USA > New York > New York City > History of the Court of common pleas of the city and county of New York : with full reports of all important proceedings > Part 7
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III
THE HONORABLE RICHARD LUDLOW LARREMORE, LL.D .*
Richard Ludlow Larremore, sixteenth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born near Astoria, L. I., on September 6, 1830, and died in this city on Septem- ber 13, 1893. His descent in the maternal line was from the early Dutch settlers of New Netherland. On the paternal side his ancestry was English, but long resident on Long Island. He was graduated from Rutgers College in 1850.
He studied law with the firm of Betts & Robinson, and on his admission to the bar became a partner of Scoles and Cooper, who were leading members of the admiralty bar at that time. The law of real property was the branch to which young Larremore especially devoted his attention, and he soon became the counsel of the Dry Dock Savings Institution, and of other clients who made loans on real estate security. It may truthfully be said that he never lost a client, and that every client became his friend for life. The estimation in which he was held may be learned from the fact that he was frequently solicited to act as guardian and executor, positions that he firmly refused to accept.
* This memorial was prepared after Judge Larremore's death by his asso- ciate, Judge George M. Van Hoesen, and was read by Judge Van Hoesen at a meeting of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, held on March 13, 1894.
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SCUOLAMSON. 86
RICHARD L. LARREMORE, LL. D.
A memorial of Chief Justice Larremore would be incomplete without a reference to his long and faithful service to the cause of public education. For many years he was an active member of the Board of Educa- tion, and for three years was president of the board. His firmness prevented that body from falling under the control of the Tweed Ring, and effectually stopped a bold attempt toapply to the purchase of school sup- plies the methods that obtained in the building of the County Court House.
In 1867 he was elected to the Constitutional Conven- tion by a very flattering vote, and he took a prominent part in the debates, being especially well qualified to speak on all questions affecting our system of popular education.
In 1870, when the judicial force of the Court of Com- mon Pleas was increased, he was elected to the bench of that Court in company with Hamilton W. Robinson and Joseph F. Daly. Charles H. Van Brunt, who had previously been appointed to fill a vacancy, was elected a Judge of the Common Pleas on the same ticket.
Judge Larremore left a large practice, which, though consisting largely of conveyancing, had been sufficiently varied to equip him for the duties on which he entered. His native quickness of apprehension and his ready command of resources soon gave him a recognized position as a nisi prius Judge; but in equity causes, for which his experience gave him special training, his judicial work was from the first of a high order.
He always had a well-defined sense of what the law ought to be when a novel question was suddenly raised. He had a good memory, not for the titles, but for the
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essential principles of important cases, and it was his habit to familiarize himself with the latest adjudications. Though he was very fortunate in handling cases where no opportunity for an examination of the authorities was given to him, he welcomed the labor of research, and shrank from no toil that a conscientious desire to reach the very truth in the law involved. His opin- ions were almost always brief, and though reversals fall to the lot of every Judge he was exceptionally fortu- nate in the Appellate Court.
A good illustration of his judicial methods may be found in his opinion in Dupré vs. Rein, 7 Abb. N. C., 256. That case involved an examination of the status of a tripartite agreement between husband and wife with the intervention of a trustee, entered into after the separation of the wedded pair. Citing many authori- ties he stated the existing rules regulating the recipro- eal duties and liabilities of the parties and the methods of enforcing them, with great conciseness, but with the keenest discrimination. That case has frequently been cited and followed and has received the honor of special mention by the Court of Appeals, an honor seldom fall- ing to a decision at Special Term.
Though Chief Justice Larremore never trimmed his sails to catch the breeze of popular favor he was always a very popular man. The courtesy and kind- ness that endeared him to the younger members of the bar were the offspring of a genial nature that ever manifested itself in his intercourse with the world, and which won for him golden opinions from all. He sat in the Supreme Court by the order of the Governor, and grew in reputation whilst an incumbent of that
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bench. His associates, on the retirement of Chief Jus- tice Charles P. Daly, chose him as the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1869, the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon Judge Larremore by the University of the City of New York.
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THE HONORABLE GEORGE M. VAN HOESEN.
Sprung from one of the oldest of our Dutch families, with a distinguished record as a soldier, no greater compliment could have been paid to the legal abilities of Judge George M. Van Hoesen, the seventeenth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, than the general regret which was expressed by the prominent New York jour- nals of all shades of political opinions, on his retire- ment from the bench in 1890.
Born in New York, he was graduated at the Uni- versity of the City of New York. Prominent in many of the under-graduate organizations, he has since graduation served as president of the Alumni Associa- tion.
He studied law in the State and National Law School, then located at Poughkeepsie, and for a time was an instructor there on the subjects of pleadings and evi- dence. Going to Davenport, Iowa, shortly after, he began the practice of the law there, and so continued until the breaking out of the war in 1861 when, forming a company of which he was made captain, he was attached to the 13th Iowa Infantry. Serving under General Grant in Missouri, and ascending the Tennes- see River with him in 1862, he was promoted to the rank of major for gallantry at the battle of Shiloh, and took part in the subsequent capture of Vicksburg. At one time he was provost-marshal of the armies in the
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1
WILLIAMSON
GEORGE M. VAN HOESEN.
field for the Department of the Mississippi. At the close of the war Major Van Hoesen resumed the prac- tice of law in New York City, where his success was marked.
Perhaps the most notable event connected with Judge Van Hoesen's practice at this period was the fact that in 1866 he drew the first bill ever drawn for the con- struction of an elevated railway. Mr. Richard Mont- gomery had invented a plan for an aerial railway. Judge Van Hoesen interested capitalists in the enter- prise, but considering the expression "aerial " a little flighty, caused the proposed law to be entitled, " An Act to Authorize the Construction of an Elevated Rail- way on Broadway," thus giving the name "elevated " to the system which is so well known to-day. The bill, which passed the Assembly by a large majority, failed in the Senate, but it was the pioneer of the legislation that has given to New York the nearest approach to rapid transit. Upon the retirement of Judge Van Hoesen, in 1889, an editorial in one of the leading metropolitan journals well expressed the dominant feel- ing at the time, calling it a misfortune " that a man of his talents, kindly feelings and dignified courtesy could not have received a renomination."
After leaving the bench Judge Van Hoesen resumed active practice. The same care, industry, accuracy, and conscientiousness which he exercised in the discharge of his judicial duties have ever marked his relations in regard to his clients. Possessed of a wonderful memory he is not only remarkably well versed in the principles of the law but can always quote his authorities with accuracy and promptness. Of kindly nature, gentle
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and pleasant in his manners, upright in all his relations to life, honors have come in abundance to Judge Van Hoesen. He is a trustee of the Holland Trust Com- pany, was chairman for three successive terms of the Memorial Committee of the Grand Army, of which he has long been a comrade in La Fayette Post No. 140; was one of the founders and has been one of the presi- dents of the Holland Society. On the organization of the Zeta Psi Club, in 1882, he was by acclamation ten- dered its presidency. He is also a member of the Union and Manhattan Clubs, the St. Nicholas Society, and of the Historical and Geographical Societies.
Judge Van Hoesen is unmarried and is still engaged in the active practice of his profession.
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17
WILIAMSON .
MILES BEACH.
THE HONORABLE MILES BEACH.
More litigation came before the Supreme Court in the City of New York than was brought before either the Superior Court or the Court of Common Pleas. To relieve the Supreme Court Judges the Governor was accustomed to appoint one of the Judges of the Supe- rior Court and one of the Judges of the Court of Com- mon Pleas to sit on the Supreme Bench. Judge Miles Beach, through frequent appointments of successive Governors to act with the Justices of the Supreme Court, was always more identified in the popular mind with the latter than with the Court to which he had been originally appointed and twice elected and of which he was one of the last Judges.
Son of the late Hon. William A. Beach, who ranked with Charles O'Conor, James T. Brady, and other prominent lawyers of the preceding generation, Miles Beach, eighteenth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born at Saratoga Springs in 1833. Soon after his graduation at Union College in 1854, he became associated with his father in the law firm of Messrs. Beach & Smith, at Troy, N. Y. The law busi- ness of this firm grew to such an extent that in 1871 father and son came to New York. Upon the election of Judge Rapallo to the Court of Appeals the law firm of Rapallo, Daly & Brown was changed to Beach, Daly & Brown, with the Messrs. Beach as members of the
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firm. Mr. Daly retiring, the firm became Beach & Brown, and, acting as attorneys for Mr. Jay Gould and for some of the Vanderbilts, had, for a period, the largest railway business in New York.
In 1879, Governor Robinson appointed Mr. Beach Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. Though his opponents in the election of the following year were ex-Recorder Smyth and Elihu Root, he was elected in the Autumn, and again re-elected at the end of his term, in 1893, for another term of fourteen years.
Judge Beach has been known for many years as one of the most cultivated Judges of the New York Courts. His " opinions " are models of conciseness. He has a notable faculty of expressing his conclusions in half the space usually required by others.
By the Constitution of 1894 Judge Beach was perma- nently transferred to the bench of the Supreme Court.
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WILLIAMSON .960
HENRY WILDER ALLEN.
THE HONORABLE HENRY WILDER ALLEN.
Henry Wilder Allen, nineteenth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born at Alfred, Maine, October 18, 1833. He was a son of the Hon. William Cutter Allen, a lawyer by profession, and for many years Judge of Probate for York County, Maine; and the grandson on his maternal side, of Henry Holmes, a native of Kingston, Mass., a graduate of Brown Univer- sity, and an active member of the bar for many years at Alfred, Maine.
Prepared for college at the schools of his native town he was duly graduated at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, with the class of 1856.
While an under-graduate he became an active mem- ber in one of the more noted Greek fraternities, a fact which doubtless did much to develop those social quali- ties which rendered Judge Allen so popular in after life.
He taught in Alfred Academy for a little while after leaving college, but soon coming to New York became a clerk in the office of Hon. Nelson J. Waterbury. When the latter became District Attorney for the City of New York Mr. Allen followed his chief and became a clerk in the District Attorney's office. The friend- ship between the two men so ripened that when Judge Waterbury returned to private practice he and Mr. Allen became partners under the firm name of Water-
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bury & Allen, Mr. Allen in the meantime having been admitted to the bar.
Subsequently, through the recommendation of United States District Judge Samuel Blatchford, Mr. Allen was appointed by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, one of the registrars in bankruptcy in the City of New York. He filled this office so satisfactorily that upon the recommendation of Mr. Hubert O. Thompson he was appointed by Governor Cleveland, in 1884, Judge of the Court of the Common Pleas of the City of New York. In the following Autumn he was elected for the full term of fourteen years.
Popular, well educated, a good companion, he was in all his dealings noted for his scrupulous honesty. Exact in his own relations with those with whom he was brought in contact, he compelled the same exact- itude in his subordinates. Possessed of a thorough knowledge of details as well as of human nature and of the niceties of life, he served for many years as Chair- man of the House Committee of the Manhattan Club with great satisfaction, not only to those who knew him personally, but to the entire membership of that institution.
While leaving the Court House, he was seized with a paralytic stroke, and his untimely death at the Cham- bers Street Hospital, after several days' illness, in 1891, cut him off in the full plentitude of his powers.
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HENRY W. BOOKSTAVER, LL.D.
THE HONORABLE HENRY W. BOOKSTAVER, LL.D.
Henry W. Bookstaver, twentieth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in Orange County, New York, in 1835. He is the son of Daniel Bookstaver and a direct descendant of Jacobus Buchstabe, or Boochstaber, who emigrated from Switzerland early in the eighteenth century and became an extensive owner of real estate in Orange County. The original form of the family name signifies " book-stick," a wooden letter such as was first used in printing-or denotes one en- gaged in the printing of books. The family was a noted one in the old country; two brothers, Henry and Johannes Buchstabe, being prominent on opposite sides in the theological struggles of the middle of the sixteenth century. It is from Henry, who espoused the reformed religion, that the Judge is descended.
Judge Bookstaver was graduated with honors at Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J., in 1859, and immediately entered the office of Brown, Hall & Van- derpoel. He was admitted to the bar in 1861, and shortly afterwards was taken as a partner into the firm with which he had studied.
He became successively sheriff's attorney, counsel to the Police Board, and counsel to the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections. His defence of Sheriff Reilly established his reputation, not so much for legal
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acumen-for he already had that-as for forensic elo- quence. In 1885 he was raised to the bench by a large plurality over Judge Paterson and Theron G. Strong. During twenty-five years at the bar he enjoyed an extensive practice covering all branches of the law, and had acquired a perfect familiarity with every question likely to arise at a trial term. He has also been keenly interested in the study of scientific and general topics of interest; being a member of the Archaeological, His- torical and Geographical Societies of New York City; of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History; the Botanical Garden Society and various other scientific and literary organi- zations. His training was, therefore, such as has come to few of our Judges, and his ability as a trial Judge is reckoned among the highest on the bench of New York Courts. He is noted for the clearness of his methods of presenting facts, his power to inspire confidence and his unfailing courtesy.
Socially, Judge Bookstaver enjoys wide popularity, and is a member of the Manhattan, Casino, New York and Zeta Psi Clubs, and of the St. Nicholas and Huge- not Societies, all of New York City. He is a member of the governing body of the Dutch Reformed Church, the second richest religious corporation in the city.
The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Rut- gers College in 1888.
He was married in 1865 to Miss Mary Baily Young, daughter of Charles Young, of Hamptonburg, Orange County, N. Y.
By the Constitution of 1894 Judge Bookstaver was transferred to the bench of the Supreme Court.
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NoSuis
HENRY BISCHOFF, JR.
THE HONORABLE HENRY BISCHOFF, JR.
Henry Bischoff, Jr., twenty-first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in 1852 in the City of New York. Nearly one hundred years ago, his paternal grandfather was a church builder in Germany, but sub- sequently engaged in the business of a lumber merchant and brick manufacturer at Achim in the kingdom of Prussia, where his descendants still carry on the busi- ness he established. His father, Mr. Henry Bischoff, has been a banker in the city of New York for upwards of forty-nine years.
The son entered his father's office, but later deter- mined upon a professional career. He read law, was graduated at the Columbia College Law School in 1871, and at the same time secured "honorable men- tion " from the Department of Political Science. Being at graduation but nineteen years of age, he was not admitted to the bar till November, 1873, when, devoting himself to civil causes, he succeeded so well that in June, 1889, he became the attorney to the Tax Department, and in the following November, 1890, was elected a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
Judge Bischoff is a director of the Oratorio Society, and of the Union Square Bank. He is a member of the German Society, the New York State and American Bar Associations, the Manhattan and Democratic
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Clubs, and the Liederkranz, Arion, Beethoven and Mænnerchor Societies.
His moral courage, his self reliance, his independence of character, his firm adherence to the right cause have rendered his decisions more than usually acceptable to the bar. Though one of the youngest Judges on the bench, he has already become noted for his industry, his uniform courtesy, and the soundness of his decisions. Judge Bischoff was married in October, 1873, to Miss Annie Louise Moshier, daughter of Frederick and Louise Moshier. They have one child, a daughter, Loula, born May 13, 1876. Transferred by the Constitution of 1894 to the Supreme Court, he, to- gether with Judges Joseph F. Daly and McAdam, composes the Appellate Term which hears all appeals from the decisions of the lower Courts.
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ROGER A. PRYOR, LL. D.
THE HONORABLE ROGER A. PRYOR, LL.D.
Roger Atkinson Pryor, twenty-second Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, editor, diplomat, statesman and soldier, son of the Rev. Theodoric Pryor, who was known for over half a century as an eloquent and emi- nent Presbyterian clergyman, was born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, in 1828. He was graduated at Hampden-Sidney College, took several schools at the University of Virginia; was admitted to the bar; entered journalism, was editor of the Southside Demo- crat at Petersburg, of the Washington Union, and of the Richmond Enquirer; was appointed in 1855 on a special mission to Greece by President Pierce, and, on his return in 1856, attracted great attention through his opposition to Mr. William L. Yancey's plans for the re-opening of the slave trade. He was elected to the National Congress in 1857, and re-elected in 1859. Upon the secession of his State, he became a member of the provisional Confederate Congress and subse- quently of the first regular Confederate Congress. He was in turn colonel, brigadier-general and private, for when political reasons had induced him to resign his commission as brigadier-general, he immediately re-en- listed as a private in the Confederate army. Taken prisoner in 1864, he was confined in Fort Lafayette.
After the war, Gen. Pryor removed to New York, determined to devote himself to the legal profession.
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He was obliged, however, to begin his studies anew, and was at the time thirty-five years of age, without for- tune, having the responsibility of a large family, and settled among strangers.
While studying law, he supported his family, by writing for the press. Admitted to practice he soon became recognized in the profession. He was engaged in some of the most important causes of the time, includ- ing the Beecher trial, the Elevated Railroad cases, the divorce suit of Governor Sprague, of Rhode Island, and was of counsel with Gen. Butler in all the Sprague Estate litigations, and also in the suit in the United States Circuit Court to recover the New York & New England Railroad for its original stockholders. Gen. Pryor defended Governor Ames on his impeachment by the Legislature of Mississippi. In the controversy between Mr. Tilton and Mr. Beecher, Gen. Pryor was retained by the former. He made the argument before the General Term of the City Court, and before the Court of Appeals, resisting the granting to the defendant of a bill of particulars as well as the argu- ment before Judge Neilson in favor of the competency of Mr. Tilton as a witness, In both these contests, Gen. Pryor was opposed by Mr. William M. Evarts and his arguments gave him celebrity as a profound and accomplished lawyer.
The honors conferred upon Gen. Pryor, were culmi- nated when he was appointed in the latter part of 1890 by Governor Hill to the bench of the Common Pleas, and this was made the occasion of a remarkable compliment in the form of a banquet at the Astor House, New York, given in Judge Pryor's honor by
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the Hon. John Russell Young. At this banquet were assembled about fifty guests, including President Cleveland, Chauncey M. Depew, judges, lawyers, clergymen, eminent physicians, prominent merchants, military men, editors of all creeds and of all stripes of political belief, thus rendering a magnificent testi- monial to the position in New York which Judge Pryor had reached in the face of the most pronounced obstacles, and while combating conditions which might reason- ably have defeated his ambition and his hope.
Perhaps one of the most curious facts concerning Judge Pryor is that his legal, political and military record have overshadowed the position to which his scholastic training entitles him. A man of thought as well as a man of action, he stood at the head of his class when he was graduated at Hampden-Sidney in 1845, and has since, some ten years ago, received from his Alma Mater the highest honor which she could give, the degree of Doctor of Laws. The University of Virginia, which has never granted honorary degrees, has made him one of her Board of Visitors. Elected in November, 1890, for the full term of fourteen years, Judge Pryor was, by the Constitution of 1894, trans- ferred in 1896 to the bench of the Supreme Court.
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THE HONORABLE LEONARD A. GIEGERICH.
Leonard A. Giegerich, twenty-third Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in Rotz, Bavaria, May 20th, 1855, and was brought to this country when scarcely more than one year old. He was educated at the public schools, the St. Nicholas parochial school and the De La Salle Institute, N. Y., but from the age of twelve he was obliged to earn his own livelihood. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1877. He was elected to the State Assembly in 1886, and in 1887 was appointed by President Cleveland Collector of Internal Revenue for the Third New York District. Governor Hill in 1890, appointed him to a vacancy on the City Court Bench, caused by the death of Judge Nehrbas. Though it was generally thought that Judge Giegerich would receive the Democratic nomination for the full term as City Court Judge, political exigen- cies decreed differently. It was deemed wise to strengthen the local ticket among the Germans. Judge Giegerich again in 1890, and much against his will, was nominated and elected County Clerk. He held this office, one of the most remunerative in the Courts, until the following Autumn, when he resigned to accept the appointment by Governor Hill to fill a vacancy?on the bench of the Court of Common Pleas caused by the sudden death of Judge Allen. Both political parties placed him in nomination in 1892, to succeed himself,
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LEONARD A. GIEGERICH.
and he was elected for the full term of fourteen years. He was also elected a member of the recent Constitu- tional Convention.
As a member of Assembly, his record was warmly endorsed by the Reform Club of New York. He was one of the two members who persistently refused all passes from railway corporations.
As County Clerk he introduced many reforms which relieved wants long felt by practicing lawyers. Dur- ing his incumbency of the County Clerkship, he endeared himself, probably without the least intention, to all historians by the classifying of musty records, 200 years old that had been stored for years in the Court House.
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