History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1, Part 52

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 974

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" Friend Legrange :- As I am a lover of peace and concord, there is nothing gives me greater pleasure than beholding the same have a subsistence among mankind. And on the other hand, there is nothing can give me so much pain as to see any of the human species become a Nuisance to the commonality of mankind, whether they become such thro' an act of inadvertance or from a selfish ambition. .

. I will let thee know what I heard the other day among a parcel of people, having met accidentally with 'em at the Mill at Englishtown, concerning you and some more of your brethren; thee especially they seemed to have the greatest grudge against. One of them said he wished that fellow, Legrange, would come to Court this month ; he should not escape out of a back window, as he did before. Another of the company makes answer, 'Damn him! I hear he is to come and act as king's attorney; but that shall not screen the rascal,' says he. 'Aye,' says he, 'the lawyers has done that a-purpose, that we might not disturb the villain ; but, if we catch him, we will Legrange him !' I, hearing the people expressing themselves in this manner, began to examine them what you had done unto them that enraged them so against you. 'Why,' says one, 'he will bring down our heads and humble us.' They say you egged up their creditors to put their bonds in suit, saying, ' Monmouth people are all likely to fail,' and much more of that nature. And I inquired if they cou'd prove their assertions against you. They say, yes, they can, by some of their creditors ; and will, if you carry action. But I could not learn against whom, nor where the person lived.

" Yesterday I was in Upper Freehold, among some company, where I heard them resolve, concerning you, much the same as above; wishing you might come to court, for there were between seven and eight hundred of them ready to receive you. Nay, I have heard some of them declare solemnly they would use you as the informers were used in New

1 " The table of the Assembly groaned beneath the weight of petitions which were daily presented, praying for relief and invoking vengeance on the heads of the attorneys." - Field.

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF MONMOUTH COUNTY.

York and Philadelphia. I know they collected some money to purchase two barrels of Tar, and have agreed with a man to hale it a Monday. And, as far as I can learn, it is for you. They intend to tar and feather you, and so cart you from the court-house to the laws to their regular course." This state- ment, however, does not appear to be entirely correct in all particulars, though it is true that the rioters were appeased and dispersed ; but Vankirk's Mill and back again, in imitation of the not until after they had cleared the court-house Oisterman in New York. I shou'd have taken the trouble to come to your house and informed you of the plotters against your person ere now, only, as I have considerable property in this County, I know they would utterly ruin me if they knew I divulged to you the least matter. and held possession of it for some little time. The same scenes were re-enacted, and with greater violence, at the January term of 1770, when, on the day for opening the sessions, great numbers of people gathered at Freehold, took possession of the court-house, and were success- ful in preventing the assembling of the court. A riot of the same kind occurred at about the same time in the county of Essex.

"Friend Legrange, you can act as you think will "best suit you. Only I would advise you, as a friend, to consider seriously the fury of an enraged mob, mad with oppression; and think deliberately with your- self how you expect to escape their hands. O, I be- seech you to ponder well in your own breast the fate of many Kings and Princes when they become obnox- ious or hateful to the people. And the spirit of riot- ing seems to increase in our day. Think of the fate of Major James Ogden and many of the custom- house officers. Nay, we have daily instances of one or another falling a sacrifice to the people when pro- voked. And I can positively affirm if thou hadst dwelt in this County, there would not have been left one stone on another of your house ere now. Raro antecedentem scelestum, desiruit pede panaceaudo.

" I ordered my young man to leave this for you at your house or Duff's for thee."

This letter being brought to the atten- tion of the House of Assembly, that body " Resolved, That the said letter is scandalous and unwarrantable ; and that this House look upon the same as manifestly tending to a breach of the publick peace." On the question of this resolution, the Middlesex members voted in the negative, those of Monmouth and Somerset were divided, and the vote in the whole House being a tie, the Speaker gave the casting vote in the affirmative, and so secured its passage.

With regard to the riotous proceedings at Monmouth Court-House, to which a slight ref- erence is made in the foregoing letter to Le- grange, Field says: "In July, 1769, a multitude of persons assembled in a riotous manner at Freehold, in the county of Monmouth, and endeavored to prevent the lawyers from entering the court-house and transacting business. But the tumult was at this time quelled, owing, in a great measure, to the spirited exertions of Richard Stockton. . . . He appeased the . rioters, punished the ringleaders and restored

A few days after these occurrences Governor Franklin wrote (January 28th) to Cortlandt Skinner, saying that the recent riotous proceed- ings at Monmouth were of so alarming a nature that he had thought it necessary to call a meet- ing of the Council at Amboy on the 7th of Feb- ruary, and to require the attendance of the sheriff and justices of the county who were present at the riot; that the affair was such an audacious insult to the government that, let the conse- quences be what they might, the offenders should be punished in the most exemplary manner.

On the 28th of April following, the Governor wrote the Earl of Hillsborough, saying that the Assembly had been called together on account of the riots by the "Sons of Liberty" in Mon- mouth and Essex Counties, but that, in the mean time, the rioters had been entirely quelled and humbled. The Governor issued a special commission to try the rioters, and some of the leading ones were tried and punished in Essex County, but in Monmouth they escaped punish- ment by reason of the sympathy and support of the inhabitants of certain parts of the county. The disturbances, however, had been quelled without bloodshed, and from that time until the opening of the Revolution the business of the courts went on without molestation.

With regard to the intensely bitter feeling against members of the legal profession, which had been the cause of these outbreaks, the real facts were that many of the people in this region had placed themselves heavily in debt by larger purchases of land than their means would war- rant, and when the hard times of 1765-70 came

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

on they were unable to meet the payments then falling due, and many were consequently sold out by the sheriff. Then they wrongly blamed the lawyers as having caused their misfortunes, and thus they worked themselves up to a state of frenzied excitement which brought about the result above narrated.

In mentioning these riotous outbreaks, Field intimates that a large proportion of the chief promoters of them were men who, six or seven years later, abandoned the American cause, and went over to the British ; instancing the case of Samuel Tucker, of Hunterdon County, who was a leading spirit among the opponents of the attorneys, and who afterwards joined the enemies of his country. But, on the other hand, it appears that in the year 1784, Abraham Clark, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, urged in the New Jersey Legislature (of which he was a member) the passage of " An Act for Regulating and Shortening the Proceedings of the Court of Law," of which he remarked : " If it succeeds, it will tear the ruffles off the lawyers' wrists." The bill was opposed by Governor Livingston, and did not become a law ; but the preceding facts seem to show that no one partic- ular class of men stood alone in the unreasoning and unreasonable antagonism which prevailed in New Jersey against members of the legal profession from the time of Queen Anne till long after the close of the Revolutionary War.

Governor Parker, in an address delivered October 31, 1873, as follows :

"Fifty years ago there was scarcely a cele- brated lawyer in this State who did not attend our courts. Richard Stockton, Samuel L. Southard, George Wood (whom Daniel Web- ster said he regarded as his most dangerous op- ponent in the Supreme Court of the United States) and others, whose fame became national, for a long time practiced here. When I came to the bar, thirty years ago, among the princi- pal practitioners in this county were Garret D. Wall, distinguished as a jury lawyer; William L. Dayton, who had one of the best legal minds of his day ; Daniel B. Ryall, a faithful and industrious advocate, of excellent common sense ; Judge Vredenburgh, who lately died full of years and honors ; Joseph F. Randolph, who filled with great credit many positions of trust and James M. Hartshorne, a young lawyer of much promise. All these are dead. Subse- quently, Jehu Patterson, Edmond M. Throck- morton and Major Peter Vredenburgh com- menced practice here with bright prospects, but were cut off in the meridian of life. Other members of our brotherhood, still living, with whom I have so long held pleasant intercourse, I will not mention. . . . "

GARRET D. WALL was born in the township of Middletown, Monmouth County, in 1783. His father was James Wall, who was an officer in the militia during the Revolutionary War, and was in the battle of Monmouth. The first of the family in this county was Walter Wall, who was one of the original settlers at Middle-" town. The father of Garret D. Wall died when he was ten years of age, and soon after his father's death he went to reside with his unele, Dr. Wall, at Woodbridge, N. J. When fifteen years old he went to Trenton, where he entered the law-office of General Jonathan Rhea, who was at this time clerk of the Supreme Court. There he became well grounded in the principles of law and familiar with prac- tice and pleading, and was throughout his life regarded by the bar as authority on those sub- jects.

The number of counselors and attorneys prac- ticing in the courts of Monmouth County during the forty years next succeeding the close of the Revolution was not large. Among them (including several who were not residents of the county, but who were very frequently employed in cases here) were Jonathan Rhea, Joseph Scudder, Caleb and Corlies Lloyd, James H. Imlay, Frederick Frelinghuysen, Henry Hankin- son (all of whom were in practice here several years prior to 1800), Garret D. Wall, Joseph Phillips, Theodore Frelinghuysen Richard H. | Stockton, Joseph W. Scott, Samuel L. Southard, Daniel B. Ryall, Henry D. Polhemus and others, almost equally prominent. The Monmouth courts, and the advocates who practiced in them Mr. Wall was licensed as attorney in 1804, between 1820 and 1845, were referred to by ex- | and as counselor in 1807. He commenced the

Daniel B Royale

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF MONMOUTH COUNTY.

business of his profession at Trenton, and at an early day was elected clerk of the Supreme Court. In 1822 he was chosen a member of the General Assembly. At that time he belonged to the Democratic party, and he adhered to its principles throughout his life.

Being fond of military matters, he entered a uniformed militia organization in Trenton, and as captain of this organization he served at Sandy Hook in the war of 1812. He was appointed, soon after the war, quartermaster- general of the State, and always after that was called General Wall.

In 1828 he removed to Burlington. In 1829 he was elected Governor of the State, but de- clined the position. In the same year he was appointed by President Jackson United States district attorney for New Jersey.

In 1834, General Wall was elected United States Senator. He proved to be an able supporter of the Jackson and Van Buren administrations, and made many speeches in that body when it contained such men as Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, Southard and others, which gave him a wide reputation as an orator and statesman. General Wall died in 1850, being at the time of his death a judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey.

Garret D. Wall was perhaps the most popular man of his day in the State. He was the leader of the Democratic party for a quarter of a cen- tury, and so great was the confidence reposed in him that the conventions of his political friends were often wholly governed by his will in their platforms and candidates, and he proved a safe leader.

As a lawyer, General Wall stood side by side with Richard Stockton, George Wood, Peter D. Vroom and other able men of his generation then at the head of the bar. During his whole professional career, except when en- gaged with official duties and absent from the State, he attended the courts of Monmouth County. There are many now living who have heard him try causes at Freehold. He was able, adroit, ready and sometimes eloquent. He addressed a jury in a familiar way which soon won their attention and put them on good terms with the speaker and with themselves.

General Wall was noted for hospitality ; he was kind, gentle and companionable, public-spirited, patriotic, and much attached to his native State and county.

DANIEL BAILEY RYALL, son of Thomas and Rebecca Ryall, one of the most respected, beloved and distinguished lawyers who ever practiced in the courts of Monmouth County, was born in the city of Trenton, January 30, 1798, and received his primary education in the schools and academy of that city. At an early age he entered as a student in the law- office of the Honorable Garret D. Wall, who at that time was the leading practitioner of the State. Mr. Ryall was a diligent student, and after the usual term of study, aided by the pro- found learning of his preceptor, he was admit- ted as an attorney in September, 1820, and in that year came to Monmouth County, and lo- cating in Freehold, entered upon the practice of his profession. He brought to his work a well-balanced mind, a thorough knowledge of the practice, sound practical common sense, integrity of character, habits of application and indomitable energy. Such a man could not fail to succeed. He soon acquired a lucrative practice, and retained it for more than thirty- five years, after which time he voluntarily retired from active business.

He loved the profession of his choice, and in it he was eminently successful. His industry and energy were remarkable, and contributed in no small degree to his success. He was not only faithful to his clients, but he became en- grossed in and seemed identified with the causes which were placed in his charge. He was absolutely free from jealousy of profes- sional rivals. If, in the course of an exciting trial, an angry word or an unguarded expres- sion was used such as might interrupt amicable relations between counsel, he was the first to renew the friendly greeting with a smile and the offer of the hand. He was genial and pleasant in his intercourse with his professional brethren, as in social life. He delighted to relate to his younger associates incidents illus- trating the character of the learned and elo- quent counsel with whom he had mingled in his earlier years.

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

" You all know," said the Honorable Joel and Maria Scudder. She died on February 8, Parker, in an address to the members of the 1852. Their children were Louisa Scudder, - Edward Hunt, William Scudder, Thomas Wall and Philip Johnston. Of these, Thomas Wall Ryall, living near Freehold, is the only survivor. bar on the occasion of the formal announcement of Mr. Ryall's death, " what fears of failure, what anxiety for success agitate the mind of the young advocate when about passing the ordeal of his first case in court. I well remem- ber my emotions as I took my seat for the first time at this table and found that Mr. Ryall, the oldest member of the bar, was the opposing counsel. Principles of law applicable to the case and almost every fact upon which I had relied upon a favorable decision fled from my memory. But there was no attempt on his part to take advantage of my agitation and inexperience. On the contrary, a certain kind- ness of tone and manner was manifested that soon restored confidence. Afterwards he took occasion to speak kind words of encouragement, so grateful to ambitious youth just entering the threshold of active life. The circumstance impressed me deeply, and when, in subsequent years, doubt and despondency occasionally arose, memory reverted to those cheering words, which had, perhaps, been forgotten by the friend who spoke them; and now that I am here, after. the lapse of more than twenty years, to join with you in mourning his departure, that scene and those words come to my mind as vividly asif they were the events of yesterday."

Mr .- Ryall was called to fill prominent posi- tions both in the State and national councils. He was for several successive years a member of the Legislature of New Jersey, and during that time held the office of Speaker of the Assembly. Subsequently he was elected a member of the and he discharged the duties of his public posi- tion honorably and with great ability. He died at Freehold on the 17th of December, 1864.

House of Representatives of the United States, | Democrat, and so continued during the remainder

Mr. Ryall was married, on the 18th of Sep- tember, 1822, to Miss Rachel Bray Lloyd, daughter of Caleb and Martha A. Lloyd. She died on July 1, 1825, leaving two chil- dren,-Caleb Lloyd and William Scudder. The latter died in infancy, the former in 1848.

JOSEPH F. RANDOLPH, a prominent member of the Monmouth bar, and later an associate jus- tice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, was a native of New York City, born March 14, 1803. His father was Dr. Robert F. Randolph, who settled at Piscataway, Middlesex County, N. J., where the son, Joseph F., spent his early years and received his preparatory education. He was admitted to practice as an attorney in May, 1825, and as counselor in May, 1828. On his admission to the bar he opened an office at Freehold, and was soon afterwards appointed prosecutor of the pleas for Monmouth County. At the age of thirty-one years he was elected a member of Congress, and served in that position (having been re-elected) until and including the year 1840. In 1841 he removed from Free- hold to New Brunswick. In February, 1845, Governor Charles E. Stratton appointed him a | justice of the Supreme Court, in which office he served seven years, residing at Trenton, to which place he had removed from New Brunswick upon his appointment. He was highly esteemed by his brethren of the bench, and respected by the people of the State, as an upright and im- partial judge. In 1854 he was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the laws of the State. In the early years of his life he was an ardent Whig, and was elected to Congress by that party ; but after its death he became a of his life. In 1865 he removed from Trenton to Jersey City, where he died, March 19, 1873.

WILLIAM LEWIS DAYTON was born in Somerset County, N. J., February 17, 1807. He graduated at Princeton in 1825; studied law at Somerville with Hon. Peter D. Vroom ; was licensed as attorney in 1830 and as coun- | selor in 1833. He commenced the practice of his profession in Monmouth County, first at Middletown Point (now Matawan) for a short time, and afterwards settled at Frechold. He

On January 2, 1828, Mr. Ryall married Miss Juliet Phillips Scudder, daughter of Joseph | soon took a leading position at the county bar,

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF MONMOUTH COUNTY.

and was favorably known as a lawyer in other parts of the State.

In 1837 he was elected to the Legislative Council (now the Senate) of New Jersey. In 1838 he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, and removed to Trenton. In 1841 he resigned his judgeship with a view of pursuing his profession. In 1842, Samuel L. Southard, one of the United States Senators from New Jersey, died, and Judge Dayton was appointed to fill the unexpired term, and was subsequently elected for a full term. It is rarely that one so young attains to such distinction.

Judge Dayton proved himself in debate a match for older members of that august body, then in its palmy days. His term as Senator expired in 1837, and he then resumed his pro- fession. For some years after the date last mentioned he attended regularly the Monmouth courts, where he was engaged in nearly every important cause.

In the trial of Charles Johnson for the mur- der of Maria Lewis, Mr. Dayton defended the prisoner. He was convicted; but in conse- quence of the jury not stating the degree of the murder in their verdict, the prisoner was again tried, and was acquitted.

In 1856, Judge Dayton was nominated for Vice-President of the United States, on the ticket with Fremont, by the then new Repub- lican`party. In 1857 he was appointed attor- ney-general of the State, and in the fall of that year was engaged in the prosecution of James P. Donnelly for the murder (August 1, 1857) of Albert S. Moses, at the Sea View House, a place of summer resort at the Nave- sink Highlands. It was a remarkable crime, and the case excited intense interest throughout the country. Donnelly was a young man of good education and prepossessing manners, who was employed as a clerk at the Sea View House, and having lost money by playing cards with Moses (who was also employed at the same house), entered the latter's room and stabbed him in his bed, to get possession of the money, which Moses had placed between the mattresses. The evidence of the murderer's guilt was conclusive, and his trial before Judge Vredenburgh, in the Court of Oyer and Ter- .

miner, resulted in a verdict of guilty. The record was taken to the Supreme Court, and afterwards to the Court of Errors and Appeals, where all the rulings were affirmed, and Don- nelly was executed in the jail-yard at Freehold, January 8, 1858. The counsel in that cele- brated trial (now a leading case on the subject of dying declarations) were Joel Parker, prose- cutor of the pleas of Monmouth County and William L. Dayton, attorney-general, for the State, and Amzi C. McLean, Joseph P. Brad- ley, now a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, and ex-Governor Pennington for the prisoner.

In 1861, Judge Dayton was appointed, by President Lincoln, minister to France. In that difficult position, during our civil war, he proved himself a wise and able representa- tive, and was of great service to the government. He died at Paris, December 1, 1864.

William L. Dayton was acknowledged . by all to have been one of the ablest and most eloquent jury lawyers of his day. His practice was extensive also in the higher courts, where his arguments were logical and convincing. He had the rare faculty of seizing only the strong points of a case and presenting them with brevity.

JOHN HULL, a judge of the Monmouth County courts for a quarter of a century, and a resident of the county for more than sixty years, was born May 28, 1762, in the family mansion then owned by his father, Hopewell Hull, at the Cross-Roads, between Princeton and New Brunswick. The earliest mention of him (other than the above, with reference to the date and place of his birth) is found in an account, given by himself, of his capture by British troops in the time of the Revolution. In 1776, when he was only fourteen years of age, he went to assist his two older brothers, who were engaged in making salt from sea-water at a point on the Monmouth County coast. While thus employed, the British and Refugees attacked and destroyed the salt-works, taking the three brothers as prisoners to New York, where they were con- fined in the old "Sugar-House" prison. After having been there some time, the youth was seen and recognized by Dr. Clarke, a distant

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

relative of the family, but a Royalist, who had ! taken refuge within the British lines. He inquired of the boy how he came to be there, and on being informed of the facts, said it was no place for one of his tender age, and promised - to procure his release. He did so, and soon afterwards young John Hull was set at liberty and allowed to return home, thus, perhaps, owing his life to the doctor's kind efforts ; for it could hardly be expected that a boy of fourteen years could long survive the horrors of the "Sugar-

he followed for many years with great success. He was frugal in his habits, untiring in his in- dustry, and of the strictest integrity and honesty in all his dealings and transactions with men ; and he gradually amassed an independent for- tune. He always took pleasure in referring to his early labors at the anvil, and by his own example endeavored to impress upon young men the importance of industry, temperance and economy, and the dignity of labor.

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History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1, Part 52

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 974

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 974