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 51

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 51


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).


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663


DANIEL LORD.


Lord's peculiar traits and powers, contrasting so much as they did the brilliancy in one way and another, or the solidity of these eminent lawyers, nevertheless left the impression upon the court and hearers, that Mr. Lord's mode of style and dealing with forensic ques- tions within the region of practical and sensible deci- sion was as marked, as useful, and as distinguished, as any of the more brilliant or more imposing forms of forensic power which his opponents or his as- sociates presented. Then came the series of Bank Tax cases, the prize causes in the courts of original jurisdiction, and finally the argument in the Supreme Court of the United States of the principal and inter- est prize cause, that of the Hiawatha, in which the doctrine of the war, as bearing upon the public law of prize, and of submission to the laws of blockade, growing out of the first emergency in which our civil war had placed the government towards the revolted States, were the topics discussed. In the case of the Savannah privateers, involving an interesting question of criminal law, in which these same questions arose, Mr. Lord appeared for the defendants.


"If to the causes which have been enumerated there should be added the large number of cases in which he was engaged, and which, though important, did not possess the magnitude of those that have been referred to, the reader would be surprised at the vast amount of legal business which he conducted during his practice.


"And yet amid this vast field of labor, he found time for extensive reading. He never discontinued his legal studies, and it was one of his habits to read leading cases in the reports, merely for the intellectual pleasure which this employment afforded ; and he often remarked that nothing gave the mind a more healthy tone than the study of the older leading cases, especially those in which the points of counsel fully appear, or where there are dissenting opinions by the court. But neither the love of legal studies


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nor devotion to his profession impaired his taste for literature.


"It has thus been well said that there are few traits of character more pleasing in themselves, more strongly indicative of a naturally ingenuous and un- corrupted mind, than the power of thus preserving a love for the tranquil enjoyments of literature, unim- paired by the excitement of professional life. With Mr. Lord, there was no revolt from the associations of the past, no affectation of novelty, no yielding to thoughtless progression, and hence he never aban- doned entirely the studies of his youth. The ampli- tude of his mind was continued and enlarged by that course of reading which tended to the investigation of moral truth. He was a close and philosophic reader of history, and kept up an enlarged stock of elegant literature, and studied with increased delight the older English writers, and the splendid para- phrases of Pope never failed to afford him pleasure.


"That political ambition which is kept alive by the love of office and which calls into action the most malignant passions was always distasteful to him. Indeed he had no political ambition whatever. Had he desired political distinction, he possessed that abil- ity and those elements of popularity with the people which would have advanced him to high distinction. Once in his life, he was made a candidate for the State Senate. He was invited twice to a seat on the bench-each time by appointment to fill vacancies- once in the Supreme Court in the first district, and once in the Court of Appeals. On each occasion he declined the appointment, not from any sordid motive-as all will believe who knew him-but from a deep grounded distrust of the plan of an elective judiciary, then recently adopted in New York, and from a con- sequent unwillingness to be in any manner connected with the system."


Among the many eminent lawyers who, during his long practice, studied their profession with him, and


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DANIEL LORD.


who survive him, is William M. Evarts, who thus de- scribes his entrance into the office of Mr. Lord :


"It happened to me," said Mr. Evarts, "to be- come acquainted with Mr. Lord, the first among the lawyers of New York that I ever knew. During my college residence at New Haven, I had become ac- quainted with his person, which had been pointed out to me in some of his occasional visits to that city, the seat of his college education. Some circumstance of family connection led me afterwards, when a student at Cambridge, upon the casual suggestion of a com- rade that I should turn my attention to New York rather than remain, as I had expected to do, in Bos- ton-to think, as a possibility, that my acquaintance, or the means that I had to make the acquaintance with Mr. Lord, then eminent in his position at the bar, might give me an introduction to his care and atten- tion, and might afford me opportunities of education, under circumstances which required me to be very careful in regard to expense and risk, in any step that I should take which might lead me to venture to become an aspirant for the distinction and success of the pro- fession in this great city. I therefore feel that Mr. Lord was really the reason, the occasion, the oppor- tunity, the means by which I was permitted to be in- troduced to any degree of professional labor and pros- perity, which may in my own sense, or that of any about me, have attended me. I remember very well the kindness with which he received me, and the wil- lingness which he expressed to receive me into his office ; and when, at the appointed time, the succeed- ing summer, that of 1839, I presented myself, he said : "'Well, Mr. Evarts, you have come to commence your studies and be a lawyer in New York ;' and I replied doubtingly perhaps, as I supposed, modestly, "' I have come to try.'


""' Well, sir,' said he; 'if you have only come to try, you had better go back. If you have come to stay, we shall be glad to receive you.'


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"And when I amended my answer by the informa- tion he gave me, that it was possible for me to stay- that I had come to be a lawyer, he received me cor- dially ; and from that time to the time of his death he was my friend, my supporter and my guide."


As has been remarked by a recent writer :


"Mr. Lord was extremely simple in his tastes and habits, and it was one of his most striking traits that he was unwilling to have any one do for him what he could by any means do for himself. He always made his own minutes of testimony, kept his own books of account, and often copied his own papers, although all of these services would have been gladly rendered by others, if he would have allowed them to do so. These peculiarities were partly owing to his extra- ordinary capacity for attending to details, without neglecting more important matters, but they were also partly due, and perhaps in an equal measure, to the impatience of being waited upon. He was systemat- ical in the arrangement even of trifles. The articles on his library table were never misplaced ; the papers in his pigeon-holes were always in order, his drawer con- tained for years the same pen-knife, seal, and pencil, and always in the same corner; and his little pocket diaries, filled with the brief memoranda of his busy life for five-and-twenty years, were, after his death, found carefully preserved and arranged in succession, ac- cording to their years. The same habits of system and order could be observed in all the operations of his intellect. His thoughts, instead of floating at random through his mind, fell naturally into logical sequences, which aided his memory in retaining them. And thus whatever he had once acquired was kept ready for immediate use, and always in the most avail- able form."


Mr. Lord, though not peculiarly eminent for his colloquial powers, was animated, accurate and pleas- ing in conversation. In public and in private, he was distinguished for the simplicity of his manners.


-


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DANIEL LORD.


" He had nothing of that dictatorial arrogance, that constant effort at strength and originality of expres- sion, and those almost mechanical arts of conversa- tion, by means of which mediocrity of intellect is too often concealed beneath well-sounding sentences, and very ordinary men metamorphosed at a cheap rate into loud and ambitious talkers, and mimic Johnsons."


The gentleness of Mr. Lord's disposition admirably fitted him for the purest enjoyments of domestic life. In his home, he was the center of the deepest love and reverence. It was a home where refinement, intelli- gence, affection and religion blended to render it attractive and pleasing-for him a happy retreat from the cares, struggles and collisions of life.


From his earliest years, he was a firm believer in the doctrines of the Bible, and this belief was grounded upon an earnest conviction, resulting from a serious examination of the evidences and doctrines of Chris- tianity, and the frequent perusal of the Scriptures. There was an innate reverence of God and all his works in his heart; he recognized something god-like in man's nature, and he believed the intellect to be an emanation from Deity, the indubitable evidence of an immortal nature. He saw the marks of divine in- telligence in the heavens and in the earth ; but he saw it more liberally displayed in the gifted mind, in magnanimity, in unconquerable rectitude, in philan- thropy, which forgives every wrong, fosters kind af- fection and tender love, and is animated by examples of heroic and saintly virtue. All these he regarded as the pledges of a celestial inheritance.


" In the year 1833, he united with the Brick Pres- byterian Church, then under the charge of the Rev. Gardiner Spring, D. D., and in the following year he was elected a member of its session, in which connec tion he continued until his death, bringing to the dis- charge of his duties as an elder a spirit of great conciliation, as well as the best abilities at his com- mand."


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As was well remarked, by the Rev. J. O. Murray, in an address delivered at the funeral of Mr. Lord, " Religion, indeed, owes a debt to the legal profes- sion-the pulpit to the bar-which should be readily acknowledged ; not only as the high-minded and emi- nent jurist keeps before the mind of men the great idea of law-a binding moral force, which the very word religion in its etymology suggests ; but as such a man helps to preserve the true order and stability of society, in which Christian institutions have their best growth."


This sketch cannot be more appropriately closed than by adopting the following language of one who prepared a truthful memorial of Mr. Lord, soon after his death :


"His Christian character was one of mature growth, such as results from a union of warm feelings with broad and enlightened views. He took almost equal pleasure in devotional books and in those which expounded the theoretical doctrines of Christi- anity, and thus while his emotions were always quick and glowing, he was also ever prepared to defend his faith with solid arguments. The inevitable absorp- tion of his time in his professional pursuits prevented him from taking a very active part in the current benevolent and religious enterprises of his day ; but, whenever an emergency arose in which his prac- tical wisdom, or his unflinching courage in opposing error could avail the cause of truth, he stood always ready-and was often called upon to do his part. And on all such occasions he brought to the work a spirit of meekness and moderation which calmed him even in the heats of controversy. He never forgot that while good men might, and often must, differ in their views, they should never give way to bitter wran- glings, nor lose sight of the truth in the pride of self- assertion. And thus his counsels were not only wise but safe ; and his loss was felt in many quarters


DANIEL LORD. 669


where the weight of his influence had been relied upon in every time of trouble and perplexity.


"For several years before his death, there had been indistinct threatenings of paralysis which justly alarmed the members of his family, and which led him reluctantly but gradually to withdraw from his much loved profession. He was not wholly insensi- ble to their warnings, but he possessed a wonderful faculty of refusing to dwell upon evils that he could not avert, and he succeeded in maintaining his cheer- fulness in spite of many dark forebodings. But his malady made steady though measured approaches, and he himself doubtless soon began to realize, what had been from the first apparent to all around him, that his discase was a fatal one, and that the final issue could not long be delayed.


"Under these circumstances, his spirit became, if possible, more subdued and gentle, and the graces of his Christian character gathered even greater luster than before. The summer of 1867, which preceded his death, was one of great anxiety to his family, and they entered upon the winter with sad anticipations of coming sorrow. All went well, however, until the new year had begun-a year that to others was to bring its completed months of checkered joys or sorrows, but only a few short days of suffering to him. A trifling professional effort, made early in January, which in his years of vigor would never have stirred his pulse or left a trace of weariness upon his frame, appeared to give a new impetus to his then slumbering disease, and from that time his system seemed to lose its bal- ance, and his bodily functions began to fail. It was a most painful thing for those who so deeply loved him, to see this physical change come over him, while his mental powers, with all their acute perceptions, re- mained untouched. But his own courage did not desert him, for it was founded on never-failing sup- ports. He was deeply affected at times by thoughts which he could not entirely drive away, but he fell


.


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back upon the consolations of religion, and they up- held him. Those who gathered with him at family prayers, one Sunday evening but a few weeks before his death, will never forget with what a subdued pathos he read and remarked upon the beauty of those verses of the seventy-first Psalm :


"'Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.


""'Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not.'


"They were plainly passages which had been often in his mind of late, and the force of which he felt most deeply as his years seemed drawing near their end.


"It would seem almost a desecration to dwell much upon the closing scenes of his life. The deep experiences and trying struggles which, even for the pure and good, hang around the hour of parting from loved ones on earth, are too sacred to be held up to the gaze of any but those who have perforce par- ticipated in the sorrow, and whose memories can best recall to them those mournful scenes. But, even were we to lift the curtain for a moment upon any part of that sad month which preceded his death, we should find him always, as it were, in a hallowed atmosphere, surrounded with all the truest affection that faithful hearts could bestow, and upheld by Christian consola- tions and Christian hopes. The dreaded hour came at last. Up to within a few days of the final moment his mind was clear, and he was able to communicate with those who hung around his bedside. But, as the last hour drew near, his faculties began to lose their power, and consciousness succumbed. Yet, when the change came upon him, a placid calm seemed to steal over his features, and peace and rest were plainly written there. He was in a great measure spared the dreadful agonies of mind and body which so often ac- company his disease, and at the last, life seemed to


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sink away from him as quietly as the sands drop through an hour-glass.


"On the morning of March 4th, 1868, it was apparent that that day would be his last. All remedies had lost their power, and nought remained but to await, in patient resignation, the long-apprehended moment. Once in the early forenoon he sank very low, but again revived to nearly his former strength, and con- tinued through the hours of daylight with but little change, except that his respirations grew gradually quicker and fainter. At last the night came on, spreading its curtain across the sky, and casting its shadows on that upper room, where loving hearts were throbbing in silence at the thought of the long part- ing. A little group, where none were absent whom he would have wished to see could his eyes have opened, nor any present who could not call him 'husband,' -'father'-sat, sad and sorrowful, within the sound of his short, quick breathings, as he lay motionless upon his couch. From time to time one of the num- ber would approach the bed to gaze once more upon his serene but pallid face, or, in helpless affection, to render some service which it was hoped might give him some relief; but it was evident that all earthly help was unavailing, and that the King of Terrors was at hand. At about 9 o'clock a few convulsive gasps gave signal that the end was near. Quickly and silently the little circle closed around him ; and then, when all was hushed and still, save the sobbing, which he could not hear, he gave one struggle more, and breathed his last, surrounded by all whom he held most dear upon earth, and whom he most would wish to meet in Heaven.


"Death found him well prepared. His peace had long been made with God; and when the summons came, it was to call him from a life of useful toil below to an eternal rest above."


B. DAVIS NOXON.


Born at Poughkeepsie, in 1788 .- Obtains the Rudiments of his Education at a Com- mon School .- Enters Poughkeepsie Academy .- Completes his Classical Course and Commences the Study of Law .- Called to the Bar .- Removes to Marcellus and Commences his Practice .- His Legal Business .- His Opponents at the Bar .- Their Sagacity .- Noxon Compelled to use every Exertion to Sustain Himself against their Attacks .- Able at Last to Resist and Return the Attack .- The At- tachment Case .- The Defective Affidavit .- How Noxon Sustained it .- Bridges an Error and brings his Client safely over it .- Condition of the Laws and the State Reports when he Commenced his Practice .- His Love of Fishing and Hunting .- It brings him before the Court .- His Fishing Excursion Announced by his Boots .- The Preferred Cause .- Judge Monell at the Ithaca Circuit .- Characteristics of Noxon Exhibited by an Amusing Incident in his Early Practice .- He Removes to Onondaga Hill .- His Compeers at the Bar .- Removes to Syracuse .- James R. Lawrence .- E. W. Leavenworth .- Noxon forms a part- nership with him .- Noxon as a Legal Speaker .- Compared with other Speakers .- His Knowledge of Land Titles .- The Important Trials in which he was Engaged .- His Social Qualities .- His Character as a Private Citizen .- Address of Honorable C. B. Sedgwick before the Members of the Onondaga Bar, after the Death of Mr. Noxon.


B. DAVIS NOXON possessed one of those original, active, reflective minds which have a tendency to su- periority. Although he seemed to be naturally con- stituted for the legal profession, his mental endow- ments would have enabled him in almost any avoca- tion to pass the bounds of mediocrity. Bold, ardent, fond of investigation, entering deeply into fundamental principles, a ready reader of character, with a forcible and pleasing eloquence, he was admirably capacitated to attain a high position at the bar by the force of his character and his intellect, for upon these alone he was compelled to rely for advancement.


He was born at Poughkeepsie in the year 1788, where he resided until he was admitted to the bar. He obtained the rudiments of his education at a com-


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mon school, where the highest faculties are often de- veloped. At length he entered the Poughkeepsie Academy, where he remained nearly three years. Here he perfected himself in the natural sciences, and made considerable proficiency in the languages. Having thus completed a thorough academic course, he entered the office of the late Philo Ruggles, then an eminent member of the bar, with whom he remained until the year 1809, when he was called to the bar. Immediately after this event, he became a resident of Marcellus, in the county of Onondaga, where he com- menced his practice. Entering ardently into the duties of his profession, the young lawyer soon ex- hibited a mind capable of grasping and analyzing the intricacies of the law.


At first, his practice was principally confined to justices' courts, in which, at that time, the ablest mem- bers of the profession occasionally appeared. This kind of practice opened a field of labor in which no one without considerable ability could sustain himself.


In these courts, he was compelled to contend with Kellogg, Sabin, Forman, Randall and others, who at that time constituted the fighting material of the bar in central New York. Hence young Noxon was forced to study hard, think closely, act with energy, watch every point with the closest attention, in order to sustain himself against the attacks of his subtle opponents, who often, in the commencement of his practice, entrapped and overthrew him. But at each fall, like Antæus contending with the celestial giant, he only touched the earth to spring with re- newed vigor to the contest, and he soon gained the ability not only to sustain himself against the sud- den onset, to disentangle himself from the meshes which art and experience threw around him, but in his turn to be formidable in the attack, and sa- gacious in detecting the errors and omissions of his opponents.


At a period when he had begun to evince some- 43


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thing of his superiority and ability to protect himself he commenced proceedings by attachment in a justice's court against a dishonest debtor, who attempted to abscond with his property, intending thereby to de- fraud a poor honest shoemaker out of a small sum of money, which he had labored hard to earn.


Nothing could exceed the technicality of the affi- davits and other papers on which justices' attachments in those days were founded. He who possessed the ability to prepare these papers so that they would withstand the attack which was invariably made upon them, might well lay claim to considerable reputation as a lawyer. In the preparation of the papers in this case, Mr. Noxon encountered many difficulties, and when finished, they contained so many erasures and interlineations, that it was extremely difficult for any one to read them but himself. Deeming them sufficient, the justice issued the attachment, and the defaulting debtor's property was seized. On the return day of the process, he appeared with one of the most skillful lawyers in the county, who, seizing Noxon's affidavit, commenced studying it for the purpose of detecting some error by which he could quash the proceedings and allow his client to escape. For a long time he scanned it closely and critically, occasionally growling about the manner in which it was written. At length he became satisfied that he had discovered the omis- sion of a material averment in the affidavit, which rendered all the proceedings under it void; and he promptly moved the court to vacate the attachment, pointing out the error, as he believed, very clearly and distinctly.


"Mr. Noxon," said the justice, after listening to his opponent, "if that error really exists, I must grant this motion. What have you to say about it?"


The young lawyer, who comprehended his danger at once, and as quickly conceived a mode of escape, promptly said :


"I agree with your honor that if the error to which


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the counsel alludes really exists, these proceedings cannot be maintained ; but let the counsel show, if he can, that they do exist," said Mr. Noxon; and, taking the paper from his hand, he coolly proceeded to read it through. When he had finished, sure enough, there was nothing wanting, everything appeared in the full strength of appropriate legal diction.


"The counsel don't read it right," roared the op- posing lawyer.


"What do you mean, sir? Do you mean to come here and take advantage of my poor writing, and con- strue my language to suit yourself? Do you think that, because everybody cannot write as well as you can, that you are to have your own way in every- thing ?" said Mr. Noxon, giving the justice a meaning look.


"I mean to say," said the lawyer, "that your affi- davit is good for nothing, that it does not contain the proper averments ; and I ask the court to dismiss the proceedings."


"Gentlemen, I really don't know what course to pursue in this matter. The way one of you reads the paper it is good for nothing, and the way the other reads it, I can see no error in it. How is this to be decided ?"


"By reading the affidavit yourself," said Noxon, boldly.




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