Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 153

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

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JAMES B. CLARK.

MR. CLARK was appointed District Attorney, March 2, 1819, under the old act of 1801, dividing the county into seven districts, there being one District Attorney for each district. Mr. Clark served under that appointment until tho Constitution of 1821 abolished these seven districts, making each county a district, and provid- ing for the appointment of a District Attorney in each county, by the Court of Common Pleas of the county. Immediately after the adoption of the Constitution of 1821, Mr. Clark was appointed District Attorney for Kings County, holding the office until March 26, 1830, when, as we have said, he was succeeded by Judge Morse. Mr. Clark is represented as one of the ablest lawyers of his time, peculiarly qualified for a public prose- cutor. He had cultivated and practiced the eloquence of tlic Bar with practical success; was keen and penetrating in read- ing men, and this made him close and searching in the exami- nation of witnesses. It is said that on the cross-examination of witnesses, if the occasion required, he could be terrible; therc seemed to be a subtle influence darting from his eyes that enabled him to draw forth tho secrets of the most unwilling and adroit witness. For the long period of eleven years in which he served as public prosecutor of the county, he continued to increase in the confidence of the people; searching, severe and successful as he was in bringing criminals to justice, he pos- sessed the raro quality of knowing just when the cause of the people and of justice would be subserved by forbearance and leniency; he did not deem it necessary for his reputation that every criminal brought to the Bar should be convieted.

He was cqually able as a general practitioner in civil eases, being able to adapt himself without apparent effort to all kinds of legal business, and he maintained his ascendency at the Bar

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for many years. Such was James B. Clark, the first Distriet Attorney of Kings County, under the Constitution of 1821.

Mr. Morse, though he took the place of a prosecuting officer, like Clark, was eminently successful in the discharge of his duties; he served till May, 1833, when he was succeeded by his law partner, William Rockwell, who served till June 3, 1839- six years when Judge Morse was again appointed, and be- eame his successor. Under this appointment, Judge Morse served until June, 1847, when he was succeeded by General H. B. Duryea. It will be seen that Judge Morse's first term as Distriet Attorney expired early in April, 1830.

On April 30, 1833, he was appointed First Judge of Kings County, in place of Judge John Dikeman, serving until April, 1838, when John A. Lott was appointed his successor. Upon leaving the Beneh, Judge Morse returned to the practice of his profession.

At the judicial election hield June 11, 1847, Judge Morse was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State for the term of six years. He began his judicial duties on the following January; his judicial term expired December 31, 1853, when he retired to private life. He had been most of the time for twenty-three years in public life.

Judge Morse brought to the Beneh great uprightness, fairness and impartiality and ample legal attainments. The style in which his charges were given, and his opinions written, was creditable to him; the reasonings embodied in them corres- ponded fully with the language in which they were presented. llis manner on the Bench was amiable, with sufficient force of character and dignity to command respect. In private life, as well as in official life, Ire is greatly esteemed; even now, in his advanced age, he retains his mental and physical powers to sueli a degree that he is still comparatively active in business; and as President of the Fulton Ferry Company, is in the daily habit of transaeting correctly and expeditiously the affairs of his office.

N. F. WARING.

AMONG the many honored associates of Judge Morse at the Brooklyn Bar fifty years ago, was N. F. Waring, who stood for many years at the head of the profession in Kings, and in the adjoining counties. Perhaps no name appears more frequent- ly in the books which record the litigated cases of his day than Mr. Waring's. In examining the old court calendars of the past, we find a large number of the cases in them represented by him. We are informed by those who knew Mr. Waring that he possessed many of the best qualities which render a lawyer successful, and a man estimable. His perceptions were quick; his judgment strong; his capacity for drawing nice distinctions good, and he always expressed himself in language best suited for the communication of his ideas. He was extremely well read, and his knowledge of legal principles precise, accurate and always at his command; and his strong, retentivo memory never relaxed its grasp upon any nseful information with which it had onee been stored.

At tho time of which we are writing-fifty years ago there were others of the few associates of Morse and Waring at the Bar whose names are invested with historic interest, and a record of whoso careers appears in the first volumo of this work, in the department of the Bench and Bar of Kings County, These were John Dikeman, Henry C. Murphy, Alphens P. Ralph, Cyrus P. Smith and Gabriel Furman. Since that time the county Bar has increased from twenty to over twelve hundred members. There is a moral and a lesson in this change which another pen than ours may seize upon with abundant success, profit and interest.

HENRY A. MOORE.

THE contest between William Rockwell. afterwards a judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and Samnel E. Johnson, over

the office of County Judge of Kings County, in the fall of 1848, was an important event in legal history. Both of these gentle- men stood high at the Bar, and were opposing candidates for the office of County Judge at the general election which took place in the fall of 18 ; the contest between them was so close that both claimed the certificate of election; it was, however, awarded to Judge Rockwell, but the question was contested by Mr. Jehn- son in the Supreme Court, and, on October 28th, 1848, that tribu- nal decided in favor of Judge Johnson, and he took his seat upen the Bench, serving out his judicial term, which was then three years. It expired December 31st, 1851. In the autumn of that year, Henry A. Moore became a prominent candidate for the office of County Judge, was nominated and elected, and entered upon his judicial duties January 1st, 1852. Judge Moore has long been identified with Brooklyn.

After the usual preparatory education, he entered the law office of Lott, Murphy & Vanderbilt as a student at law. Un- der the tuition of these accomplished and distinguished lawyers, young Moore received his legal education. The office of this firm presented peculiar facilities for aequiring a correct practical knowledge of law; that young Moore fully availed himself of these facilities is fully illustrated in his subsequent life. After passing a ereditable examination he was called to the Bar, and entered upon his praetiee in Brooklyn. At the first cleetion un- der the Constitution of 1846, which took place in June, 1847, General Harmanus B. Duryea was elected District Attorney of Kings County. Judge Moore, who had then been at the Bar but a brief period, received the appointment of Assistant District Attorney. He brought to the duties of this office qualifieations which enabled him to diseharge its duties in a manner eredit- able to himself and advantageously to the publie. Judge Moore continued his practice until he was elected County Judge, as we have seen, in the fall of 1851. His official term expired Decem- ber 31st, 1855, when he was succeeded by IIon. Samnel D. Morris, who was elected at the November election of that year. Judge Morris was sueeeeded by Samuel Garrison, whose terin of office expired December 31st, 1863. Judge Garrison was sueeeeded by Hon. John Dikeman, whose term of office expired December 31st, 1867. Judge Dikeman's suecessor was Hon. James Troy, who retired from the Bench December 31st, 1871. During the term these gentlemen had occupied the Beneh, Judge Moore de- voted himself to the duties of his profession with distinguished success.

As a public prosecutor, he had beeome familiar with eriminal law practice, which requires a critical knowledge of the statutes, the common law, the rules of evidence and of precedent; as it had strong attractions for him, he united considerable criminal praetiee with his rapidly increasing eivil business.

Among the criminal eases celebre in which Judge Moore ap- peared as counsel for the defence, was tho case of the People vs. Thomas Murphy, indicted for the murder of Andrew Murphy, at Williamsburg; and the People vs. Owen Hand, indicted for the murder of James Donnell, August 14, 1869. The trial of Hand took place in 1870, and was protracted and interesting. That of Murphy began October 13th, 1870, continuing several days. Mr. Britton, then District Attorney, appeared for the people in both theso eases. These trials created great interest, and are remem- bered for the very able and exhaustive efforts in which the dis- tinguished opposing counsel conducted their respective sides of the ease. Bnt Judge Moore's career at the Bar was terminated by his second election to the Bench of the County Court ia the autumn of 1871.

He began his judicial duties January Ist, 1872. By re clectioa he has occupied the Bench of the ('ounty Court from that time down to the present time. In the fall of 1883 he was re-elected for another judicial term of six years; this term commenced January Ist, 1884. It will this be seen that he has presided on the Bench over fourteen yours; that when his present term ev- pires he will have served for tho nnexampled long time of twenty

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years. These repeated elections are the most eloquent endorse- ment of Judge Moore's official career.

It is evident that he finds a laudable pleasure in performing the duties of the high office to which he has so many times been elected by the suffrages of the people, and to the gratifica- tion of the Bar. His great experience renders business easy and familiar to him, and he gives it despatch, without precipi- tancy or undue haste. He comes to his opinions, decisions and rulings with characteristic promptness, directness and clearness, plainly, concisely and briefly, without the least amplification. Partiality or prejudice, fear or favor, or the apprehension of any consequences personal to himself, have never exercised the slightest influence over his deliberations, or for one moment clouded his views or warped his judg- ment. This we believe to be the opinion, not only of the Bar, but of the public, concerning Judge Moore. We might say more of him within the bounds of propriety and fairness; we certainly could not say less, and do justice to one whose legal and judicial career covers so long a period in the history of Kings County, and which has been so acceptably discharged.

EDGAR M. CULLEN.

JUDGE CULLEN, one of the younger members of the judiciary of the State, was born at Brooklyn, in the year 1843. His father was Dr. Henry J. Cullen, a distinguished and highly esteemed physician and surgeon of the city, who died greatly lamented several years anterior to this writing.

At an early age, young Cullen entered Kinderhook Academy, where he prepared for college. Choosing Columbia College for his Alma Mater, he was graduated from that institution in 1860, with those high classic endowments which have been so useful to him. He was then but seventeen years of age. At that time it was his own desire, as it was of his friends, to adopt the pro- fession of a civil engineer; accordingly, immediately after leaving college, he entered the Troy Polytechnic Institute, where he pursued his studies with great diligence until the beginning of 1863, when the stirring events of the great Civil War called him from his studies to the field. Early in 1862, he was commissioned by President Lincoln second lieutenant in the First United States Infantry. At this time his regiment was in active service, and young Cullen entered at once into the bloody drama of war. As his corps was connected with the Western Department, or the Department of the Mississippi, Cullen-then a mere boy- participated in the memorable battles of Corinth and Farm- ington, and passing with General Grant through the siege of Vicksburg.

Late in 1862, Governor Morgan commissioned him colonel of the 96th N. Y. S. V's.

Colonel Cullen was at that time but nineteen years of age, one of the youngest officers of that grade in the army. His valor and accomplishments as a soldier need no other descrip- tion than the record of his rapid promotion.

He immediately assumed his new command. His regiment was attached to the 18th Army Corps, and did valiant service in the campaign which resulted in the fall of Petersburg, and the bloody contests which led to the capture of Richmond. Just before the close of this glorious campaign, Col. Cullen received a wound so serious that he was compelled to retire to his home, and he resigned his commission. Recovering from his wound, he spent a year in civil engineering, engaged, we believe, on the South Side L. I. Railroad, that line of transit then being in course of construction. At the conclusion of this engagement he decided to enter the legal profession.

He is a nephew of Hon. Alex. McCue, and entered his uncle's office as a student at law, under whose instruction he prepared for the Bar. In 1867 he took his degree as an attorney and counselor at law, entering at once upon an honor- able and successful practice. Few, if any, members of the

junior Bar of the city ever attained a higher position in the profession in so short a time as did Mr. Cullen. During Governor Tilden's administration, he received the appointment of Engineering Officer on his staff, with the rank of Brigadier- General.

Judge Cullen early became a member of the Democratic party, adhering firmly to its tenets, and was ardent and influential in his advocacy of them. He continued his professional advance- ment, gaining the confidence and estcem of his brethren of the Bar to such an extent that, on the 5th of October, 1880, lie received the nomination for a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Second Judicial District, and was elected. His judicial term began January 1, 1881.

His accession to the Beneh was gratifying to the Bar and to the judiciary; the diligence, conscientiousness, fairness and learning which has thus far characterized his official career give abundant promise of future usefulness and juridical honors. Judge Cullen's social relations are of the most agree- able character; he is, as we have said, not only popular with the profession, but with his fellow-citizens.

THOMAS E. PEARSALL ..

MR. PEARSALL was born in the city of Brooklyn in the year 1842. His ancestors for several generations have been Brooklyn - ites, and his grandfather was the owner of that densely popu- lated portion of the city, geographieally and traditionally known as " Pearsall's Farm." Had the property been devised from father to son, instead of sold, as it was long before Brook- lyn's magnitude was foreseen, the possession of it by one family would rate them among the most affluent persons in any country. It was not to be so, however, and now thousands of people divide among them what was once the estate of a single gentleman, "situated some miles out of the town of Brooklyn."

Mr. Pearsall attended the public schools of Brooklyn, and acquired a solid, practical education, up to the time when he resolved to choose his course in life. He was led towards the law; while only fifteen years old he entered the office of Ex- Judge Samuel Garrison, of Brooklyn. In that office he re- mained as helper and student in one, till he had just attained his twenty-first year. He was then admitted to the Bar, by examination at Poughkeepsie. For the first year he maintained professional relations with Mr. Garrison; but throughout the three years thereafter he conducted the legal business on his own account, with most flattering and increasing success, and during that period he was retained as attorney and counsel for one of the heirs under the will of Peter O'Hara, deceased; there was a large amount of property involved, the distribution of a large portion of which depended upon the construction of the will of the deceased. Opposed to Mr. Pearsall in this case was Hon. Henry C. Murphy. The case was carried by appeal to the Court of Appeals, and resulted in a decision in favor of Mr. Pearsall's client (O'Hara v. Dever, 3 Abb. Ct. App. Dec., 407).

On December 23, 1867, he was tendered a partnership relation by ex-Judge Samuel D. Morris, then District Attorney of Kings County. The offer was accepted, and the relation has continued with pleasure and distinction to both gentlemen until the present time. From 1868 to 1872, Mr. Pearsall was the Assistant District Attorney of Kings County, and he discharged with intelligence and fidelity, and great expedition, the duties of that office, in addition to his share in the private business of the firm of Morris & Pearsall. During the period last indicated, Mr. Pearsall appeared in the Fanny Hyde-Watson and the Irish-Anderson murder cases, and in other almost as celebrated civil and criminal issues.

In the cases enumerated, the sides represented by Mr. Pearsall have been successful in the final result attained by the trial of the causes. In the case of Tilton vs. Beecher, Mr. Pearsall, for the plaintiff, was intrusted with much of the preparation

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

of the evidence, and with part of the preparation and ar- rangement of the authorities relied on by the plaintiff's counsel in the many mighty law questions affecting the litigation. That he discharged this onerous and not pub- liely apparent duty with great research and with exhaustive skill, his professional associates and opponents abundantly attested by their labors upon the subject, and their elaborate and prolonged development in the public trial of the case. Though the junior of any of the other legal gentlemen in this controversy, Mr. Pearsall had at the time been in active practice at the Bar for twelve years, and had become identified with many leading cases in the Second Judicial District.

On April 20, 1865, Mr. Pearsall was united in marriage to Miss Henrietta, daughter of Archibald Hardie, Esq., of Brooklyn.

Mr. Pearsall takes much interest in politics, exercising con- siderable influence in the political arena, and maintaining the principles of his party on the stump, and is regarded as a successful political orator.

He has been a prominent member of the regular Democratic General Committee for many years; he has never yet held any otlice, and we are not aware that he was ever a candidate for office.

Mr. Pearsall's social relations are very pleasing; among the organizations, social and otherwise, to which he belongs, are the Oxford and Carlton Club, Peconic Council, Royal Arcanum, and Legion of Honor.

ISAAC S. CATLIN.

ISAAC S. CATLIN was born at Owego, New York, in 1832. He was very early fitted for a collegiate course, and entercd Hobert College, at Geneva, from which he was graduated at an age when most boys enter college, and immediately began his legal studies in the city of New York, and was called to the Bar soon after attaining his majority; when but twenty-three years of age he returned to Owego. At this time, Hon. Benjamin F. Tracy and Hon. Gilbert Walker were practicing law as partners at Owego, forming one of the most brilliant and successful law firms in Southern New York. Soon after his return to Owego, Catlin became the junior member of this firm, entering actively and ardently into the practice of his profession. He continued n member of the firm until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when the lawyer was lost in the soldier. Catlin was one of the first to enlist in the service of his country. He entered the service in the 3d N. Y. S. Volunteers, and was soon at the seat of war. Under drill and discipline, he soon acquired that knowledge of the profession of arms which, with native valor, inspired by pa- triotisin, prepared him for the rapid promotion that awaited him. Ile was soon for gallant and meritorious services-advanced to the rank of colonel of the fighting 109th N. Y. S. V's. He par- ticipated in many of the most important battles of the war, in- cluding the battle of Big Bethich, and the long series of sangui- nary contests in the Wilderness.

While gallantly leading his command to the assault of Peters- burg, he was so terribly wounded by the explosion of a mine that the amputation of his right leg was necessary.

L'pon the cessation of hostilities, Catlin, who had been bre- vetted a brigadier-general, returned to Owego and resumed the practice of his profession.

In November 1865, he received the nomination for District Attorney of Tioga County, and was elected by a very large innjority.

When it is remembered that his predecessors were such inen 18 Ezra S. Sweet, Benjamin F. Tracy and Delos O. Hancock, it will be seen how responsible was the position which he assumed. That the administration of his office was successful, is sufficient evidence of the learning and ability he brought to it. But he could not overcome liis love for the life of a soldier; civic honors were not sufficient to attract him from it, and at the conclusion

of his official term he entered the regular army, and was soon after appointed to the command of the Freedman's Bureau, at Louisville, Ky. At the end of seventeen months he resigned his commission, and became a resident of Brooklyn, and as the law partner of Gen. B. F. Tracy, who had also become a resident of the city, resumed the practice of his profession. He soon took an active and influential part in politics as a member of the Republican party. In the fall of 1874, he was nominated for District Attorney by his party, but declined in favor of Gen. Philip S. Crooke, who accepted the nomination, but was defcated in the canvass. In 1876, Gen. Catlin was nominated for Congress for the 3d Congressional District, but was defeated in the election.

In the meantime he continued in the active duties of his pro- fession, having rcached a commanding position at the Bar. He has often been called upon to contend with the best and strongest legal minds in the State, while many of the causes in which he has been engaged were of that superior prominence which renders them established precedents.

Space will not permit us to give any description of the large number of important trials in which he was engaged; we can- not, however, refrain from briefly alluding to the prominent part he took as one of the counsel in the celebrated case of The People v. Fanny Ilyde, tried at Brooklyn, April 15, 1872 (see Important Trials). There was a brilliant array of associates with Gen. Catlin in this defense, but the duty of opening the case to the jury fell to him. Whoever reads his opening address to the jury will be profoundly interested and instructed by it, and we feel sure all who heard it, and all who have read it, will agree with us in saying, if this was the only effort Gen. Catlin ever made at the Bar, it would alone have established his reputation as an advocate of high standing.

The opening of a case to a jury, though not always so under- stood, is one of the most difficult and responsible duties which can be assigned to a lawyer. It is the first presentation of the case after the affirmative has been in communication with the jury. It breaks in upon the theory and the relation of the prose- cutor, and for the first time convinces the jurors, if rightly done, that there are, indeed, two sides to the case; and it estab lishes the theory designed to overthrow the hypothesis on which rests the prosecution. Hence an cloquent, careful and ingenious narration of the defense, in analytic order, in a measure neutralizes the effect of the affirmative evidence in the minds of the jurors, paving the way for successful defensive evidence.

The manner in which Gen. Catlin opened the defense for Fanny Hyde is sufficient evidence of his accomplishments in this branch of practice. His appeal to the intelligence of the jury was of high tone, broad in scope, deep in power, proving him an accomplished verbalist.

In 1877, Gen. Catlin received the nomination for District Attorney, and was clected by a large majority; his term expired December, 1880, and on October 22 of that year he was renomi- nated, and at the ensuing election was elected. His second terin of office expired Dceember 31, 1883; he was succeeded by James W. Ridgway.

The history of his official duties are so freshly and so promi- nently before the people, that it needs no repetition by us. He has returned to the practice of his profession with an experience in all its branches that cannot fail to render his future career at the Bar eminently successful.

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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 153

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