USA > New York > The bench and bar of New-York. Containing biographical sketches of eminent judges, and lawyers of the New-York bar, incidents of the important trials in which they were engaged, and anecdotes connected with their professional, political and judicial career > Part 40
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" Under an oak whose antique root peeps out Upon the brook, that brawls along the woods."
pursue his favorite pastime. His was emphatically a mind that could
"Find tongues in trees, books in the running brook."
While fishing he always used the fly, entertaining the most sovereign contempt for any other mode of capturing trout, or, as he often termed them, "the aristocrats of the streams." It is related of him that once, while on a fishing excursion, he met a fisher- man, whose well filled basket proved the success with which he had met.
"You have some fine trout there," said the judge.
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" Yes, sir, but I should have caught more only my bait gave out," said the man.
"Bait! bait ! What, are you one of those fellows that kill a quart of angle-worms to catch one fish ; one of those bunglers that can't appreciate a trout any more than an ape can literature ?" said the judge.
"I mean to say that I caught these fish with angle-worms for my bait," said the man.
"You do ? Well, sir, don't you know that it is un- manly and vulgar to do so? I would as soon eat car- rion as a trout caught with a hook baited with an angle-worm," said Fitzhugh.
"Who the devil are you, that goes about telling folks what they should fish with ? May be you hav'n't read the Declaration of Independence," said the fisherman.
"I am a gentleman, sir, and you are not. A man can't be a gentleman that fishes for trout with angle- worms," was the reply.
"Damn it, sir, is it any of your business what a man fishes with ? I've a great notion to pitch you into the creek, only that you are such an ugly looking cuss that you'd scare all the fish out of it forever," said the man, in a towering passion.
" Attempt that and I'll make live bait of you in a minute. I tell you it is my business what a man fishes with. You degenerate trout and baffle science when you fish with angle-worms. You teach that fish the habits of a common bull-head. With a fly it is a fair game between the man and the trout, and you cultivate those instincts which make him the pride of the water," said Fitzhugh.
"See here, what is your name?" said the fellow.
"My name is Fitzhugh-a name I have never dis- honored yet, and I never shall, until I am caught fishing for trout with angle-worms," was the reply.
"Are you Judge Fitzhugh, the man that can catch trout with a buncomb insect on his hook just as
.
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well where there ain't any, as where there is plenty of them ?"
"They call me Judge Fitzhugh."
" Well, I'd half a mind to thrash you just now, but that's past. Do you think I can learn to catch trout with one of those things you call a fly ?"
"Yes," said the judge, "go with me awhile and I'll give you a lesson."
Accordingly the man accompanied the judge for some time, watching the skillfully thrown line with its darting fly, now alighting on the edge of a swift whirling eddy, now skipping over the bright, swift rip- ples, now floating on the smooth current or gyrating "like a strong swimmer in his agony," tempting the shy tenants of the brook to spring at the glittering in- sect above them, only to find themselves caught full surely by the fatal snare.
The man lingered until the judge's basket was nearly filled, then, with admiration glowing on his features, he exclaimed, "Judge, that's a big game be- tween you and those trout, and a pretty one, too ; damn me if you don't get the best of it, though. I'm done with angle-worms after this. Good-bye ;" and the fisherman's form was soon lost in the forest.
Some time during the ensuing winter, Fitzhugh received a splendid saddle of venison from some un- known person. It was neatly packed in a basket. On removing the cover, a paper was discovered, on which was written the following :
"From the fellow that don't fish for trout with angle-worms any more, but goes it strong on the fly."
Love of raillery was a strong feature in the char- acter of Judge Fitzhugh, and he was remarkable for his quick and happy repartees. One morning during the sittings of the Common Pleas, he was at breakfast at one of the hotels in Geneseo. Among those at the table was a lawyer, noted for his very large mouth and his unceasing garrulity. During a pompous display of words, one of the waiters, while passing his chair,
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unfortunately stumbled, and a large cup filled with coffee was lodged on the lawyer's head, deluging it with the hot fluid. Frightened and blinded he sprang to his feet, nearly overturning the table.
"La-land-landlord ! for God's sake, come here ! Where in h-Il did this kettle of hot water come from ? Get it off! get it off!" he roared, whirling about the room like Polypheme deprived of his single eye.
The landlord and several waiters rushed to his as- sistance, with towels and dry cloths. After consider- able wiping and rubbing, it was ascertained that he had sustained but little injury, being much more frightened than hurt, and he was soon seated at the table again.
" What a miserable piece of carelessness that was," said he.
"You might have avoided that accident yourself," said Fitzhugh.
" I should like to know how ?" asked the lawyer.
"By opening your mouth when the cup fell. Neither coffee nor cup would have been heard of again, if you had," was the answer.
This reply "set the table in a roar." The lawyer joined in the merriment, his big mouth enabling him to be heard over all the rest present.
The liberality of Judge Fitzhugh was proverbial. His generosity was unstudied and disinterested. He bestowed his charities in such a manner that his right hand did not know of the doings of his left; and his humane nature often exhibited itself in the most ludicrous manner. He once owned a valuable timber lot, adjoining which was another, owned by the late Judge Carrol. One day Fitzhugh received notice that a man had been cutting timber on his lot. Now, steal- ing timber from Judge Carrol was almost a matter of course. The former, however, was highly indignant at the larceny committed on his timber, and he imme- diately caused a warrant to be issued for the arrest of
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the timber thief. In due time the constable, with the culprit, appeared at Fitzhugh's office.
"You scoundrel," said the judge, stroking back his long black hair, and fixing his piercing eyes upon the man, "how dare you steal my timber ? I'll send you where you won't see a tree again for a year ! What have you got to say for yourself ?"
"I-I-did-didn't mean to cut your timber, Judge."
"Didn't mean to cut my timber !" roared the judge. "What the devil did you mean to do ?"
"I-I-thought-I thought-"
"Well, sir, what did you think, you rascal ?" said Fitzhugh, growing wrathy every moment.
"I thought it was Judge Carrol's timber that I was cutting," said the man, bursting into tears, and trembling with terror.
Fitzhugh walked the office floor a moment without uttering a word. Finally he halted in front of the prisoner, and taking a five-dollar bill from his pocket, handed it to the fellow, saying :
" Here, take that, damn you, and the next time see that you get on to the right lot."
He then ordered the man to be discharged from arrest, and paid the cost of the proceedings himself.
JOSEPH L. RICHARDSON.
His Memory intimately connected with the History of Cayuga County .- His Asso- ciates at the Bar .- Characteristics as a Lawyer .- The Effect of an Increase of Precedents upon the Profession .- The Training and Culture of Lawyers .- The Old Court of Chancery .- Lawyers who Reason and Study .- Those who Never Reason and Never Study .- All Professions Have Superficial Members who would regard Archimedes as Weak, and Newton Foolish .- Richardson as a Private Citizen .- Anecdote .- Richardson and the Church Meeting .- His Manner of Con- struing the Call Turns the Tables .- Daniel Kellogg .- Richardson is Appointed District-Attorney for Several Counties .- Manner of Discharging the Duties of his Office .- The Singular and Interesting Case of the People v. Bishop .- Richard Jameson .- The Journey by Moonlight through the Forest .- The Attack of the Robber .- Your Money, and be Quick about it .- The Conflict .- The Robbery .- Escape of the Robber .- The Pursuit .- The Arrest .- The Trial .- Elisha Wil- liams .- Singular Discovery of the Robber's Shoe .- The Conviction of the Robber. -Richardson Retires from the Office of District-Attorney .- The Survivors of the Old Auburn Bar .- Richardson Appointed First Judge of Cayuga County .- Char- acter as a Judge .- Negro Bill .- The Sentence .- Personal Appearance of Judge Richardson .- His Religious Character .- His Death.
THE name of Joseph L. Richardson is intimately connected with the history of Cayuga county. He was one of the earliest and most eminent members of its bar-one of its most incorruptible, impartial, and efficient judges. At the bar, or on the bench, he was most conscientious-a man of strict integrity-of a profound and comprehensive mind-a lawyer of the old school-the compeer of Platt, Marcy, Tompkins, Root, Van Ness, Williams, Noxon and Jewett. As the lawyer or the judge, he cast a quick penetrating glance over the facts and law in the case, then drew his conclusions with a logical precision for which he was distinguished.
Slenderly furnished with fancy or imagination, and wanting in originality, he was more capable of follow- ing a train of reasoning, of expounding the theo- .
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ries of others, and pursuing them to their legitimate consequences, than of striking out new theories for himself. Hence, he was able to perform much mental labor, though while he was at the bar, that multitude of legal reports which abound at the present day did not exist,-intolerably augmenting the labors of the student-tormenting the practitioner-substitu- ting for the study of legal principle the empirical recol- lection of facts, and discouraging the acquirement of a scientific and philosophic knowledge of the law.
It cannot be pretended that he was a great lawyer, but he was learned and successful, and as has been already said, eminent in his profession. If he did not dazzle with sudden, bold, and exaggerated con- ceptions-if he did not startle and thrill with elo- quence, the balance of his mind, his unwearied research in the tomes of old judges and reporters, his easy logic, his sound and practical good sense, his ready flow of language, rendered him a strong contes- tant in the forum, a versatile, safe, and ready coun- selor. Trained in the contests of stirring life, strength- ened by enlarged experience, he was as successful as he was strong.
Judge Richardson was born at Tawneytown, Maryland, June 5th, 1777. At a very early age he emigrated to Cayuga county, and settled at Aurora. He read law with the late Walter Wood, a lawyer of considerable eminence, who in the year 1810 was appointed first judge of Cayuga county. Richard- son prepared for the bar with Judge Wood, and in October, 1802, he was admitted to practice.
At the period when he was called to the bar, with all due respect to the profession at the present time be it said, the education and training of lawyers were severe and thorough. The principles of law adapted to the court of chancery alone, when well understood, rendered a lawyer accomplished and learned. It is too frequently the case at the present age, that while a profound and reasoning lawyer is carefully picking
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his way through the tangles of a difficult case, care- fully removing all obstacles in his way, like Applica- tion ascending the hill of science, those who never think, never study, jump as by intuition at the argu- ment, often landing beyond it, and if they find them- selves in an untenable position, and learning is not at hand, they ride home on an amendment, or recuscitate themselves by a special motion. Perhaps these men are as successful, and acquire as much money as their more learned and painstaking brethren.
In all professions there are those who would set down Archimedes for a fool, when after days of dili- gent, painful study, he danced for joy at the solution of a proposition, and who would mistake Newton for a mad man, when in his surplice, put on for chapel exercise in the evening, he was found in the morning, in the same place, in profound meditation on the theory of prismatic colors.
It is true that science alone is hard and mechan- ical, that it exercises the understanding upon things out of ourselves, while it leaves the affections unem- ployed ; and thus all professions, followed with intense application, tend to narrow the intellect. But no professional student or practitioner, no statesman or legislator, can long remain the mere man of books, of classical erudition, for he is called upon to make acquaintance with so many practical matters, that something must be lost to particular skill and acqui- sition.
Judge Richardson was gifted with extraordinary powers of application, and he very early furnished his mind with a thorough knowledge of the common law. He was called to the bar when the principles of our jurisprudence were being formed by those mas- ter hands which have adorned it with more than trans- Atlantic learning and purity. This vigorous mind, unaided by the digests and abridgments of the present age, enabled him to aid in the great work of founding our legal system.
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Fortunate in his pecuniary matters, he accumula- ted a large property. Indeed, he was charged with avarice and parsimony. That his love of money was very great, there is no doubt, and that he ardent- ly sought to obtain it, is true ; but in this he only anticipated, in a small degree, the wild and almost passionate clamor for money, which characterizes our own times. But really, that which in him was termed penuriousness, was only apparently so-it was the result of his fine sense of punctuality, exact dealing, and direct honesty. Prompt and accurate himself, he expected to find the same quality in others. It is related of him, that once a man called and paid him some money. In making change, he became the man's debtor to the amount of six cents.
"Never mind," said the man, "this is near enough."
" Oh no," said the judge, "you shall have your pay when I see you again."
It happened that they did not meet again until after the lapse of a year ; but one day, the judge saw his creditor in the street,-walking up to him, he said :
"Now, Mr. Somers, I will pay you what I am owing you."
"Pay me what you are owing me? Why, Judge, you don't owe me anything but good will," said Somers.
"Oh yes I do. I owe you six cents, and here it is," said Richardson, handing him the money.
"Never mind it, Judge, it is such a small amount, that it is of no consequence."
"My dear sir, no sum is so small that it ought not to be paid. Small sums are like small stones in a great wall: as necessary to be kept in their place as the large ones. When the small stones become loose and detached, the whole wall soon falls down."
This circumstance is a true interpretation of Rich- ardson's character with regard to money matters.
Judge Richardson was for many years a member
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of the Episcopal Church at Auburn. Some time about the year 1830, the church edifice was destroyed by fire. The congregation at this time was not large, or wealthy. In a short time after the disaster, a meeting of the parishioners was called, for the purpose of adopt- ing measures to rebuild the church, at which Judge Richardson presided. After the meeting was called to order, one after another arose and stated that the parish was too poor to think of rebuilding; and one of the gentlemen present proposed a resolution to that effect. Before submitting the question, Judge Rich- ardson said :
"Gentlemen, I think you have entirely misunder- stood the object of this meeting ; it was not called for passing the resolution just offered ; on the contrary, it was called for the purpose of adopting measures to rebuild our church ; that is the exact wording of the call ; now, I propose that we proceed to carry out the object of the meeting, and as action is the best way to proceed, the first thing to be done is to ascertain what each person here present is willing to give; and as you have honored me by making me chairman, I will commence by stating what I will do-I will give one thousand dollars towards the object."
This speech took the meeting entirely by surprise. It gave an entirely different turn to affairs, and before they adjourned, sufficient means were raised to rebuild the church in a very handsome, and for those times, elegant manner.
In the year 1801, the Legislature created the office of district-attorney, and divided the State into seven districts ; soon after, five more districts were added, and one district-attorney was appointed by the gov- ernor and council for each district. 'The positions of these officers were nearly as responsible and im- portant as that of the attorney-general. The counties of Cayuga, Cortland, Chenango, Madison, and Onon- daga, constituted the ninth attorney district.
In April, 1815, Joseph L. Richardson was ap-
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pointed by Governor Tompkins as district-attorney for these counties, in place of the late Daniel Kellogg, whose term of office had expired. Mr. Kellogg was an able lawyer, a distinguished, high-minded citizen, and for many years a man of much influence in the counties of Onondaga and Cayuga. During Mr. Rich- ardson's official term, he was called upon to conduct many important and difficult prosecutions for the peo- ple. His speeches and arguments delivered on these occasions, were marked for their ability, their close texture, and their skillful adaptation of the law to his purpose.
One of the most singular and interesting cases which it was his fortune to conduct, was that of the People v. Bishop, a man charged with highway robbery. It was tried very soon after he was appointed a prosecuting officer.
In the month of June, 1815, one Richard Jameson visited a small settlement situated near the boundary line between the counties of Chenango and Otsego, for the purpose of receiving a considerable sum of money due by a man who then resided there. The money was paid; and after transacting some other business, he started for home, eight miles distant. It was nearly' night when he commenced his journey, and his route lay through an almost unbroken forest, marked by a single path. But as he was familiar with the way, and there was a full moon, he was not the least dis- quieted with the thought that night would overtake him before reaching home; and he walked rapidly and cheerfully onward, happy in the thought that there were "eyes which would look the brighter for his coming."
At length he reached a wet and marshy turn in the path, where stood a blasted hemlock, upon whose few scathed and withered limbs the moonbeams fell like the weird drapery of Niobe, when a man of gigantic stature, disguised with a mask, suddenly sprang from a thicket, and, presenting a pistol at the breast of the
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traveler, demanded his money. Jameson possessed a strongly knit and powerful frame ; he was cool, cour- ageous, and determined, and therefore not the man to yield to this demand without a struggle.
"Do you really mean what you say ?" he coolly asked the robber.
"Yes ! Give me your money, and be quick about it, or I'll blow your brains out, and take it from your dead carcass," was the savage reply.
With the spring of a tiger, Jameson grappled the ruffian before he could discharge the pistol, and a desperate contest ensued. Alone, in the depths of the forest, beneath the shades of night, and the uncertain glimmer of the moon, those strong and desperate men closed in mortal strife. There was something terribly appalling in this struggle. There was the tug, the grip, the blow. There was the quick, heavy, heaving breath, the low and deep-muttered curse. The gigantic ruffian writhed in the grasp of Jameson, like the Laocoon in the folds of the monster serpents-now springing forward with the hope of crushing his in- tended victim with his weight, and now attempting to clutch his throat with his huge hands, and now strug- gling to bring the muzzle of his pistol to bear upon the person of Jameson, who, "invulnerable still," held his desperate enemy at bay. At length the ruffian, by a sudden effort, succeeded in bringing the pistol to a level with the head of his victim, but as his finger was pressing the trigger, Jameson suddenly dodged, and the bullet grazed his cheek. Stunned by the report of the pistol, he fell senseless to the ground ; when he came to his senses the robber was gone, and his money taken. After a short time, he recovered sufficiently to make his way homeward. He aroused his neigh- bors, and at early dawn they started in pursuit of the wretch. They first visited the scene of the robbery. There the ground exhibited the severity of the contest ; but it was so soft and marshy, that most of the foot- prints of the parties engaged, were nearly closed by
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the yielding earth. As no signs of the villain remained, they left the place and prepared to scour the country in pursuit of him. Several circumstances led Jame- son to believe that the robber was a man by the name of Bishop, who had recently come into the country. Prominent among these circumstances was the fact that Bishop was a man whose size agreed with that of the robber. Search was made for him, and he was found at a house of which he was the sole occupant. He received his pursuers with reserve, but with no ap- parent fear or guilt. His person, and then the house, were searched for the pistol and the money, but in vain ; no traces of either were discovered. His cloth- ing exhibited no appearance of the struggle, except upon the bosom of his shirt there were some dark stains which appeared like mud from the swamp, and in his hair there were some hemlock leaves.
If Bishop was the robber, he had evidently changed his outside apparel; but the moment Jameson saw him, he was convinced that the man who had robbed him stood before him. Bishop was arrested. The magistrate before whom he was taken, after a close and well-contested examination, committed him to jail, to await the action of the grand jury. Within the space of three weeks of the commission of the crime, he was indicted and brought to the bar for trial. Such was the alacrity with which crime in those days was followed up.
The celebrated Elisha Williams, then one of the most brilliant and successful lawyers in the State, was retained for the defense, and a trial of unusual interest took place. Hon. Joseph C. Yates, afterwards gover- nor of the State, presided. One of the principal grounds upon which Mr. Williams rested the defense was the identity of the accused. So ably and adroitly did this great advocate manage the defense, so search- ing was his cross-examination of Jameson, that the escape of the prisoner seemed probable, notwithstand- ing the great ability and power with which Richardson
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conducted the prosecution. He was thoroughly con- vinced that Bishop was the real criminal. Stimulated by professional pride and an honest desire to punish a guilty wretch, he made every exertion in his power to succeed. The first day of the trial ended with Jame- son still in the witness box. During the day, the district-attorney learned that when Bishop was arrested, he wore a pair of perfectly new shoes. This circumstance suggested to Richardson that perhaps in the struggle with Jameson, the accused had left one or both of his shoes in the marsh where the crime was committed. So thoroughly did this thought im- press itself upon his mind, that he determined to satisfy himself by searching the ground, and two constables with assistants were immediately sent there with orders to search, and, if need be, turn over every inch of the ground where the struggle occurred. The trial was resumed the next morning. Noon came, and the prosecuting attorney had exhausted nearly all his evidence, but it was apparent that he had made out at the best only a doubtful case, against which the eloquence of Williams would thunder like a terrible bombardment on a weak rampart. No tidings were received from the absent officers. After the recess for dinner, he again resumed the case, placing upon the stand his last witness. He pro- tracted his examination with the hope of lengthening out the case until the return of his men, but still they lingered. Often during the cross-examination did the anxious attorney walk to a window near the bar, which commanded a view of the road over which they must pass in returning ; but just as he was about to rest the case for the people, the officers ar- rived, and he was secretly notified that their search had been successful. To him the case now reached a point of dramatic interest. Would the shoe fit the prisoner ?- would the court permit him to ascertain this ?- were the absorbing questions with him now. After a moment's reflection, he arose and stated to
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