingled.

Orange County, which has in days gone by attracted to itself the

sensitive poet, Nathaniel P. Willis, the scholarly historian, Joel T.

Headley, the gifted lawyer, Luther R. Marsh, and the still vigorous

publicist, John Bigelow, will never cease to have a charm for the

retired veteran of letters and the law. It should never cease to

interest also the active and alert practitioner who, on its rugged

hills and in its peaceful valleys and by its murmuring streams and

from its bracing atmosphere can draw vitality, inspiration and

delight--strength for the duties of each succeeding hour as he seeks

to emulate the lofty virtues and resplendent talents of those whose

eyes, like his, once wandered with rapture over its entrancing

prospects.

NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

The Editor deeply regrets that since the modesty of the author has

forbidden any reference to himself this review of the period in which

Mr. Vanamee himself has borne so honorable and conspicuous a part

contains no description of his own brilliant career as an advocate.

But though it is thus unavoidable that his signal talents and

accomplishments should not be specifically portrayed in these pages,

still the intelligent reader will not fail to perceive in these

graphic estimates of his contemporaries an unconscious reflection of

his own commanding character, lofty ideals and acknowledged

abilities.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.

By John T. Howell, M.D.

The early history of Orange County is intimately connected with the

physicians who practiced there, and had they undertaken the task, it

is logical to assume that no citizens could have narrated the history

of their day and locality better than they. Unfortunately the duties

and hardships then attendant upon the practice of medicine so limited

outside literary work as to have left even the annals of medicine

bare of many important facts which it would seem ought to have been

recorded. It is stated that at one time Dr. David R. Arnell expressed

his intention to write a history of Orange County, but he failed to

carry out this undertaking which he was so well qualified to perform.

In the earlier periods of the county's existence medical education

began to feel the impulse of independence and the wider knowledge

resulting therefrom, developed a higher standard of practice.

This advancement was undoubtedly favored by the self-dependence

brought out in practice through widely separated settlements, and

Orange County early established a reputation for skillful physicians.

The renowned traits and ability of many of these physicians remain

only in tradition, but the anecdotes told of some of them show that

they were men of more than ordinary attainments. Among those

physicians best known in the early history of the county are Dr.

Cadwallader Colden, who, besides being a medical author of note, was

honored with the title of Lieutenant-Colonial Governor; Dr. Moses

Higby, who is remembered by his successful use of an emetic in the

case of a British spy, and Dr. Benjamin Tusten for his heroism at the

battle of Minisink. Other physicians have no doubt rendered equally

meritorious services in less conspicuous ways, but being unrecorded

remain uncredited in history.

Some interesting statistics have been collected by Dr. W. L.

Cuddeback regarding the average length of stay of about ninety

physicians who settled in Port Jervis and vicinity. Of these,

sixty-five per cent, removed or died within five years; eighty per

cent, before ten years; eighty-five per cent, before fifteen years,

and ninety per cent, before the end of twenty years of practice

there. The reasons for this well known lack of permanency and short

longevity of physicians are best understood by those who really know

the peculiar trials, dangers and discouragements of the daily life of

a doctor. The character developed by the experiences of thirty or

forty years of medical practice is logically one worthy of admiration

and emulation and this is proven by the appreciative and unshaken

position uniformly held by the old family physician "Our doctor."

[Illustration: John T. Howell, M.D.]

A perusal of the older records reveal many interesting customs and

practices of the physicians of those days. Travel was generally on

horseback and the distances were often so great that meal hour or

nightfall compelled the weary doctor to accept the proffered

hospitality of his patients. Saddle bags were made to hold a

veritable armamentum and the doctor must tarry long enough to put up

his own prescriptions. Bloodletting, blistering and emetics were

remedies often employed and were, perhaps, as potent for good as some

other extreme measures which were later substituted with greater

confidence and found after all to have but a limited field of

usefulness. The average physician has but little time for public

affairs, but a number of the Orange County doctors have held public

offices both in the County and as representatives in the State and

National legislatures. In times of war, too, our doctors names are

found enrolled in the military lists and their records there have

been most creditable. Other physicians seem to have found time for

literary pursuits; but these efforts have been mostly along medical

lines. The patriotic gift of the Minisink Monument by one of their

number is a matter of great pride and satisfaction to the physicians

of this county.

The records of the _Orange County Medical Society,_ although

abbreviated, present the local history of medicine more fully than it

is to be found elsewhere. Even here we may search in vain for data

which the busy physicians who have acted as secretaries have failed

to record. However, extending as they do over nearly the whole of the

last century we can find many facts of interest, especially in the

earlier years of its existence. No county society was formed until

after the passage of an act of the Legislature, April 4, 1806. This

law, under which the Orange County and twelve other county societies

were soon incorporated, permitted each licensed physician in the

county to become a charter member and each society to elect a

representative to the State society, which was to be composed of such

delegates. The county society had the right to examine both

physicians desiring to practice in the county and students of

medicine who applied for licenses.

Upon the first pages of the minutes is found a concise report of the

organization of the Medical Society of the County of Orange, with the

names of the founders and officers elected. It reads in part as

follows:

"Agreeable to a law of the State of New York, passed the fourth day

of April, 1806, entitled 'An Act to incorporate Medical Societies for

the purpose of regulating the practice of Physic and Surgery in this

State,' the physicians and surgeons of Orange County met at the

Court House in Goshen on Tuesday, the first day of July, 1806.

"Drs. Jonathan Swezy, Chairman (pro tem), Thomas Wickham, Clerk (pro

tem), Elijah Randall, William Elmer, William Elliott, Samuel S.

Seward, Benjamin S. Hoyt, Nathaniel Elmer, Elisha Du Bois, Charles

Fowler, David R. Arnell, Samuel Warner, William McCoppin, Aaron M.

Smith, William Gourley, Elihu Hedges, Eleazer Gedney, Ethan Watson,

Cornelius Roosa, James Bradner, Henry I. Hornbeck and Elijah Welch

were present and produced their several licenses to practice physic.

The Society then proceeded to organize and elect officers when the

following gentlemen were elected for the ensuing year: Dr. Jonathan

Swezy, President; Dr. Samuel S. Seward, Vice-President; Dr. Nathaniel

Elmer, Secretary; and Dr. Thomas Wickham, Treasurer.

"Drs. Anthony Davis, Joseph Houston, Joseph Whelan and Jonathan

Hedges were, upon examination, licensed to practice physic and

surgery in this State and admitted members to this Society. Dr. David

R. Arnell was elected delegate to the Medical Society of the State of

New York.

"Drs. Anthony Davis, Elisha Du Bois, Charles Fowler, Joseph Whelan and

Cornelius Davis were appointed censors."

The minutes of the earlier meetings were admirably kept and are still

in an excellent state of preservation.

The autographs of the founders and other members who signed the

by-laws form an interesting and valuable collection. The by-laws were

carefully drawn and consisted of twenty-six articles. Meetings were

held semi-annually or quarterly, and, as indicated by the titles, the

papers read and discussed were of a high order. Notwithstanding such

evidences of proficiency I find that these physicians were very

poorly paid. In a rate list adopted by the society in 1807, the

charge for a visit of less than one mile was but twenty-five cents,

with a corresponding low charge for medicines furnished, and, the

largest fee asked for any operation was one hundred dollars.

Dr. Arnell, who may be called the father of the Orange County Medical

Society, was elected president of the society eight times and was a

charter member of the State Society. In 1818 he presented a library

to the society. It contained fifty volumes, which, with five of the

best medical periodicals, were circulated among the members

throughout the county. This collection formed a nucleus for

subsequent additions and a valuable and useful library was maintained

for many years.

In 1830 the membership of the society numbered sixty, of whom

twenty-five attended the annual meeting.

Among notable resolutions passed was one in 1830 endorsing the

American Temperance Society and the tenets of temperance in general;

in 1832 the formation of health boards in each town; and in 1839 a

resolution recommending a change in the method of examining and

licensing students of medicine, the whole to be placed in the hands

of the Regents, was forwarded to the State Medical Society. Such

efforts were highly creditable and progressive, as is shown by the

fact that the law providing for the last named recommendation was

not passed until 1893.

An important amendment to the by-laws adopted at a meeting in 1840

marks the beginning of a prolonged and troublesome epoch of

controversy over medical ethics, especially in regard to sectarian

forms of practice, including homeopathy, then being introduced in

this vicinity.

The status of practice among the members of the society having always

been regular (_i. e.,_ belonging to the general school of scientific

medicine and not restricted by any sect or pathy), much criticism was

aroused by the attempt of some of the local physicians to practice

according to Hahnemann's Laws of "Like cures like." "Medicinal

potency increased by dilution," etc.

An application for membership to the society from a physician who

practiced that system was promptly rejected at the next meeting and

much discussion ensued. The subject was frequently referred to in the

minutes of the meetings for a number of subsequent years, and in 1851

several members were expelled from the society for practicing

homeopathy. Rules forbidding members to consult with homeopathic

physicians were passed, and in 1856 there was prepared and printed

for public information a system of popular ethics, explaining fully

the position of the society regarding the whole subject of ethics.

Feeling ran high over the matter for a long time, as is shown by the

lengthy discussions and resolutions devoted to the subject in the

minutes, year after year. Gradually, as it became evident that there

was an increasing abandonment of sectarian practice, a reaction came;

but it was not until 1883 that this society, following the lead of

the State Society, adopted a new code which permitted, under

reasonable restrictions, consultations between regular and sectarian

practitioners.

Dr. Merritt H. Cash, by his will in 1861, left a legacy to the State

Society of five hundred dollars which is known as "The Merritt H.

Cash Fund." The fund now amounts to seven hundred and fifty dollars

and the interest is devoted to a prize essay written by members of

the county medical societies throughout the State. Dr. Cash also

left four thousand dollars for the monument erected at Goshen in

honor of those who fell at the battle of Minisink. The society was,

of course, much interested in this event and was accorded a prominent

place at the unveiling of the monument July 22, 1862.

Four members represented this society and served as surgeons with

credit and distinction during the Civil War: Dr. R. V. K. Montfort

and Dr. J. H. Thompson in the 124th, Dr. Solomon Van Etten in the

56th, and Dr. Theodore Cooper (assistant surgeon) in the 156th

regiment of volunteers.

In 1879 the society received a special invitation to attend the

celebration of the centennial of the battle of Minisink. This

invitation was in recognition of the county's obligation to the

donor, Dr. Merritt H. Cash, and for the patriotic and heroic services

rendered by Dr. Benjamin Tusten at the battle of Minisink, July 22,

1779, where his life was sacrificed in the actual performance of his

professional duties.

The last quarter of the century is notable in the history of the

society for a renewal of interest and increased literary work. This

was the developmental era of antiseptic and aseptic surgery, and the

records, as shown by the papers read and the cases reported, were

creditable to the progressive spirit and practice of the members of

the society.