USA > New York > Saratoga County > The bench and bar of Saratoga County, or, Reminiscences of the judiciary, and scenes in the court room : from the organization of the county to the present time > Part 15
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
On a case being made by the plaintiffs Chancellor Walworth made an order granting a new trial so
249
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
far as it related to Alida Russell and the Lansing- burgh farm, and denying the motion so far as it related to David Russell and the Salem farm. (See 3 Barbour Ch. Rep. 325.) The order was dated August 10, 1847. The right of the Chancellor to make such an order at that date was affirmed by the new Court of Appeals. (See 2 N. Y. Rep. 563.) By the judiciary act of 1847 all causes then pending in Chancery were sent to the Supreme Court, and ac- cordingly it was again brought to trial at the Sara- toga Circuit, June 6, 1850, before Justice Hand. It continued for fourteen days. The counsel engaged in it on the part of the plaintiffs were J. E. Taylor, Job Pierson, David Buel and C. L. Tracy of Troy, John W. Thompson of Ballston Spa, B. Davis Noxon of Syracuse and John Van Buren of New York. The defendants were unable to secure the attendance of Webster at the second trial, and his place was suppled with William Hay, John K. Porter and William A. Beach, and the other attor- neys at the former trial. Then began one of the closest drawn legal battles ever fought in our time- honored court house. Then Greek met Greek and the tug of war was illuminated by some of the brightest of Prince John's wit. When Hannah Brust, a witness for the plaintiff to prove the men- tal and physical incapacity of Lansing, was being cross-examined by Mr. Beach, she would look to- wards Mr. Van Buren before answering the ques- tion. He appealed to the court that the witness should answer his questions without looking to-
250
THE BENCH AND BAR
wards Van Buren to get the cue. Prince John ccolly rose to his feet and remarked that he should "insist that the lady should be allowed her natural right to choose among gentlemen whom she should look at."
The plaintiff's proved by Dr. Samuel T. Spear, then pastor of the South Presbyterian church in Brook- lyn, and now editor of the New York Independent, but, in 1841 a practicing physician in Lansing- burgh, that at the time the deeds purported to be executed Lansing, the grantor, was suffering from a cancer on his lip that was very painful and ren- dered it necessary to keep him under the influence of strong narcotics, and that the cancer eventually caused his death less than five months afterwards. They proved by Jane Giles, Hannah Brust and William Lansing that it would have been impossi- ble for Lansing to have signed the deeds without one of them knowing it, that he was partly deaf and nearly blind, that his food had to be cut for him, and that he had to be dressed and led about his apartments. Other evidence was given to show that the deeds were in the hand writing of David Russell, excepting the signatures, which appeared to show a quaver as of an unsteady hand, but under a microscope these irregularities indicated the steady nerves of the hand that executed them, for they were in graceful curves ; that Alida Rus- sell after the death of her father had said that she wished that she could buy the old homestead but was too poor to do so ; that the mental and phy-
251
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
sical capacity of the grantor was such that five years before he had turned over to another son-in-law, Elisha Alvord, (father of Hon. Thomas G. Alvord of Syracuse) all his notes, bonds, deeds, leases, etc .; and that the fact of the execution of the deed to Alida Russell was not known till after his death, and until a partition suit made its production necessary, if she insisted on holding under it.
The defense interposed evidence to substantiate that the grantor was in sound mind at the date of the signature of the deed ; and also of the finding of the previous verdict sustaining its validity. Solomon W. Russell, another son of David, was not sworn at this trial, his testimony, as to the declarations of his grandfather acknowledging pub- licly the execution of the deed to David Russell, being unnecessary under the Chancellor's ruling affirming the validity of that deed, there being reasonable ground to so adjudge it. The case was summed up for the defense by Samuel Stevens, and for the plaintiff by John Van Buren. Judge Hand then charged the jury to find upon the inter- rogatories framed by the Court of Chancery, (before given) and they in their verdict answered the first and second, in the negative, and the third in the affirmative. Judg ment was thereupon entered for the plaintiff's cancelling the deed of the Lansing- burgh farm to Alida Russell.
An appeal was taken to the General Term, and a motion to grant a new trial was heard at Malone in July, 1852, by Justices Willard, Hand and Cady ;
252
THE BENCH AND BAR.
Justice C. L. Allen, being a relative of the parties, taking no part. An exhaustive opinion of the Court affirming the verdict was read by Justice Willard. The following synopsis is prepared from the report- ed decision in 13 Barbour 510: " The verdict of the jury in the first instance having been in favor of the defense, on all the issues, and the late court of chancery having affirmed it as to the deed to David Russell, this court cannot entertain at this date a motion to set it aside. Neither can the motion of the defendants to have both deeds declar- ed valid be entertained. The important question before the court is whether there is sufficient grounds disclosed in the case to call for interference with the verdict for the plaintiffs on the last issues. The parties standing in the same relation to the testator, and the defendants claiming under a deed made after the execution of a will, the presumption is against anything which alters the nature of that will. It is not denied that when the will was made the testator was of a sound mind. The deed to Mrs. Russell totally disarranges the will, and is, there- fore, of the nature of a codicil. It purports to be a gratuity, to place her on an equality with his other children. The deed is in the handwriting of David Russell and is witnessed only by William A. Russell. Conceding that Mr. Lansing had ca- pacity to make the deed, still he was in a condition when even 'the grasshopper is a burden.' His acts done when he could have been so easily con- trolled should be watched with jealousy. It is not
253
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
necessary to impute forgery or perjury to William A. Russell. He may not have been present when the grantor was induced to assent by undue in fluence. This conveyance is of a testamentary na- ture and, as such, having but one subscribing wit- ness, is void. It is unusual in form, and disturbed the harmony of the will. It was never alluded to in any subsequent conversation by the testator, nor acknowledged by him. It is attended with all the circumstances of doubt and suspicion. If it was genuine it should have been mentioned at the time the will was read." The motion for a new trial was denied and a decree was then entered setting aside the deed of the Lansingburgh property, neither party being allowed costs against the other on the motion. The matter there rested, and save for the principles it settled and the magnitude of their proportions it has well nigh been forgotten by all except the legal fraternity.
11*
.
CHAPTER XVI. THREE SINGULAR LAND SUITS.
This work would not be complete without giving a brief detail of the celebrated land suits of Seabury against Howland ; Holmes against Smith ; and Wood against LaFayette. The first was brought by Nathaniel Seabury, Daniel Swartfiguer and others, heirs of Sarah Broughton Seabury, who was a direct descendant from Samson S. Broughton, one of the patentees of the Kayaderosseras grant. The suit was brought by Duncan McMartin, attor- ney, with the aid of his father-in-law, Daniel Cady, as counsel, against Elisha Howland who held about 600 acres in Halfmoon by virtue of a title derived from the husband of Mrs. Seabury. It was com- menced in August, 1846. Suits were also brought against Truman Mabbett of Halfmoon, George W. Wilcox of Saratoga Springs, and others in the north part of the county to recover lands held by similar titles. Howland employed E. F. Bullard, Mabbett secured John K Porter, and Judge Warren and Judiah Ellsworth were retained by the other defendants. Although these lands had been held over fifty years under these titles, Judge Cady, who h ad thoroughly examined them, was certain that a dverse possession did not sustain them because
255
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
the statute was suspended by the infancy and coverture of the claimants. They were noticed for trial at the several intervening terms, and at the May Circuit, 1847, Mr. Cady appeared ready for trial. It had been determined to make a test suit of the action against Howland. Judge Cady said to Mr. Bullard : "You and I can just as well try this case in my room. If I am right. I am sure you will acknowledge it; but, if I am wrong, I don't want to be beaten in open court, for this is the last cause that I shall try as counsel." The aged coun- selor of 75 years and the youthful lawyer accord- ingly met in the former's room at Medbery's hotel in Ballston Spa, May 25, 1847, to mutually exam- ine the respective claims and titles of their clients. Cady began with the Kayaderosseras grant and its divisions, tracing down the title by descent un- broken to the plaintiffs. Mr. Bullard conceded that this was a prima facie case, and then dis- closed his evidence, beginning with a deed from Seabury to Edward Howland, father of the defend- ant. Cady replied : "Seabury had only a life estate and the coverture and infancy of the plain- tiffs prevents this title from becoming adverse." Mr. Bullard admitted that it so appeared on the face, but the two deeds that he now produced, which he had found recorded in Albany county, altered the phase entirely One was from Sarah Broughton Seabury and her husband to a third party with power to sell and convey as a trustee, and the other was a deed from the trustee convey-
256
THE BENCH AND BAR
ing all the real estate back to Seabury, the husband. This settled the claim to over $100,000 worth of real estate. The great lawyer saw at once that he had no further hope, and said : "I give up. Your title is clear and cuts off our whole claim. Go and tell Judge Willard to enter a non-suit. I am going to Johnstown." The court records in the clerk's office shows that a non-suit was entered in this action May 25, 1847. It was the last cause tried by Daniel Cady, for he was elected a justice of the Supreme Court the following month, being the only whig candidate chosen in the district. He contin- ued to hold that office until December 31, 1854, when he resigned. He died, retaining his faculties to the last, in October, 1859, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He was one of the purest and greatest men who have adorned the bench of this state.
The suit brought by Allen J. Holmes against Lewis Smith, and the counter suits brought by Lewis and Silas G. Smith against Holmes involved a valu- able interest relating to the title and possession of about 600 acres of land in Stillwater and Malta. In the spring of 1853, Allen J. Holmes of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess county, bargained with Lewis Smith of Stillwater to purchase his farm contain- ing five hundred and forty- seven acres, three roods and three rods of land, lying in three tracts, with some reservation of lands previously sold from the original boundaries. The farm had been worked the previous year by Silas G. Smith, son of Lewis,
257
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
and he owned several acres of rye then growing on the farm. By some oversight the reservation of this grain was omitted from the articles of agree- ment. Smith had always been noted for making shrewd bargains, and Holmes boasted to some of his friends that the "old fox had been caught at last." This reached the ears of Smith. He looked at the copy of the agreement. It was a fact, he had been napping, but still was not caught. He hast-
ened to James B. McKean, his attorney. He could see no other way out than to pay the heavy for- feiture. Other distinguished counselors said the same. Smith finally in his own mind evolved the the following solution : they were to meet at the county clerk's office on the 10th of May to deliver the deed, and accept the mortgage that was to be taken by Smith as part payment of the considera- tion to be paid for the farm ; and he decided to have two deeds drawn, one with a clause "reserving grain sowed on the land and the right to cut and remove the same," and the other a simple warranty deed according to the contract. If Holmes should demur to the former, he would demand the pay- ment of the full consideration : viz, $29,905.56 in specie, well knowing that the amount could not be obtained within the specified time at the bank in Ballston Spa. The day came. Holmes and his attorney, Abel Meeker, were early on hand and in a jubilant mood. Smith and his attorney, James B. Mckean, did not appear until afternoon. Smith tendered the first deed, and Holmes declined to
258
THE BENCH AND BAR
receive it, for it was not "so nominated in the bond." Smith then tendered the other deed and said he would take his pay in the "legal tender." This was a bombshell in the Holmes camp. Meeker saw that they were trapped and advised his client to accept the former deed. Rather than pay the forfeiture he did so.
But though vanquished he was not yet beaten. He secured Nathaniel J. Seeley, a surveyor, of Ballston Spa, to survey the farm, and he in run- ning the courses as mentioned in the deed found that there was not so many acres as that instrument called for. Holmes then began an action for dam- ages, alleging a breach of covenant. When the first payment came due on the mortgage he refused to honor it, and Smith began a suit on the bond. Holmes demurred, and in this stage it went to the Court of Appeals, where the demurrer was sus- tained. The first action was referred to Cornelius A. Waldron to hear and determine. Smith had the farm surveyed by Norman Seymour, a civil engineer residing in Stillwater. Having the assis- tance of parties who knew the 'ancient landmarks' his survey tallied with the deed as nearly as a sur- vey of a farm composed of several different pur- chases of land could be expected to, when it is taken into consideration that hardly one of them was one of the original lot lines and that the tract had as many angles as the palace of the Escurial. The ref- eree found for defendant. His report was set aside by the Supreme Court on the ground that Seymour's
·
259
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
chain was sworn by him to be graduated according to the United States scale, and the court, in a vir tuous states' rights mood, declared that it should be according to the New York scale. It is a singular fact that the units are of the same length by both standards. A new survey was ordered and Delos E. Culver, a quite prominent civil engineer, was designated to conduct it. Silas G. Smith, also, began an action against Holmes for damage to his grain by the latter's cattle and recovered judgment, which was appealed to the higher courts. While these three suits thus "hung fire," in the winter of 1860, Mr. Holmes was suddenly taken ill and died. The actions were finally settled by the Smiths and the executors of Holmes, and thus they withdrew from the courts. Gen. Bullard was asso- cirted with Judge McKean as counsel for Smith. James W. Culver assisted Mr. Meeker as counsel for Holmes.
The third case is that of Hiram Wood against Michael de LaFayette. The defendant is a French Canadian who, in 1858, purchased a forty acre lot in the town of Milton, which had formerly been · owned by James Mann, the elder. He claimed that the north line of the lot was not as it existed at the time of his purchase, but as it did when it was occupied by Mann. Accordingly he removed his fence from the position in which it had stood over forty years to the line which was named in Mann's deed, the distance of twenty four links, and cut the timber then growing on the land. This narrow belt
260
THE BENCH AND BAR
of sandy land, not worth twenty dollars and less than two-thirds of an acre in extent, has been the source of a litigation which bids fair to ontlive its prominent actors. Wood sued in justice's court, declaring in trespass for cutting trees upon lands in his possession. J. S. L' Amoreaux was his attor- ney. The defendant, by Joseph LeBœuf, his attor- ney, denied all the allegations and set up a claim of title in himself to the premises. The action was thus removed to the Supreme Court, where John Brotherson appeared as defendant's attorney and the issue was joined. The plaintiff declared upon his deeds and the fact of his possession of the prem- ises and that the defendant had never been lawfully seized of them. The defendant stood upon the boundaries of the deed to James Mann, from whom his title emanated, in 1815. The action was tried at the Saratoga Circuit in May, 1868, before Judge James. The defendant's offer to prove the ancient boundary was ruled out and excluded, and a judg- ment was entered against him for $50. He appealed to the General Term and the judgment was affirmed. He further appealed to the Court of Appeals and a new trial was ordered. (See 46 N. Y. Rep. 484.) The second trial was had at the January Circuit, 1874, before Justice Joseph Potter. He allowed the defendant to prove that an agreement to submit the line in question to the arbitration of James Mann, the younger (since deceased), for him to determine is to its correct latitude had been revoked by the plaintiff, but excluded the deeds and docu-
261
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
mentary evidence offered by the defendant ; charg- ing the jury that "the title to the lands between the plaintiff and defendant shall be determined, not by reference to the deeds, nor by reference to any other fact than this, that one of them is to own to the extent that James Mann occupied." It was shown in proof that Mann had only occupied the cleared land and that LaFayette had purchased the land as the line fences then stood. The jury again found a verdict for the plaintiff for $50. Judgment was thereupon entered for $679.47 damages and costs. The General Term has again affirmed the verdict, and a motion for a new trial is now pend- ing in the Court of Appeals. L' Amoreaux & Dake and L. B. Pike have zealously guarded the claims of the plaintiff, and John Brotherson has been equally strenuous in defending the asserted rights of the defendant. When or how it will end the soothsayers prophesy not.
CHAPTER XVII. SARATOGA'S CIRCUIT JUDGES.
Reuben Hyde Walworth, the "Last of the Chan- cellors," was a son of Benjamin Walworth of Bozrah, Connecticut, in which town he was born October 26, 1788. During his early boyhood his father removed to the town of Hoosick in this state, where he lived the life of an honest and respected tiller of the soil. The educational advantages offered to young Walworth were very meager. He graphically describes them in his address to the bar on taking his seat as Chancellor, April 28, 1828 :
GENTLEMEN OF THE BAR: In assuming the duties of this highly responsible station, which at some future day would have been the highest object of my ambition, permit me to say, that the solicitations of my too partial friends, rather than my own incli- nation, or my own judgment, have inclined me to consent to occupy it'at this time. Brought up a farmer's boy until the age of seven- teen, deprived of all the advantages of a classical education, and with a very limited knowledge of chancery law, I find myself, at the age of 38, suddenly and unexpectedly placed at the head of the judiciary of the state ; a situation which heretofore has been filled by the most able and experienced members of the profession. Under these circumstances, and when those able and intelligent judges, who for the last five years have done honor to the bench of the Supreme Court, all decline the arduous and responsible duties of this station, it would be an excess of vanity in me, or in any one in my situation, to suppose he could discharge those duties to the satisfaction even of the most indulgent friends. But
263
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
the uniform kindness and civility with which I have been treated by every member of the profession, and, in fact, by all classes of citizens, while I occupied a seat on the bench of the Circuit Court, afford the strongest assurance that your best wishes for my success will follow me here. And, in return, I can only assure you, that I will spare no exertions in endeavoring to deserve the approbation of an enlightened bar, and an intelligent community " (See 1 Paige's Chancery Reports.)
The Walworth family is an ancient one in Con- nectient, tracing its origin to the historic Walworth, lord mayor of London, who slew the rebel Watt. Tyler, in the reign of Richard II. Becoming untit- ted for a farmer's life by an accident, the future Chancellor studied law and was admitted to the bar soon after attaining his majority. In 1814, he served as an aid on the staff of Major General Mooers, and took an important part in the battle of Plattsburgh. After the war he again entered on practice of his profession at Plattsburg, where he had settled in 1810. He was appointed Circuit Judge for the fourth circuit, April 21, 1823, by Governor Joseph C. Yates, with the consent of the senate. He held the office for five years. He was noted for his prompt and fearless administration of the laws in the civil and criminal branches of his courts. In this and other counties he was fre- quently called on to adjudicate claims to lands in the patents granted under the seal and sign manual of Lord Cornbury. Soon after his appointment he removed to Saratoga Springs, where he resided until his death, with the exception of the interval from 1828 to 1833, when he had a residence in
264
THE BENCH AND BAR.
Albany. "Pine Grove," his Saratoga seat, became in the legal "Mecca" of the bar of this state. Drawn thither by business in his court came Govs. Tompkins, DeWitt Clinton, Yates, Van Buren, Marcy, Throop, Wright, Seward and Tilden ; Presidents Buchanan and Fillmore; Charles O'Con- or, B. F. Butler, the three Spencers, Elisha Wil- liams, Samuel Stevens, Thomas Addis Emmett and Daniel Webster, and there he entertained his breth- . ren of the bench, Kent and Story and Grier ; besides hosts of men and women widely known in the clerical, military and civil professions and in the literary walks of life. Perhaps the most widely remembered case tried before him as a criminal judge was the indictment against the three brothers, Nelson Thayer, Isaac Thayer and Israel Thayer, jr., charging them with the murder of John Love, at the town of Boston, Erie county, December 24, 1824. Their object was to secure the money of Love, who was an inoffensive, harmless bachelor, who made his home in the family of Nelson. They were engaged in killing pork at the barn of Israel Thayer, jr., and they "mingled his blood with that of their butchered swine." Possessing themselves of the few hundreds of dollars he was known to have on his person, they buried his body under the rub- bish of a lately cleared forest. The passing of a certain bill, known to have been in the possession of Love, by Israel Thayer, jr., and the fact of his disappearance led to the arrest of Israel Thayer, senior, and his three sons. Confronted with the
265
OF SARATOGA COUNTY.
facts obtained, the father confessed the crime, and the body was found where he indicated. They were indicted on his confession, and, at the Oyer and Terminer held in Buffalo in April, 1825, the three sons were convicted of willful murder, and the father of being an accessory both before and after the fact. The sons were executed at Buffalo, June 17, 1825; and the wretched father was sen- tenced to states prison for ten years and ended his life in a cell. The language of Judge Walworth in passing the " dreadful sentence of the law," which consigned to the gallows "three young men who have just arrived at manhood, standing in the relation to each other of brothers" was tonching in the extreme ; awakening in his heart, as he said, " feelings which are too painful to be expressed." The office of Chancellor having become vacant, the position was tendered Judge Walworth by Gov. Pitcher. He reluctantly accepted it and the ap- pointment was confirmed by the senate April 22,
1828. His predecessors in the Equity Chamber were Robert R. Livingston, John Lansing, jr., James Kent, Nathan Sanford and Samuel Jones. He at once entered upon his new duties and ably sustained the reputation of the court which had been presided over by such brilliant men as had gone before him. He held the office until it was abolished by the constitution of 1846. The record of the court and its veritable parchment roll of attorneys are now filed in the state library at Albany. He had strict notions of honesty and
12
-
266
THE BENCH AND BAR -
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.