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 50
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
Mr. Sprague was detained at Albany the next day, and, having some leisure time, he visited the Court of Errors, which was then in session at the capitol. On seating himself in the Senate chamber where the court was sitting, to his surprise he discovered among the lawyers in the bar, the minister of the Gospel with whom he was so interested on the evening previous ; but, supposing he had been invited to a seat there by some one of the lawyers present, he thought no more of the matter, until, to his utter astonishment, his clerical friend arose to address the court. As he proceeded, the court, bar, and spectators listened with the most profound attention. Mr. Sprague soon ascertained from his language that he was arguing a case of great importance.
" Am I mistaken ?" thought the minister. " Is it possible that he is a lawyer? He did not talk nor act like one last evening."
After some time the speaker closed and took his seat. Mr. Sprague could control his curiosity no longer, and approaching the sergeant-at-arms who stood near to him, said :
"May I ask you who that gentleman is that has just closed his speech ?"
"Certainly, sir; that is Daniel Lord, of New York."
"Daniel Lord ! is it possible ? Why, I have heard of him often. I came up from New York with him on the boat last night, and took him for a clergyman."
" Well, sir, you were mistaken that time, though
650
THE BENCH AND BAR.
he's a good enough man to be a minister. He is one of the best lawyers that come here, and what is more, he's an honest lawyer, sir, and the judges all believe him," said the sergeant.
"I thank you, sir, for your information, and I am happy to know that there is now and then a pious lawyer," said Mr. Sprague, and he turned from the officer to leave the Senate chamber. 9
In 1814, Mr. Lord graduated with distinction, standing second in his class.
Having decided to enter the legal profession, im- mediately on leaving college he commenced his legal studies in the law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, in which Judge Gould was then the principal in- structor. He continued at this institution one year, engaged in studying the elementary principles of law, when he returned to New York and entered the office of the late George Griffin, who, for many years, was one of the great lights of the New York State bar, the associate of Thomas Addis Emmet, David B. Ogden, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Wells, Blake, and other emi- nent lawyers, whose remarkable intellectual powers were often displayed in the highest courts of the State and nation. The trial of Goodwin for killing James Stoughton was one of the occasions on which Mr. Griffin's forensic eloquence shone forth with peculiar splendor. This case was tried at New York in 1820, before the late Cadwallader D. Colden, then mayor of the city.
Both Goodwin and Stoughton were young gentle- men who belonged to the most distinguished families in the city. A quarrel having taken place between them, they continued bitter enemies for a long time. On the nineteenth day of Debember, 1819, they met on the corner of Broadway and Courtlandt-street. A conflict ensued between them, in which young Stough- ton was stabbed to the heart, and fell dead upon the walk. Goodwin was brought to trial for the crime, and an imposing array of eminent counsel ap-
651
DANIEL LORD.
peared for both the prosecution and the defense. Mr. Griffin was the leading counsel for the people ; he was ably sustained by Messrs. Wells and Van Wyck. J. O. Hoffman, T. A. Emmet, S. Price, J. A. Hamil- ton and Mr. Munroe, were opposing counsel.
It was a case of all-absorbing interest in the city, occupying an entire week. Mr. Griffin's address to the jury was without doubt one of the great legal speeches which have rendered the New York city bar so distinguished before the nation. He closed his speech in the following language :
"The syren voice of pity has been sounded in your ears in behalf of the prisoner's youth, and you have been invoked as you value your own salvation to temper justice with mercy. Mercy is indeed a heavenly attribute-it is the very attribute of the Godhead to which erring mortals will cling in that day of retribution when we must all appear before the judgment seat, not as judges, or jurors, or counsel, but to await our final sentence. Nor is this favorite of the skies a stranger to our jurisprudence. Our Consti- tution has provided a place for it to dwell, even the mercy seat of the executive. But jurors may not, must not tamper with it; an oath enjoins them to forbear. It is chiefly because the law knows that jurors have compassionate and erring hearts that it fortifies them by an oath; compelling them to lay their hands upon the word of life, and to call upon God to help them, or not to help them, as they decide according to the law and evidence. Awful alternative, cleaving unto or renouncing the help of God ! And yet, gentlemen, this oath, with all its sanctions, rests upon your souls."
After an able charge from the mayor, the jury re- tired, and at length returned into court with a ver- dict of guilty. Mr. Hoffman in behalf of the prisoner prayed that the jury might be polled ; accordingly they were requested to pronounce their verdict sep- arately as their names were called. Slowly the clerk
652
THE BENCH AND BAR.
commenced calling the jurors by name, and all answered "guilty," until the fifth juror's name was called, who, after some hesitation, answered "not guilty." "That is sufficient," said Mr. Hoffman, with a look of triumph, and the prisoner, who until that moment had remained standing, sank into his chair, overpowered by his emotions. The jury retired for fur- ther deliberation, but they failed to agree, and on a second trial Goodwin was acquitted.
It will thus be observed that the legal preceptor of Mr. Lord was well calculated by his example, as well as his teachings, to inspire his student with that pro- fessional ambition, and to impart to him that know- ledge which is so necessary for a successful career at the bar.
As was said of Ogden Hoffman, Mr. Lord's legal education was laid in a thorough knowledge of great elemental principles. He was a close practical stu- dent, letting no question or subject pass until he understood it as thoroughly as his powers would enable him, always seizing the moment of excited curiosity on a subject, to solve his doubts, knowing that if he let it pass, desire to learn it might never re- turn, and hence he would remain in ignorance. This was his habit through his whole professional life ; he always adhered strictly to Franklin's practice of ex- cogitation even to his latest hour.
In October, 1817, he was called to the bar, and from that time until two or three years before his death, when premonitions of disease compelled him to relax his labors, his life was entirely devoted to his profession.
"On May 16th, 1818, he was married to Susan, second daughter of the late Mr. Lockwood De Forest, of New York, for whom he had formed an attachment early in his college course. He, therefore, entered upon his life's career surrounded with all the great responsibilities, yet supported by all the still greater encouragements of married life. The path that lay
653
DANIEL LORD.
before him seemed both rugged and uncertain. He had chosen a profession which, though it accorded entirely with his taste, was one requiring immense exertions to secure success, and in which others could help him but little, if at all. Besides all this, his own circumstances, as well as those of his father, were such as would not admit of much waiting for fortune. He was already committed to the issues of life. The future of those he loved depended upon him, and the consequences of failure would be very serious. But he gathered up his courage, and recognizing fully his exact position, shaped his course accordingly. Gladly availing himself of his father's offer of a home with him, he brought his newly-married wife to the family dwelling. At first his practice was not sufficiently Incrative to enable him to contribute much toward the common support, but as his business increased, he gladly assumed half the burden of the family ex- penses, which were very moderate. He remained thus situated for many years, when his own increas- ing family made it necessary for him to seek an inde- pendent home for himself. After mature reflection upon the propriety of making such a hazardous exper- iment, and after many a calculation of the cost, he hired a small house in Laight-street, near Canal, and moved into it with his family, which then included three children. This was in 1825." While residing in this house, he was called upon to part with a lovely little boy, who was to his parents a ray of sunlight shining upon their pathway. He was with them but a year, and then amid the sober beauties of declining autumn, he left them ; heaven took the treasured little one, but his removal was a heavy blow to them, par- ticularly to Mr. Lord. For a long time
" Grief filled the room up of his absent child, Laid in his bed, walked up and down with him; Put on his pretty look, repeated all his words, Remembered him of all his gracious parts, Stuffed out his vacant garments with his form."
654
THE BENCH AND BAR.
How many there are who can sympathize with Mr. Lord in that silent sorrow which was so long a tenant of his heart ; who, like him, mourn some loved one of the past, some bud of promise, some cherub child, that in the earlier scenes of his manhood he clasped to his breast as the idol of his life, then left him for an early grave, but still lives in his heart of hearts, bright, beautiful, and loving, as when in the cradle,
" He looked on him and smiled."
Though such mourners move in the world like other men, suffering no pause in their career, "court- ing business-pleasures-letters-ambition ; discharg- ing life's duties, fostering its affections, fulfilling its career, yet over their hearts a wintry change has passed, the sunlight of their life is shadowed. Though the stem, as heretofore, may be proof to the blast, yet the green leaves have been severed from it forever, and the bird has forsaken its boughs."
An eminent English jurist has remarked that a lawyer can scarcely hope to begin a career of substan- tial prosperity until after he is thirty years of age. No lawyer could more fully appreciate this remark than Mr. Lord. As was said of Mr. Burke, he was born to no expectancy but what depended upon him- self; to deserve eminence seemed the only way to ob- tain it. The mediocrity of his beginning saved him from a premature trial of his strength. His youth was a protracted season of preparation, neither im- mersed in business, nor lost in abstractions ; devoutly seeking for the learning of his profession, and full of sober, serious purposes of utility, and inspired by a determination to succeed. The world lay before him in all its glittering possibilities, but it presented to him no prospect of success, except through his own unaided exertions. He had no part in its allotments. His ability and industry were his only titles. Honor and dignity to him were matters not of claim but of
.
655
DANIEL LORD.
achievement ; difficulty was his severe instructor, for it called all the dormant powers of his mind into operative existence.
Among the many distinguished cotemporaries of Mr. Lord who still survive him, is Mr. O'Conor, whose acquaintance with him began at an early period in life ; and though they were often opposed to each other in the contests of the forum, yet it was a gener- ous, high-toned rivalry, which had in it the attraction of example, because, by the conspicuous success of one gifted and powerful mind, congenial abilities are prompted to action. Thus the success of men like Brady, Noyes, and Hoffman, was the nurse of capac- ity in others with whom they came in contact, which but for their example, might never have reached its maturity. From the abundance of one mind others are made prolific.
To use the language of Mr. O'Conor, "Daniel Lord was an extremely modest man, and though he had many facilities for so doing, if inclined, he did not at the outset, become at once engaged in very active practice. During the few years that intervened between his admission to the bar and my own, he was not very extensively engaged in contested causes ; and whenever we were called into the same case, dur- ing nearly forty years of my professional life, it al- most invariably happened that we were placed on op- posite sides. I found him an exceedingly formidable contestant. Nothing that diligence could discover, no agency that truth and honor could employ, ever failed to present itself upon his side. There was something remarkable in his laborious fidelity to his clients. I remember during the first or second year of my professional life, being engaged to prosecute a wealthy merchant for a humble mechanic. It was in a justice's court, and the sum in controversy was five- and-twenty dollars. The merchant would probably have paid thrice the sum, rather than enter upon the contest ; but pride often governs in these matters ; he
656
THE BENCH AND BAR.
determined to resist, and the merchant's favorite of that day, Mr. Lord, was his chosen counsel. The six- men jury assigned by law to such cases witnessed our mutual efforts for a whole day ; and I can confidently affirm, that Mr. Lord as earnestly and diligently de- voted himself to the trial of that case as he ever ap- plied himself to any similar duty, when ten thousand times as many dollars depended upon his exertions. Greater zeal, more unwearied efforts, more absolute ability, so far as the case called for it, were not ex- hibited in his greatest cases, than in that very small one.
" Amid the haste and excitement of the bar, the best regulated tempers will sometimes fail to preserve their equanimity. Though the instances were rare indeed, yet truth requires the admission that, occasionally, while Mr. Lord and myself were contestants at the bar, words have been elicited from each of us which might not seem to have been conceived in en- tire kindness, and which were not at the moment accepted with perfect amenity. Yet I firmly believe that there never existed on his part, during the long period marked by our intellectual combats the slightest rancor. I know upon mine, there never were any feelings but those of the most cordial and respectful nature. It has been said that Mr. Lord was a sincere Christian. His course in this branch of our mutual experience and intercourse afforded a strong proof of it. I perfectly remember an occasion after we had been for fifteen or twenty years contend- ing at the bar, when contemplatively viewing the past, I recalled the fact that every sharp passage be- tween us had been promptly reconciled by a generous advance on his part. Considering that he was full ten years my senior, and that, doubtless, I was not unfrequently the offender, this reminiscence very justly excited emotions akin to self-reproach. It im- parted additional depth and earnestness to my habitual respect for him."
657
DANIEL LORD.
Slow and discouraging as was his progress during the earlier years of his practice, his " habits of appli- cation coupled with the mental and moral powers which he possessed, at length brought their appro- priate rewards. Success in the conduct of those un- important litigations which fall to the lot of a young lawyer, procured him new clients whom his personal qualities soon converted into friends, and, his abili- ties proving equal to each larger trust that was com- mitted to him, he gradually worked his way to the front rank of his profession, at a time when the bar of New York was made illustrious by the presence of men whose names will ever be conspicuous in the history of American jurisprudence."
Though he gained a high position in the city courts and in those of the counties adjoining, it was not until the year 1826 that he appeared in the Su- preme Court at General Term, and some years more elapsed before he was heard in the Court for the Correction of Errors.
He had been at the bar but a short time before he began to attract attention as an equity lawyer. The earliest important cases which he conducted were in the Court of Chancery. Among these were the cases of Wakeman v. Grover, The Fulton Bank v. The New York and Sharon Canal Company, Dickerson v. Til- lingast and others.
Wakeman v. Grover is a leading case-one that first settled the doctrine of voluntary assignments in trust. Grover & Gunn, in 1827, were among the heav- iest mercantile firms in western New York, being en- gaged in business at Auburn. In the spring of 1828, they failed in business, owing a large sum of money to Wakeman and Varnum, who were the principals in two of the heaviest jobbing houses then in the city of New York.
As the Auburn merchants were on the point of failing, they executed a deed of assignment of their goods on hand, their debts, credits, and other prop-
42
658
THE BENCH AND BAR.
erty, specified in a schedule attached to the convey- ance, to three individuals at Auburn, upon trust. Among the usual conditions and provisions of such instruments, there was a clause making a preference to certain creditors in the distribution of the assigned property, to depend upon the execution by them, of a release to the debtors of all claims against them.
This conveyance was drawn by William H. Seward, then a young lawyer of a few years' practice, but who had already attained considerable professional rep- utation.
When intelligence of the failure of Grover & Gunn reached New York, their creditors there, believing the whole transaction fraudulent, determined to make an effort to have it so declared by the courts. Accord- ingly, Wakeman placed his case in the hands of Mr. Lord, directing him to thoroughly investigate the whole matter ; and then, if he thought it advisable, to commence proceedings to set aside the assignment.
Even at that early period the New York mer- chants suffered severely from the fraudulent failure of the country dealers. This transaction was soon known to all the city jobbers ; and Mr. Lord saw at once the vast importance of the case, not only to his own client, but to the city merchants generally. To himself, however, the matter was of paramount concern. To succeed in a case of this nature would have an in- estimable influence upon his professional life.
He therefore studied the case deeply and thor- oughly. Many of the questions in it were new. He carefully examined all the authorities bearing upon the matter, comparing and contrasting them with each other with the nicest discrimination. At length he satisfied himself that the assignment was fraudulent and void ; and as soon as preliminary proceedings would admit, an action in chancery was commenced by Mr. Lord to set it aside.
In the action brought by Varnum for similar relief, John L. Graham appeared for the complainant.
659
DANIEL LORD.
The defendants answered the bill of the complain- ants, denying all fraud in the assignment, unless it was illegal on its face ; and they insisted that it was not. Mr. Seward and the late Abraham Van Vechten appeared for the defendants. Mr. Van Vechten was then one of the ablest, if not the ablest, lawyer in the State.
At length the case came before the chancellor for argument. It was an important event in the history of Mr. Lord. On his advice his client had entered into this great litigation. The attention of the legal as well as the mercantile world was directed to it. But he was thoroughly prepared. He had the aid and sym- pathy of Mr. Graham, who was an accomplished and thorough lawyer. Perhaps no more finished and learned briefs were ever presented to a court of equity than were those presented by Messrs. Lord and Graham. That these arguments were clear, able and convincing, is attested by the result ; for the chancellor held with them, and declared the assignment void, principally on the ground that it contained a clause excluding those creditors who should not come in within a lim- ited time and give their debtors a general discharge ; and also on another, which authorized the assignees to compound with all or any of the creditors, in such manner and upon such terms as they should deem proper, &c.
The defendants, not satisfied with the decision of the chancellor, appealed to the Court for the Correc- tion of Errors, where, in the winter of 1834, it was argued.
Mr. Lord again appeared in opposition to the assign- ment. This was one of the first cases of importance, if not the very first, which he conducted in that high tribunal. Here he was compelled to contend against those giants of the bar, Samuel A. Talcott and Benjamin F. Butler. The first was, in every sense of the word, a great lawyer, "who was overpowering in the weight of his intellect-who produced in the minds
660
THE BENCH AND BAR.
of his audience all the sympathy and emotion of which the mind is capable-all which the argument- ative can produce on the hearer-all which solidity, pathos or splendor, whether derived from original or assisted powers-could convey, of pleasure or convic- tion to the heart or understanding ;" while the second possessed those powers and attainments, which, at the bar of any court-from those of the State up to the highest Federal tribunal-rendered him strong and effectual.
To enter the contest against such men was indeed a severe though profitable test of Mr. Lord's abilities. His argument was plain and unassuming, but a model of force and precision. He examined, with learned scrutiny, whatever could by any possibility affect his case. He was full of his subject. He saw it in all of its bearings-felt all of its strength ; knew all of its weakness. He was strongly and ably sustained by Samuel A. Foote, one of the ablest and oldest members of the bar in the State. Mr. Foote first appeared in the Supreme Court in the year 1816. His name con- stantly appears in the legal reports of the State from that time down to the present day, and he has been honored by a seat on the bench of the Court of Ap- peals.
It was the good fortune of Mr. Lord to win the victory in this great contest. It was a triumph which brought to him results of inestimable value. He had now successfully measured weapons with the ablest advocates in the State, and from that time until he retired from his profession, he continued to be the favorite lawyer of the New York merchants.
While it is not pretended that the case of Wake- man v. Grover was in every sense the most important case which Mr. Lord successfully conducted, it can- not be denied that, considering the influence which it had upon his professional career, it was to him of sur- passing moment.
Among the earlier cases in which Mr. Lord was
661
DANIEL LORD.
engaged were the celebrated fire causes, in which many new questions were involved, and great pecu- niary interests were at stake. These he conducted suc- cessfully. Soon after these were disposed of, the Dutch Church case was intrusted to him.
As was remarked by Mr. Evarts after the death of Mr. Lord : " If we recall, as I have been led to do, by a somewhat hasty glance, the series of causes of the most excitable character, which in the Federal or State courts had engaged the attention of Mr. Lord, we shall see how large an area they covered, and how extensive a number of the most important professional employments came year by year, step by step, to be under his charge." After stating the cases which have before been alluded to, he continues, "The American Life and Trust cases, containing in so many forms questions of usury, and of corporate action, arising in the transactions of that large institution ; the case of the Leake and Watts Charity, embracing questions of wills and of charitable uses ; the Mason will; the Phelps will; and running through all the same period a series of insurance causes, of mercan- tile causes in every form, of revenue cases, either on the forfeiture side of the Federal courts, or involving the question of duties and their exaction, combine to fill up, year by year, month by month, day by day, the course of his practice embracing these important topics of jurisprudence.
"In the United States courts, the case of Carner and Astor, known as the Putman County Land case, and finally argued in the Supreme Court of the United States, in the year 1830, by Attorney-General Bron- son and Mr. Webster on the one side, and by Mr. Ogden and Mr. Wirt on the other, was the termina- tion of a great and important controversy between titles made under the Statute of Forfeitures following the Revolution, and the title under a private convey- ance, resulting in the maintenance of the superior title of the private conveyance. This is understood to
662
THE BENCH AND BAR.
have been a case in which Mr. Lord was the respon- sible and managing lawyer on the side of Mr. Astor, although the principal, if not the whole forensic dis- play, at least, was in the hands of the very eminent lawyers, on the one side or the other, whose connec- tion with the case is historical. Then, soon after the disasters of 1837, in which the downfall of the credit system of this country had induced a large series of litigations on the part of foreign bankers and foreign merchants pursuing their debtors here, there came the celebrated case of Bell & Grant v. Bruen, in the year 1843, resting upon questions of commercial guaranty. A little later, in the year 1850, the well known insur- ance case of Barnard v. Adams in the Supreme Court of the United States, tried first in the Circuit in New York, involving the question of the contribution in general average, to make good the loss of a ship volun- tarily stranded, under peculiar circumstances of ap- parently hopeless peril - an interesting and novel question, upon which Mr. Lord was successful in sup- porting his views. The case of Jasigi v. Brown, a little later, in the year 1854, was a case of considerable magnitude, involving the question of accrediting by letters of commendation or representation, parties who were involved afterwards in debts for which suits were brought. The Methodist Church case followed-one of those notes in the prelude of the great storm which finally ended in the armed revolt and in a threatened dissolution of the country. This great controversy arose on the partition of the Methodist Church be- tween the North and the South, and I remember the case as almost the only one which, as an observer, an interested listener from beginning to end, I have been unable to attend since I have been at the bar; a case discussed in New York on the one side by Mr. Choate, of Boston, and Mr. George Wood, of New York, and on the other, by Mr. Lord, and Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore ; a case, the splendor of whose debates astonished as it delighted our bar, and in which Mr.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.