Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 154

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

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JAMES W. RIDGWAY.

Ma. RIDGWAY has been at the Bar about thirteen years, in which time he has attained the reputation of a very vigilant, well-learned and successful lawyer. He tries a cause with great dexterity, presents his ense to the jury attractively, and if elo- quence consists in the art of convincing, then we may say

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eloquently. He always succeeds in putting the jury in posses- sion, in a well-reasoned manner, of all the facts and circumstances on which he relies to gain their verdict; if he does not always convince them, he most certainly gains their most respectful attention; he is equally successful with the court in making a legal argument. He has given much attention to criminal law, and has been very successful in that branch of practice; his ability in this department has been so generally recognized that he now occupies the position of public prosecutor of the County of Kings.

Mr. Ridgway is a native of North Branch, N. J., and is a son of Joseph S. and Margaret Ridgway. When a boy he was placed at school in Brooklyn, where he prepared to enter Moravian College, at Nazareth, Pa. Having completed his classical educa- tion, he went to New York, and was regularly entered as a law student in the office of J. S. Ridgway, Esq., under whose in- struction he prepared for the Bar. He took his degree as an attorney and counselor-at-law at a General Term of the Supreme Court held at Brooklyn, September, 1871, and soon after began his practice in this city, under circumstances we have already described.

We have spoken of his position as public prosecutor, the suc- cessor of Gen. Isaac S. Catlin. In the fall of 1883, he was nomi- nated by the Democratic party for the office of District Attorney. His opponent was ROBERT PAYNE, Esq., a lawyer of vigorous and cultivated understanding, of much deliberation and candor, well versed in the learning of his profession, and is conceded a very high position at the Bar. Mr. Payne received the Republi- can nomination for District Attorney of Kings County, in recognition of his standing as a lawyer, a citizen, and his well- known qualifications for the office to which he was nominated. But his party was in the minority and he was defeated, but under circumstances which exhibited how highly he was ap- preciated by the electors of the county.

Mr. Ridgway entered upon the duties of his office January 1, 1884, and at this writing has discharged them for over four months. The duties of District Attorney in Kings County are peculiarly arduous and of great responsibility; thus far Mr. Ridgway's great industry and happy faculty of dispatching business, and untiring adherence to all his duties, have been manifested.

It is said that a public man never exhibits his strength of mind more substantially than in selecting proper assistants- men whose abilities blend with his in the discharge of his duties. In this respect Mr. Ridgway has shown peculiar sagacity. His assistants are John U. Shorter, John F. Clarke, and Albert F. Jenks, three accomplished members of the junior Bar of Brook- lyn, who bring to their office those abilities and that learning which must largely subserve the interests of the people.

SEYMOUR S. PELOUBET.

THOUGH Mr. Peloubet is not strictly a member of the Brooklyn Bar, he is intimately connected with it as an extensive law book publisher, who furnishes for lawyers and judges the libraries in which they prepare, and keep themselves prepared, for the duties of the Bench and the Bar. Perhaps his general knowl- edge of law and law books is equal to any lawyer in practice, and perhaps no man knows bow to select a library better than he.

In speaking of the great increase of law books, Mr. Peloubet says: "The multiplication of law books has been so rapid of late years, that few lawyers can procure, by their own private resources, all they need for the work of their profession. This multiplication has correspondingly increased the number of volumes it is necessary for every lawyer who would be thorough and accurate in the discharge of his professional duties to con- sult. For this reason, public law libraries have become indis- pensable to the legal profession. The expenditure simply for

the purchase of the annual law reports of England and America is so great that but few members of the profession, and only the stronger public libraries, are able to procure them. The number of pages of reported cases of the English and American Courts published yearly is not less than 90,000; add to this tho ycarly volumes of statute law, works on elementary law, and different law treatises, and it is obviously only a problem of arithmetic to ascertain the time when the walls of our great public libraries will not longer afford space for the load."

A report of the Bar Association of the City of New York shows that, from the year 1794 to 1873-a period of seventy-nine years -there were published in tho Stato of New York alone 500 volumes of reported cases, more than one-third of the reports of Great Britain for 565 years. Mr. Peloubet prepared a statement showing the age and number of volumes of some of the libraries of the world, from which we take the following:

The Law Library of Lincoln's Inn, of London, is one of the oldest, dating its beginning from 1497; that of the Middle Temple, from 1641; and the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, in Edinburgh, from 1680.

Our American law libraries are products of the present cen- tury; very few have had an existence of over fifty years. The following is a list of the law libraries in the State of New York, the date of their origin, and number of volumes:

Attorney-General's, at Albany, founded in 1850, containing 2,600 vols .; Court of Appeals Library, at Albany, founded in 1849, 2,000 vols .; Law Library, at Belmont, Allegany Connty, founded in 1860, 2,500 vols .; Brooklyn Law Library, founded in 1850, 5,325 vols .; Supreme Court Library, Eightlı Judicial Dis- trict, Buffalo, founded in 1863, 5,250 vols .; Hamilton Law School Library, Clinton, N. Y., founded 1864, 5,000 vols .; Mon- ticello, Sullivan County, Law Library, 1869, 2,156 vols .; New York Bar Association Law Library, founded in 1870, 9,077 vols .; Columbia College Law School Library, New York City, founded in 1860, 4,500 vols .; Law Institute Law Library, New York City, founded in 1828, 20,000 vols .; The Supreme Court, First Depart- ment, First Judicial District, Law Library, New York City, founded in 1852, 2,000 vols .; Court of Appeals Library, Roches- ter, N. Y., founded in 1849, 10,000 vols .; Fourth Judicial District Law Library, Schenectady, N. Y., founded 1866, 2,500 vols .; Court of Appeals Law Library, Syracuse, N. Y., founded in 1849, 8,500 vols.

The State of New York has more than double the number of law libraries than any other State in the Union; the aggre- gate number of volumes in the law libraries being about 81,408; the oldest library being founded only a little over fifty years ago. The enterprise which has characterized the growth of our State has been, in no department, more manifest than in that of our public law libraries.

Mr. Peloubet, and the firms with which he has been con- nected, have furnished a large number of the books found in these libraries.

Mr. Peloubet was born in Bloomfield, N. J., in 1844, and is a son of Chabrier Peloubet, the extensive and well-known manu- facturer of reed organs. Inheriting in a large degree his father's energy, integrity and fixedness of purpose, his success is due largely to these characteristics.

Mrs. Peloubet, his wife, formerly Miss Mary E. Johnson, is a grand-daughter of Gen. Jeremiah Johnson, and is said to be a direct descendant of the first white child born on Long Island.

After receiving a liberal education in 1860, he became clerk for George Diossy, an extensive law book merchant of New York City; in 1868, he became a partner with Mr. Diossy, under the name of Diossy & Co. In 1876 Mr. Diossy retired, and Mr. Peloubet associated with himself Mr. E. G. Ward, who con- tinued a member of the firm for three years, when he retired in favor of Mr. Diossy. In 1867, Mr. Peloubet became a resident of Brooklyn, where he has resided ever since. He has been

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favorably connected with, and largely published, the works of several legal anthors; among these works are Abbott's National Digest, in eight volumes, by Benjamin Vaughn and Austin Abbott ; Abbott's United States Practice, 2 volumes, by Benjamin V. Abbott; Commentaries on American Invio, 2 volumes, by Francis Hilliard ; Reports of Cases under the New York Civil Procedure, 5 volumes, and continued monthly, by Henry HI. Browne; Lives of Eminent Lawyers of New York, in 2 volumes; Laicyer

and Client, or Trials and Triumphs of the Bar, by L. B. Proctor; Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of New York, in 2 volumes, by Hon. John W. Edmonds.

Mr. Peloubet has compiled two books which have been generously received-Students' Law Dictionary of Words and Phrases, and Common Law Definitions ; A Collection of Legal Maxims in Law and Equity, with English Translations.

IMPORTANT TRIALS.

TRIAL OF GONZALEZ AND PELLICIER FOR THE MURDER OF JOSE GARCIE ORTERO.

IN the course of this work we have occasionally referred, briefly, to this celebrated case, the history of which reveals one of the most startling and barbarous murders in the record of erime. We shall now give a condensed history of the whole case, as the legal history of Kings County and Brooklyn would be incomplete without it.

J. Garcie Ortero was a native of Havana, in the island of Cuba, belonging to a highly respectable family of that city, and was himself held in high esteem for his many estimable qual- ities. He had been well educated, and had given some attention to the fine arts and the drama. As he was possessed of consid- erable wealth, he had the means for indulging his tastes. He was at the time of his death about thirty-six years of age.

During the year 1865, he erccted and tastefully adorned a theatre in Havana. Early in November of that year, he visited New York City for the purpose of purchasing materials for the completion of his theatre, taking with him a considerable sum of money, with letters of credit and drafts.

Among the passengers on the stcamer which brought Ortero to New York, was Gonzalez, a Spaniard, who left Havana for New York without baggage, and without any apparent object. As there were but two or three of Ortero's countrymen on board, he soon made the acquaintance of Gonzalez, and, notwithstand- ing his rough and rather forbidding appearance, Ortero seemed to take an interest in him. His sympathy was aroused by the pitiful story which Gonzalez gave him of his misfortunes and sorrows, and the high-bred and wealthy gentleman admitted his impecnnious countryman to his friendship.

They reached New York on the 15th of November, and went immediately to the Barcelona Hotel, in Great Jones street, where Ortero took rooms. Such was the forbidding appearance of Gonzalez, and as he was without baggage, the clerk of the hotel refused to give him a room. Ortero, however, informed the clerk that Gonzalez was a poor unfortunate, but he believed honest inan, who had come to New York to find employment; and, at his solicitation, a room was given the man. At this time Salvadore, or Pellieier, a Cuban, occupied a room at the Hotel de Cuba, with one Frank Viela, hoth of whom had recently come from Havana; the former was very poor, serving sometimes as a waiter at the Barcelona, and sometimes as an itinerant glazier. Soon after Ortero beenme a guest at his hotel, Pellicier made his acquaintance and that of Gonzalez, and these three Cubans became quito intimate. It was noticed that Gonzalez and Pellicier land many interviews by themselves. It was well known that both these inen were entirely without menns.

On the 18th of November, Ortero went to Philadelphia, leny- ing Gonzalez at the hotel an occupant of his rooms; this was on Saturday. During his absence Gonzalez exhibited a degree of restlessness and anxiety for the return of Ortero that attracted

the attention of the clerk and others about the hotel. He would walk about by himself, and frequently inquire of the clerk if Ortero was really coming back.

On Monday, the 20th, Ortero returned, and Gonzalez received him with apparent marks of joy, but to the people about the hotel Gonzalez was a person of such doubtful character that, during Ortcro's absence, the clerk presented his bill, although he had been at the hotel but a few days. He declared his inability to pay, but said he would pay on the return of Ortero. As Ortere and Gonzalez were going to dinner, on the day of the former's return, the clerk stopped Gonzalez and again requested the payment of his bill. Ortero replied, " I will pay mine too," and at the same time took from his pocket a handful of gold coins, from which he paid his bill. Although Gonzalez did not pay, he was permitted to pass into the dining-room, probably on the assurance of Ortero that his bill would be all right. The manner in which Gonzalez watched Ortero, while paying his bill, attracted the attention of the clerk.

When Ortero was making his purchases about the city Gon- zalez, and sometimes Pellicier, accompanied him, and the great contrast in the appearance of the three men occasioned mueh comment. Ortero was a large and elegantly formed man, with the dress and manners of a gentleman, and according to appear- ances a man of means and culture. His companions were quite the reverse; their appearance indicating a degree of stand- ing much bencath that of their companion; there was a sinister, almost brutal expression in their countenances, and their eloth- ing indicated their impecunious circumstances. It is strange, indeed, that a gentleman like Ortero should become thus inti- inate with men like Gonzalez and Pellicier, but he was young, ardent and generous; the sorrowful story which Gonzalez bad related to him quite disarmed all suspicious thoughts, and it is very probable that he was determined to assist him in some way into business. So unsuspecting was he of his companions that he often, in making his purchases, showed large sums of money, which always attracted their attention, and their secret consul tations were often remarked. Ortero was frequently cantioned against the careless manner in which he exhibited his money, but he paid no heed to the caution.

On November 21st, Ortero and Pellieier dined together at about 6 r. M., after which they went to the Hotel de Cuba, where Gonzalez soon joined them. On his way there he pro- cured two razors of Viela; he had previously procured A poniard of Pellicier. After remaining awhile at the hotel. Ortero, Gonzalez and Pellieier went out, and by the way of Fulton Ferry proceeded to Brooklyn, going directly to Evans' Hotel, nt the corner of Clinton and Myrtle avennes, where they remained until about half past nine in the evening. At the hotel both men drank quite heavily, endeavoring to intoxicate Ortero, who, though somewhat excited, was in no way over- come by the liquor. Finally, it was proposed hy Gonzalez or Pellicier to visit the City Park, which is no great distance from

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that place. The night was very dark, and it will never be known by what inducements Ortero was led to accompany these men at that hour to this deserted place. He had never before been in Brooklyn, and was of course a stranger to every body. They entered the park at the Canton street corner, and took a path which crosses it diagonally, and proceeded to the centre or most sequestered part of it. Perhaps a more fitting place for "dark and midnight murder" could not have been found in Brooklyn, and surely a more gloomy night could not have been selected. The wail of the November wind which swept through the trees and over the park prevented all outcry from being heard, and in this spot the party halted. With the spring of tigers, the two ruffians grappled their unarmed victim, and with their razors attempted to cut his throat; but, as we have said, he was a man of powerful physical strength, young and active, and a desperate and mortal strife began. There was something appal- ling in this terrible struggle-the tug, the grip, the blow-the swift stroke of the deadly weapons-and, no doubt sensible of the unequal contest, Ortero's cries of murder went up from the scene; but at that hour, and stifled by the wind, there was none to hear it, and the contest went on. From all appearances, Ortero succeeded in wrenching a razor from the hand of one of the assassins, and with it he inflicted a deep wound on the hand of Pellicier .* Failing in their efforts with the razor, though inflicting terrible wounds upon their victim, they resorted to the poniard; with this they succeeded in giving him several wounds, either of which would have proved mortal. One thrust of the poniard entered his back and pierced the spinal column, and soon Ortero lay at their feet a ghastly corpse, gashed with twenty-eight wounds. The deed was done. Early the next morning a citizen, in passing through the park, discovered the body of Ortero, still warm and bleeding. The alarm was instantly given and the police notified. The victim was of course unknown, but he had the appearance of a gentleman, and in one of the pockets of his pantaloons was a large sum of money, in gold; the other was turned inside out, showing that the victim had been robbed, and that the robber had been frightened away before securing the contents of this pocket. In one of his pockets his receipted hotel bill was found, which soon led to his identification.

At the Evans House, which is not far from the City Park, the three men attracted much attention on the night of the murder ; Ortero by his refined and gentlemanly bearing and noble form, his companions by their rough appearance. Persons at the Evans House readily recognized the body of Ortero as that of the interesting stranger whose appearance had attracted their attention the night before, and his companions with whom he left the house were equally well remembered. This answered the first inquiry-with whom was he last seen ? On the ground, not far from the body of Ortero, there was found a pair of gloves, one of them cut and bloody, two razors, one of them badly bent, and a dagger. The police went to work, and they soon ascertained, by means of the receipted hotel bill, that the "Barcelona" was the stopping place of Ortero, and that

Gonzalez and Pellicier, who answered the descriptions of tho men who were with Ortero at tho Evans House, were with him at the Barcelona and at the Hotel do Cuba, and that he left the latter hotel in their company. Two steamers were to sail for Havana on the day on which the murder was discovered; the police officers were detailed to watch theso steamers. About three o'clock in the afternoon Pellieier, wearing a pair of heavy woolen mittens, went on board ono of the vessels and was im- mediately arrested. At first he refused to take off his mittens, but at length reluctantly did so, and a deep wound on his hand was revealed. He was taken to Brooklyn and confronted with the bloody glove, which he had worn when committing thie murder, and the cut in the glove exactly fitted the cut in his hand. Gonzalez was arrested at a boarding-house in Center street the next day after the murder. He went directly from tho bloody scene to this boarding-house, reaching there quite late in the night; the next morning he purchased a new suit of clothes, shaved his mustache, and otherwise attempted to change his appearance. Pellicier had also changed his clothes in many respects. Gonzalez' vest, pants, drawers and shirt, that he had cast off, were found with spots of blood on them. The next day after the murder Gonzalez had plenty of money, and treated the persons about the hotel to whiskey, and upon one occasion he took a handful of gold coin from his pocket and, showing it, said, " That's the kind of money they have in Spain." After his arrest, $40 or $50 in gold and other money was found in his pockets, and two certified drafts, payable to Ortero, were found sewed in Gonzalez' coat collar; the drafts were for a large amount. Pellicier and Gonzalez were indieted by a Grand Jury of Kings County, in December, 1865, and in January, 1866, they were brought to trial at a Court of Oyer and Terminer, held at the Court House in Brooklyn, Mr. Justico Gilbert presiding. Hon. S. D. Morris, then District Attorney of Kings County, appeared for the people, and Hon. William C. De Witt appeared for the defense. Gonzalez and Pellicier were indieted jointly, but they were tried separately, Gonzalez being first brought to trial. A long, interesting and exciting legal contest took place; the trial was conducted with great legal skill and learning on both sides. The evidence for the people consisted mainly of the facts already related, as sworn to by different witnesses. The circumstances proved against Gonzalez were, as we have seen, very strong, but the defense grappled with them with an energy and subtlety which seemed to render a conviction doubtful. Anthon, ono of the policemen who arrested Gonzalez, in answer to the question as to the identity of a pair of drawers produced on the trial, said he thought those were the prisoner's drawers; that he noticed a mark of blood on them when he found them. The counsel for the defense objected to the expression "a mark of blood," and excepted to the refusal of the Court to strike it out. In reply to a question on his eross-examination, tho witness said "I noticed a spot of blood on the drawers."

Waddy, another of the officers who made tho arrest, testified to the identity of the coat, vest, pants, shirt and drawers found in the prisoner's room, and was asked : "Did you notice any spots on these clothes ?"

Objected to ; objection overruled.

Ans. "Yes, sir : stains on the coat, vest, pants, drawers and shirt. There is one of the stains on the pants, and there is one on the waist. The spots on this light coat are nearly off. The spots that were on the right sleeve I don't see. The spots which were on the coat are rubbed off."

Ques. " Examine the drawers."

Ang. "I examined them the morning I brought them down to the station, and the spots that wero on them are all rubbed off.'

Ques. " Look at the shirt."

Ans. " There on tho waist of tho shirt is a spot."

Objected to on the ground that there is no evidenco that the shirt belonged to the prisoner ; objection overruled; exception.

* PELLICIER, the day before he was executed, made a full confession of the commission of the crime, in which he disagreed in some respects with the evidence given for the people on the trial. He denied that the party were at the Evans House at all, insisting that they went directly from the ferry to the park; that Gonzalez began the attack upon Ortero, and did the principal part of the murder; that he, Pellicier, inflicted no injury upon their victim until after he had fallen upon the ground, and then, fearing that Gonzalez would kill him for having taken no part in the murder, he made several cuts on Ortero with a razor; that while doing so, Gonzalez, in attempting to make another cut at Ortero, inflicted the wound on Pellicier's left hand, by which he had hold of the victim. The struggle was, he said, entirely between Ortero and Gonzalez, and Ortero was brought to the ground by the plunge of the dagger, which pierced the spinal column. They had, previous to this time, laid a plan to murder him at his hotel in New York, intending to take up the floor and secrete his body beneath it, and with his money escape to Spain in a steamer about to sail, but difficulty in taking up the floor prevented.

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Mr. De Witt : " The eonrt understands, I suppose, that all this testimony as to the character of these stains is taken subject to an exception ?"

Judge Gilbert : " No, sir."

Mr. De Witt : " We excepted in the case of the witness Ashton, and have exeepted here. The character of tho blood stains can only be determined by scientific analysis."

Judge Gilbert : " We do not understand that there is an excep- tion to the testimony of the witness on that subject, and if eonnsel desires to save this point they must move to strike out that portion of the testimony."

Accordingly the counsel for the prisoner did move to strike out all the testimony as to the stains on the clothing. As the District Attorney did not objcet, that evidence was stricken out. The opposition then offered to exhibit to the jury the clothes and the stains thereon. This was objected to by the defense, but the objection was overruled, and there was an exception. It was proved these clothes had been found in the room of Gon- zalez at the time of the arrest, and had been pointed out by the landlady. It was proved that the shirt belonged to Pellicier, who returned from Brooklyn with Gonzalez, and slept with him the night after tho murder; that he wore a new shirt soon after. The defenso ou tho trial proved that several days before the murder a fight took place between the parties, in which Pellicier's hand was cut, which accounted for tho wound on his hand. There was some other explanatory cvidence on the part of tho de- fense, but the foregoing is substantially the evidence in the case. The evidence was very ably summed up by the respective counsel, in a manner that negatives the assertion that the eloquence of the Bar has passod away. After a very learned and impartial charge from Mr. Justice Gilbert, the ease was given to the jury, who, in due time, returned a verdict of " murder in the first degree." The trial of Pellicier resulted in a like ver- dict, and both prisoners were sentenced to be hanged, but the indefatigable counsel for the defense earried tho case to the General Terin of the Supreme Court, alleging, among other grounds of error, that Judge Gilbert erred in admitting proof that the clothing worn by the prisoners on the night of the murder was found, at the time of their arrest, to be marked with spots whiel had the appearanco of stains of blood; and in permitting the clothes thus stained to be inspected by the jury. The court sustained these grounds of error and set aside the con- viction of tho prisoners, and ordered a new trial. From this judgment of the Supreme Court tho District Attorney appealed to the Court of Appeals. In February, 1866, the cases came on for argument in that high court. Hon. Samuel D. Morris and John H. Reynolds appeared for the people; Hon. Alexander McCuo and William C. De Witt for the defense. After argu- ments of unusual ability and learning, tho court handed down an opinion reversing the judgment of tho Suprome Court, sus- taining tho ruling of Judgo Gilbert, and directing that sentenco of death against the prisoners be carried into execution.

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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 154

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