Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 151

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

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The contents of his book are divided into four departments : Literary, Forensic, Political and Official, in which are found most appropriate and ably written productions.

William C. De Witt was born at Paterson, New Jersey, Janu- ary 25th, 1840. He was educated at Fort Plain and Claverack seminaries ; having completed his classical course, he took up the study of law with James R. Whiting, and finished it in the office of that illustrious jurist, Ambrose L. Jordan. He received his license to practice law at a General Term of the Supreme Court held at Poughkeepsie, June, 1861. Very soon thereafter, he opened an office in Brooklyn, and entered on a professional career which, as we have seen, led him to distinction, while be- fore him lie fresh and new professional honors.

He is especially accomplished in the laws of corporations, though it is not altogether a specialty with him. He has occasion- ally been engaged as counsel in criminal cases. His defense of Gonzalez, tried for the murder of Ortero at Brooklyn, in January, 1866, is remembered as a masterly forensic effort. A long list of civil cases in which he has been engaged as counsel exhibit at once the extent of his professional duties and his ability in dis- charging them.

Mr. De Witt is, and always has been, a Democrat. His abili- ties have been so widely and justly acknowledged by the leaders of his party, that with their assent he occupies a place at the head of his party. His speeches, delivered in various State Con- ventions and other political gatherings, show how capable he is of appealing successfully to the masses, as well as to the more select of the party.

Mr. De Witt was Corporation Counsel for Brooklyn for thirteen years-six successive terms. This is, we believe, all the office he has ever held. The administration of this office by Mr. De Witt covers a long and interesting period in the legal and municipal history of Brooklyn. The number, importance and variety of the cases he was called upon to try, as the law officer of a great corporation, and the manner in which he conducted these trials, conspicuously exhibit his high qualifications as a lawyer.

Soon after the retirement of Judge Tracy from the Bench of the Court of Appeals, Mr. De Witt formed a copartnership

with that distinguished jurist and one of his sons, under the firm name of Tracy & De Witt. It is needless, perhaps, to add that this firm occupies a commanding position in the legal profession.

Mr. De Witt, to his immediate friends, is courteous and oblig- ing; an entertaining and profitable companion. With strangers and casual acquaintances he is reticent, distant and somewhat cold in his bearing; but on the whole we may say, without fear of contradiction, that he is an ornament to the Brooklyn Bar.

ROGER A. PRYOR.

GENERAL PRYOR has been a resident of Kings County about twenty years, and in that time he has won the highest dis- tinction at the Bar, in literary and political circles. His career has been so eminent, and so highly appreciated, that he has been the subject of a very ably written, just and com- prchensive biographical sketch, from which we are permitted to insert the following extract:

"Roger A. Pryor was born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, July 19, 1828. He is descended from the ancient family of Bland, famous in the annals of Virginia. Col. Theodorick Bland was an officer in the army of the Revolution, a member of Congress, and of the Convention that framed the Constitution. He was the friend and counselor of Gen. Washington, of the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, and other distinguished men in the early history of our country. From the Blands spring many of the famous men of Virginia-John Randolph, of Roanoke, Henry St. George Tucker, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and others. Young Pryor graduated from Hampden Sidney College, in 1845, and afterwards from the University of Virginia. He entered upon the practice of law at Charlottesville, Va., but an affection of the throat obliged him to abandon it, and he became a journalist. His management of a small country paper at- tracted the attention of the editor of The Washington Union, then the organ of the Democratic party under Gen. Pierce. Mr. Pryor was offered an editorial position on The Union, which he accepted in 1854. During his association with this journal, he wrote an article on the relations between the United States and Great Britain and Russia, as affected by the thien pending English and Russian war. The tone of the article was anti- English. Appearing in the journal supposed to have the sanc- tion of our Government, it made a profound impression, especial- ly as it appeared to indicate a sympathy with Russia on the part of President Pierce's Administration. While editor of The Union, Mr. Pryor sustained friendly and confidential relations with President Pierce, who in 1855 appointed him on a special mis- sion to Greece, to adjust certain difficulties with that country. He was absent for a year in prosecution of this work, which he conducted with very great success, receiving the thanks of the Government for his efforts. Mr. Pryor returned from Europe in 1856. The country was then passing through the famous ' Know-Nothing' anti-Catholic political excitement which pre- ceded our Civil War. Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, was candidate for Governor in opposition to the 'Know-Nothing' movement. Mr. Pryor purchased a share in The Richmond Enquirer, the lead- ing newspaper of the South, and took an active and prominent part in the campaign, opposing the mad theories of the 'Know- Nothing' Native American party. The triumph of Gen. Wise, as Governor, was the conclusive defeat of the Native American movement, which then passed out of the politics of this country, and was succeeded by the anti-slavery agitation, that im- mediately assumed the alarming proportions which culminated in civil war. Mr. Pryor's connection with this campaign gave him a national reputation, and in 1857 he was elected to Congress from the district formerly represented by Jolin Randolph, of Roanoke.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

"('oming into C'ongressional life with President Bnehanan's Administration, Gen. Pryor took an active part in affairs. Until the secession of the Southern States, he opposed, in the discus- sions of the time. all measures tending to the disruption of the Union, resisting the unwise counsels of extremists, pleading against violence and war. In the last speech he uttered in the House, he used these words, which may be quoted as an illustra- tion of his political opinions at a time when the animosities pre- vailed: 'Imagine the complete subjugation of the South, after every spark of vitality is extinguished, and her inanimate form lies prostrate before you; tell me what recompense do you gain for the sacrifice, what consolation for your fratricidal deed ? From the respect due the memory of our common ancestry, for the sake of a land to be rent by the eruel lacerations of the sword, and in reverence of the virtues of a benign religion, we deprecate a conflict of arms ! By the persuasions of these pious and pathetie importunities, we would soothe in every breast the spirit of strife, and invoke the pacific intervention of reason for the adjustment of our disputes.' But the disputes between North and South had gone beyond the 'pacific intervention of reason;' and when war became inevitable, and Mr. Lincoln called on Virginia for her quota of troops, Mr. Pryor urged her to stand in front of her Southern brethren, and drew his own sword gallantly in her defense. He remained in Washington until the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, having been re-elected to lis seat in Congress, and to the last enjoyed the friendship of some of the purest mnen of the hostile section-of Mr. Buchanan, Gen. Lewis Cass, Jno. P. Kennedy, Gen. Winfield Seott, and others. Like every true Southerner, he ardently took sides with his State. He was twice elected member of the Confederate Congress, was made colonel of a regiment, and promoted to briga- dier-general, after the battle of Williamsburg. He served in the memorable battles around Richmond, and in the battle of Sharps- burg. In consequence of a misunderstanding with Jefferson Davis, Gen. Pryor resigned his commission and volunteered as a private soldier. For two years he served in the ranks, and fought in the battles around Petersburg, until he was captured and imprisoned in Fort Lafayette. A few weeks before the end of the war he was released from his imprisonment by order of President Lincoln, and remained in Petersburg on parole, until the surrender of Gen. Lee. The war at an end, the South subju- gated, the old political system destroyed, Gen. Pryor came to New York."

We here close our quotation from the very able production touching the character and enreer of Gen. Pryor to which we have alluded.

Gen. Pryor had always been a close student, and at the Uni- versity of Virginia studied law one year, but, as he gave his attention to other matters, he never practiced but a short time, as we have seen.

He removed to New York with the intention of making the legal profession his future avoention in life; but as he had so long neglected it, he was obliged to commence his studies anew after becoming a resident of New York, although he was at that time 35 years of age, without fortune, with a large family, and in a strange community. He began his studies with deter- mination, supporting himself and family by writing for the press. In due time he was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York, after ereditably undergoing an examination. Hle immediately opened an office in the city of New York, and en- tered at once upon a large and lucrative practice. Heavy and re- sponsible retainers followed each other in qniek succession, and in a very short period of time he was regarded as a leading lawyer. Among the important cases in which he appeared as conusel was that of the Beecher trial ; the Elevated Rail. real case ; the case of Kennedy r. Kennedy ; Kelly r. The Common Council of Brooklyn ; Ullman r. Megar ; he was connsel for Gov. Sprague of Rhode Island in his divoree suit, and of counsel with Gen. Butler in all the Sprague estate

litigation; as counsel with Gov. Butler in the United States Circuit Court in the suit to rceover the New York and Neto England Railroad for its original stockholders ; defended Gov. Ames on his impeachment by the Legislature of Mississippi. He was the first to attack the elevated railroads in Patten v. R. R. Company. He got a decision in Ullman v. Megar, that a promise to marry is within the Statute of Frauds as to agree. ments not to be performed within the year. In Kennedy t. Kennedy, which was a suit by the wife for a limited divoree for eruel and inhuman treatment, he obtained an adjudication that the malicious and groundless imputation of adultery to a wife is cruel and inhuman treatment. In Kelly r. Common Couneil of Brooklyn, the Court of Appeals sustained his point that mem- bers of Congress are officers.

When the controversy between Mr. Tilton and Mr. Beecher assumed a legal aspeet, Mr. Pryor was retained by Mr. Tilton. Although prevented by eireumstanees from attending the whole of the trial, he took a prominent part in the case. He made the argument before the General Term of the City Court, and before the Court of Appeals, resisting the granting to the de- fendant of a bill of particulars, as well as the argument before Judge Neilson in favor of the competeney of Mr. Tilton as a witness. Upon these two questions the ease of Mr. Tilton de- pended largely. In both these contests Gen. Pryor was opposed by Mr. Evarts, and his arguments gave him great celebrity as a profound and accomplished lawyer. It is understood that his duty in the ease was, in a large degree, the preparation of law points, the study of authorities, and general consultation.

Mr. Beach, in his splendid argument to the jury in this case, referred to his associate, Mr. Pryor, as follows : " It has been a regret and a loss that unavoidable circumstances have withdrawn my learned and accomplished friend, Mr. Pryor, so much from our side. If he has not struck so many blows in the field, he has, nevertheless, been the wisdom of our cabinets. Deeply are we all indebted, and especially myself, to his ready and large learning and judicious counsel."

Gen. Pryor at once entered into polities, and became a re- eognized leader of the Demoeratie party, eloquently sustaining it with his pen and on the platform.

Fewer rank higher as a publie speaker than Gen. Pryor. Hle was a delegate to the Democratie National Convention to St. Louis, and has often been a delegate to State Conventions.

In 1877, he delivered an address at Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, on the " Relation of Scienec to Religion," and on Deco- ration Day, in May, 1877, he delivered an address before the Grand Army of the Republie in Brooklyn. Both of these pro- duetions were published, and were justly commended for their scholarly finish, logical foree, and the eloquent and impressive manner in which they were delivered. The latter address, deliv. ered on Decoration Day, at Brooklyn, has especial elaims for public commendation. The speaker had been a Confederate soldier, an officer of high grade, distinguished for his intrepidity and zeal for the Confederate cause, and he was now speaking over the dead soldiers of the Federal army. Such were his large and statesmanlike views of what the status of the North and South really should be, that his speech has gone very far towards healing the dissensions between the two sections of the country.

" Be assured," he said, " Southern statesmanship is not 80 blinded in its proverbial sagacity as not to see that henceforth the strength and security of the South are to be found only under the shield of the Union. Against the perils of foreign invasions it gains in the Union the bulwark of a mighty prestige and an invincible army; as a guarantee of peace between its discordant peoples, the ever imminent intervention of the Federal arm will operate to deter the unruly and to tranquilize the timid."

Speaking of the Confederate soldier's emotions in regard to the " løst Cause," Gen. Pryor says : ' I do not pretend it is not essential to my argument to pretend that the Southern soldier

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BENCHI AND BAR OF BROOKLYN.

contemplated the fall of the Confederacy with indifference. Born of an enthusiasm for liberty, erratic, if you please, but not the less genuine and exalted ; endeared by the memory of so many sacrifices and so many sorrows heroically borne in its be- half ; gilded by so much glory and hallowed by the blood of the brave and the tears of the fair, its disastrous overthrow smote upon the heart of the Southern soldier with an anguish he may not utter, but which he disdains to dissemble. Nor will you, its exultant but not ungenerous foe, grudge him who followed its flag through the few years of its battle-crowned career, this mournful recollection of its tragic story."

It is hardly possible to conceive of sentiments more true- more beautifully, more conscientiously expressed-than these.

Speaking of the fall of slavery, he says : " Impartial history will record that slavery fell not by any effort of man's will, but by the immediate intervention and act of the Almighty Him- self; and, in the anthem of praise ascending to Heaven for the emancipation of four million human beings, the voice of the Confederate soldier mingles its note of devout gratulation."

This address is among the many happy productions of Gen. Pryor prepared for the rostrum; his addresses to juries are equally attractive and effective. When called upon to address the court in banc, and to deal with the cold logic of the law, he is always listened to with profound respect by the judges. As a distinguished jurist remarks: "Mr. Pryor's arguments, if they do not always convince, always enlighten the mind and con- science of the court." His contributions to the literature of the day have largely enriched it, and we may well say of him that now, in the midst of a large and increasing practice, with an iron energy, with all the instincts and ambition of the student and the scholar, he has still a brilliant future before him.

JOHN A. TAYLOR.

JOHN A. TAYLOR, a prominent lawyer of Brooklyn, was born at Providence, R. I., in the year 1844. His father was a highly respected clergyman of the Christian denomination.

When very young, Mr. Taylor removed with his father's family to Westerly, R. I. He early exhibited acute and ready intel- lectual powers, and when old enough he entered the high school at Westerly, where his advancement in his studies was rapid, practical and thorough. At this institution he was prepared to enter college, but as his father's means were inadequate to meet the expenses of a collegiate course, he abandoned his intention of entering college, although he did not relinquish his studies, and his books continued to be his companions. It was his early and ardent desire to become a lawyer. This desire settled into a determination which, though thwarted by circumstances for a time, terminated in the realization of his wishes. At the age of sixteen he received an offer so advantageous to enter the office of the Christian Messenger, with a view of learning the art and mystery of a practical printer, that he accepted it, relinquishing, as he then thought, his intention of entering the legal profession. He continued his education in that school of practical knowl- edge and vigorous intellectual development-the printing office -where so many great men of the nation prepare to enter places of high responsibility and honor. His good sense, his industry and attainments were very soon recognized by the editor of the Messenger, who committed to him the literary department of the paper. But for the partial failure of his health, Mr. Taylor would, in all probability, have been as successful and useful a member of the journalistic profession as he now is of the legal.

He continued these duties until admonished that they would be fatal to him, when he resigned them and adopted a profession which gave him more exercise in the open air. To his experi- ence as a journalist, Mr. Taylor is largely indebted for the fa- cility with which he uses language, both as a writer and speaker. Certainly his written productions have that practical ease, that

unaffected energy and grasp of thought, which is the outcome of constant practice as a writer, the every-day use of his thoughts and pen as a composer.

By judicious medical treatment and constant exerciso in tho open air, he regained his health sufficiently to become tho in- structor of a class in geometry in the Westerly high school. He successfully pursued this occupation for some time, during which the paramount wish of his life-a desiro to become a lawyer-returned, and he finally entered upon his legal studies with Congressman Dixon, an able and experienced lawyer. He never relinquished the study of his profession until called to the Bar, although he divided his time somewhat between his studies and the duties of teaching, always an exceedingly pleasing occupation to him.

In 1864 he removed to New York, and there continued his legal studies. Here he found for a portion of his time, mornings and evenings, profitable and congenial occupation in a printing office, and in that way defraying his expenses while preparing for the Bar. At length his student days ended, and in 1865 he passed a successful examination, and was admitted to practice. He immediately opened an office in the metropolis. He set out on his professional career in the midst of the vast competition around him with energy and activity, determined on success, which came sufficiently for his encouragement for the present and the future. While thus practicing he became a resident of the city of Brooklyn. In 1870 he was united by marriage to Miss Dean, daughter of John Dean, Esq., ex-Corporation Counsel for the city of Williamsburgh. Mr. Taylor was soon identified with the interests and growth of Brooklyn. Polities had attrac- tions for him, as it has with most young men, and he united his fortunes with the Republican party.

In 1871 he was elected Alderman of the Thirteenth Ward of Brooklyn for the term of two years. In 1879 he was appointed a member of the Board of Elections, and when, in 1880, that Board was reorganized and made a strictly non-partisan body, Mr. Taylor was elected its president. During all this time his pro- fessional business was increasing, and he was regarded as a very successful and prosperous member of the junior Bar; in fact, he had attained a reputation as a lawyer which attracted the at- tention of the most distinguished and leading citizens of Brook- lyn, among whom was Hon. Seth Low. We may say without affectation, when that favorite citizen of Brooklyn was by such a decisive voice of the people elected Mayor of the city, on as- suming the duties of his office, he appointed Mr. Taylor Corpor- ation Counselor, the duties of which office for many years had been discharged with singular ability by William C. De Witt, Esq.

Mr. Taylor brought to his office those professional abilities and that practical legal learning which eminently qualified him to discharge the responsible and difficult duties of his office. As the law officer of the city of Brooklyn, hc has been brought very prominently before its citizens, before the courts of tho city and county and the State courts, and as a legal adviser; and as the conductor of the city litigation, he has gained the respeet and confidence of the courts and the public. A history of much of the city litigation conducted by Mr. Taylor as Corporation Counsel appears in another part of this work.

Mr. Taylor's practice has been of a general character; he has no specialty. Two criminal defenses conducted by him brought him prominently and favorably before the people. Wo allude to the Burroughs case and the Fuchs case. Both were cases which attracted universal interest; both of the defendants wero indicted and brought to trial for murder-one of them, Fuchs, for a homicide of startling atrocity. In both cases Mr. Taylor interposed the plea of insanity .* In the Burroughs case, Mr. Taylor was associated with that eminent member of thio Kings County Bar, Hon. Abram H. Dailey. The prosecution was con- ducted by Mr. Winchester Britton, then District Attorney. The

* See " Important Trials."

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

prosecution having rested, Mr. Taylor addressed the jury in a speech, which has since made part of a volume entitled " Exon- erative Insanity." The singular incident of this case is, that after one day spent in the defense of Burroughs, the District Attor- ney becoming satisfied of the great merit of the defense, with a candor that was highly commended, requested the Court to find a verdict in favor of the accused, on the ground of insanity; to which Mr. Justice Pratt, who presided at the time, acceded, and Burroughs was sent to the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica.

The case of Fuchs brought on a protracted legal contest, full of interest. As we have said, Mr. Taylor interposed the plea of insanity for his client; though it was strong, and we may well say powerful, Fuchs was convicted of murder in the first degree, and he was sentenced to be hanged; but the Governor commuted the sentence to huprisonment for life at Sing Sing.

Fuchs, after a comparatively short imprisonment, died in prison. An autopsy announced the fact that his brain was, and must have been for some time previous to the homicide, dis- eased to an extent producing insanity. Few criminal trials are more important, interesting and instruetive than those of Bur- roughs and Fuchs. We have only briefly alluded to them here, as they are fully reported in another part of this chapter.

On the second election of Mr. Low as Mayor, in the fall of 1883, in recognition of the able and faithful manner in which Mr. Taylor had discharged the duties of Corporation Counsel for two years, he reappointed him to that office, the duties of which lic is, at the time of this writing, discharging.

Such is the life and eareer of Mr. Taylor -a career which com- pares favorably with that of any of the members of the profession of his age. As it may be said that he has hardly entered middle age, the prospect of a very successful and brilliant future is before him. Mr. Taylor possesses many of those social elements of character that so admirably set off the life of a lawyer.

JOHN H. BERGEN.

JOHN H. BERGEN is a lawyer of highly respectable standing, socially and professionally. With his professional accomplish- ments he unites the advantages of a finished education, large and liberal reading. He has distinguished himself as a success- ful contestant at the Bar. The history of the important cases he has tried at nisi prius, the arguments he has conducted before the court, are interesting and instructive.

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 151

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360