USA > New York > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and family history of New York, Volume III > Part 8
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"Clarence, you and I have grown old together. I must be permitted to speak plainly for once. I must emphasize one fact. in justice to you and in justice to me. Your dual life as financier and litterateur is unique among men. Your friends have met you daily for months and years. You seemed ever with us- ever in this busy whirl. But at the same time you have walked and wrought in an ethereal world.
"In studying your diverse walks I am reminded of a night that I spent upon Mount Washington, and in the morning, thou- sands of feet below us, there was a sea of clouds, absolutely im- penetrable and filled with mist and fog. Above, all was clear and serene, and I saw the 'crimson streak on the ocean's cheek grow into the great sun.' All above us was brightness; all below ns was mist; and so in the two departments of your life you have breathed the empyrean and you have drudged with us in the mire.
"Your literary labors have been exhausting and exhaustive. Away back in 1869 you wrote 'Pan in Wall Street' and 'Israel Freyer's Bid for Gold'; since then you have given the world 'The Victorian Poets' and 'Poets of America'; you have pub- lished 'Victorian Anthology' and 'American Anthology'; you have edited Poe in ten volumes and American Authors in eleven, and you have edited newspapers and written for the magazines in ceaseless labor. No other man has done the same. Whittier, the poet of the people, never parted from his muse, and the distant roar of the Atlantic soothed him by night and the flowers and bees and birds inspired him by day.
"The author of 'Thanatopsis' wrote that view of death while yet in college, and his later works outside of his editorial field were few and far between. Bayard Taylor gave up litera- ture before he took up statecraft. Longfellow and Lowell are
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said to have lived at ease on ancestral patrimony, while Holmes wrote as a pastime to a medical practice. To you it was re- served to be at once banker and poet and to achieve success in both.
"Clarence, when we roughed it together on this floor we never forgot for a moment that you lived in another realm. We had improved on the herdsmen of Admetus. When Apollo dwelt with them they did not know him as the sun god. But all through our work here we were 'on to your curves' in another sphere, and a jaunty boutonniere of laurel in memory of the lamented Daphne was tossed you in our minds day by day as you worked with us. And now I am about to do an act which brings me in touch with a great poet, whom we have mourned together.
"To be known as the friend of Whittier's friend brings an honor to one as closely as did the returning Hibernian who came from Boston to Brooklyn, after having been introduced to John L. Sullivan. His companion met him with a vigorous grasp, saying, 'Put it right there, Denny; let me shake the hand that shook the hand of Sullivan.' And so it can at least be said that Whittier and I have dedicated something to a mutual friend.
"The last volume that Whittier wrote was dedicated to you in a single stanza. I dedicate to your double labors ten stanzas to make clear my admiration for your mysterious power. These are my lines :
"In the realms of high Olympus A youthful dreamer strayed. Of sturdy stock From old Plymouth Rock, His boyish fancy played.
"There dwelt the gods in grandeur, And the heaven was filled with light, While his dauntless gaze Withstood its rays, And the Immortals felt his might.
"There stood old Zeus, the father, And there stood Ares brave; And the muses nine, With touch divine, Their inspiration gave.
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"Athene's wisdom lent its power, Aphrodite's beauty shone, And the dreamer sang, In words that rang With a sweetness all their own.
"Then up spoke sly old Hermes (He is the banker's god) And he said, 'Forsooth, My earnest youth, As a poor man do not plod.
" 'Below the clouds is the merchant's mart, And commerce spreads her wings. There are heaps of gold And wealth untold, And labor honor brings.'
"To earth came the poet-banker- In Wall street's mart he stood, Where they shont and yell, As they buy and sell, And he wrought there as he could.
"One day in the bright empyrean, One day with gains bedight, He bought and sold And he gathered gold. With brain and nerve aright.
"With men he's the poet banker, The banker-poet above, The pride of the masses, The pride of Parnassus ; With men and with muses in love.
"Oh, Clarence, our loved one! when back with the muses, When back on Olympus once more, As you look from your height With eyes of delight, You'll yearn for the 'boys on the floor.' "
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In 1857 Mr. White was married to Eliza Matilda Chandler, of Staunton, Illinois, a daughter of Hiram Chandler and a granddaughter of Joseph Chandler, who was at his father's side in the battle of Bennington when the latter was killed. He bore the name of Benjamin Chandler. Mrs. White is of the eighth generation of descent from Miles Standish and from John Al- den and his wife Priscilla. Unto Mr. and Mrs. White have been born two children: Jennie. who is the wife of Franklin W. Hopkins, a banker and broker, and they have two children, Elsie White Hopkins and Stephen V. White Hopkins; and Ar- thur, a stock-broker, who married Margaret Beecher, a daugh- ter of Colonel Harry Beecher, of Brooklyn, and a granddaugh- ter of Henry Ward Beecher. They have two children: Dorothy and Stephen Van Culen.
In his political views Mr. White is a stalwart Republican, recognized as one of the leading members of the party. He was a member of congress from a Brooklyn district in 1887-9, and for some years prior to that time served as a park com- missioner. He takes a deep and active interest in everything pertaining to the public welfare, withholding his support from no movement or measure calculated to advance the material, social, intellectual and moral progress. A member of the Ply- month church of Brooklyn, he has served as the treasurer and a trustee for over thirty years. He has been a trustee of the Polytechnic Institute from 1884 until the present time, and for more than a third of a century has been a life member of the Brooklyn library. Socially he is a valued representative of the Union Leagne, Hamilton, Lincoln and Brooklyn Clubs. He has never permitted the acquisition of wealth to affect in any way his actions toward those less successful than he, and has always a cheerful word and pleasant smile for all with whom he comes in contact.
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WINCHESTER BRITTON.
Mr. Britton was born in North Adams, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, April 9, 1826. His paternal and maternal grandparents were hardy, intelligent New England farmers, of pure English descent. His mother's maiden name was Har- rington; her grandfather was a native of Rhode Island, who very early in life removed to the town of Adams, where he beeame the proprietor of the land upon which more than one- half of what is now the village of North 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 occurred 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, New York, took his boy to his home in that city. One of Mr. Britton's early recollections is that of accom- panying 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 satis- faction of his hearers, the guests and others at the hotel, it is certain that his education had not been neglected, and that he possessed much intelligence. His remarkably brilliant black eyes and his hair, which was as black as his eyes, always attracted attention, while strong and active physical powers gave abundant promise of vigorous manhood.
Not long after his removal to Troy he commenced prepar- ing for college at the Clinton Liberal Institute, at Clinton, New York, completing his preparatory course at the Troy Confer- ence Academy, at Poultney, Vermont. In the autumn of 1847
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he entered the sophomore class (third term) at Union College. While in college he was entered as a law student in the office of John Van Buren, then attorney general of the state, where he remained about one year, during which time his collegiate studies were suspended on account of failing health. His career as a student under Mr. Van Buren was not so confining and enervating as it was in college, admitting of greater relaxation His health becoming restored, he re-entered college, where he continned until he graduated. His "chum" after returning to college and until he graduated was Chester A. Arthur, then a member of the junior class, in whose easy-going habits and at that time somewhat indolent character the recognition of a future president of the United States would have seemed the wildest dreams. Yonng 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 the Union College and the celebrated Law School at Cherry Valley. This close application to his studies caused a second failure of his health, compelling him to abandon them. About this time the discovery of gold in California created intense excitement throughont the nation. Young Britton, inspired by the hope of regaining his health by travel, determined to visit the new El Dorado. Accordingly, in December, 1848, he embarked at New York on the Crescent City, bound for Chagres. The Cres- cent City was the first steamer that left New York for Cali- fornia.
He remained six weeks on the isthmus and then sailed from Panama for San Francisco in the sailing vessel Philadelphia. While on the isthmus the cholera broke ont 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
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the port of San Francisco in safety, and the young man found himself in the land of gold, where many adventurous men soon found themselves in a short space of time transferred from poverty to wealth. Imbued with the spirit of adventure and enterprise, Britton sought the mining regions with success. After a few months he acquired interests in San Francisco, and his time was divided between that city and the mines, and he was rewarded by the acquisition of a very handsome fortune. But before he had much time to congratulate himself upon 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 possession of him, he determined to return to his home. Ac- 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, or 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 returned to San Francisco and engaged in business. It was during 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 Cali- fornia he took a deep interest in politics, receiving the nomina- tion for member of the legislature of the new state, but was de- feated in the canvass. He was, however, soon afterward elected a member of the common council of San Francisco, and super- visor of San Francisco county. While alderman he took an active part among other things in measures for the supply of
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water and gas to the growing city. While discharging his offi- cial duties an incident 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 public man, in any sense, invited personal collisions. The bitter antagonism existing between John Cotter, then an alder- man of San Francisco, and John Nugent, editor of the "San Francisco Herald." resulted in one of the most celebrated duels in the history 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 the duel, though as we have said Mr. Britton was skilful in the use of the pistol, he has seldom, if ever, taken one in his hand.
On January 1, 1853, in accordance with a promise made to his affianced, 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 classical studies, received his col- lege 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 termi- nated 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 early age of nineteen, leaving an infant son, who survived her but a few months. 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, enab-
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ling 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 was exceeded by few in the profession.
In December, 1855, his second marriage took place; the lady of his choice was Miss Caroline A. Parker, a sister of his former wife, a lady possessing all the accomplishments and all the attributes which constitute an affectionable and agreeable wife, a tender and loving mother, capable of presiding with with graceful dignity over the home of such a man as Win- chester Britton, which we may say without affectation was one of the happiest of homes. Eight sons and three daughters, all of whom are living, are the fruits of this happy union.
In 1870 Mr. Britton transferred his legal business to Brook- lyn, where he had resided since 1853. His professional rep- utation had now become so extended that he at once entered. in his new field of labor, upon an unsnally large and remuner- ative practice, not only in the conrts of the city of New York, in Brooklyn, in the surrounding counties, but also in the state conrts and in the court of appeals. He had been in practice in Brooklyn bnt one year when he was elected district attorney for the county of Kings. He entered upon his official duties in Jannary, 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 prevailed, were made against him, resulting in his removal from office by Governor Dix. So little founda- tion was there for the charges against Mr. Britton, so devoid
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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 responsibil- ity and labor upon Mr. Britton. Though criminal law practice was not exactly suited to his taste, yet after all, it had attrac- tions for his active, energetic mind. "It gives ample room for the exercise of his well-disciplined mental energies-his power of collecting, combining and amplifying. It gives scope to his critical knowledge of statute law and the subtle rules of evi- dence." 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 People versus Rubenstein, tried at Brooklyn in January and February of 1876. Ruben- stein had been indicted for one of the most mysterious and atro- cious murders known in legal history. The evidence against him was purely circumstantial, and many of these circumstances were remote and disconnected, and the whole crime was en- shrouded in such mystery that the work of convicting the al- leged perpetrator, who was defended by that powerful legal gladiator, William A. Beach, was a 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 high- est admiration. None can read the closing argument of Mr. Britton to the jury without equal admiration. It may be summed up in a few words: it was exhaustive, it was learned,
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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 Edger- ton versus 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 qualification that no such eviction could exist unless the tenant actually left before the expiration of his term, quali- fying in this respect the case of Dyett versus 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.
Up to the time of his death, February 13, 1886, he was in the active practice of his profession, in the plenitude of profes- sional success. There are very few, if any, important cases in Kings county in which he was not engaged.
In the prolonged contest resulting in the defeat of the proj- ect 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. Among his last important arguments in the court of appeals was that made against George F. Comstock in the case of Crooke versus the County of Kings, on the part of the defendant and respondent. This case was a contest on behalf of the heirs of the wife of the late General Philip S.
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Crooke to establish their title to real estate of great value. Among other questions, it involved the wills of Mrs. Catlin, the mother of Mrs. Crooke, and of Mrs. Crooke, and the validity and proper execution of certain powers and trusts therein con- tained, and required a construction of the statute of the powers and trusts of this state which had been before the court of ap- peals, and necessarily became a leading case upon those sub- jects.
From the foregoing it will be seen that Mr. Britton was 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 contests of the political arena, bnt Mr. Britton had an utter distaste for those practices and associations which are so necessary for a politician, and his ab- negation of politics, except in the exercise of rational political convictions, is thorough and complete, and therefore his success as a lawyer was the reward of a constant and thorough mental elaboration and study. It was proverbial among his neighbors that none of them got home so late at night as not to see the lights burning in his well-stocked library.
He was positive in his convictions, rested confidently upon them, and was not specially reserved in expressing his opinion concerning them. He was always sincere and in earnest, dis- liked hypocrisy, and was destitute of those platitudes which en- able one to agree with everybody. Therefore he was not what may be called a popular man with the masses, nor was he con- vivial in his tastes. With his chosen friends he was social, genial and approachable. He was especially a domestic man, and his home to him was an empire of happiness and pleasure, and he was best appreciated when seen in his family, among his chil- dren, to whom he was most tenderly attached and to whose suc- cess in life his sole ambition was directed.
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On the morning of February 13, 1886, when in his library and about to leave his home for his office, he was seized with cramps in the bowels. Passing into his bed-room, he threw him- self upon his bed and in less than three minutes he had breathed his last, to the indescribable shock of his wife and eldest dangh- ter, who were with him, and to his law associate, Sumner Howe Ely, who had remained in the library waiting his return. The years of strain put upon his physical organism throughout his busy life finally caused a stoppage of the action of the heart.
On the occasion of his death the courts of Kings county were adjourned as a mark of respect, and a memorial meeting was held of the Bar Association of Kings county, at which the following resolution was adopted:
"The life of Winchester Britton was at the bar, and it was as a lawyer that he was known. His associates in that profes- sion in Kings county, where he lived and largely practiced, deem it fit that they should state their appreciation of and regard for him, and their recognition of the loss which they have sustained by his death, in a public manner and permanent form. With Mr. Britton the law was not a mere trade or vocation; it was a learned and honorable profession. He considered it a duty not only to master the principles of the law, as they had been under- stood, but to keep his knowledge abreast of the latest application of those principles to the multiform exigencies growing ont of the developing needs and business of his time. To that task he brought an aente and active intellect, an ability for work, per- sistent industry and a logical capacity and power of severe analy- sis which placed him, in the judgment of his associates, in the mind of the court and in the appreciation of the public in the very front of his profession. To that equipment he added a power of advocacy and of convincing and eloquent statement that made his gifts felt in all forensic contests. He was a man of courage and determination, and to those qualities he added courtesy as a gentleman and a lawyer. He will be mourned by his associates as a lawyer and as a true and honorable friend, whose kindly manner and frank and generons courtesy had en- deared him to all who had become intimate with him. The bar of Kings county tender to his afflicted family their condolence
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and sympathy, and they request the courts of this county to have this testimonial entered upon their minutes."
The address of Supreme Court Justice Calvin E. Pratt was as follows :
"Mr. Chairman and Brethren of the Bar: I feel I speak the sentiment of every man present on this occasion when I say we have not yet recovered from the shock caused by the an- nouncement of the death of Brother Britton. The blow was so sudden and unexpected, the victim a man of such physical vigor, of such prominence in our profession, and so closely allied to us all by the ties of professional fraternity that the mind is dazed and language falters upon the lip. It is a duty we owe to our- selves when such a man dies to halt in our hurried march and testify to his merits as a lawyer and character as a man. What place so appropriate as this, where he made his greatest effort and where the most signal victories of his life were won, to fill the cup of honor to his memory. If I could do otherwise, which happily I cannot, the partialities of an uninterrupted friendship of twenty-seven years would only permit me to speak of the merits of our deceased brother as I observed them through that busy period. Before speaking of my knowledge of him as a lawyer, I ought to allude to certain qualities which he pos- sessed in an eminent degree, without which no man can be a great lawyer. He had a good constitution, as is popularly said, robust health, abstemious habits, a strong, vigorous body, cap- able of incredible labor and endurance, and the nervous energy of a trained athlete. Combined with these he had natural and acquired industry that was phenomenal, and a zeal and ambition for eminence in his profession that never abated. Born and brought up in the country where men earn an honest living by labor, he early learned the lesson of self-reliance while his heart was filled with human sympathy. Added to these qualities was the effect of a thorough classical education and an extensive ex- perience with men and affairs. Upon a mind naturally active, acute, tireless and discriminating, and, above, all, honest-sueli was the foundation upon which his character as a lawyer was built. As a lawyer he was profoundly learned. No man came to the trial of a cause better prepared at every point of a case, or presented his case with more zeal or learning. In equity, com- mercial, criminal and constitutional law he was equally skillful and successful. His points and briefs were models of terse, in-
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