USA > New York > Noted living Albanians and state officials. A series of biographical sketches > Part 10
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After two years of legal study Matthew Hale was ad- mitted to practice at the general term of the supreme court, held at Salem, Washington county, N. Y., in 1853. He first began to practice at Poughkeepsie, where he formed a part- nership with his brother, Henry Hale, which lasted about two years. On his brother's removal to St. Paul, Minn., he formed another partnership with Gen. A, B. Smith. The firm of Hale & Smith did a large amount of law business, and was well and favorably known far outside of Pough- keepsie.
Mr. Hale removed to New York city in 1859 and became a law partner of the late Lot C. Clark, a well-read lawyer and a gentleman of fine literary tastes. The law firm of Clark & Hale had offices in New York and on Staten Island, and had a large practice, not only in the metropolis but in Richmond county.
In December, 1863, Mr. Hale, for family reasons, returned to Elizabethtown, and became a member of the firm of Hand & Hale, which consisted of the late Hon. A. C. Hand (his father-in-law), Richard L. Hand and himself. Judge A. C. Hand, the senior member of this firm, we may remark, was one of the first justices of the supreme court of this state, elected under the constitution of 1846. The firm of Hand & Hale was noted alike for the deep legal learning
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and intellectual attainments of its members and the exten- sive practice it obtained. In 1867 Mr. Hale, indorsed by both political parties, was chosen a delegate from the Essex dis- trict to the constitutional convention, which first met at Albany on the 4th of June of that year, and served with distinction on the judiciary committee of that body, of which the late Hon. Charles J. Folger was chairman. Among other distinguished members of that committee were Wil- liam M. Evarts, Charles Andrews, now of the court of ap- peals, Amasa J. Parker, Francis Kernan and George F. Comstock. In the fall of the same year (1867) Mr. Hale was elected to the state senate for the term of 1868-9, where he was also a member of the judiciary com- mittee.
On the death of Peter Cagger in 1868, by which the dis- tinguished old firm of Cagger & Hand was dissolved, Mr. Hale came to Albany and entered into a copartnership with the late Samuel Hand and the late Nathan Swartz, under the firm-name of Hand, Hale & Swartz. This firm continued till 1872, when Mr. Charles S. Fairchild was added to the firm, which took the name of Hand, Hale, Swartz & Fairchild. The latter firm was dissolved when Mr. Fairchild became attorney-general in 1875. Mr. Swartz died in 1878, but Messrs. Hand & Hale continued together, with the exception of a few months in 1878, when Mr. Hand was on the court of appeals bench, until January, 1881. They then separated, Judge Hand continuing prac- tice by himself, and Mr. Alpheus T. Bulkley, who had been first a student and then a partner with Messrs. Hand & Hale, joining Mr. Hale under the firm-name of Hale & Bulkley. In January, 1888, Hon. Esek Cowen, formerly of Troy, joined them, and the present firm-name of Hale,
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Cowen & Bulkley was established, consisting of Matthew Hale, Esek Cowen and A. T. Bulkley.
Among the many important law cases in which Mr. Hale has been engaged since his residence in this city we would mention the following: In 1869-70 he was counsel for the Ramsey board of directors in the memorable contest with Fisk and Gould for the control of the Albany and Susque- hanna railroad. Some of the ablest lawyers in the state were brought face to face in this sharp forensic conflict. Mr. Hale's associates were Judge W. F. Allen, A. J. Van- derpool, Charles Tracey, George F. Danforth, Henry Smith and others; while the opposing counsel were David Dudley Field, William C. Barrett, Hon. Amasa J. Parker, General Martindale and others. In 1872 Mr. Hale was retained by the English stock owners of the Erie Railway Company in the contest with Fisk, Gould and others to obtain control of that corporation. He was counsel for defendant in the mayoralty suit of Judson against Thacher ; counsel for the People in the canal suits instituted by Governor Tilden; coun- sel for the People in the trial of John F. Smyth before the senate in 1878 -where his closing argument before that body is said to have been an effort of extraordinary ability and learning, being listened to with profound interest - and counsel for Dr. Swinburne in the case of the People against M. N. Nolan.
In suits now or very recently pending, Mr. Hale is coun- sel for the Central National bank of Boston, holder of receiver's certificates of the Lebanon Springs Railroad Com- pany to the amount of $250,000; for General Burt's estate, in suits to recover $1,500,000 from the Continental Con- struction and Improvement Company and others, growing out of the attempted construction of the consolidated
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Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railroad Company ; for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, in several important suits brought in New York city, and also for the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company in suits pending in the court of appeals. He has also been engaged in several important criminal trials, and has defended a great number of actions brought for injuries alleged to have resulted from negligence against the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company and other corporations. He was counsel in the famous bank tax litigation in a number of suits and proceedings in the state and federal courts, some of which went to the supreme court of the United States, and were there argued by him. He was associated with Hon. Wager Swayne, , as counsel for the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany, in the litigation with the state respecting its taxa- tion under the corporation tax law. He has frequently been counsel for various parties in legislative investigations and proceedings. During his residence in Albany he has tried a large number of cases in various parts of the state, as well as at home, in which he has had a fair share of suc- cess.
Thus it will be clearly seen from this summary that the experience of Mr. Hale as a counselor has been exceedingly varied, including the trial of cases of both local and general interest, and that the legal duties he has already performed have often been of the most complicated, difficult and laborious nature.
In 1883 Mr. Hale was the republican candidate for justice of the supreme court, running ahead of his ticket, but was defeated by Hon. Rufus W. Peckham. In 1884 he was com- missioner of appraisement of Niagara Falls reservation ; and
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in 1887 was on the commission with Hon. Elbridge T. Gerry of New York and Dr. Southwick of Buffalo, to report the most humane and practical method of capital punishment, whose report in favor of the present system of execution by electricity was adopted by the legislature of 1888.
As a writer his style with comparatively little indulgence in flights of fancy, is perspicuous, strong and vigorous. It is founded more on the classical model, the outlines of which he chiefly formed while in college poring over the old Greek and Latin authors. His arguments are strong and weighty, commanding the close attention of thoughtful, cul- tivated minds.
Mr. Hale has read several papers before the State Bar as- sociation. In March, 1888, he delivered an address at the commencement of the Albany Medical college; and in June of the same year addressed the alumni of the univer- sity of Vermont, taking for his subject, "Civilization in the United States "- his address being to some extent a com- mentary on the article of Matthew Arnold on that subject in the Nineteenth Century. He has also on many occasions delivered addresses before societies and public assemblies. Besides his extensive law library, Mr. Hale has a large and choice private collection of books, embracing the standard authors, both ancient and modern, on almost all subjects within the range of human learning, and many a passing hour does he pleasantly and profitably spend while free from professional work, in poring over this intellectual wealth, and in enriching his own mind with the choicest senti- ments of the master spirits of the present and bygone ages.
As one of the most scholarly of our citizens, as well as a man of strict integrity, Mr. Hale's abilities have been duly recognized by literary societies here and elsewhere. He has
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been a member and trustee of the Fort Orange club since its organization. He is also a trustee and vice-president of the old Albany Savings bank; a member of the Reform club of New York, and the University club of the same city. He is vice-president of the Commonwealth club of New York city, and has been president of the united chapters of the Phi Beta Kappa society, in which he is co-senator with George William Curtis, Edward Everett Hale, Justin Winsor, Colo- nel T. W. Higginson, James Russell Lowell, Joseph H. Choate and others. He has been an active member of the New York State Bar association from the time of its organi- zation, and is now president of that association. In 1883 he received the degree of LL.D. from the university of Vermont.
In politics Mr. Hale, at first a whig, espoused the princi- ples of the republican party at its formation. He cast his first presidential vote in 1856 for General Fremont. He has, however, manifested an independence of spirit rising above party considerations, creating no little adverse criti- cism in a portion of the republican ranks. On the proposed third term nomination of General Grant in 1880, he used his pen and his voice against the measure. He addressed public meetings in Albany on the subject, and was president of an anti-third term club in Albany. On the 26th of April, 1880, he delivered a lecture in Steinway hall, New York, before a large audience, on "The Conditions and Limits of Party Fealty." About the same time he wrote an elaborate article on the third term question, which was published in the National Quarterly Review and copied in newspapers throughout the country. From personal convictions he favored the election of Grover Cleveland for the presidency in 1884 and supported him for re election in 1888.
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Mr. Hale has for several years acted on the conviction that independence of party is the highest duty of the citizen -that no nomination by any party should be considered binding by an intelligent voter merely because he may be known as a member of that party ; and that at every election it is the duty of the elector to cast his vote for the candi- dates whose election in his judgment will most promote the interests of the nation, state, county or city, without refer- ence to the party by which such candidates may have been nominated.
Mr. Hale's personal appearance is impressive. He is of a rather broad, robust frame, with a bold, large forehead of classical mould. His countenance, while beaming with a high order of intelligence, indicates that he is also possessed of a genial, playful humor, and a feeling of good will toward all classes of citizens. When fully aroused to action in public debate he is bold and defiant, and altogether a strong, undaunted foeman for any antagonist to meet on any forensic battlefield.
Mr. Hale, in 1856, married Ellen S. Hand (daughter of Hon. A. C. Hand), who died in 1867. In 1877 he married his present wife, Mary, daughter of Colonel Francis L. Lee, of Boston, and now has five children, three daughters and two sons, the eldest of whom was born in January, 1879.
CHARLES ROSWELL HALL.
MONG the young men of Albany, who, by a steady and unfailing devotion to the principles of professional and official duty, deserve a just recognition for representa- tive character, is Charles R. Hall, deputy superintendent of the banking department of the state of New York. He is another example of many of those descendants of Connecti- cut pioneers who have helped so much to develop the re- sources and advance the civilization and prosperity of this country. He was born on the 17th of September, 1853, in the town of Guilford, Chenango county, N. Y., where his father, John P. Hall, owned and cultivated a farm, and where he lived for many years and until his death in 1875.
This branch of the Hall family originally came from Eng- land in the early part of the seventeenth century, and settled in Connecticut, where they endured with heroic spirits the privations and trials incident to other pioneers in the wilderness of the new world, surrounded by roving tribes of Indians and often exposed to their murderous attack.
The maiden name of the mother of Charles R. Hall was Sarah Hart Purdy. She was a descendant of the noted Mead family, who were also early settlers about Greenwich, Conn., and whose genealogy has been given to the
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public in an interesting work. Mrs. Hall is still living to receive the affectionate care of her son and to witness his well-deserved success in life, a useful, active and intelligent member of society. .
Young Hall was brought up under the paternal roof in habits of industry, simplicity and honest labor, working on the old farm to the full extent of his youthful physical powers. He was first sent to the district school of his neigh borhood, and afterward attended the village school of Guil- ford. That he was a diligent, apt and persevering student. may be seen from the fact that we find him, at the age of seventeen, successfully teaching the common school in his own district. On the close of his first school term he went to Brockport, N. Y., in the fall of 1870, where he com- menced a course of study at the normal school at that place. During the vacations of the institution he taught common schools at various places in Monroe county, in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey. His ardent temperament and deep love of knowledge impelled him onward in the pursuit of a generous education and in the preparation for a profession for which he had early tastes and aspirations, and that was the law. In the autumn of 1874 he took up his study in the office of Judge Alberto T. Roraback, of Canaan, Conn., where he was then teaching school. Returning home the following summer he filed his certificate of clerkship and entered the law office of Horace Packer, at Oxford, N. Y., as a student; but after pursuing his legal studies for several months he was obliged to re- linquish them temporarily on account of an affection of the eyes, brought on, doubtless, by too intense application to his books. In the meantime not contented to be idle, he continued teaching school in different places until 1878,
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when, on recovering from his ocular trouble, he again re- sumed the study of the law with Hon. A. F. Gladding, of Norwich, N. Y., under the direct supervision of the present Chief Judge Follett, to whose extensive library he had ac- cess, and to whom he is largely indebted for much of his legal training. He continued in the office of Mr. Gladding till the fall of 1880, when he was admitted to the bar at Saratoga Springs at the general term of the supreme court, held in September, and presided over by Justices Learned, Bockes and Westbrook. The Hon. Isaac H. Maynard was one of the examining committee on that occasion, between whom and Mr. Hall there has ever since existed a close per- sonal friendship.
Immediately after receiving his legal diploma Mr. Hall began practice at Norwich, and after a year was elected justice of the peace in the village, carrying on at the same time his professional duties with marked ability and success. In January, 1884, he accepted an appointment under Attor- ney-General O'Brien, being given the exclusive charge of the land department, and also assisting in the briefing and trial of cases before the board of claims. His knowledge of the law governing state lands, whether under or out of water gained at this time, is perhaps second to no young lawyer in the state. He remained with Mr O'Brien till the fall of 1886, when on the appointment of Mr. Benedict as public printer, he accepted an invitation from Comptroller Chapin to succeed Mr. Benedict as deputy comptroller. Although perhaps the youngest man to hold so important a position in this state, he met the expectations of partial friends ; the work of that department was carefully and intelligently kept in hand; the lists of rejected taxes were in the hands of the several county treasurers on the Ist day of September
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as required by statute, for the first and only time in a quarter of a century, and his painstaking examination of vouchers discovered errors that saved to the state upwards of $25,000-with never an overpayment nor an error.
Gracefully and truly did the Albany Journal speak of the merits of Mr. Hall when about to enter upon his new office :
" The appointment of Mr. Charles R. Hall as deputy comptroller is one heartily to be praised. Mr. Hall came to Albany less than three years ago as clerk in the office of Attorney-General O'Brien. His good qualities of head and heart have won him during that time the respect of all those who have relations with the state departments and the en- tire confidence of the state officers. Mr. Hall is a democrat, but the interests of the state lose nothing by the appoint- ment of men of his ability and character to office. The people of the state always have reason to rejoice at the ap- pointment of such young men to public position."
Mr. Hall filled the position of deputy comptroller till the close of Mr. Chapin's term, when he retired, having per- formed the duties of his office in an efficient and entirely satisfactory manner. Shortly after this he formed a partner- ship with Frederick E. Wadhams, a rising young Albany lawyer, for the general practice of law, under the firm name of Wadhams & Hall. This firm still exists and enjoys a fair share of public patronage. Its office is in the Tweddle building.
On the 16th of April, 1889, Mr. Hall was appointed by Superintendent Willis S. Paine, to his present position, deputy superintendent of the banking department of the state of New York, the duties of which he has performed with great energy and fidelity.
Upon the resignation of Mr. Paine, October Ist of that
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year, Mr. Hall became acting superintendent, and won many commendations for his satisfactory conduct of the depart- ment in all its branches, to the time of the appointment of Superintendent Preston on December 26th.
Mr. Hall's early tastes were also for forensic declamation, in which field he has won several literary prizes. He has studied with care and interest the best writings of the great masters of statesmanship and oratory, placing them before him as the most graceful models. He has also written con- siderably for the press, some of his articles being of a humor- ous nature, and expressed in terse, telling sentences.
Mr. Hall entered the political arena as a staunch young democrat, a position which he has ever since maintained. In the gubernatorial contest between Robinson and Cornell, in 1879, he began public speaking in favor of the democratic candidate ; and in the presidential contest of the following year between Hancock and Garfield he took a still more active part, going through Chenango county with Edward F. Jones, now lieutenant-governor, and Hon. Walter H. Bunn, of Cooperstown, which latter he styles "the first stump speaker for country districts in the world, outside of Virginia." In 1882 he was elected to the state convention at Syracuse, principally in the interest of David B. Hill for lieutenant-governor, for whom he entertains the highest personal as well as political regard.
Mr. Hall was a delegate from the Twenty-sixth congres- sional district to the national democratic convention which met at St. Louis on the 8th of June, 1888, and renominated Grover Cleveland for the presidency. During that exciting and hotly contested canvass he took the stump for the democracy, its platform and its candidates, delivering many public addresses throughout the state.
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Mr. Hall is a member of the Fort Orange club of this city, and of the Press club, and is an agreeable and popular companion among his friends, and affable and pleasant to all persons having business relations with him of an official nature.
Retiring rather than assertive by nature, a somewhat anomalous disposition for a public man, he has proved to be fully able to perform well the duties of every position to which he has been called.
Having early laid the foundation of a true manhood, under the care and guidance of excellent parents and teach- ers and by his own hard work and study, Mr. Hall is now rearing a substantial intellectual structure, to which every passing year may add something of grace, strength and dig- nity, the whole to be completed, if life shall last, in the ful- ness of manhood and with hands still further skilled in the knowledge of public affairs.
Since this sketch was put in type Mr. Hall has resigned from his position in the banking department and removed to New York city for the practice of his profession.
CHARLES DARIUS HAMMOND.
O NE of the prominent railroad officials of our city, whose services have been of great value to the cor- porations with which he has been connected, is Charles D. Hammond, the present superintendent of the Northern de- partment of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's railroad. His ancestors came from England to this country at an early date and settled in Massachusetts. His grand- father afterward moved to Rushford, Allegany county, N. Y., where he was born on the Ist of March, 1844. He is a son of the Rev. S. Y. Hammond, a member of the Genesee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, who for half a century faithfully discharged the regular duties of a pastor in different parts of this state, and who is now, at the age of eighty-one, rounding a life of consecration to the cause of his Divine Master in the noblest of all professions, calmly and hopefully awaiting that Master's summons to a blessed im- mortality. The maiden name of his mother was Martha Adams, a devoted Christian lady, who departed this life in 1863.
Charles D. Hammond, the subject of this sketch, is of the fifth generation in a direct line from the original settlers of that name in this country. The earliest years of his life were spent in Western New York, under the parental roof,
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and in attending the district schools in places where his father officiated as an itinerant preacher. His father, who was noted for his high Christian character, and his eloquence and fervency in the pulpit, took the greatest pains to direct and lead him in the pleasant paths of human and Divine knowledge. Besides the rudimental instruction he enjoyed in the common schools and in his father's house he received his principal education at the Friendship academy, N. Y. There young Hammond made an excellent record as a dili- gent and faithful pupil, earnestly endeavoring to lay the foundation of a sound, practical, educational superstructure.
Leaving the academy at the age of seventeen, he deemed it his duty to engage forthwith in some useful occupation that might at the same time be somewhat remunerative to him in beginning life's struggles. Being naturally fond of the science of telegraphy he, accordingly, sought and obtained a place as an operator on the western end of the old Erie railroad, where he was not long in acquiring a thorough knowledge of a business so congenial to him, and a remarkable energy in dispatching the work belonging to the office. In this capacity he continued until the beginning of 1864, when, at the age of twenty, he enlisted in the army, in the service of which he remained till the close of the civil conflict. Soon after his connection with the army his superior qualifica- tions as a telegraph operator became more widely known, and the government desiring his services in this line he was detailed from the ranks and appointed an operator. He now devoted his whole time with promptitude, alacrity and success to the duties assigned him. At the close of the war he returned with renewed energy and enlarged experience to his telegraphic work on the Erie road at Susquehanna, Pa. There he remained seven years in constant employ-
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ment, becoming manager of the general office in 1867. Leaving Susquehanna in 1873 he accepted a position as train dispatcher on the New York, Oswego and Midland railroad. He now acquired a still more profound knowledge of the practical workings of the railroad system and the im- portant and incessant duties connected with it. This ex- perience was subsequently to be of great use to him in oc- cupying wider fields of usefulness in the same direction.
Continuing on the Oswego Midland road about a year and a half as assistant superintendent, he was appointed in 1874 train dispatcher of the Saratoga division of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's railroad, with headquarters in Troy. He held this position until March, 1875, when he was made superintendent of the Susquehanna railroad divis- ion, his office being first established at Oneonta and after- ward removed to Albany. For ten years we now find him attending to his daily official business with a diligence, fidelity and success which elicited no little praise among railroad men as well as the traveling public.
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