USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume I > Part 10
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For many years and until his death he lived in a brick house on the south side of "The Green," near the Methodist church. He was of attractive presence, with an exceedingly intelligent and thoughtful face, a keen eye, and firm expressive mouth. He had a decided stoop, the result of his habits of prolonged study.
NEITZER W. WEISE
Neitzer W. Weise was born at German Valley, of a very respectable family of German descent. He was licensed in September, 1831. He had no office in Morristown, but seems to have been a practitioner in his native village, and to have had no settled place there to receive clients. He was a man of much ability. In 1833, two years after he was licensed, he was assigned by the court to defend Antoine Le Blanc. Being a single man and having some means, there was perhaps no very great inducement to him to give attention to his profession. If he had chosen to apply him- self, his talents would undoubtedly have aided him in attaining eminence as a lawyer.
JACOB S. SMITH
Jacob S. Smith, better known by his middle name of Socrates, was born at Washington Valley, February 25, 1804, of an excellent Scotch family. His father was John Smith, whose worthy descendants still occupy the same farm on which their ancestor lived and died.
Jacob S. Smith was educated at Morristown, and entered the office of Asa Whitehead at Newark. He was licensed early in the last century, and opened an office at Newark, where he practised until about 1840, se- curing among his clientage several leading citizens of that city. He sub- sequently removed to Succasunna, purchasing a farm, which he occupied until 1853, when he removed to the far west, where he died in 1883, at a very advanced age. While at Succasunna he practised his profession and was a constant attendant upon the county courts. He was a peculiar man, of quick temperament and alert wit. He did not shine as an orator, nor was he an expert in the trial of causes; his forte was that of an office lawyer. A specimen of his wit is retained by the older members of the bar. The Court of Common Pleas, as formerly organized, had no lawyers on its bench, and three judges were required to constitute a court to try causes. On one occasion a full court was needed, but only two were present.
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There was some impatience manifested by one of the two judges. Mr. Smith, who was quietly engaged in whittling a shingle, innocently remarked, that if they would wait a few moments he would have one prepared who would answer the purpose.
EDWARD W. WHELPLEY
Edward W. Whelpley had already proved his capacity as a judge when he was appointed to take the place of Chief Justice Green. He had served as Associate Justice since the resignation of Justice Martin Ryerson in Sep- tember, 1858, and was appointed Chief Justice January 31, 1861. He had been distinguished at the bar as a forceful and convincing orator in public assemblies and in trials before juries, and as an able advocate with great force of intellect and strong grasp of legal principles in arguments before the courts. He was the son of Dr. William A. Whelpley, a practicing phy- sician of high repute in Morristown, and his mother was the daughter of John Dodd, of Bloomfield, who was an uncle of Vice-Chancellor Amzi Dodd. Edward W. Whelpley was born at Morristown in 1818. He was prepared for college there and was graduated at Princeton in 1834, at the age of sixteen. After teaching school for two years he studied law in Newark with his uncle, Amzi Dodd, the elder, and afterward with Amzi Armstrong, a lawyer distinguished for ability and acuteness of intellect. He was licensed as attorney at the May term, 1839, and as counsellor three years later. He practised in Newark for a year or two, and then went into the office of Jacob W. Miller, of Morristown, who took his seat in the United States Senate in 1841, and Mr. Whelpley entered into a good deal of his practice and soon made a place for himself at the bar among lawyers of great ability. He made good use at political meetings of his power as a public speaker and took part in the political contests of the stirring campaigns of that day, and in 1847 he was elected a member of the Assembly and served in the sessions of 1848 and 1849, being made Speaker of the House in his second year.
He was earnestly devoted to the work of his profession. and gave the whole force of his intellect and will to the preparation and argument of his cases He was eminently successful in jury trials and was a trusted ad- viser and wise counsellor in legal and business affairs.
Mr. Alfred Mills, until recently living in Morristown, who was a stu- dent in Mr. Whelpley's office there in 1849 and 1850, spoke of the im- portance and extent of the business done there, and said he was a clear thinker, a strong man and a great lawyer-a man of classical education and of general knowledge.
In his Judicial and Civil History of New Jersey, Mr. John Whitehead, who lived in Morristown and was a contemporary of Mr. Whelpley, one year his junior at the bar, speaks in the highest terms of his powers as an advocate and his ability as a lawyer and his character as a man. Of his powers as an advocate, he says (p. 455) :
He was a clear thinker, of cool, dispassionate judgment, with a power of analysis which enabled him to grasp all the facts submitted in any case, giving them their due weight and their appropriate relations. He had an acute and in- tuitive perception of the principles of legal science which never failed him and a perfect control over himself which kept him entirely free from any prejudice and forced every faculty of his nature to submit to intellectual leadership.
His habits of close thought and logical reasoning gave him a mental grasp which enabled him to gather up all the legal principles involved in cases before him and apply those principles with unerring effect. His arguments were com-
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pact, lucid and convincing. He had strengthened all these gifts by severe study and intellectual training, nor had he disdained the lighter studies outside of his profession.
In addressing juries, he seized every salient act in evidence and marshaled all the testimony so that it was presented, connected in all its parts, to the mental vision of jurors with such irresistible vigor that they were forced to admit its power. He was a great orator, not dependent upon grace of delivery or magnetic voice and gestures, but his diction was admirable, his words well selected, always appropriate, never redundant; his style forcible, rarely impassioned; but he was able if he chose to rise to great heights of eloquence. But it was before the Bench that he shone the brightest, and it was in the arena that he won his highest renown. Judges listened to him with the profoundest respect and never failed to award him their greatest admiration for him even if they did not agree with him.
Mr. Whitehead tells of two cases in the Court of Errors in which he succeeded by carrying the lay judges with him against the opinions of the judges of the Supreme Court. One of these was Den. v. Young, 3 Zab- riskie, 478, and 4 Zabriskie, 775.
Mr. Whelpley, in his contests at the bar, had a formidable opponent in Abraham O. Zabriskie. Mr. Zabriskie, when thoroughly aroused, was an advocate of tremendous power. Mr. Amzi Dodd used to tell of a case in which Mr. Whelpley retained him as his junior in a doubtful contest against Mr. Zabriskie and told him he wished him to open the argument and to state the case as mildly as he could, so that "Old Zab" should not be aroused. Mr. Dodd accepted the role and played it, and Mr. Zabriskie was not waked up to make much of an effort, and then Mr. Whelpley, having the last word, put the case with all his power.
"His personal appearance," says Mr. Whitehead, "was imposing; he was full six feet in height, with clear-cut features and full, dark eye; digni- fied in manners, but approachable by all." His portrait may be seen in the Supreme Court room. Judge Elmer says of him: "He was not only a well-read and able lawyer, but was fond of general literature and was a genial and very agreeable companion."
He was forty years of age when he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1858. Less than three years after this he was pro- moted to the Chief Justiceship when Henry W. Green became Chancellor. The promotion was generally approved and it was hoped that he would re- main for many years at the head of the court. He was a strong man in apparently vigorous health, but after a little more than two years he was stricken with Bright's disease and died in 1864, in the forty-sixth year of his age.
His short term of service came between the long terms of two great Chief Justices, and he maintained the high standard set by Henry W. Green and carried on by Mercer Beasley. His associates on his appointment as puisne judge in 1858 were Chief Justice Henry W. Green, Elias B. D. Ogden, Lucius Q. C. Elmer, Stacy G. Potts, Daniel Haines and Peter Vredenburgh, and when he was Chief Justice, his associates were William S. Clawson, John Van Dyke and George H. Brown. His opinions are re- ported in 3 Dutcher to I Vroom. His services as Chief Justice were dur- ing the greater part of the period of the Civil War. An important and in- teresting opinion of the Chief Justice was that in Newark City Bank v. The Assessor, I Vroom, I, in 1862, a case relating to the taxation of United States bonds and State bonds expressly exempted from taxation, and arising out of the New Jersey tax act of March 28, 1862, passed for the pur- pose of more equal distribution of the burden of taxation rendered necessary
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by the war for the preservation of the Union. The Chief Justice con- troverted the reasoning of the recent decision of Denio, J., in the Court of Appeals of New York in People v. Tax Commissioner, 23 N. Y., 192, holding that United States bonds were taxable if included in the bulk of the property of the person taxed; and Chief Justice Whelpley and a majority of his associates decided that the national credit in the hands of an indi- vidual is, from the nature of things, free from taxation by the State and that the laws, both of the State and of Congress, made it so. He discussed also the power of taxation of extra-territorial stocks when owned by per- sons taxable in this State, and the effect upon this of the act of 1862, and also the effect of the exemption of these bonds upon a tax levied upon the capital stock and surplus of a corporation. It was held that corporations were entitled to have amounts of exempt State and National securities de- ducted from their capital and surplus.
A well known decision of the Chief Justice was that in Adams v. Ross, in the Court of Errors, in 1860, I Vroom, 505, argued by Zabriskie and Bradley, in which Judge Whelpley, learned in the common law, maintained the rule that the use of the word "heirs" is necessary to the creation of a fee, and that no other expression of intent will supply the omission and, con- sequently, that a grant to one for life and then to her children was not a fee simple or fee tail but an estate for life, with a covenant to stand seized for the benefit of the children, in which the husband was not entitled to curtesy, and that the grant was not enlarged by a warranty to the grantee and her heirs.
The opinion of the Chief Justice in Telfer v. Northern Railroad Com- pany, I Vroom, 188, has become the leading authority for the rule that in the absence of legislation or lawful municipal restriction it is not negligence for railroad trains to run at high speed over crossings of common high- ways, even when other vehicles are approaching upon the highway, and that the care to be used "must be in proportion to the danger incident to the particular locality." In this case he discussed the measure of damages for the death of a child under the statute giving an action for death and allowing damages for the pecuniary injury and held the damages found to be excessive. His opinions are reported in 4 and 5 Dutcher, and I and 2 Vroom.
Edward W. Whelpley married Eliza Woodruff, daughter of Dr. Ab- salom Woodruff, of Mendham. They left four children: Edward, who died unmarried, and three daughters: Sarah, wife of William Whelpley Thomas; Edwina, wife of Rev. Sandford Smith; and Joanna, wife of Eugene Terry Gardiner. There is a portrait of the Chief Justice in the Supreme Court room.
HENRY J. MILLS
Henry J. Mills was born in Morristown, June 25, 1820, int a house where now stands the Farrelly building. His father was David Mills, who was a very prominent public man in Morris county during his day. Mr. Mills studied his profession in the office of Hon. J. W. Miller, and was licensed in 1842. Almost immediately after being licensed he opened an office in Freehold, Monmouth county, where he remained for a few years, and then removed to Newark, and entered into partnership with his brother-in-law, John Whitehead, which continued several years. At its dissolution Mr. Mills continued practice at Newark, until his death in January, 1881.
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Mr. Mills was a man of keen perceptions, of fine scholarly tastes, and remarkably well acquainted with general literature. His memory was ex- cellent and he stored it with many treasures. He was able in his pro- fession, capable of making an argument before a court, when aroused and interested in his cause, which attracted the attention of judges and taxed his antagonist's ability for reply. His services as a Master and Examiner in Chancery and Commissioner in the Supreme Court were in great de- mand, especially by young lawyers, whom he delighted to aid in troublesome questions. He was a most delightful companion socially, full of anecdote and reference to subjects of a literary character.
LYMAN A. CHANDLER
Hon. Lyman A. Chandler was a native of the State of New York, and was educated in Vermont, graduating from Middlebury College. He soon after came to New Jersey and for a time was engaged as a school teacher. He studied in Morristown for his profession, was licensed as ยท an attorney in February, 1845, and began practice in Rockaway. He proved successful and was highly esteemed as a careful and competent practitioner. In 1858 he was elected to the Assembly and was re-elected the following year. In 1863 he was elected to the Senate, in which he served usefully for two years. He was an earnest advocate of the com- mon school system, and at the inauguration of the State Normal School became one of its trustees, and for many years was a most zealous friend and judicious supporter of that institution. He was an excellent scholar, gifted with a phenomenal memory, and was able to quote readily and lengthily from the principal poets and other master authors. He was a genial companion. full of anecdote and abounding in humor. He died at his home in Rockaway, in 1865.
VANCLEVE DALRIMPLE
Hon. Vancleve Dalrimple was born near Dover, in 1821, a son of Joseph Dalrimple, who was at one time one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. The family is of Scotch descent and traces its gene- alogy through a Morris county ancestry to the original Scotchman who first settled here. Vancleve Dalrimple early looked forward to a pro- fessional life. He pursued academical studie's in Morristown, industriously employing all the advantages to be there gained. At the age of nineteen he entered the office of Henry A. Ford, and having pursued the regular course required of a student-at-law, was licensed as an attorney in 1843 and as a counsellor in 1847. When he received his attorney's license he opened an office at Morristown, and early secured a very respectable clientage. He found here many accomplished lawyers with whom it was no easy task to grapple in forensic contests, but he fairly held his own, and by perseverance and energy, accompanied with industry in the study of the principles involved in causes placed in his charge, with great care in his preparation for trials and with fidelity to his clients, he succeeded in winning the confidence of the community and securing a large practice. In 1852 he was appointed Prosecutor of the Pleas, which position he oc- cupied for five years. In 1866 he was nominated to the Senate as an Asso- ciate Justice of the Supreme Court, was confirmed by that body, and held that office for fourteen years. His official duties called for wise delibera- tion, profound learning and a keen perception of the differences between right and wrong. His position was no sinecure, but required great in-
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dustry and unremitting activity. The strictness of the common law was giving way to a new order of thought and practice; courts were relaxing the iron grasp which that common law, through its subservience for cen- turies to mere forms, had imposed upon the jurisprudence of the country. In many of the States new codes were established, which in many in- stances created new practices and unsettled old established rules. In New Jersey the partition wall interposed between equity and the severity of the common law was still preserved, the dogmas which custom and the de- cisions of courts had formulated were still recognized. Yet there was a disposition in the legal tribunal to interject into the administration of justice an alleviation of the hardship imposed by a strict construction of those dogmas. Judge Dalrimple aided in these efforts and in his de- cisions ever inclined to this new order of things. His opinions fully evince that his mind had outgrown the bonds which old-fashioned com- mon law practice had fastened upon the lawyer educated in the old schools. Judge Dalrimple did not stand in the way of the new movement, nor did he pursue the course of indiscriminate attack upon old existing prejudices. The opinions of Judge Dalrimple are regarded with great respect by the bar.
When he retired from the bench he did not return to active practice, but, having acquired a competence, passed his days in dignified rest. Un- fortunately he was afflicted for many years with rheumatic gout, which crippled his feet and hands. He had a taste for literature of the highest order. He was genial, affable and social in his temperament; and fond of the company of his old friends at the bar and of young men who were press- ing forward into active practice of the law. He was full of humor and had a large repertoire of entertaining and instructive anecdotes. He had also a shrewd wit and a quaint Socratic method of discussion and a rich vein of philosophy, which consoled him in his personal afflictions.
Judge Dalrimple was a Democrat until the repeal of the Missouri Coni- promise, when he inclined to the Free Soil branch of his party, but on the rise of the Republican organization he united with it. During the Civil War, with voice and pen and counsel he defended the cause of the Union and never relaxed his effort.
Judge Dalrimple carried with him into his enforced retirement the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens; the character of the purest integrity which he gained while at the bar and on the bench followed him to his latter days.
THEODORE LITTLE
Theodore Little, Esq., was born at Hackettstown, in Warren county. He was graduated in 1838 from Princeton College, and then entered the office of Hon. J. W. Miller as a student-at-law, with whom he remained until Mr. Miller was appointed United States Senator, which was only for a few months. He finished his term of studentship with Hon. Ira C. Whitehead. He was licensed as an attorney in May, 1841. About the time of his license, Judge Whitehead became Associate Justice, and Mr. Little succeeded to the Judge's business. This, of course, was of great advantage to the young attorney, but he could not have achieved his future success had he not been aided by his own industry and appli- cation. The business which Judge Whitehead surrendered was mostly of the nature called office, which included collection, advice, drawing deeds and other documents. But Mr. Little soon showed aptitude for
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what by some is considered a higher branch of professional life, and his- services were demanded in the trial of causes and arguments before courts. He possessed an analytical mind, quickness of perception and. an ability to grasp the salient points in a cause. To these qualities were. added shrewdness and tact. Mr. Little won the regard and respect of the community by his entire honesty of purpose and integrity of char- acter. His triumphs were won in professional and business careers. He became at a very early period in his life the possessor of a large and. lucrative practice.
He was not at all ambitious of political preferment and never listened to the often repeated solicitations of his friends to become a candidate- for office. At one time he was obliged to accept a nomination to Con- gress by the Republican party. It was during a most exciting period in the political history of the country. A very objectionable candi- date had been nominated by the Democrats; the district was hopelessly opposed to the Republican party, and there seemed to be no possible chance of success for a candidate of that organization. It was, however,. hoped that with one name there would be a possibility of success. Mr. Little was invited to become the chairman of a large congressional con- vention. On taking the chair he made one of his characteristic ringing addresses, in which he argued that it was the duty of every man to accept a nomination if the exigency of the case required. In making this ut- terance he had not the slightest reference to himself nor to any aspira- tions for the nomination; in fact, he had no such aspirations. The convention took him at his word and unanimously nominated him for Congress. The Democratic majority was at least three thousand in the district, and his success in the campaign could not possibly be expected. It is shrewdly suspected that if there had been any chance of election, Mr. Little would not under any circumstances have accepted. He went into the contest, however, with the same energy as if he were certain of being returned. It was his duty, he believed, having accepted the nomination, to do what he could for the party whose standard bearer he became. He made a gallant fight, and had the satisfaction of reduc- ing his antagonist's majority nearly one-half.
Mr. Little early in life became a member of the Presbyterian church, and was frequently solicited to accept the position of ruling elder, in fact was once elected, but declined the appointment. At last yielding to the universal wish he consented to accept the position, and in 1870 he was regularly ordained and set apart as elder. From that time he was. a wise ruler, a safe counsellor and a zealous friend in the church, to which he gave much of his affection, and for which he labored in season and out of season.
In 1865 the First National Bank of Morristown was organized, and Mr. Little then became its president, and remained in that office during the rest of his life. There is no need of commending his manage- ment of this institution; its steadily prosperous condition is the highest praise which can be given to him who long presided over its affairs.
Mr. Little died at his home in Morristown, in the year 1901.
AUGUSTUS W. BELL
Augustus W. Bell was born at Stanhope, about 1825, was licensed as an attorney in October, 1848, and practiced his profession in Morristown. He was little known outside of that town, rarely visiting the courts at
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Trenton. He was a shrewd and careful practitioner; an excellent cross- examiner, and was rarely balked when he started out with the determina- tion of obtaining information of benefit to his client from an unwilling witness. He died very suddenly after a very exciting day in court. He had, however, attained a venerable age. He was an industrious lawyer, very faithful to the interests of his clients, persevering and untiring in fol- lowing any indications in a cause that some advantage might be gained by pursuing a certain course of conduct.
JACOB VANATTA
Jacob Vanatta was a self-made man, his education being principally self-acquired. He was born near Washington, New Jersey, of poor parents. He was a mere lad when he was apprenticed to learn a trade, and he served his master faithfully until his term of service had expired. For some years he had aspired to the law, and he devoted his spare time to such studies as would enable him to take a clerkship in a lawyer's office. The circumstance which finally determined his future was accidental. With his trunk of clothing and a few dollars saved up by parsimonious economy, he set out on his way for the west. Reaching Newark, he missed his trunk, which he recovered after going back to Morristown. He sauntered into the office of Theodore Little, who made inquiry as to his intentions. On being informed, he suggested to the young man that he enter his office as a law student, an offer which was gratefully accepted. Mr. Vanatta was licensed as an attorney in 1849, and as a counsellor in 1853.
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