USA > New York > Saratoga County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Saratoga County, New York > Part 45
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It is a strong cathartic. A gallon contains :
Chloride of sodium
Bromide of sodium
Iodide of sodium
Bicarbonate of soda Bicarbonate of lithia
Phosphate of lime
Bicarbonate of lime
Bicarbonate of magnesia.
Bicarbonate of iron
Alumina
Silica
Bicarbonate of strontia
Chloride of rubidium
Total
Carbonic acid gas.
Chloride of sodium
Hydriodate of soda (iodine)
Carbonate of iron
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Chloride of potassium
ninety feet.
Organic matter
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Bicarbonate of baryta
408
409
THE MINERAL SPRINGS.
Sulphate of soda
24.05
Manganese
21.70
Bicarbonate of lithia
9.33
Silex and alumina
7.25
Total solid contents 216.727
Carbonic acid gas
310.71 cub. in.
Atmospheric air
7.08 cub. in.
Gaseous contents 328.78 cub. in.
In the rear of the bag mill owned by Hon. George West is a spring of considerable strength, which is usually free of access to the public, though the private property of Mr. West. It is commonly known as West's spring. Each gallon of water contains:
Grains.
Chloride of sodium
663.861
Chloride of potassium
18.507
Bromide of sodium
3.823
Iodide of sodium
.218
Fluoride of calcium
trace
Bicarbonate of lithium
3.261
Bicarbonate of sodium
4.394
Bicarbonate of ammonia
10.396
Bicarbonate of magnesium
173.200
I Bicarbonate of lime 240.047 1 1
Bicarbonate of barium
3.669
Bicarbonate of strontium
trace
Bicarbonate of iron
1.203
Bicarbonate of manganese
.017
Sulphate of potassium
trace
Phosphate of sodium
.034
Borate of sodium
.092
Nitrite of potassium
none
Alumina
.209
Silica
3.460
Organic matter
trace
Albuminoid ammonia
none
Total
1,126.390
Carbonic acid gas
436.440 cub. in.
The White Sulphur spring, located near the southeastern point of Saratoga lake, is justly celebrated. One gallon, or 237 cubic inches of water, contains 16.739 cubic inches of gas, having the proportions of
Nitrogen gas
4.680
Oxygen gas 0.498
Carbonic acid 11.290
Hydro-sulphuric acid
0.271
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Nitrate of potassium
1
-
410
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Fifty thousand grains of this water contains 115. 735 grains of saline matter con- sisting of
Sulphate of lime 67.168
Sulphate of magnesia 30.364
Chloride of magnesium 0.859
Carbonate of lime
6.060
Organic matter (dried at 212º F.) 3.740
Carbonic acid
4.584
Silicates (silica, 1.34; potash, 0.18).
CHAPTER XVII.
History of the Bench and Bar of Saratoga County-The Early Courts of the County and the Changes in Them Wrought by the Revised Constitutions-First Sessions of the Original Courts-Building of the First Court House at Court House Hill-Destroyed by Fire-The First Court House at Ballston Spa-The Modern Structure-Leading Lawyers of the Early Days of the Century-Men in the Profes- sion Who Have Become Eminent.
REVISED BY HON. JOHN R. PUTNAM.
At the time of the organization of the county of Saratoga in 1791, the courts of the State were as follows:
The Court of Errors, consisting of the president of the Senate, the senators, the chancellor, and the judges of the Supreme Court. The Court of Errors had sole power to try impeachments, and a general appellate jurisdiction of appeal from the Supreme Court and Court of Chancery.
The Court of Chancery, which had exclusive jurisdiction in equity causes.
The Supreme Court of Judicature, consisting of a chief justice and three puisne judges, which sat to hear appeals from the lower courts.
The Circuit Court, held by one of the judges of the Supreme Court in each county at least once every year, having jurisdiction over all issues of law and fact.
A Court of Common Pleas in every county, consisting of a first judge and at least three justices, having jurisdiction over all actions arising within the county where the matter in demand exceeded £5.
The Court of Oyer and Terminer, for the trial of criminal causes,
411
THE BENCH AND BAR.
presided over by a Circuit judge and two or more of the judges and assistant judges of the Court of Common Pleas.
The Court of General Sessions, a court for the trial of minor criminal causes, held by any three justices of the peace in the county, and of which a judge of Common Pleas must always be a member.
Attorneys of the degree of counselors were permitted to practice in any court in the State. Attorneys of the Supreme Court could appear in that court, in the Circuit Court and Court of Oyer and Terminer. Practitioners in the courts of Common Pleas or General Sessions were required to be specially admitted to practice in those counties in which such courts were held.
Upon the organization of the county of Saratoga Governor Clinton immediately appointed John Thompson of Stillwater first judge; James Gordon and Beriah Palmer of Ballston, Jacobus Van Schoonhoven of Halfmoon and Sidney Berry of Saratoga, judges. The latter was also appointed surrogate, Jacob Fort, jr., of Halfmoon was appointed sheriff, and Dirck Swart of Stillwater clerk.
The first session of the Court of Common Pleas met May 10, 1791, at the residence of Samuel Clark, justice of the peace, in that part of Stillwater now included in Malta. First Judge Thompson, Judges Gordon, Palmer, Van Schoonhoven and Berry, with John Varnam, Epenetus White and Eliphalet Kellogg, associate judges, presided. Maj. Ezra Buell of Stillwater, a veteran of the Revolution, was ap- pointed court crier, and these attorneys were admitted to practice: Cornelius Vandenburgh, Guert Van Schoonhoven, Peter E. Elmendorf, Myndert Van Everen, jr., John V. Henry, John D. Dickinson, Gam- aliel Wendall, Harmonis H. Wendall, John W. Yates, Nicholas Fonda, Abraham Hun, Peter D. Van Dyck, John Woodworth, Moss Kent, John Lovett and Joseph C. Yates.1
On the same date the first Court of General Sessions met at the same place, Judge Gordon presiding, with John Varnam, Epenetus White, Eliphalet Kellogg, Richard Davis, jr., Douw I. Fonda, Elias Palmer, Nathaniel Douglas, John Ball and John Bradstreet, justices of the peace, as associates. This court swore the first grand jury in the county, which consisted of Richard Davis, jr., Joshua Taylor, John Donald, Henry Davis, Hezekiah Ketchum, Seth C. Baldwin, Ezra
1 Joseph C. Yates was born in Schenectady November 9, 1768; became mayor of that city in 1798; State senator in 1805 ; judge of the Supreme court in 1808; governor of the State of New York in 1822. He died March 19, 1837.
412
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Hallibart, John Wood, Samuel Wood, Edy Baker, Elisha Andrews, Gideon More, Abraham Livingston and John Bleecker. 1
The first Circuit Court and Oyer and Terminer was held at the house of Jedediah Rogers in Halfmoon, now Clifton Park village, July 7, 1791. Chief Justice Robert Yates presided, assisted by all the judges of the Court of Common Pleas and Justices of the Peace Epenetus White and Adrian Hagerman.
The various courts of Saratoga county were held at private res- idences until the completion of the first county court house, at Court House Hill, in the town of Ballston, in 1796." The first court to hold a session there was the May, 1796, term of the Court of Common Pleas and Sessions. The first Circuit Court and Oyer and Terminer held there met in 1799, and was presided over by Judge John Lansing, afterwards the chancellor whose sudden disappearance a few years later forever remained a mystery.
In 1809 Judge John Thompson, having attained the age of sixty years, was rendered ineligible for further service by the constitution. Salmon Child of Greenfield was appointed to succeed him by Governor Tompkins, and held office until 1818. Up to the latter year there was no limit to the number of judges, but in 1818 the State Legislature limited the number to a first judge and four associate judges.
The first county building at Court House Hill, around which a thriv- ing village had begun to develop, was destroyed by fire in 1816. The event was described as follows by the Independent American of March 27, 1816, published in Ballston Spa:
On Sunday morning last at one o'clock a fire broke out in the northwest corner of the court house in the town of Ballston which had so progressed before it was dis- covered that all attempts at quelling it proved abortive. The air was very still, otherwise the contiguous buildings must have shared the same fate. One of the prisoners, named George Billings, who was chained to the floor, was unfortunately consumed. Four prisoners, Shearer, Davis, (colored), Cole and Drapoo made their escape. Two of them have since been re-taken, to wit: Shearer and Davis. A court of inquiry was instituted in this village on Monday, and from their examination on the subject of the fire did not hesitate to give it as their opinion that the fire was communicated to the building by one or more of the prisoners.
Immediately after the destruction of the first court house, the citizens of Ballston Spa held a mass meeting, at which it was resolved to ask
1 For much of the information in this chapter relative to the courts of the county the author is indebted to Enos R. Mann's History of the Bench and Bar of Saratoga County.
2 See Chapter VIII.
413
THE BENCH AND BAR.
the judges of Common Pleas to order that the courts of the county should be held for the time being in the academy building which stood upon what is now Science street in that village, the free use of which was tendered the county. Judge Child and his associates accepted the tender. May 14, 1817, the Legislature passed an act designating Elisha Powell and James Merrill of Milton, Isaac Gere of Galway, John Gibson of Ballston and Gilbert Waring of Saratoga a commission to re-locate the county seat and to build a court house and jail at an expense of ten thousand dollars. Nicholas Low of New York gave the county the title to the land on which the court house and county clerk's office now stand, and the commission decided upon this site as the best for the new buildings. The new brick court house was built by Stephen S. Seaman, and was completed in time for the Circuit Court held in the spring of 1819.
In the meantime the Legislature of 1818 had passed an act by which the then judges of the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions were set aside and their tenure of office declared terminated. June 16, 1818, Governor De Witt Clinton, by direction of the Council of Appoint- ment, commissioned James Thompson of Milton to be first judge, and Salmon Child of Greenfield, Abraham Moe of Halfmoon, James McCrea of Ballston and John Prior of Greenfield to be judges in the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions and ex officio members of the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
Two years before this change, while the courts were being held in the old academy building in Ballston Spa, the Court of Oyer and Term- iner held in September, 1816, was called upon to dispose of the first murder trial in the history of the county. The presiding judge was Smith Thompson, the noted jurist.1 The accused was Daniel Northrup of Galway, who was charged with having murdered, in the spring of 1816, a farmer named Cornelius Allen, who resided in the southern part of that town. Northrup, a man of low mental order, lived in the family of Allen. At the breakfast table one morning angry words passed between the two men, and Northrup, grasping a knife, reached across the table and stabbed Allen, inflicting mortal wounds. At his trial he was defended by Samuel Cook and John W. Taylor, while the people were represented by Attorney-General Thomas J. Oakley and
1 Judge Smith Thompson was chief justice of the Supreme Court of New York from 1814 to 1818; secretary of the navy from 1818 to 1823, and associate justice of the United States Supreme · Court from 1823 till his death in 1843.
414
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
James Thompson. The defense was insanity, but the accused was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. Judge Smith Thompson united with many others in a petition for a pardon, and this the Legislature granted. Northrup was soon afterward adjudged a lunatic and con- fined in a private asylum until his death in 1828.
The first court in the county whose sentence of death in a murder case was fulfilled was the May, 1820, term of the Circuit Court and Oyer and Terminer. The court consisted of Judge Jonas Platt, First Judge James Thompson and Judges Salmon Child, James McCrea and John Prior. The prisoner was Benjamin Bennett, who was accused of killing Seth Haskins in Corinth September 4, 1819. Richard M. Liv- ingston appeared for the people, and Zebulon R. Shipherd of Green- wich for the defense. Bennett was convicted and sentenced to be hanged July 21, 1820. Though he gave evidence of insanity during and after his trial, he nevertheless was hanged, this service being per- formed in person by General Dunning of Dunning Street, then sheriff.
The March term, in 1847, was the last held under the old constitu- tion. The old courts were superseded by the new ones established, which were to go into effect July 1, 1847. Under the provisions of the new constitution the Legislature passed an act May 12, 1847, providing for the several courts. These were:
The Court of Impeachment, consisting of the president of the Senate, State Senate and judges of the Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals, consisting of four judges to be elected by the people and four to be selected from the judges of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme and Circuit Courts, to be held by the thirty-three justices of the Supreme Court.
The County Court, to be held by the county judge.
The Court of Oyer and Terminer, to be held at the times appointed for holding Circuits, by a justice of the Supreme Court, with the county judge and two justices of the peace elected by the people to hold Courts of Sessions.
The Courts of Sessions, to be held at the same times designated for holding County Courts, by the county judge and justices of the sessions.
At the special election held June 7, 1847, Hon. Augustus Bockes of Saratoga Springs was chosen county judge and John Lawrence district attorney. The first County Court and Court of Sessions was held Sep- tember 20 of that year, with Justices William T. Seymour and Abel A. Kellogg assisting in the latter.
415
THE BENCH AND BAR.
By the constitution of 1894, which went into effect January 1, 1895, the Supreme Court was continued with general jurisdiction in law and equity. Provision was made for an Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, consisting of seven justices in the first department, and five in each of the other three departments into which the State was divided, to be designated by the governor. Provision was also made for special courts in New York, Brooklyn and Buffalo. Circuit Courts and Courts of Oyer and Terminer were abolished after December 31, 1895, and their jurisdiction vested in the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeals was continued, but its jurisdiction limited to the review of questions of law. The County Courts and Surrogate's Courts were also continued. The Court for the Trial of Impeachments was defined as being com- posed of the president of the Senate, the senators or the major part of them, and the judges of the Court of Appeals, or the major part of them. Justices of the peace, Courts of Special Sessions and inferior local courts were not materially changed.
For several years prior to 1890 the old court house was generally looked upon as inconvenient and otherwise illy adapted to the sessions of the various courts. The agitation in favor of a new building cul- minated in 1889, when the board of supervisors made an appropriation of $40,000 for the purpose of constructing a new edifice. September 10 of that year the work of razing the old building was begun, and on October 21, 1889, the corner stone of the new building was laid. Stephen C. Medbery, county treasurer, and Abijah Comstock, then supervisor of the town of Milton, were leaders in the movement for the new build- ing. M. F. Cummings of Troy was the architect of the structure, John M. Vandenburgh of Ballston was the contractor for the mason work, Wentze & Co. were the carpenters, and Charles A. Crossley supplied the steam heating plant. The total cost of the building, including the jail and jailer's residence, was about $35,000. The committee in charge of the work comprised Abijah Comstock, A. W. Shepherd, Robert O. Davis, George C. Valentine and Hector A. McRae.
The new edifice was completed in the spring of 1890, and on Mon- day, April 21, of that year, the dedication took place. Hon. John R. Putnam, justice of the Supreme Court, presided over the exercises, which were of a most interesting character. On the bench were seated also Hon. Augustus Bockes, Hon. Judson S. Landon and Hon. J. W. Houghton. Prayer was offered by Rev. A. R. Olney, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Ballston Spa, following which A. W. Shepherd
416
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
of Saratoga Springs delivered the address of presentation. Judge Houghton made the address of welcome, at the conclusion of which Counselor Edwin Quackenbush of Ballston Spa delivered a most elo- quent dedicatory address. Remarks were also made by the judges present, leading members of the bar and others. The concluding ad- dress was delivered by Rev. Charles Pelletreau, rector of Christ Protes- tant Episcopal church of Ballston Spa. The exercises were inter- spersed with music, including a dedication hymn composed for the occa- sion.
EMINENT JUDGES AND LAWYERS OF THE COUNTY.
The county of Saratoga, since its organization in 1791, has been the birthplace or adopted home of some of the most distinguished lawyers of the State. At one period it contained a galaxy of eminent judges and members of the bar and was a most important legal centre. At the time referred to Reuben Hyde Walworth lived and held the terms of the Court of Chancery here. Before him appeared from time to time such men as Daniel Webster, Millard Filmore, Charles O'Connor, Daniel Lord, Samuel Stevens, and others, the most eminent practition- ers of the nation. The Court of Errors frequently was in session at Saratoga Springs. There were also, then, living in the county, Judges Esek Cowen and John Willard, Nicholas Hall, William A. Beach, John K. Porter, Augustus Bockes, Stephen P. Nash, Judiah Ellsworth, George G. Scott, the eminent reporter Oliver K. Barbour, and other well known and distinguished advocates.
To the bench the county has had the honor of sending erudite judges; while many of its practitioners before the bar have been recognized as among the most eloquent and successful in the nation. It will be our pleasure to touch briefly upon the lives and services of a few of the most illustrious representatives of this profession whom Saratoga coun- ty, during the past century, has claimed as her own. Many of these men lived and died in this county, while others, seeking more fruitful fields for the practice of their profession, or answering the call of the people, ascending to the bench, have from time to time taken up their abode elsewhere. All, however, have been either native or adopted sons of Saratoga county, whose names have shed an undying lustre over the field of jurisprudence in America.
Of the early lawyers some of the most prominent have already been referred to. Between 1815 and 1830 Samuel Young, Alpheus Good-
Sada
RALBEN H . WALWORTH.
417
THE BENCH AND BAR. 1
rich, Azariah W. Odell, Oran G. Otis and Thomas Palmer were promi- nent lawyers located at Ballston Spa; Esek Cowen, William L. F. Warren and Aaron Blake at Saratoga Springs; Nicholas B. Doe, the Van Schoonhovens, Joshua Bloore, Joshua Mandeville, George W. Kirt- land, Samuel G. Huntington and John L. Viele at Waterford; George Palmer at Stillwater, and Wessell Gansevoort, William Metcalf and John Metcalf of Northumberland.
Reuben Hyde Walworth is justly regarded as one of the great arti - sans of our equity laws. He was born October 26, 1788, at Bozrah, Conn., the third son of Benjamin Walworth, and a descendant of the famed Lord Mayor of London who, during the reign of Richard II, slew the noted rebel, Watt Tyler. At the age of four years Reuben Hyde Walworth was brought by his parents to Hoosick, N. Y. At seventeen he began the study of the law, at twenty was admitted to practice, and in 1811, having settled at Plattsburgh the year before, was appointed mas- ter in chancery and one of the county judges of Clinton, N. Y. In the war of 1812 he was an officer of volunteers, and participated in the siege of Plattsburgh in 1814 as acting adjutant-general on the staff of General Mooers. From 1821 to 1823 he was a member of Congress, and in the latter year was appointed a circuit judge by Governor Joseph C. Yates. After five years' service in the Circuit Court he was ap- pointed, in 1828, chancellor of the State of New York, holding this office until it was abolished by the constitution of 1847. As chancellor of New York State he rendered most distinguished service. His de- cisions as chancellor are contained in eleven volumes of Paige's Reports and three volumes of Barbour's Reports. His opinions de- livered in the Court for the Correction of Errors are contained, for the most part, in twenty-six volumes of Wendell's Reports, the seven volumes of Hill's Reports and the five volumes of Denio's Reports.
Chancellor Walworth removed to Saratoga Springs in 1825, but located in Albany in 1828. Five years later he returned to the former place, where he resided until his death November 28, 1866. His first wife was Maria Ketchum Avery, whom he married while located at Plattsburgh. Their children were four daughters and two sons. Both the latter became men of distinction. Clarence H. Walworth embraced the Roman Catholic faith and entered the priesthood, for many years be- ing recognized as one of the most talented divines in Albany. Mansfield Tracy Walworth became a novelist of distinction. Chancellor Wal- worth's second wife-Sarah Ellen Smith, widow of Colonel John J.
27
418
OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Hardin-brought with her to Saratoga two sons and one daughter, the latter being Mrs. Ellen Hardin Walworth, who afterward acquired distinction as a brilliant writer.
One of Chancellor Walworth's biographers pays him this tribute:
In some sense he was the Bentham of America, without the bold speculations and fantastical theory which, to a certain extent, characterized the great English jurist. What Bentham did in removing the defects in English jurisprudence, Walworth did in renovating and simplifying the equity laws of the United States. Before his day the Court of Chancery in this State was a tribunal of very illy defined powers and uncertain jurisdiction, in a measure subservient to the English Court of Chancery in its procedure. Chancellor Walworth abolished much of its stolidity, many of those prolix and bewildering formalities which had their origin in the rising Mediaval Ages, and reduced the practice of his court to certain standing rules, which he pre- pared with great industry.1
Esek Cowen was born in Rhode Island February 24, 1784. His father, Joseph Cowen, was the son of John Cowen, a Scotch emigrant who settled in Scituate, Mass., in 1656. Young Cowen removed with his family to Greenfield, Saratoga county, about 1793. Later he resided for a while at Hartford, Washington county. Remarkable as it may seem, the only early educational advantages he enjoyed were six months' attendance in a district school. At the age of sixteen he became a student in the law of- fice of Roger Skinner at Sandy Hill, later continuing his studies with Zebulon Shipherd. In 1810 he was admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice of his profession with Gardner Stowe, in Northum- berland. Subsequently he formed a law partnership with Wessell Ganse- voort. Removing to Saratoga Springs in 1812 he rapidly attained a position of prominence. From 1824 to 1828 he was reporter in the Supreme Court and Court of Errors, and upon the expiration of his term was appointed circuit judge by Governor Martin Van Buren. In 1835 he was appointed to succeed Judge Savage on the Supreme bench, continuing in that office until his death, which occurred at Albany February 11, 1844, at the age of sixty.
While a resident of Saratoga Springs Judge Cowen had served as jus- tice of the peace and supervisor, and from 1817 to 1824 had been in partnership with Judge William L. F. Warren. His reports, embrac- ing nine volumes, are highly prized by the profession. Beside com- piling these, he was the author of " Treatise on the Practice in Justice's Courts " and "Cowen and Hill's Notes on Phillips' Evidence." In the preparation of the latter, on which he labored for eleven years, he was
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