USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Essex county, N.J., illustrated > Part 19
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ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., AND ITS GOVERNMENT.
HAT the people of Essex County are, as a rule, quiet and law- abiding, has almost irrefutable demonstration in the fact that the present modest structure called a Court House situated at the junction of Market Street and Springfield Avenue, Newark, is now and has been for the past half century and more, of a capacity to hold all the litig- ants and lawbreakers when on trial who might assemble within its walls at any one time or for any other definite purpose.
This Court House, for which the people have a particular kind of reverence and which is venerated apparently above all other buildings, was built many years ago of sample brown stone from the quarries which have their outputt- ings along the easterly border of the county- as more fully made manifest in an earlier chapter of ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED-ex- tending deep into the hillsides bordering the Passaic and extending from Eighth Avenue, in Newark, to North Belleville. or Avondale. Its architecture, once seen, will make an impression on the stranger which will carry his thoughts back to the days of Alexander the Great and to the city he built at the mouth of the Nile, where these thoughts may revel in the architectural displays, evolvements from the genius of Egypt's bright sons. Whether the stone ever raised any objection to their being wrought into a style architectural so far away we know not, but this we do know-when the project of a new Court House is broached and the question warms to the height of a local contest.
the old Court House wins the fight.
The building is two stories and attic and is surmounted with a unique belfry in which hangs the bell which has sounded the knell of prison fate to evil- doers who, perchance, came over from the sister city of New York to try pastures green and fields that were fairer, and got
ESSEX COUNTY COURT HOUSE.
caught by our ever alert police. The lot of many a " smart " fellow who believed that his education was finished in the criminal schools, of New York City, where he had studied hard for years and where he had taken these lessons in outwitting the home police, until he felt that he had a right of putting into practice just across the Hudson where his teachers, whom he had been taught to look upon as them- selves experts, feared to practice their own lessons. Yet, lo ! the brightest of the schools find themselves foiled in their first and most carefully laid plots, and having been caught, are compelled to spend many years in the Jersey prisons in hard study again in learning how to make shoes and break stones scientifically.
Within the walls of this Court House- the style of archi- tecture of which is so decidedly ancient that it gives an appear- ance to the visitor much more in harmony with that of ye very far distant olden times than of that which prevailed when it was built, little more than a half century ago, with the winged gods of the Egyptians in view as a model to go by-have been enacted many startling and pathetic scenes. Not in the number of these enactments is there reason to boast, but of the heart- breaking character of some and the utter hopelessness of others. The catalogue of heinous offences is short, indeed, against the majesty of the law and the quickness of the measure of the punishment meted out, has satisfied the leaders in crime that distance-when all things else are taken into con- sideration-lends enchantment, and the examples presented for their careful consideration by our generous-hearted judges, to the view.
If there was as much charm connected with the story of its buildling as about the selection of the spot of terra firma on which it stands, a few pages on that part of Essex's history would not be out of place, but it must be sufficient to say that the election
JUDGE ALBERT A. DEPUE,
122
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
4
SHERIFF HERMAN LEHLBACH.
once again drawn forth from the hiding-place where these gentlemen and lady Court House locators had buried its bruised and mangled form embalmed, and from which the self-appointed ballot box purificators of our own day had wrested it and who had not thus easily escaped, but being caught red handed flirting the old mummy in full gaze of the honest voter and not a few of whom threw up their hands in the presence of the judge, and pointing over their shoulders with their thumbs, made rosy red the faces of others who had been engaged in the nefarious business and fell under the thumbs' shadow, and marched forth to the court crier's "yeh yah " to receive their just deserts.
To what extremes the contest for the location of the Court House was carried, makes the history of that short period in Essex County's history quite interesting, but as it deals with what is told in very few words, we will only show to what depths the struggle reached and how bitterly the factions
or fight for its location between Elizabethtown and Newark was one of the most exciting the county ever knew.
What, in all probability, gave the finer touches to the artistic beauty which surrounded the finished pic- ture on all its sides after the elec- tion had settled the location of the house in favor of Newark, was the fact that the ladies had taken part in the election, which required a straight run of three days to finish. Even the school children enacted a truly important part, as those who could write were drummed into the service and their little fingers were covered with ink from the pen with which they were writing. Printed tickets or stick- ers being an article then unknown, a mystery yet left hidden in the tomb of the future. Not so the ELVIN W. CRANE, COUNTY PROSECUTOR. fine art of ballot-box stuffing which for the past few years has been opposed each other by quoting a sentence from Mr. Atkinson's "History of Newark," which covers an occurrence which shows the character of the contest :
" It is related that two highly respectable young Newarkers, William Halsey and Seth Woodruff, rode to Elizabethtown in a gig during the pendency of the election and were assaulted with a bucket of tar thrown on them by one Austin Penny who, it is believed, was afterward indicted and punished."
Elizabeth was then a part of Essex County and such, says Mr. Atkinson, was the height to which locality feeling ran that it became dangerous for Newarkers to visit Elizabethtown, and vice versa.
If we have not wearied the patience of our readers too much in lingering too long around the walls of our County Court House at the junction of Market Street and Springfield Avenue, or satiated the appetite for the beautiful and strangeness in archicecture by keeping the gaze too long fixed on Egypt's art
EX-FREEHOLDER, GEO. WILHELM.
as presented in those reminders of Pharaoh the Great's exemplifi- cations looking out from the sculptured windows and away along down the line of the centuries to the time when the pyramids were built or the hosts of Israel went out, you have our invitation to step within its hallowed walls where, in the footsteps' echoes, is heard the forensic eloquence of thousands whose fame has reached as far as the Nile's architects are.
The court rooms are opened wide with tipstaffs venerable and bright, to point out the very spot where this young lawyer or that took his first lessons in jury deceiving, and where they garnered knowledge which the old men eloquent shook from Blackstone's forensic trees.
COUNTY CLERK J. T. WRIGHTSON.
123
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
EX-MAYOR JULIUS A. LEBKUECHIER.
the right place, for surely 'twould seem a trifle queer to here strike on the listening jurors' ear, rare bits of true eloquence as the time drew near, or one of those grand perorations of a Frelinghuysen, a Runyon or a Parker, when all that was wanted was what the forgotten alone could supply-that sympa- thetic tear so effective when seen by big-hearted jurors.
What Edison, the wizard, or Weston, the marvellous electri- cian, may do in this line in the future we know not, but will present a horoscope quite clear, and reserve for a closing chapter, for since patience is such a bright jewel we have reason to wait, since it has been whispered that one or the other will invent a machine which will not alone re-echo the evidence and pleadings then, perhaps, go further and try the whole case.
ESSEX COUNTY HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.
E SSEX County is widely known for the high standard of its charitable and penal institutions. The Hospital for the Insane is recognized as the model county insti-
During all its palmy days no court house could have a better record made, and had the wizard Edison been ready with his novel device called the phonograph their voices to catch, or had this been the good fortune, the eloquence, the logic, and even the sympathetic tear, having been caught by the wizzard's machine, would come forth at call of some young limb of the law who, having forgotten all, could have immediately at hand the sarcasm of William (Speaker) Pennington, the logic of a Bradley, who carried law lore in his head, and ever after the presidential wrestle between Tilden and Hayes, wore on his face presidential fate. Indeed, to the rescue hundreds might come to help out his elo- quence and perhaps win his case if care enough was taken as the crank was turned to bring up' the EX-FREEHOLDER C. C. COURSEN. right man at the right time and in tution of its class in the United States. The motive for its establishment was occasioned by the overcrowed condition of the only State asylum at Trenton, where in 1871, Essex main- tained 110 patients. The Committee on Lunacy of the Board of Freeholders, then composed of D. J. Canfield, Win. M. Freeman. Wm. Gorman, M. Smith and Wm. Cadmus, after vain efforts to secure entrance for Essex patients in asylums of adjoining States, reported in 1872, the necessity of establishing an asylum for the insane in the county. On the prompt action of the Board, the Camden Street site was secured, and $15.600 was expended in buildings which were enlarged as the occasion required. The Camden Street site was ready for occupancy in August, 1872, and received as a transfer from the State Asylum fifteen patients, and nineteen from the Newrak Almshouse, who had been temporarily cared for. Major John Leonard was ap- pointed Warden and Dr. J. A. Cross, visiting physician.
In 1873 the Committee on Lunacy, composed of D. J. Canfield, Dr. D. S. Smith, T. H. Smith, D. M. Skinner and Edgar Farmer.
(the director) reported the necessity of procuring a permanent site for the asylum. Finally, the South Orange Avenue site was selected, and in 1883 after public sentiment had gradually grown in favor of it, the new asylum was partially completed and ready for occupancy in 1884. The Camden Street building became much over- crowded, and over 300 patients were removed to the new buildings Nov. 9, 1894.
The Grand Jury, of which Leslie I). Ward was foreman, made a present- ment during that year, advising better direct medical care of the county in- sane. At the September meeting of the Board, James E. Howell intro- duced a resolution changing the system of direct management, from that of warden to that of a competent medical officer as Superintendent, similar to the
FREEIIOLDER C. W. HEILMAN.
FREEHOLDER JOHN J. HANLY.
124
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED,
management of State insti- tutions throughout this country. At the Nov. meet- ing Dr. Livingston S. Hinck- ley was elected to the office of Superintendent and entered on his duties Nov. 19, 1884.
He has continued in his present position during twelve years of service, though the political complexion of the Board has changed twice during that period. Dr. Hinckley's devotion to his work has won for him the confidence of the public throughout the county, and his fame as an expert in in- sanity has spread far and wide.
ESSEX COUNTY HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.
Since he has been in charge, the construction of the building has been completed on the original plans, and consists of com- pact buildings three and four stories in height, containing seven- teen wards. Eighteen hundred patients have been under obser- vation ; the average percentage of recoveries have been 25 per 100 admitted, and the death rate average is 5 per cent. of the whole number treated. This record speaks volumes for the effective care given by this energetic and progressive physician.
He is now in the prime of life, was born in Albany. 1855, is a direct descendant on one side from Sir Thos. Hinckley, one of the Governors of Plymouth, Mass., and Gen. Warren of Bunker Ilill, and on the other from Gen. Schuyler who aided the colonies by defeating Burgoyne at Saratoga. Space will not allow of expansion of the many improvements that have been made in the care of our insane. Many have been obtained only after years of toil and convincing argument. One feature that has given this institution distinction, is the method adopted by Dr. Ilinckley of educating attendants to become trained nurses, fitted not only for insane cases but efficient in any medical or surgical emergency. His school begun in 1886, was the fourth established in asylums of the U. S., and re- cently gradu- ated ten train- ed nurses in its ninth class. This school has an alumni of 81 gradu- ates, one third of whom are men. Many are practicing successfully their profes- sion in private, and the hospi- tal is constant- equipped ly with a large corps of train- ed nurses. In 1893, he LIVINGSTON S. HINCKLEY, M. D., SUPT. made a strong
plea for change in the title of the institution from asylum to hos- pital, the Board finally adopting this innovation in 1894. This hospital is much overcrowded and it has been deemed inadvis- able to add any more to the present vast structure. Thos. McGowan, the director of the Board, who has forseen the present exigencies, wisely secured and purchased 185 acres of land in Verona township, where a branch hospital is now under construction under original advisory plans made by Dr. Hinck- ley and in which he is most deeply interested.
Mr. McGowan, of Bloomfield, the present director of the Board, is the senior continuous member who has given his attention to the interests of Essex County unremittingly for the past twenty years, and to whom its citizens owe a large debt of gratitude for the discretion and purity of purpose that has actuated his motives.
THE COURTS OF ESSEX COUNTY.
HE following interesting and instructive epitome of the original history of the court of Essex County. of its T judiciary and of the men who have adorned its bench, and whose names are respected, and whose opinions are honored all over the world, was collat- ed for the Newark Daily Ad- vertiser, and ap- peared in that paper in its edi- tion of Dec. 13. 1894 : "There were abso- lutely no courts in New Jersey under the original rulers, nor until 1675. when the General Assembly
EX-FREEHOLDER PATRICK LUPTON.
125
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
EX-FREEHOLDER SOLOMON DE JONGE.
proceeded to act under the powers conferred upon it by Lord John Berkeley and Sir Philip Carteret in the first Constitution of New Jersey, to 'constitute all courts, together with the limits, powers and jurisdictions of the same.'
"On November 13, 1675, the General Assembly enacted . that there be two of the aforesaid courts kept in the year in each respective county.' In the act, Newark and Elizabethtown were constituted a county, but the county was not named. The original boundaries of the county were fixed, and the name of Essex determined in 1682, The fees, the terms of court, the officers and the judges were all provided for with the greatest detail and nicety.
" Another act, passed at the
M J. KEARNS, COUNSELOR-AT-LIW.
same time, provided for a 'Court of Assize to be held in this province' annually in the town of Woodbridge, the fees being twice the fees of the County Courts. This was the original Supreme Court. It was provided that no appeal was to be taken from a decision of a County Court in any case in which the amount involved was under twenty pounds. When the Lord Proprietor's rights were sold to the twenty-four I roprie- tors in 1682, one of the articles in their ' Fundamental Con - stitution ' was that all persons were to plead in any court, either for themselves or for their friends, but that no person was allowed to take any money for pleading or for legal advice. This was because of an act of 1676, which forbade Justices of the Peace to plead in court, except in cases in which they were either the complainants or defendants.
"The first real law for regulating the practice of law was passed about 1689. and was entitled 'An Act for Regulating Attorneys in this Province.' It laid a fine of twenty pounds upon Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Clerks of the Courts and others who should practice law in the courts, except in their
EX-SHERIFF EDWIN W. HINE.
Court, with the sole excep- tion of the . Five Counsel- or's act' which was repealed this year (1894).
"The first systematic re- sistance to the oppressive acts of George III was made by the members of the New Jersey Bar. At the Septem- ber term of the Supreme Court held at Amboy in 1765. the lawyers met and resolved unanimously that they would not use the stamps under any circumstances whatever. When the stamps arrived the lawyers would not buy them and all over New Jersey the courts were closed, and remained closed until the Stamp act was repealed.
"The strength 'that this
own personal behalf. It was proposed, in 1698, that a law should be passed, limiting the practice of the law for ' fee or hire' to such as should be 'admitted to practice by license by the Governor.' This law was not enacted because Jeremiah Basse, who was acting as Governor, who had been ordered by the Proprietors to have the law passed, was not legally the Gover- nor and was very unpopular.
" In 1702 the government of the Province was turned over to the Crown by the Proprietors, and Lord Cornbury, in 1704, ordained the establishment of the ' Courts of Judicature,' in an in- strument which forms the foundation of the entire judicial system of the present State of New Jersey. It defined the powers and duties of the courts, and laid down certain rules of procedure.
"In Lord Cornbury's ordinance it was provided that the judges could make rules for practicing in the courts in the same way and to the same extent as was done by the judges of the Courts of Queen's Bench, Common P'leas and Exchequer, in England. From that day to this the licensing of lawyers has been regulated, not by statute, but by the rules of the Supreme
EX-SHERIFF JACOB HALSLING.
126
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
EX-ASSEMBLYMAN WILLIAM W. HAWKINS.
1846. He was born in Belleville in 1777, studied law with David B. Ogden, was admitted as an attorney in 1803, and as a counsellor in 1806. He was originally a Federalist, and followed that party down through its changes of name, and died a Republican. He was one of the best Chief Justices New Jersey ever had.
" Joseph P. Bradley, who was appointed to the United States Supreme Court by President Grant, in 1870, was born in Albany, in 1813. He was graduated from Rutgers in the class of 1836, and came to Newark, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He was known to the world as one of the best judges who ever sat on the bench. Learned in the law, impartial in his judg- ment, and urbane in his manner, his memory will last long in this country.
"Newark has given to the State five Chancellors, the first being William S. Pennington, who was elected Governor and Chancellor in 1813 and 1814, He was the great-grandson of Ephraim Pennington, one of the original settlers of Newark. He was Associate Judge of the Supreme Court in 1805, Supreme
action gave them, by bringing them closer together, resulted in an organized plundering of the public by the lawyers, and this continued until the people arose in their wrath and attempted to extermi- nate the lawyers by violence. The riots in Essex County, in which the people attempted to keep the lawyers from entering the Court House, were put down by the Sheriff and his assistants; this was in 1769, and Governor Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's illegitimate son, complimented Essex County on being much more orderly than was Monmouth, where the riots attained greater importance.
"The Essex bar has furnished a long list of men who have been honored by the public. First in the list, perhaps, should come Joseph C. Hornblower, who was Chief Justice of New Jersey from 1832 to
FREEHOLDER WILLIAM F. HAMILTON.
Court Reporter from then to 1813. and after his two terms as Governor, was Judge of the United States District Court until his death in 1826.
"William Pennington, the son of the last mentioned, was born in Newark, May 4. 1796, studied in Theodore Frelinghuy- sen's law office, was admitted as an attorney in 1817, and as a counsellor in 1820. He was Chancellor and Governor from 1837 to 1843, and was one of the greatest Chancellors who ever held the position. He was Speaker of the House of Rep- resentatives in 1860 and 1861.
"Oliver S. Halstead, born in 1792, was the first Chancellor appointed after the adoption of the Constitution of 1844. He held the position until 1852. Benjamin Williamson appointed Chancellor in 1852, and held the position for seven years.
"Theodore Runyon, born in 1822, was graduated from Yale College in 1842, was admitted as an attorney in 1846, and counsellor in 1849. He was made City Attorney in 1853, and
SENATOR GEORGE W. KETCHEM.
Corporation Counsel in 1856. He held this pos- ition until 1864, when he was elected Mayor, which office he filled until 1866. He was appointed Chan- cellor in 1873, and was reappointed in 1880, going out of office in 1887. Last year (1893) he was appointed Ambassador to Germany. Mr. Runyon was made LL. D. by Wes- leyan College in 1867, by Rutgers in 1875 and by Yale in 1882."
JUDGE D. A. DEPUE.
David Ayres Depue, LL. D. Justice of the Supreme Court, and one of the noted men of the State of New Jersey, is of
ASSEMBLYMAN CHARLES B. DUNCAN.
127
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
ABNER KALISCH, COUNSELOR-AT-1.AW.
to protect the country against the Indians in the War of 1755. Soon after his marriage, Benjamin Depue settled in Northamp- ton County, Pa., in Lower Mount Bethel, on the Delaware. Here his son Abraham Depue was born September 28, 1765. Abraham married Susan, daughter of Michael Hoffman, and their son Benjamin Depue was born September 1. 1796. On May 10, 1821. Benjamin married Elizabeth, daughter of Moses Ayres, and subsequently removed to Upper Mount Bethel, in the same county, where David A. Depue was born, October 27, 1826. At a suitable age David A. Depue was placed in the school of the Rev. Dr. John Vanderveer, in Easton, Pa., where he received his preliminary education, He entered Princeton College in 1843, and was graduated in 1846.
Immediately after graduation, he began the study of law in the office of John M. Sherred, Esq., of Belvidere, N. J., whither his family had moved in 1840. Here he began the practice of his profession, and continued in it until 1866. At this time he
Huguenot descent, and with the Van Campens, his family were the earliest settlers of the Minisink Flats. These two families emi- grated about the same time from Esopus, now Kingston, in the county of Ulster, New York, and settled on the Pennsylvania and New Jersey sides of the Delaware River, above the Water Gap. The Van Campens (originally spelled V'an Der Kempen) were emigrants from Holland.
Benjamin Depue, the great- grandfather of David A. Depue, was born February 22, 1729. He married Catharine, daughter of Colonel Abrahamı Van Campen. Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Sussex County, N. J., in 1761, reappointed in 1776 and again in 1796. At the age of 26. Colonel Van Campen served as a EX. ASSEMBLYMAN JAMES MAARLAIT. colonel in the Colonial Army, raised had attained so high a rank in his profession that the attention of Governor Marcus L. Ward was attracted to him, when it became necessary to appoint an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in the place of Judge Daniel Haines, whose term of office expired in that year. The result was the appoint- ment of Mr Depue on November 15, 1866, the circuit assigned to him being the counties of Essex and Union. His removal to Newark soon followed.
On the expiration of his term in 1873. he was reappointed by Governor Joel Parker, was again reappointed in 1880 by Gover- nor George B. McClellan, again in 1887 by Governor Robert S. Green, and still again by Governor George T. Werts. His present term expires November 15, 1901.
The circuit held by Judge Depue is the most important and laborious in the State, embracing the city of Newark and the county of Essex. His opinions in the Supreme Court and Court of Errors and Appeals, of which, by the judicial system
of New Jersey, he is a member, are characterized by learning and laborious research, as well as by the clear and concise state- ment of legal principles. Of these qualities and of his opinions. as published in the reports, the frequent citations of them in the Federal Courts and the courts of sister States, and in treatises on the law, afford ample evidence.
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