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 48

Author: Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. cn
Publication date: 1870
Publisher: New York, Diossy & company
Number of Pages: 812


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 48


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The sick man gave a faint response in the affirma- tive, which convinced Mr. Hill that his first impres- sions were right, and he was determined that the old man should leave the room.


"Mr. Christian," said he, "I cannot draw this will until you leave this room ; if you insist upon remain- ing, I shall leave at once."


"But my son is very weak, and will need me here to nurse him while you are at work."


"I will see to that ; I shall not be engaged long, and I will undertake to care for him while I am en- gaged," said Mr. Hill.


"Father, I think you had better retire ; Mr. Hill is an old friend of mine ; I can trust him, and I want him to draw my will, very much," said Christian.


" Well, John, I can go; but you must not forget- you must remember to-take your medicine," said the old man, giving his son a peculiar look as he was leaving him.


"Christian," said Mr. Hill, as soon as the door closed on his father, " now tell me the manner in which


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you desire to dispose of your property, and I will soon prepare your will accordingly."


In a few words, the sufferer informed him that he proposed to give his daughter eight hundred dollars, for the purpose of educating her, and all the residue thereof, after deducting his wife's thirds, was to be given to his father in trust for his son, who was to re- ceive it when he attained his majority. The old man to be named as sole executor. These were substan- tially the conditions of the will.


This greatly astonished the lawyer, and he felt con- fident that left to himself, his friend would never make such an unnatural disposition of his property ; he be- lieved, and justly too, that the iron will of the old man had influenced his son to give him the possession of his property for fourteen years, and, in effect, to dis- inherit the daughter. He now fully understood the pleading look of Mrs. Christian, and why she was so anxious to see him; he was in great doubt as to the manner in which he should proceed. The way in which his client disposed of his property, was clearly nothing to him, and yet he did not regard it as his duty to permit such a flagrant act of injustice. After a few moments' reflection, he said :


" Mr. Christian, you are, as you say, on your dying bed ; now let me ask you if you really desire to dis- pose of your property in the manner in which you have just stated ?"


"Oh, Mr. Hill, I have been through so much- have suffered so much, and have had so many things said to me, that I don't care what becomes of my prop- erty-but I-I-think-I hope my father will do what is right-he's promised me he would."


"This business is nothing to me, Mr. Christian ; but it is your duty to deal fairly and justly with both your children, and to dispose of your property as to you seems just, uninfluenced by others. It is your will that I have come to draw, Mr. Christian ; now is the time to exercise your own judgment, so that when


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this business is done you will feel conscious of having discharged your duty fairly, impartially, and unad- vised, according to the dictates of your own heart," said Hill.


After reflecting a few moments, Christian said :


" Mr. Hill, promise me that you will be a friend to my poor wife and children when I am gone."


The promise was given. He then directed Hill to commence the will, and he would dictate the condi- tions. When the instrument was nearly completed, the lawyer asked him who he desired to act as exec- utor.


"My father expects-but no matter, as the will reads, he had better not act. Will you not act, Mr. Hill ?"' asked Christian.


"No, I cannot act; you should select some very near relative, one whom you have always esteemed and trusted, one who has some deen feeling for you," was the answer.


"Can my wife act ?"


"Certainly."


"I should like to have her act very much, but then it would displease my father terribly ; and I tell you, Mr. Hill, he's a fearful man when his anger is aroused," said Christian.


"You have no doubt of her capacity, I suppose."


"No, she has more than ordinary ability, or I should not have had this property ; and she has been the kindest and truest friend I ever had in this world"-


" And the mother of your children, Mr. Christian," said Mr. Hill, interrupting him.


"Oh, yes, yes, and you may make her my execu- trix. If she was faithful to me while living, she will be so when I am dead; but you must protect her from my father."


Accordingly, Mrs. Christian was named sole exec- utrix ; two reliable neighbors were called in for wit- nesses, the will was duly signed in their presence, and


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by request of Mr. Christian, Mr. Hill was made the custodian of it until it was proved. The lawyer then took leave of his friend.


As he was passing through the hall which led to the street, he was met by the old man who, with many smirks and smiles, said :


" Well, Mr. Hill, the will is all right, is it ? John knows pretty well what he's about and who he can trust, I assure you. Where is the will ?''


" In my pocket," was the reply.


" Well, I'll take it; that was the understanding."


"I am directed to keep it, Mr. Christian, until it is needed for proof," said Mr. Hill.


" Well, I don't know but that will do, though it ain't as we talked," said the old man, and Mr. Hill departed.


After the death of Mr. Christian, the will was opened and read in the presence of the family and friends. It proved to be a very different affair from what the elder Christian expected.


It provided for an equal distribution of the prop- erty of the deceased between the two children. After giving the widow a liberal portion, the remainder was left in her hands, in trust for her children, until they were of age, making ample provision for their sup- port ; it also provided for their education.


The rage of old Christian knew no bounds, when he heard these conditions of the will, and he prepared to contest its validity. With scarcely any chance for success, he commenced proceedings to annul it. Everything that legal ingenuity could suggest was brought to bear against it, and one of the most im- portant litigations in Mr. Hill's early practice ensued ; but it ended in the triumph of the widow, adding much to the reputation of Mr. Hill as a lawyer. The infant son of the deceased grew to manhood, removed to Chicago in the early days of that city, and became a man of wealth. He died in the year 1867, ever re- taining a veneration for the name of Nicholas Hill.


40


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THE BENCH AND BAR.


The unassuming manner and native modesty of Mr. Hill tended at first to retard his progress at the bar. Though a close and powerful reasoner, he did not possess those showy elocutionary qualities which dazzle the multitude and bring a lawyer rapidly into notice. Though he loved the forum and delighted in its contests, yet there were many of the attributes of the retiring scholar in his nature, and hence he derived the most sincere pleasure in the silence and retirement of his study.


He had many qualities which constitute the suc- cessful jury lawyer, and gradually attained a high position as an advocate. Marcus T. Reynolds and Samuel Stevens, for several years his great rivals in the profession, had been distinguished at the bar of the Supreme Court in banc and in the Court for the Correction of Errors, a long time before Mr. Hill was known in either of those tribunals.


But from his first appearance there, he created a very favorable impression on the minds of all the members of the court. In the case of Tilden v. Gar- diner, which was one of the earliest argued by him before the General Term his argument was listened to with profound attention by both the bench and the bar. "We shall hear from that man very often here- after," said Chief Justice Nelson to Judge Bronson, as he was folding the papers in the case, after the conclusion of Mr. Hill's remarks. Doubtless the rep- utation which the Notes to Phillips on Evidence had given, aided him in gaining the confidence of the judges, and in obtaining the appointment of State law reporter in 1841. The manner in which he prepared these reports greatly enhanced his repu- tation. They are characterized by the same methodi- cal and expansive mind which is conspicuous in all his works.


He was one of the most accomplished and accurate special pleaders in the State, and few ex- ceeded him in the faculty of analyzing a complicated


.


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question, or clinching a contested conclusion. These qualifications greatly aided him in the labors of re- porting the adjudicated cases of the State courts, enabling him to adjust them so that the student or practitioner could determine at a glance the real points decided in them. Soon after receiving this ap- pointment he removed to Albany, where he resided the remainder of his life.


He occupied the position of State reporter five years, when his increasing legal business compelled him to resign. Soon after his resignation, he formed a copartnership with Peter Cagger and John K. Por- ter, constituting a firm which combined every vari- ety of legal talent-a firm which was distinguished for its capacity and for the vast amount of legal bus- iness which it controlled. Each of its members pos- sessed attainments which gave them superiority at the bar, or in whatever intellectual field they chose to enter.


Mr. Hill devoted himself to the General Term and the Court of Appeals ; at length his business at the latter court increased to such extent that he was compelled to confine himself almost exclusively to that tribunal.


Many of his compeers at the bar gave to their pro- fession divided allegiance, or loved it for the applause it brought, and the rewards it secured. With Mr. Hill this was a secondary consideration ; he entered into the investigation and research of the law as New- ton, Kepler, and Galileo did into the science of astron- omy-Handel and Mozart into harmony-Cuvier into the study of mollusca-Stewart, Locke, and Hamilton into metaphysics.


With him it was the application of an ardent and scholastic mind to its favorite theme. A the power- ful lens of Herschel swept the heavens discovering new stars, orbs, and sidereal bodies, measuring their proportions by practical mathematical principles, so the intellectual lens of Hill was turned to the field of


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judicial science ; through it he observed and scanned every principle of the written and unwritten law, com- pared every conflicting precedent, revealed the hidden treasures of musty tomes, rendering them applicable to modern jurisprudence. Thus the labor which he performed was astonishing.


In his capacity for intellectual and physical en- durance, he resembled Lord Brougham, of whom it was said he was not one, but legions. "At three in the morning he would make a reply in Parliament, which blanched the cheeks and appalled the hearts of his enemies ; at half past nine he would be found in his place in the court room, working out a case in which a bill of five pounds was disputed, with all the plodding care of the most laborious junior. This multiplicity of avocation and division of talent suited the temper of his constitution and mind. Not only did he accomplish a greater variety of purpose than any other man-not only did he give anxious attention to every petty cause, while he was fighting a great political battle and weighing the relative interests of a nation-not only did he write an article for the Edinburgh Review while contesting a county, and preparing complicated arguments on Scotch ap- peals by way of rest,-but he did all this as if were perfectly natural to him." The labors of Broug- ham, though more desultory than those of Hill, were not more intense or more enduring.


During the sessions of the Court of Appeals he was constantly in his seat at the bar, from the opening to the close of the term; concerned in nearly three fourths of the causes on the calendar. He was often engaged in the argument of a case during the entire day, and at night retiring to his study, he would re- main there until after the clock tolled the hour of midnight ; "the fire which burned in the tough fab- ric of his intellect" as undimmed when the last page was turned-the last note made, as it was when he first arose in the morning.


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NICHOLAS HILL.


During vacation he would be in his office during the day, and continue his labors far into the night. Thus he prepared those voluminous briefs on whose pages there was often a reference to many hundred cases ; each one of which he had thoroughly studied and analyzed.


Strangers visiting the court room at Albany al- ways desired to have Mr. Hill pointed out.


In the summer of 1857, a young law student from Rochester, with a friend who resided at Albany, visited the Senate chamber where the Court of Appeals was sitting. There were in the bar at the time, a large number of lawyers from various parts of the State. After looking over the bar for some time, the young man inquired if Nicholas Hill was in the court room. His friend replied, "He is, and I want you to point him out, if you can." Scanning each face within the bar with great scrutiny, the student at last fixed his eyes upon a man a little below the medium hight, slenderly built, with a sharp and somewhat wrinkled face, but full of fire and intelligence, dark hair, in which the silver lines of advancing years began to be blended, and who carried one of his arms in a peculiar manner.


"That, according to the description which I have often heard, is Mr. Hill," said the young man, point- ing to the person who has been described.


"You are right, that is Nicholas Hill, a lawyer more thoroughly identified with this court than any other lawyer at the bar."


The courtesy and generosity of Mr. Hill to his brethren of the bar, especially the younger members, was proverbial ; he instantly perceived and liberally acknowledged their merits.


The late M. S. Newton, a highly respectable mem- ber of the Rochester bar, in the early days of his prac- tice had a case in the Court of Appeals, which he prepared to argue himself. He had conversed with Mr. Hill on the leading points in the case, who assured him that. though the questions involved were


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difficult and intricate, yet he believed the law was with him. The suit had been contested inch by inch from the Circuit to the Supreme Court, and from thence to the Court of Appeals, and in every instance it had been decided against Mr. Newton.


The term at which it was to be argued finally com- menced its sittings, and Mr. Newton proceeded to Albany to argue his case. Soon after his arrival, he learned that the late William Curtis Noyes and Am- brose L. Jordan were to argue it against him. Alarmed by this intelligence, he sought the assistance of Mr. Hill.


"I will assist you, Mr. Newton," said Mr. Hill, "if you desire me to do so ; but let me advise you to argue it yourself ; you have the ability, you are thor- oughly prepared-you can do much better without me than you can with me. Young lawyers often injure their cause by calling to their assistance what is termed able counsel. If you succeed in a contest like this, alone and unaided, you will be entitled to all the credit."


"But, Mr. Hill, only think of the array of talent that is against me, and the great influence of my oppo- nents with the court," said Newton.


" As to the talents of your opponents, although I admit it is great, yet you need not fear it; the law books reveal the same truths to you that they do to them, and as to influence with the court-I hear very much said about that, but depend upon it, the influ- ence of this or that person, in our courts, amounts to nothing at all. If you have the law with you, that is the highest influence you can secure.


"In my early practice, I was once induced to pro- cure the aid of a lawyer, who was supposed to have great influence with the court, to assist me in urging the judge to inflict a very light sentence on a client of mine, who had been convicted of an offense in which there were mitigating circumstances, and which ad-


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NICHOLAS HILL.


nitted of a severe or a light punishment, in the dis- cretion of the court.


"The lawyer to whom I applied, was at the time a State senator, and was really a man of great influence and ability ; while I was young and inexperienced, and almost a stranger to the judge. My client was a man of some standing in the community in which he lived ; his sentence was suspended until the last day of the term ; when he was brought into court to receive it, his wife and children accompanied him, by the ad- vice of my associate, who believed that their presence would aid him in softening the minds of the court. I saw by this, that even he needed outside influence to aid him, powerful as he was supposed to be with the court.


"My friend made a pathetic appeal to the court. It was apparently very effective, and I believed, with his great influence he would succeed in convincing the judge that my client should only be fined some nominal amount and discharged, but what was my astonishment and horror when I listened to a sen- tence which was to incarcerate him in jail for one year, and compel him to pay a fine of two hundred dollars. I will not attempt to describe the scene that followed ; suffice it to say, that wife, children, friends, and myself, were plunged into the deepest sorrow. The influence of my counsel had failed and my client was ruined.


" The court adjourned for dinner, but my appe- tite was gone,-instead of going to the table, I stole away to a grove not far from the court house to hide my own grief and sorrow, for I had taken that inter- est in my client which rendered his case my own. At length I resolved to make an effort myself, to induce the court to modify the sentence.


" Before the bell ceased ringing I was in the court house ; the moment the crier's proclamation was ended, I was on my feet, and to the astonishment of the bar and spectators, I opened the motion for a


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modification of my client's sentence. I do not know what process of reasoning I adopted, or what lan- guage I used ; all I know is, that I threw my whole soul into my speech-that there was an entire surren- der of what little ability and eloquence I possessed.


" After I took my seat, the judges consulted a few moments, and then I had the satisfaction of hearing the presiding judge announce that the court on fur- ther deliberation had decided to modify the sentence against Jacob Craig, so far as to remit the imprison- ment, and to reduce the fine to the sum of fifty dol- lars. I need not tell you how great was my triumph ; had a fortune been laid at my feet, had I suddenly been lifted to a sphere of worldly grandeur, it would have been nothing compared with the joy I felt at this announcement.


"My poor client was in jail, surrounded by his weeping children and heart-broken wife. I hastened to him, and when I informed him that he was re- leased, he sunk pale and almost fainting into a chair. I shall never forget that scene-it was one which no actor could imitate. At length he found words to inquire of me how this was brought about.


"'Did Mr. M. go and talk to the court again for me ?'


"'No, he was not in the court room.'


"""'Whom did you get to talk for me that was pow- erful enough with the court to have me released ?'


" 'No one ; I did all the talking myself,' said I.


"'What, you, such a young lawyer as you talk to the court-I thought you told me I must have a man of great influence, and one that was well known to the court ?' said my client.


"' I did think so, and employed snch a man, but rather than have you lay a whole year in jail, and pay so much money, I concluded to see what I could do for you,' said I.


"Tears of joy, overflowing thanks, prayers for my future success in life, followed. I have the satis-


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faction of knowing that for a long time those prayers were repeated in a family rendered happy by my efforts, which restored to them a husband and father, who, ever after, was an exemplary member of society.


"I have related this circumstance to you, Mr. Newton, to convince you that there is nothing in what is termed personal influence with courts. The result of my professional experience is, that he who thoroughly understands his case and the law applicable to it, will always have the attention of the judges, and this is all the influence which the most eminent advocate can ever have in our courts. Once more let me say, ar- gue this case for yourself ; never stop to consider who is against you, there is not so much difference after all between men as some suppose, and as I have already said, the language of the law is the same to all."


This conversation made a deep impression on the mind of Mr. Newton ; it encouraged him to under- take the argument of the case alone, which he did with such success that it was decided in his favor.


The hold which the domestic and social ties had on Mr. Hill, affords one of the most pleasing glimpses of his character. Such was the kindliness of his nature, that even his prodigious professional labors did not exclude those amenities to friends, those affectionate attentions to kindred, for the neglect of which multiplied cares are often admitted as an excuse.


As over the hardest stones the softest moss will force its verdure and sustain its life, so amid intense toil the gentler features of his nature developed them- selves as years rolled by, rendering his relations to his friends, his associations with the gifted men by whom he was surrounded, more pleasing and at- tractive ; causing his powerful energies to blend in harmony with all his social and family connections.


Mr. Hill's manner at the bar was calm, dignified,


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THIE BENCHI AND BAR.


natural, and unassuming. The vivacity and strength of his mind, his prodigious quickness of conception, his plain but ready language, rendered him an effectual speaker in the forum. He gained the attention of jurors by the natural force of reason ; his language was never above or beyond them; it went direct to their understanding. He considered the case at bar with them, viewed it from their standpoint; and he "dexterously accommodated himself to what he de- tected to be the passing mood of each of the twelve," leading them instead of driving them to their conclu- sions.


One of the most powerful weapons which an advo- cate can use is candor. This was possessed by Mr. Hill, and it was, indeed, formidable in his hands. Without any parade of learning, he convinced the judges that he had examined every phase of the question he was arguing, and was, therefore, capable of enlightening their minds, and aiding them in their deliberations ; hence, he was strong at nisi prius, still stronger before the court in banc.


His habits of life were regular and frugal, the only excess in which he indulged being his intense, never ceasing application to his books, the study of his cases and his briefs.


At length the physical powers of Mr. Hill, which. were never strong, began to yield to constant and un- relaxed labors ; with the flight of each week this be- came more and more apparent, until finally his friends persuaded him to suspend his professional toils. He yielded to their advice, and they soon had the satisfaction of seeing his bodily strength and vigor return, and his energies revive; thus he con- tinued for several weeks, until he believed himself able to resume his usual duties. But alas, even at the moment when hope was highest with the pros- pect of returning health, he suddenly fell before the destroyer, and Nicholas Hill was numbered with the dead. This sad event occurred on the first day of


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NICHOLAS HILL.


May, 1859. He was then in the fifty-fourth year of his age-at that period when the intellect is strongest and ripest, when he yet had years of activity, labor, and usefulness before him.


The intelligence of his death produced the most profound sorrow throughout the State, particularly among the members of the legal profession. When it was announced in the Court of Appeals, in that arena where he had so long been a prominent contestant, where he had occupied a place since the organization of the court, a scene of sorrow unequaled on such oc- casions and in such places followed.


Honorable John H. Reynolds, his law partner, who knew him, perhaps, better than any other person, and to whom he was tenderly attached, arose to pay a tribute of respect to his memory. For a time the emo- tions of the speaker overcame him, his voice faltered, and his tears flowed. The bench and bar were no less affected. Grave judges, strong and gifted lawyers wept, and in the temple of justice grief prevailed. At length, gaining sufficient compos- ure to proceed, Mr. Reynolds pronounced the fol- lowing beautiful, appropriate, and affecting memorial.


"If your Honors please-Since the last meeting of this court, one who has been accustomed to welcome your return has suddenly been called away. His place at this bar is vacant, and will be filled by him no more forever. While yet busy in the great labors of his life, and in the very fullness of his intellectual stature, Nicholas Hill has unexpectedly left the em- ployments of earth, and entered upon the realities of another life. His departure from among us was so sudden, that those who were most intimately associ- ated with his daily avocations, were scarcely made aware of his illness before the sad intelligence of his death was announced. An event so mournful could not fail to arrest public attention, and spread universal sorrow over the hearts of all who knew and honored him. To none beyond his immediate family circle,




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