A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 96

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 96

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Judge Dikeman, the last of the presiding Judges at Flatbush, was the son of a Hemp- stead farmer, and was born in that township in 1795. For a time he was a teacher in a school on Adams street, near Sands street, but while so engaged lie zealously studied law. In 1821 he was appointed clerk of the village of Brooklyn, and held that office until he was. appointed to the bench in 1830.

In referring to the career of Henry C. Murphy reference was often made to his law firm, Lott, Murphy & Vanderbilt, and as the members of that firm were really representa- tive lawyers of Brooklyn for many years as. well as active in its politics, the careers of the other members may be briefly summarized. John A. Lott was born in Flatbush in 1805, and was the representative of a family whose progenitor settled there in 1682. In 1828 Mr. Lott was admitted to practice at the bar,

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and for some time held an office in New York. His acquaintance with Mr. Murphy brought about a partnership with that gentleman in 1835, and Mr. Lott removed his office to Brooklyn. In 1836 Judge Vanderbilt was assumed as a partner, and the firm of Lott, Murphy & Vanderbilt started in its history of some twenty years, until Mr. Murphy be- came Minister to The Hague, in 1857. Then it became Lott & Vanderbilt and so continued until Judge Vanderbilt's death, in 1878, when Mr. Lott continued in business alone until he was summoned hence, in 1878. With Judge Lott's politics, of course, this work has no in- terest, but it must be confessed that he was as much a politician as a lawyer, and for a long time was the acknowledged leader of his party in Brooklyn. In 1838 he was ap- pointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, in 1841 was elected a member of the Assem- bly, and about two years later was chosen Senator. His legislative career was a most honorable one. He took an active part in the debates on every important public question, and his words, well thought out and elegantly and forcefully expressing the ideas of a well- read man and one who was in favor of legiti- mate reforms of all sorts, carried much weight. One notable speech he made was on a motion to cheapen the cost of the printed reports of the State courts' decisions, in which he came pretty close to the notion of a Scotch jurist who held that when the State enacted a law and the law continued in force, the State should attend to its enforcement and its ad- ministration so that justice would cost nothing, as justice was a right, not a privilege to be paid for. Judge Lott, among other things, said :

I am strongly in favor of cheap law and cheap law-books. I think it quite as important that a knowledge of law should be brought within the reach of the people as the knowl- edge of any other science,-for law, as has been well said, "is the rule of human action." We have read of the Roman Emperor who caused his code to be written in fine letters

on tablets, placed on towers so high that none could read it. Those who favor the other side of this question do indirectly what that Em- peror did. Sir, I do not desire to emulate him in any degree. I cordially indorse the lan- guage of a great English law reformer who said : It was the boast of Augustus,-it formed a part of the glare in which the perfidies of his early years were lost,-that he found Rome built of brick and left it marble ; but how much more noble will be the Sovereign's boast when he shall have it to say that he found law dear and left it cheap; found it a sealed book, left it a living letter; found it the patrimony of the rich, left it the inheritance of the poor ; found it the two-edged sword of tyranny and oppression, and left it the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence.

In 1857 Judge Lott was elected to the Su- preme Court and entered on his duties January 1, 1858. In 1869 he was elected to the bench of the Court of Appeals.

John Vanderbilt, the junior partner of the famous firm, was, like Mr. Lott, a native of Flatbush, and, like him, was descended from an ancient family of that good old town. In 1835 he became associated in business with Mr. Lott and Mr. Murphy, and his association with Judge Lott continued until the close of his active career. In 1844 Mr. Vanderbilt was appointed by Governor William C. Bouck to the responsible position of first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Kings county to succeed Judge Greenwood, who had re- signed. He discharged the duties of this im- portant position with faithfulness and credit for two years, until the Court of Common Pleas was abolished by the adoption of the New Constitution in 1846, and the creation of the County Court as at present constituted. It has been said that, at the time of his netire- ment from the bench, there was not a more popular man, politically and socially, in the city of Brooklyn than he. In the fall of 1852 he received the Democratic nomination for the State Senate, to which position he was chosen by a large majority. He filled this station oreditably for the full term of two years. Dur-

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ing his term as Senator he was appointed one of the Commissioners to investigate the har- bor encroachments of New York. He was also selected as one of the Commissioners to investigate the affairs of President Nott and Union College. In the fall of 1856 he was nominated on the Democratic ticket for Lieu- tenant-Governor, with Amasa J. Parker, of Albany, as Governor, but the Democrats were not successful in the issue of the election. For several years before his death, which oc- curred at Flatbush May 16, 1877, Judge Van- derbilt was retired from active service by a shock of paralysis; but, "in the prime of his energy was certainly the most vigorous and handsome man in public or political life in this county, if not in the State. His strong, manly beauty mated with and was the exponent of qualities of mind and heart, as attractive as his gifts and graces of person. In a time when 'rings' were unknown, he was a Demo- crat ; in a time when sectionalism was hardly an apparition, and when the State had its full rights, whether it was weighed or counted as a factor, he was a patriot, and one who gloried in his whole country ; in a time when shysters had not been evolved, and when petti- foggers were limited to a satirical stage or a sarcastic literature, he was a lawyer; in a time when gentlemen were as dominant in poli- tics, and scholars as dominant in council as they now are not, he was a scholar and a gen- tleman. His rapidity of public development, his activity in affairs, his not surpassed quali- ties of good-fellowship, the magnetism of his mind and manners, and the impressive appeal which he could address to the people, early made him and long kept him what he was freely called, 'Kings County's Favorite Son,' when that appellation was forcible by its rar- ity, significant in its meaning, and when it had not been vulgarized by its application to the politicians by profession, and to the place-hunt- ers by occupation."

Judge Vanderbilt married Gertrude Phebe Lefferts, daughter of John Lefferts, of Flat-

bush. She yet survives, and by her volume on "The Social History of Flatbush" and other graceful writings, has done much to keep alive the kindly memories of that old Dutch town. She has been a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines, and her inter- esting story of the Dutch Reformed Church at Flatbush has been by general request in- corporated in these pages.

No study of the past generation of Brook- lyn lawyers would be complete without a sketch of Alden J. Spooner, who was at once a representative citizen, a representative law- yer, and a representative of the higher cul- ture of the city. The following is condensed from a sketch by L. B. Proctor. Alden T. Spooner was born at Sag Harbor February 10, 1810. His father, Colonel Alden Spooner, was long the foremost journalist in Brooklyn, established "The Long Island Star," the first newspaper published on Long Island, and in 1841, although not bred to the law, was ap- pointed Surrogate of Kings county. His son, however, was duly qualified for a legal career and was admitted to practice in the regular manner and after a thorough training.

His first case at the Queens county bar was one of great difficulty, full of knotty legal questions ; and in addition to this his opponent was one of the ablest lawyers of his times. Mr. Spooner had associated with him a very able and experienced lawyer, who was to try the case before the jury. But, being taken suddenly ill, the whole responsibility of the case rested upon the young advocate. With many misgivings he entered the contest; but as the struggle deepened his timidity vanished, confidence and self-reliance took its place, and after a long and bitter contest his efforts were crowned with a triumph that greatly advanced his professional prospects.

In May, 1836, the celebrated case of the People v. John Nichols was tried at the Suf- folk Term of Oyer and Terminer, the Hon. Ogden Edwards presiding. Nichols had been indicted for an assault with an intent to kill

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and for burglary. The crime was committed under circumstances of great atrocity. Spoon- er appeared for the defense, interposing the plea of insanity for his client. The case is re- membered as one in which an unprecedented number of eminent physicians were sworn as witnesses for and against the prisoner; those for the defense established beyond a doubt his insanity, while an equal number. testified that he was perfectly sane. Under this conflict of evidence Spooner went to the jury. With great ingenuity he took advantage of this marked conflict in the professional evidence, thereby raising a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the prisoner.

"Gentlemen of the jury," said he, "you have the testimony of ten respectable physi- cians showing the insanity of my client. It is true you have an equal number of equally re- spectable physicians who testify to his sanity. Notwithstanding this, will you take the respon- sibility of convicting a man of a charge as serious as this, whom ten scientific physicians have pronounced insane? They may be right, gentlemen,-quite as likely to be right as those who have testified against them. Here, then, gentlemen, is such a reasonable doubt of my client's guilt that you can not convict him ; for, gentlemen, when doctors disagree, who can decide?"

His whole plea was a masterly effort, and so pronounced by the bar and spectators pres- ent. He was followed by the Hon. Selah B. Strong, District Attorney of Suffolk county, afterward one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the Second Judicial District of the State. Judge Strong made a very able and eloquent reply to Mr. Spooner's argument, but the jury rendered a verdict of "Not guilty," and the prisoner was discharged. This was a signal victory for the young lawyer. As a speaker Mr. Spooner had a full share of ad- vantages in personal appearance, in oratorical and reasoning powers, and in clear voice. These united qualities commanded respect and attention, and often produced conviction in

the minds of his hearers. With his pen he was a more powerful dispenser of eloquence than with his lips. Possessing a fine literary taste, strengthened and enlarged by classical lore, and an extensive knowledge of books, he ranked among the most able writers of his times. His capacity for intense application to literary labor seemed exhaustless. All his literary efforts exhibit vivacity and strength of mind, quickness of perception and great purity of taste. Books were his constant com- panions, and he was ever a close student of the Greek and Latin writers. He used to say: "I am pleased with Livy, for his inimita- ble manner of telling a story; with Sallust, for his entering into those internal principles of action which arise from the characters and manners of those he described ;, with Tacitus, for displaying those outward motives of safe- ty and interest which give birth to the whole series of transactions he relates." A more pleasing and truthful description of these ele- gant writers could hardly be given.

His literary taste gradually led him from the duties of his profession. As has well been said: "The literary and artistic features of Mr. Spooner's character were an especial and profitable phase in his life. He wrote much and well. In his earlier years, besides the work of editing the 'Long Island Star,' he was a frequent and valuable contributor to that greatly admired periodical, 'The Knick- erbocker Magazine.' The history of Brooklyn and Long Island always interested him deeply. He furnished a loving, tender biography of the author to a reprint of Gabriel Furman's 'Notes, Geographical and Historical, Relat- ing to the Town of Brooklyn' (annotated by Dr. H. R. Stiles), which was published in 1865. He also edited a reprint of Silas Wood's 'Sketch of the First Settlement of the Towns of Long Island.' Of both of these works small editions on large paper, for private dis- tribution, were issued by the Faust Club (consisting of Alden J. Spooner and Henry R. Stiles) in 1865.

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"A more recent work was the article on Brooklyn in Johnson's Encyclopedia, published a few years ago,-a very complete sketch; and he also contributed articles on other top- ics for the same work.

"Mr. Spooner's interest in public affairs dates back to his earlier years. When, on the 18th of November, 1830, the Hamilton Liter- ary Society was organized, Mr. Spooner, then a youth of twenty years, was one of the active promoters of the movement, and was elected first president of the Hamilton. With him were associated at that time, in the organiza- tion of the society, such men as Henry C. Murphy, A. A. Low, Seth Low, John T. How- ard, Prof. Raymond,-afterward President of the Polytechnic and Vassar College,-Joshua A. Van Cott and Hon. John Greenwood, of the city of Brooklyn."

One of the pleasantest instances in the lit- erary career of Mr. Spooner was the semi-cen- tennial of the Hamilton, on the evening of January 19, 1880, held in the Art Gallery on Montague street. As one of the founders of the society and its first president, Mr. Spooner was one of the honored guests of the evening, and there led in that old song so dear to all Hamiltonians,

"When we all ate the oyster fries Way down at Johnny Joe's."

He was the writer of that song, and it has been sung at the annual banquets of that so- ciety for years. It carries the memory of many a gray-haired and reverend citizen back to his younger days, and to the pleasures and com- panions of his youth.

Mr. Spooner loved the Hamilton Society as a parent loves its offspring ; and he was always the hearty friend of the young men who, year after year, swelled its ranks and participated in its exercises.

His connection with the establishing of the Long Island Historical Society is one of the main features of his career. The idea was present in his brain long before the initial

step was taken, and his name is signed to the call for the meeting held on the 16th of Feb- ruary, 1863, when the project took shape and form, and he was among its first officers. He drew largely from the shelves of his own library to contribute to the infant library of the institution. He presented pictures and ob- jects of interest to the gallery and museum of the society, and he was always its earnest, steadfast friend; and his leisure hours were largely passed in its alcoves. The following minute was adopted by the Board of Directors of the Long Island Historical Society, Octo- ber II, 1881, as expressive of their sense of the loss which the society sustained in his death :

Alden J. Spooner, one of the councillors of this society, died suddenly in the month of August last. His life was most absolutely that of a Long Islander. He was born in Suffolk county, passed the greater part of his life in Kings, and died and was buried in the county of Queens. His tastes were always predominantly literary, and his busier years were divided between journalism and the practice of the law. He was a wide reader, and wrote with facility and finish in both prose and verse. He was a delightful companion, and abounded in anecdote, fun and genial hu- mor. He was humane and generous up to the full measure of his means. From early man- hood down to his death, on the very verge of old age, he sympathized with all measures and efforts which aimed to make men wiser, better and happier in their lives. Beyond most of his contemporaries, he had a prescience of the rapid growth and prosperity of this city, and of its needs of libraries, lyceums, schools of art, and other institutions for culture and pleasure ; and he was always a prompt, eager and enthusiastic participant in all combined efforts to make adequate provision for such needs. The early Apprentices' Library, the City Library, the Athenæum, and the Hamilton Literary Association, are among his debtors, and should hold him in grateful and honorable remembrance. The circular which convened the earliest meeting for the organization of this society was from his pen, and bears his name, and he was not only among the first, but among the most zealous of those to whose public spirit the society owes its existence.

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Prominent and active members of the existing institutions of the city, who shared his genial companionship and liberal aims, have united to pay a parting tribute to his cultivated tastes, his broad humanity, his devotion to the welfare of the city and the island, and to his high character for integrity in his relations to his fellow men.

Mr. Spooner was also largely interested in establishing the Brooklyn Institute, on Waslı- ington street. Indeed, there is scarcely one among the older institutions of Brooklyn in which he was not actively interested. The latest offspring of his efforts in this direction was the Society of Old Brooklynites.

As a judge of art, Mr. Spooner had few superiors among amateurs. Painting and sculpture were equally a study with him, and he had an intelligent appreciation of their finer points.

In his later years he was engaged in col- lecting, arranging in chronological order, and uniting together a mass of historical incidents relating to Long Island, which he had been years in gathering. It was his intention, had his life been spared, to have written a com- prehensive history of Long Island; but death came to him suddenly at his residence in Hempstead, on the evening of August 2, 1881.

He never had any taste for politics, conse- quently never sought political distinction or official promotion. The only office le ever held was that of clerk of the Brooklyn City Court. As has well been said: "Always too ready to yield to the advancement of others, he put aside positions he would have splendidly adorned with his magnificent intellect."

Mr. Spooner's life was one of spotless in- tegrity, and the rigid honesty of his business dealings always secured him absolute confi- dence, not only with his clients, but with all classes of business men. He was a fascinating and instructing conversationalist ; one of those persons in whose society intelligent men and women became still more intelligent. He could draw out persons, if there was anything.

in them to draw out; if there was a subject about which they knew more than he did, nothing pleased him so much as to have it introduced. He seized quickly upon charac- teristic traits, and by an anecdote would put one in possession of the real character of the man better than an extended biography.

Perhaps no Judge in Brooklyn came, for a time, more before the eyes of the civilized world than did Justice Joseph Neilson, who presided so ably over the famous Beecher- Tilton trial. He was born at Argyle, New York, April 15, 1815, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. His father was a physician. Joseph studied for the legal profession, and on being admitted to the bar "hung out his shingle" in Oswego, New York, and there remained until 1844, when he removed to New York and took up practice there, building up quickly a large business. He made his home in Brook- lyn, and in 1870 he was elected one of the Judges of that city. He retired at the close of 1882, having then reached the constitutional age limit. He was in every respect a remarka- ble Judge, and a notable instance of this was given just toward the close of the long and involved Beecher-Tilton trial. The evidence was all in, the decisions of the Judge on law points had been given day after day with un- varying courtesy, the lawyers had summed up and every one waited to hear the Judge's charge. All through the long trial he had been so impartial that neither side could say how the evidence had impressed him or what his opinion of the case really was. Now it seemed as if he must at least show his leaning, and counsel, jury and public hung on his words as he laid down the law, pointed out the value of the evidence submitted and went over every detail, every law point, and presented the whole in such a clear and logical manner that the jury had, as it were, a birds-eye view of the ugly story laid before them. At the conclusion of his summing up not a single exception was taken to any part of his ad- dress by the counsel on either side; all those

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brilliant men who had weighed every word uttered could find no flaw, no wavering in the scales of justice, and through their spokesmen answered they were "content." In comment- ing on the charge the Albany Law Journal said: "The brief charge to the jury of Judge Neilson, in the Tilton-Beecher case, is a marked contrast with the address of Lord Cockburn in the Tichborne case. The address of the former occupied only one hour and a half, while that of the latter required many days, and fills two ponderous volumes. The vast variety of topics, social, moral, religious, political and legal, which were connected with the Tilton-Beecher case, gave the counsel on both sides, and the Judge presiding, a splen- did opportunity to air their learning, their fancy, their rhetoric and their logic. This op- portunity the counsel accepted, but the Judge modestly, and we think commendably, re- frained from the display of anything but what the necessities of the case required. His charge is a model of clearness, precision and force. It seems almost incredible that the case could have been presented to the jury adequately in so few words. But a careful perusal of the charge shows that nothing was left out which was necessary to the complete presentation of the case. The whole address bears marks of the most patient and careful consideration of all the material evidence, under the most wonderful condensation. The spirit which breathes through the address is one of the ut- most fairness and impartiality. The counsel on both sides expressed themselves satisfied, and this of itself is a high testimonial to the freedom from bias which the charge evinces."

The summing up in the Beecher-Tilton case, grand as it was and hailed as it was with acclaim all over the civilized world,-at least over as much of it as American newspapers reached, has now in a measure lost most of its interest for us. The world has long ago made a decision in the case, grander and more conclusive than that of the jury, and fully ac- cepted the perfect innocence of Brooklyn's

greatest preacher and foremost citizen. But Judge Neilson was a polished man of letters, as well as a brilliant jurist, and we as laymen can read much of his literary work to-day with more interest than even his most pains- taking utterances from the bench. Here, how- ever, is a summing up which seems so perfect a piece of literary work, and at the same time so thoroughly judicial in tone, that it may serve to recall his genius in both qualities. It is, in fact, a summing up of the characters of Bacon and Coke,-two of the greatest judges of England. King James I, the "British Sol- omon," and exponent of the Divine Right the- ory, had tried to persuade his law officers that he was the supreme judge of the law and that judges should obey his wishes, and as a result had frequent conferences with those whose duty it was to administer justice. Judge Neil- son wrote :

In one of these conferences Coke thought to teach James I that he was not above the law, could not add to or alter it, or create new offenses. At another interview, Bacon, the attorney-general, present, and supporting the king in his arrogant pretensions, the question was put whether the judges would obey the royal mandates. All the other judges, infirm of purpose, answered yes; but, with the mod- eration and dignity which became his office, Coke said : "When the case happens, I shall do that which shall be fit for a judge to do."

By his independence Coke paved the way for his dismissal from office, a disgrace for which Bacon, neither the greatest nor meanest of mankind, had toiled, and in which he en- joyed a temporary triumph. But though, in that deprivation, Coke revealed what Sheridan might have called "the flabby part of his char- acter," he was thus left free to act as a states- man.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 96

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188