Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 162

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

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"The claims for arrears of dividends on the preferred and guaranteed stock of the M. S. & N. I. R. R. Co. had been repeatedly presented, without success, both in New York and elsewhere: 13 Allen R. (Mass.), 400. Other like cases had arisen in other States, with like result. (Taft v. H., P. & F. R. R. Co., 8 R. I. Rep., 310.) The utmost resources of Commodore Van- derbilt and his powerful corporations were used in resisting these suits. Besides Mr. Clark and Mr. Augustus Schell, his associate in the company, there were employed in the defense, at various times, Samuel J. Tilden, James P. Sinnott, George Ticknor Curtis, Smith M. Weed, James Matthews, and others. The cases were many times in the General Term of the Supreme Court, and in the Court of Appeals. After much skirmishing, the cases were finally tried on their merits, as may be seen in 84 New York, 157; 85 New York, 272; 91 New York, 483. These fierce litigations extended over fourteen years, and were success- ful. Another noteworthy series of litigations, conducted by Judge Birdseye, was brought to an early and successful termi- nation, being for the foreclosure, in the courts of New Mexico and Colorado, of the mortgage on the Maxwell tract-a tract of land granted by the Republic of Mexico to Beaubien and Miranda, in 1841-some seven years prior to the transfer to the United States of the territory now comprised in Southern Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Employed in these cases in March, 1879, Judge Birdseye, before the close of that month, had drawn his bills of foreclosure; had attended the District Court in Colfax County, N. M., and filed them; had pro- cured issues to be joined; had issued commissions to take the necessary evidence at Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, where nearly all the bonds secured by the mortgage were held. He had these commissions executed and returned before the August term, which term he was able to attend. Just at its close, and literally during the last minute allowed by law for the session of the court, he obtained the fiat of Chief Justice Prince to an interlocutory decree of foreclosure. On that he applied for and obtained the appointment of a Special Term of the court, and at that term, in the next October, obtained final decrees of foreclosure and sale in New Mexico. Before the end of De-

cember similar decrees werc obtained in Colorado, where nearly two-fifthis of the traet-over 1,714,000 acres-lay. Advertising sales under these decrees, as they required, in New Mexico, Colorado, New York, London, and Amsterdam, Judge Birdseye, on the 7th of February, 1880, sailed for Europe to arrange for the sales. At the end of five weeks he had returned from Amster- dam, with the necessary arrangements completed. Two days were spent in New York in collecting the proofs of publishing the notices of sales, preparing the forins of papers for the reports of sales, deeds, etc., etc. The sales were to take place at the Court House in Cimarron, N. M., at 9 A. M. of March 22d, 1880. A journey by rail of over 2,500 miles, and of 30 by car- riage, brought him to the place of sale, with nearly three hours to spare before the hour. He bought the property for his clients, the bondholders. The sales were reported, confirmed, deeds ordered, obtained, reported, confirmed, recorded. In May, 1879, letters patent of the United States for the grant were obtained from the Interior Department, Congress having, in 1860, confirmed the original Mexican title. On the 22d of April, 1880, Judge Birdseye sailed for Liverpool, on his way to Amster- dam, where, during May and the first week in June, he assisted in the organization, under the law of the Netherlands, of the Maxwell Land Grant Company, composed of the bondholders, and he then conveyed the lands to that company. Returning

in July, he repaired to New Mexico, to attend the August term of the court, at which the Master's final reports were confirmed. The new company was duly registered for the exercise of its functions in New Mexico and Colorado, and was placed in pos- session of the property-a domain nearly as large as the State of Massachusetts, west of the Connecticut."

Judge Birdseye, besides practicing largely in the New York City Courts and Brooklyn, and in many other countries, has extended his practice into other States.

WINCHESTER BRITTON.

WINCHESTER BRITTON was born in North Adams, Berkshire County, Mass., April 9th, 1826. His paternal and maternal grand parents were hardy, intelligent New England farmers, of pure English descent. His mother's name was Harrington ; hier grandfather was a native of Rhode Island, who very early in life removed to the town of Adams, where he became the propri- etor of the land upon which more than one-half of what is now the village of Nortlı Adams is located.

The paternal grandfather of Mr. Britton was a native of New Hampshire, and settled in Adams when Mr. Britton's father was yet a young man. The marriage of his parents took place at that place. His mother died at the early age of eighteen, when Winchester was an infant. Before her death she gave him to her father and mother, with whom he lived on their farm until he was ten years of age. His father, having removed to Troy, N. Y., took his boy to his home in that city.

One of Mr. Britton's early recollections is that of accompany- ing his grandfather to the tavern in the then small village of North Adams, and there reading the President's Message. As he read with exceeding ease and fluency, greatly to the satisfac- tion of his hearers, the guests and others at the hotel, it is cer- tain that his education had not been neglected, and that he was possessed of much intelligence. His remarkably brilliant black eyes and his hair, which was as black as his eyes, always at- tracted attention, while strong and active physical powers gave abundant promise of vigorous manhood.

Not long after his removal to Troy, be commenced preparing for college at the Clinton Liberal Institute, at Clinton, N. Y .; completing his preparatory course at the Troy Conference Acad- emy, at Poultney, Vt. In the autumn of 1847 he entered the Sophomore class, third term, at Union College. While in col lege, he was entered as a law student in the office of John Van Buren, then Attorney-General of the State, where he remained

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about one year, during which time his collegiate studies were suspended on account of failing health. His studentship with Mr. Van Buren was not so confining and enervating as it was in college, and admitted of greater relaxation. His health becom- ing restored, he re-entered college, where he continued until he graduated. His chum, after returning to college, and till he graduated, was President Arthur, then a member of the Junior class.

Young Britton for a considerable time was at the head of his class, but undertaking to pursue both his legal and collegiate studies, he divided his time between Union College and the cele- brated Law School at Cherry Valley. This close appliention to his studies caused a second failure of his health, compelling him to abandon them. Abont this time the discovery of gold in Cali- fornia ereated intense excitement throughout the nation. Young Britton, inspired by the hope of regaining his health by travel, determined to visit the new El Dorado. Accordingly, in Deeem- ber, 1848, he embarked at New York on the Crescent City, bound for Chagres. The Crescent City was the first steamer that left New York for California. He remained six weeks on the Isthi- inus, and then sailed from Panamua for San Franciseo in the sailing vessel Philadelphia. While on the Isthmus the cholera broke out with much fatality; but, happily, young Britton, though constantly exposed to its ravages, escaped its attack.

After a voyage of eighty-seven days the Philadelphia made the port of San Francisco in safety, and the young man found him- self in the land of gold, where inany adventurous men soon found themselves in a short spaec of time transferred from pov- erty to wealth. Imbued with the spirit of adventure and enter- prise, Britton sought the mining regions with success. After a few months he acquired interests in San Francisco, and his time was divided between that eity and the mines; and he was rewarded by the acquisition of a very handsome fortune. But before he had much time to congratulate himself npon his good fortune, he learned by sad experience that riches often take wings and fly away, for in one night his fortune was all swept away by the memorable fire that nearly destroyed the city of San Francisco. Yielding to an ardent desire which had taken possession of him, he determined to return to his home. Ae- cordingly, in August, 1851, he sailed from San Francisco home- ward. On his passage to Panama he again encountered the cholera under many dangerous circumstances. During the seven days' voyage from Acapulco to Panama, one hundred and fifty-one, nearly one-third of his fellow passengers, died of the terrible disease; but he reached his home in safety, where he continued until the October of the following year, when he re- turned to San Francisco and engaged in business. It was dur- ing his sojourn at home that he made the acquaintance of the estimable and accomplished young lady who subsequently, in March, 1853, became his wife. She was the daughter of William W. Parker, Esq., of Albany. On his return to California he took a deep interest in politics, receiving the nomination for inember of the Legislature of the new State, but was defeated in the canvass. He was, however, soon after elected a member of the Common Council of San Francisco, and Supervisor of San Francisco County. While alderman, he took an active part, among other things, in measures for the supply of water and gas to the growing city. While discharging his official duties, an in- cident occurred deeply interesting to him and to the public, one which he will never forget.

Under the peculiar customs of California at that period, to be a publie man, in any sense, invited personal collisions. The bit. ter antagonism existing between John Cotter, then an alderman of San Francisco, and John Nugent, editor of the San Francisco Herald, resulted in one of the most celebrated duels in the his- tory of California. Mr. Britton, an excellent shot, was a friend and second of Cotter. In the contest Nugent was very severely wounded and removed from the field, but Cotter was unharmed. Since this duel, though, as we have said, Mr. Britton was skillful

in the use of the pistol, he has seldom, if ever, taken one in his hand.

On January 1st, 1853, in accordance with a promise made to his athanced wife, he bade a final farewell to the Pacific slope, and with a large experience, with health restored, he returned to his native land, completed his elassieal studies, received his college degree, and returned to his legal studies.

Such was the diligence, industry and success with which he pursued them that, after the lapse of six months, he was called to the Bar, and he immediately removed to the city of New York, where, without an acquaintance, he began his legal career. His married life, which, as we have seen, commenced in March, 1853, was an exceedingly happy one, but it terminated in 1854 by the death of his lovely and amiable wife, which to him was an excessively severe domestic blow. She died in Brooklyn, at the carly age of nineteen, leaving an infant son, who survived her but a few days. For a time, Mr. Britton was heart- stricken and felt himself alone in the world. But time, which assuages sorrow, his indomitable energy and never-failing courage, and professional ambition, supported him, enabling him to overcome all obstacles and to attain signal success. As an illustration of the obstacles which Mr. Britton overcame in his way to success, it may be remarked that his receipts from his first year's practice in the city of New York were exactly seventy-five dollars. Not at all discouraged by this meagre return from his profession, he took an appeal to time, and with each succeeding year his income increased, until it is exceeded by few in the profession.

In December, 1855, his second marriage took place; the lady of his choiee was Miss Caroline A. Parker, a sister of his former wife, a lady possessing all the accomplishments and all the attributes which constitute an affectionate and agreeable wife, a tender and loving mother, capable of presiding with grace- ful dignity over the home of such a man as Winchester Britton, which we may say without affectation is one of the happiest of homes. Eight boys and three girls, all of whom are living, are the fruits of this happy union.

In 1870, Mr. Britton transferred his legal business to Brooklyn, where he had resided since 1853. His professional reputation had now become so extended that he at once entered, in his new field of labor, upon an unusually large and remunerative prac- tice, not only in the courts of the city of New York, in Brooklyn, in the surrounding counties, but in the State courts and in the Court of Appeals. He had been in practice in Brooklyn but one year when he was elected District Attorney for the County of Kings; he entered upon his official duties in January, 1872, discharging them with singular acceptability until within about eleven months before the expiration of his official term, when charges, originating in the high political excitement that pre- vailed, were made against him, resulting in his removal from office by Governor Dix.

So little foundation was there for the charges against Mr. Britton, so devoid were they of merit, that the very next fall after his removal he was re-elected to the same office by a majority more than double that by which he was first elected.

The office of District Attorney imposed great responsibility and labor upon Mr. Britton. Though criminal law practice is not exactly suited to his taste, yet, after all, it has attrnetions for his active, energetic mind. " It gives ample room for the exer- cise of his well-disciplined mental energies-his power of collect- ing, combining and amplifying. It gives scope to his critical knowledge of statute law and the subtle rules of evidence." It was his fortune during his term of office to be called upon to conduct many exciting criminal cases, among which was the celebrated case of the People ». Rubenstein, tried at Brooklyn in January and February of 1876. Rubenstein had been indicted for one of the most mysterious and atroeions murders known in legal history: the evidence against him was purely circum stantial. Many of these circumstances werc remote and discon

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nected, and the whole crime was enshrouded in such mystery that the work of convicting the alleged perpetrator, who was defended by that powerful legal gladiator, Wm. A. Beach, was an herculean task; but with consummate skill and great energy, Mr. Britton seized upon these circumstances, blended them together, and they each tended to throw light upon, and to prove . the other, reaching a conclusion that overthrew the ingenious hypothesis upon which a great lawyer founded a formidable defense, resulting in the conviction of the prisoner.

No one can read the admirable and touchingly eloquent address to the jury for the defense in the case without the highest admiration. None can read the closing argument of Mr. Britton to the jury without equal admiration. It may be sum- med up in a few words; it was exhaustive, it was learned, it was eloquent, it was convincing. It left no doubt in the minds of the jury, the spectators, or the Bar that Rubenstein was guilty of one of the most cruel murders on record. His conviction was therefore swift and certain.

Space will not permit us to give a detailed account of the many criminal trials which Mr. Britton conducted for the people, but they all tended largely to enhance his fame and to place him in the front ranks of living advocates.

Among his civil triumphs at the Bar, was the case of Edgerton v. Page-a leading case in the Court of Appeals, and among the first there argued by him. This case established the doctrine of constructive eviction of a tenant by a landlord, with the quali- fication that no such eviction could exist unless the tenant actually left before the expiration of his term, qualifying in this respect the caso of Dyett v. Pendleton. John Graham, then in the height of his fame as a lawyer, was his opponent. Taking the whole history of this case, its result was a triumph for Mr. Britton of which any lawyer in the nation might well be proud.

He is now in the active practice of his profession, in the plenitude of professional success. There are very few, if any, important cases in Kings County in which he is not engaged.

In the prolonged contest resulting in the defeat of the project known as the Bond Elevated Railroad, he was prominent, and it is not a little remarkable that the ultimate decision of the Supreme Court was placed upon the precise ground described in Mr. Britton's brief. His latest important argument in the Court of Appeals was made against George F. Comstock in the case of Crooke v. The County of Kings, on the part of the defendant and respondent. This case is a contest on behalf of the heirs of the wife of the late Gen. Philip S. Crooke, to establish their title to real estate of great value. Among other questions, it involves the wills of Mrs. Catin, the mother of Mrs. Crooke, and of Mrs. Crooke, and the validity and proper execution of certain powers and trusts therein contained; and requires a con- struction of the statute of the powers and trusts of this State, which had been before the Court of Appeals, and must neces- sarily become a leading case upon those subjects.

From the foregoing it will be seen that Mr. Britton is a man of untiring energy. Many of his compeers at the Bar give to their profession divided allegiance; many make it second to the attractive but more ephemeral contest of the political arena; but Mr. Britton has an utter distaste for those practices and associations which are so necessary for a politician, and his abnegation of politics, except in the exercise of rational political convictions, is thorough and complete, and therefore his success as a lawyer is the reward of a constant and thorough mental elaboration and study. It is proverbial among his neighbors that none of them gets home so late at night as not to see the lights burning in his well-stocked library.

He is positive in his convictions, rests confidently upon them, and is not specially reserved in expressing his opinion concern- ing them. He is always sincere and in earnest, dislikes hypoc- risy, and is destitute of those platitudes which enables one to agree with everybody.

Therefore, he is not what may be called a popular man with

the masses, nor is he convivial in his tastes. With his ellosen friends he is social, genial and approachable. Ile is especially a domestic man, and his home to him is an empire of happiness and pleasuro; and to be best appreciated he must bo seen in his family, among his children, to whom ho is most tenderly attached and to whoso success in lifo his solo ambition is directed.

EDWARD H. HOBBS.

EDWARD II. HOBBS is, in every sense, a lawyer who has, with much success, subordinated all his faculties to his profession. He avoids those sporadic efforts which, while they may dazzle, weaken the intellect by undue distribution. He has sought for honorable distinction in his profession, with great direetness of purpose, with a zealous, hopeful temperament; has toilcd with assiduity, and has meditated upon the means by which it was to be realized unceasingly; never practicing those arts by which ephemeral and meretricious professional honors are often acquired. With the aid of an indomitable self-reliance, a reali- zation of his professional aspiration has been his reward.

Mr. Hobbs was born in Ellenburgh, Clinton County, New York, June 5, 1835. His father was Benjamin Hobbs, a farmer, one of the pioneers of the country lying between the Adirondacks, Lake Champlain, and the St. Lawrenco River. He was a captain in the American army in the war of 1812, and participated in many of the stirring events which occurred along the Northern frontier during that period.

Mr. Hobbs' ancestors wero among the early colonial settlers of the country; the paternal branch was English, and tho mater- nal Welsh extraction.

The family must have been somewhat extensive at an early period, for we find that Mr. Hobbs had six great-uncles who served in various capacities in the American army during thio Revolutionary War.

As we have said, his father was a fariner and, like most of his class, in moderate circumstances. The early years of young Hobbs were spent on his father's farm; when old enough, he attended the common or district school, where he exhibited studious habits and a scholarly mind, and where the Prome- thean spark began to burn within him. But the mediocrity of his father's means compelled him to rely principally upon him- self for his intellectual advancement; and thus we may say, that Mr. Hobbs stands among that class of legal practitioners known as solf-made men, whose lives and career so signally embellish the history of the Bench and Bar of Kings County.

While yet a lad he removed to Malone, Franklin County, and was entered as a student at Franklin Academy, whero he prepared for college. Like many other young men of limited means, Mr. Hobbs supported himself during his student years by teaching; he enjoyed the benefits which experience as a teacher gives to young men preparing for any profession, especially that of the law-mental discipline, self-government, and the government of others. After due preparation, in 1858, he entered Middlebury College, Vermont. In his senior year the war of the Rebellion broke out, and the enthusiastic and patriotic nature of young Hobbs caught the martial spirit that everywhere prevailed in the Northern States, and in his ardor to serve his country, he turned from classic halls, from the ambitions of the seholar, from his dreams of legal honors (for he had early determined to become a lawyer), to those fields of strife "where the death-bolt flew deadliest." He entered the army as a private soldier, serving gallantly wherever duty called through most of the war. His gallantry on the field, the facility with which he perfected hin- self in military discipline, soon raised him to the rank of captain. He participated in many of the battles which will be recorded for all time in history. He served throughout the Peninsular campaign under Mcclellan, in Nortu Carolina under Foster, and in South Carolina under Hunter. Ho was in all the battles of those campaigns, including Yorktown, Williamsburg, Bottom's

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Bridge, Seven Pines, all MeClellan's seven days' memorable change of base, and in the attack of Admiral DuPont and General llunter on Charleston Bar.

This record needs no embellishments. It is written in living characters in the history of the nation, and the carcer of a gal- lant soldier is blended with the civic honors of tho Bar. ·

In the last scenes of the war, Mr. Hobbs was compelled, by ill- health, to resign his commission, and he returned to his home, and soon began preparing for the Bar. To this end he entered the Albany Law School, whero he remained until his call to the Bar. This was in the year 1866. Shortly after taking his degree as Bachelor of Law, he removed to the city of New York, and then began his practice, taking up his residence in Brooklyn. With the learning, ability, energy and ambition of Mr. Hobbs, professional success was assured. He began his practice as the law partner of F. A. Wilcox, in Wall street. Upon the election of Judge Donohue to the Bench of the Supreme Court, Mr. Ilobbs entered his old firm in copartnership with Mr. Wilcox and ex-Judgo Becbe, under the firm name of Beebe, Wilcox & llobbs. This firma did tho largest admiralty business, perhaps, in the country. To Mr. Hobbs, however, was committed tho common law business of the firin, and he soon acquired the rep- utation of a thorough and successful commercial lawyer. With- out going into a general history of the large number of import- ant cases in the conduet of which Mr. Hobbs participated, we refer the reader to their history, found in the Stato and Federal Law Reports, through the last fifteen years. Theso demonstrate much moro fully and adequately than we can the earcer of Mr. Hobbs at the Bar. Sinee 1883 he has practiced by himself, with inereasing devotion to his profession.

We have spoken of the devotion of Mr. Hobbs to his pro- fession, but he has been and is an activo politician, feeling that a good citizen is in duty bound to participate, more or less, in political affairs. It would bo far better for the country if politics were removed from the mneddlers, the party thimble- riggers, the professional place-hunters and jobbers, into tho hands of the respcetable and responsible class of the community. These sentiments, we believe, have actuated Mr. Hobbs in his participation in politics, for he has never been an office-seeker, nor the instrument of office seekers, being too independent for this, and never tolerated those brazen-faced ward politicians, always boasting of their influence.

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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 162

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