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 18
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a successful prosecution of his practice at the bar. Charles S. Lester, 1871 -. Judge Lester was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in March, 1825. His father died in his infancy, and the son found a home in the family of his maternal uncle, Judge John Willard, at Salem, Washington county, and was educated in the Salem academy. Having been reared in a legal air, his mind naturally inclined towards the profession, and he commenced his studies in the office of Crary & Fairchild in Salem, in 1842. In 1843, he came to Saratoga Springs and entered the office of Judge Willard where he com- pleted the requisite course for an admission to the bar of the Supreme Court, to which he was admit ted in 1846. Soon after, he formed a law partner- ship with William Cullen Bockes (brother of Judge Bockes) which continued until the latter's death a few month's later. Next, he and the late Frederick S. Root for two years enjoyed a fair practice together in our courts. After this, he formed a partnership with A. L. Bartlett and soon after his brother-in-law, Alembert Pond, was invited to join the firm. In 1859, he was elected district attorney by the democrats by 251 majority over Joseph A. Shoudy, the republican and American candidate. He served in this position three years and made a capable and fearless public prosecutor. At the outbreak of the rebellion, when party ties were loosened, he joined the republican party. In 1870, he was their candidate for county judge and was elected by a substantial majority over P. H. Cowen,
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a son of the former judge, democrat. On the bench he has been noted for his urbanity to his profes- sional brethren and the thorough manner in which he compels attorneys to place their cases before the juries. His term of office will expire next Decem- ber. His eldest son Charles C. Lester, Esq., is now associated with him in Supreme Court and Court of Appeals practice. Their clientage is probably the wealthiest in the county, the firm having been for several years past the local legal advisers of the late A.T. Stewart, and are continued in the same relations by Mrs. Stewart. Judge Lester was elected supervisor of Saratoga in 1864 and re-elected in 1865.
The history of the Saratoga county judiciary requires a sketch of the gentleman who alone is the survivor of the forty-eight citizens who have sat upon its bench as judges of Common Pleas ; viz. Hon. George Gordon Scott of Ballston Spa. Judge Scott was the only child of James Scott, a famous surveyor of the olden time, and was born at the family homestead in the town of Ballston, near the Milton line, in the year 1811. His grand- father, George Scott, was an emigrant from the north of Ireland who settled on that farm in 1774. He married the sister of Gen. James Gordon. During the Munro tory raid in 1780, he narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Indians, being, in fact, struck down with a tomahawk and left for dead. The subject of this sketch entered Union college and graduated in 1831, with one of the 13*
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honors of his class. He then entered the law office of Palmer & Goodrich in Ballston Spa, where he remained two years ; he finished his studies in the office of Brown & Thompson in the same village, and was admitted to the bar in 1834 and at once entered upon what has proved a more than ordi- narily successful practice. Having always enjoyed the confidence of the people as a man of sterling integrity and a master of his profession, his counsel has been and still is much sought in canses involv . ing intricate questions. It is rather as the counse- lor than as the advocate that he has secured and retained a prominent position at the bar. He has never sought office, and the positions that he has held have come to him conferred either by appoint- ment or election without effort on his part. He married, soon after his admission to the bar, Lucy, daughter of Hon Joel Lee of Ballston Spa. Having established his home in the Milton portion of that village, he was elected justice of tee peace in 1837 and discharged its duties till 1849. In 1838 he was appointed judge of Common Pleas for five years, but resigned in 1841, preferring his practice to the honor of the bench. He was elected to the assen- blies of 1856 and 1857; serving in the former on the Ways and Means and in the latter on the Judiciary committees; his merits being thus recog- nized by speakers Littlejohn and Robinson. He was tendered the speakership of the house of 1856, but declined, preferring to serve on the floor. In 1861, he was honored by his party with the nomi-
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nation on the state ticket for the office of Comp- troller. In 1857, he was elected by the democrats of the 15th district to the state senate in the face of an adverse party majority, and served on the com- mittee on Claims, Insurance, Judiciary and Towns and Counties. In 1859, he removed into his native town, (his residence being on High street nearly opposite the county clerk's office) and the next year he was chosen supervisor, and has repeatedly been re-elected and is now serving his seventeenth term, an honor conferred on but one other citizen of the county : viz, Gen. Mott of Halfmoon. He was chairman of the board in 1863, and has repeat- edly been appointed attorney of the board to con- fer with the state assessors. Possessed of an extensive memory in which is stored away the tales of revolutionary times told him by his father and other old residents, he his long been regarded as an encyclopedia of local historical and topograph ical lore, and on that account was fitly designated to prepare the county centennial historical address which he read at the celebration of the close of the first hundred years of our nation, at the Sans Souci hotel, July 4, 1876. Judge Scott possesses an iron frame and belongs to a long lived ancestry, and we may cherish the hope that the "last link" will remain unbroken for many years.
CHAPTER XX. DISTRICT ATTORNEYS AND COUNTY CLERKS.
The office of district attorney was created by an act of the legislature of 1801. Its intent was to create a local prosecuting officer who should fill the place of the attorney general in the Oyer and Terminer and Sessions of the country counties. In that of New York the attorney general was to officiate personally. Previously, by an act passed Febru- ary 12, 1796, the state had been divided into seven districts, in each of which an assistant attorney general was appointed, to hold office during the pleasure of the governor and council. Albany, Saratoga, Schoharie and Schenectady counties formed the fifth district. Abraham Van Vechten of Albany was appointed to the office February 16, 1796. and held the position one year, when he was superseded by the appointment of George Metcalfe of Stillwater. Under the act of 1801, Montgomery county was added to the fifth district. Mr. Met- calfe was appointed district attorney. The follow- ing is the succession till 1818, when the office was limited by act of legislature to each county : Daniel L. Van Antwerp of Saratoga, March 16, 1811 ; Dan- iel Cady of Montgomery, February 28, 1813 ; Rich- ard M. Livingston of Saratoga, February 16, 1815.
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The act of April 21, 1818, decreed that an officer to be called the district attorney should be appoint- ed for each county by the governor and senate, to be the public prosecutor therein. This was modi- fied by the constitution of 1821, which gave the appointing power to the Court of Sessions. Accord- ingly, on the 11th of June, 1818, Richard Mont- gomery Livington was appointed the first district attorney of Saratoga county. He was the son of Col. James Livingston of Albany, and belonged to the noted Columbia county family ; his father be- ing a relative of the wife of Gen. Montgomery, and was an officer under him in the ill-fated Quebec expedition, in which the gallant Irish patriot lost his life. Entertaining a feeling akin to reverence for the memory of his brave friend, Col. Livingston , named his first-born son in his honor. Mr. Living- ston settled at Schuylerville and was the attorney and agent of the Schuyler family. He was, it is said, a lawyer of ability. One fault of his has been handed down to our times ; it was that which some- times affects modern officials, neglecting public duty to attend to private business. Two instances are on record where he failed to attend the terms of court, and a special district attorney had to be ap- pointed : viz. the terms at which the Northrup murder indictment and that against jailor Taylor were disposed of. The latter instance created strong feeling against him and, in 1821, a change of the political tide caused his removal.
District Attorney William La Fayette Warren
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was born in Troy, February 4, 1793. He was of patriotic ancestry ; his father was Capt. John War- ren, an aide to Gen. La Fayette, and his mother was Elizabeth Belknap, daughter of Major Isaac Belknap of Newburgh, a revolutionary veteran. Having been carefully prepared by a full academic course at Ballston, the future judge entered Union college, from which he was graduated in the class of 1814. He began the study of law in the office of Esek Cowen and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1817, and immediately entered into partnership with his preceptor. This contin- ued until the appointment of Judge Cowen to be reporter of the Supreme Court in 1824. During this close and confidential intercourse Judge Cowen depended much upon the sound judgment of his more youthful associate. As stated in the body of this work Mr. Warren was appointed district attorney February 13, 1821 by the council of ap- apoinment and was continued in office by the judges of Common Pleas, until September 6,1836. In 1824, he was appointed Master in Chancery and, justice of the peace ; and, he held the office of judge-advocate of the 15th division of infantry in the state militia from 1823 to 1831, and was appointed judge of Common Pleas in 1843, by Gov. Bouck. He filled every office with credit to him- self and honor to the county, and pursued his pro- fession con amore, never fully relinquishing his practice. He was an impressive advocate before a jury and an influential and safe counselor in
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argument before the bench. He married Miss Eliza White, daughter of Epenetus White, jr. of Ballston Spa, and granddaughter of Judge White, one of the pioneers of the town of Ballston, who survives him. Possessed of great public spirit, he did much to elevate Saratoga Springs into prom- inence as a watering place, and was one of the originators of the Saratoga and Whitehall railroad. Judge Warren was of medium stature, comely in person and stately manners ; yet possessed of that, which the French term bonnehommie, which at- tracted the attention of strangers at their first meeting and endeared him to his friends. Deeply religious in thought, through his long life he illus- trated the life of a Christian in his daily walk and conversation, and was for many years a ruling elder of the First Presbyterian church at Saratoga Springs. He died May 23, 1875. Having been for several years the patriarch of the county bar, at the next term of the Circuit Court, on motion of Judge Lester, customary resolutions of respect were adopted. A feeling eulogy was pronounced by Judge Scott, an associate of the deceased at the bar for thirty years. Addresses were also made by other members of the bar, and Judge Landon adjourned the court, after directing the clerk to make the suitable entries on the minutes.
District Attorney Nicholas Hill, jr. was born in Florida, Montgomery county in 1805, of which town his grandfather, John Hill, a native of county Derry, Ireland, was an early settler. His father
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was a revolutionary soldier and was with Washing- ton at Yorktown. Mr. Hill was admitted to prac- tice at the bar of the Supreme Court in August, 1829, and forming a partnership with Deodatus Wright they opened an office in Amsterdam. Short- ly afterwards, he removed to Saratoga Springs, where he was associated with Judge Cowen in the preparation of "notes" to Phillips' Evidence. Re- moving to Albany about 1840, he was appointed Supreme Court reporter in 1841, to succeed John L. Wendell, and held the position until 1844, when Hiram Denio was appointed. He published the seven volumes of "Reports" which bear his name. In Albany, he at first formed a legal partnership with the late Deodatus Wright and Stephen P. Nash. Subsequently, he was the head of the emi- nent legal firm of Hill, Cagger & Porter ; his asso- ciases being the late Peter Cagger and Hon. John K. Porter. The firm stood at the head of the Capi tol city bar and occupied a high rank in the state. He died May 1. 1859.
District Attorney Chesselden Ellis was born in New Windsor, Vt., in the year 1808. He was graduated from Union college in the class of 1823, and having studied law with Hon. John Cramer of Waterford, he was admitted to the bar in 1829, and soon established a lucrative practice in his profess- ion. Natuaally diffident, although a vigorous de. bater when aroused, he preferred to be known rather as a counselor than as an advocate. He had a keen bright eye that would dilate as he became
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engaged, and its glance wonld seem to penetrate through the subject upon which it was directed. He was five feet nine inches in height, of splendid physique, weighing about 180 pounds. To a sound body was united a mind strongly imbued with fine literary tastes. He was appointed district attor- ney April 25, 1837, on the resignation of Nicholas Hill, jr., and held the office until September 11, 1843, when he resigned to take his seat in congress. Mainly through the unsought personal influence of his law partner, Gen. E. F. Bullard, he was nomi- nated for congress by the democratic party in 1842 and was elected. When congratulated on his elec- tion he said he was "frightened at the prospect." A strong admirer of John C. Calhoun, he was the only congressman from this state who was on inti mate terms with the great South Carolinian, and he voted in favor of the annexation of Texas by joint resolution. He had great personal influence with President Tyler ; and, on the death of Judge Smith Thompson, the appointment of the vacant place on the Supreme Court bench was placed at his dis- posal ; he designated Judge Cowen, but the latter declined the honor. Chancellor Walworth was then appointed, but was finally rejected by the senate on political grounds. The place was sub- sequently filled by President Polk, who appointed Judge Samuel Nelson. Mr. Ellis was a candidate for re-election in the exciting campaign of 1844, but
· was defeated by a small majority by the whig can- didate, Hon. Hugh White. In 1845, he removed
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to New York city and established himself in the practice of the law at the head of the legal firm of Ellis, Burrill and Davison. (The latter is Charles A. Davison, son of Gideon M. Davison, of Saratoga Springs.) He died in 1854.
District Attorney William Augustus Beach is a native of the village of Ballston Spa, and was born at the residence of his grandfather Warren, in the building on Front street known for many years as the "Mansion House." His father, Miles Beach, removed to the town of Ballston in 1786, with his father, Zerah Beach, from Salisbury, Conn. On his mother's side Miles Beach was related to Judge Smith Thompson, formerly chief justice of the state and afterwards associate judge of the United States Supreme Court. He married, in 1807, Cynthia Warren, sister of Judge William L. F. Warren. The subject of this sketch was their second child. In 1809, some years previous to the birth of his illustrious son, Miles Beach removed with his family to Saratoga Springs, and engaged in mer- cantile pursuits. His venerable widow yet survives, and completed her eighty-eighth year August 2, 1876. Their distinguished son received a good aca- demic education at Col. Partridge's Vermout mili- tary institute, and was bred to the bar under the di- rect tuition of Judge Warren, who took judicious care that the foundations of his legal knowledge should be laid broad and deep. Early indicating the. passion for forensic debate which has distinguished him through life and has led him up the ladder of
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fame to the topmost round, he acquired the use of a vocabulary stored with terse and comprehensive Anglo Saxon ; and it has always been remarked that he talked to the understanding of jurors rather than seeming to confuse them with long-drawn periods, full of sounding words formed from the Latin roots. In this respect he more nearly resem- bles Daniel Webster than any other living American lawyer. He was admitted to the bar in August, 1833. At one time he had thoughts of removing to the West, but abandoned the idea and remained in the practice of his profession at Saratoga Springs, and soon came to the front rank in this county. He was appointed district attorney September 11, 1843, and held the office until June, 1847, when his successor, elected under the constitution of 1846,
was qualified. A few years later he removed to Troy, and, forming a law partnership with Job Pier- son and Levi Smith, he continued the practice of his profession until his removal to New York, about seven years since. While living in Troy there were but few actions tried in the Rensselaer, Albany, Saratoga or Washington Circuits or Oyers in which he was not engaged as counsel. To secure William A. Beach's services was to many litigants an assurance of success. And, if failure met his efforts, which it did but rarely, it was not because he had not exerted his full strength of legal talent and persuasive eloquence. In New York he is the head of the firm of Beach & Brown, his associates being his son, Miles Beach, and A. C. Brown.
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His rank at the metropolitan bar is in the circle which embraces such names as O'Conor, Evarts and Porter. Recently he was senior counsel for the plaintiff in the celebrated action brought by Theodore Tilton against Henry Ward Beecher. But, perhaps, the instance in which his talents had the largest field for action, and in which he stood 'in the full plenitude of his legal fame, was his appearance as senior counsel for the defense in the great impeachment trial of Judge George G. Bar- nard before the Court of Appeals and Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment, in the town hall, Sar- atoga Springs, in July, 1872, to which place it had adjourned. In the management of his case, his cross examination of the impeaching witnesses (next to his matchless eloquence his strongest forte) and his final appeal were such as are seldom equalled and never excelled in the annals of jurisprudence. That he was unsuccessful in gaining an acquittal was due to the conduct of his client during the trial and the political clamor for his removal from the bench. There was one beautiful feature con- nected with this trial. The venerable mother of Mr Beach had never heard her famous son in the forum, and at the beginning of each day's session of this trial he would gallantly escort her to a seat on the right of the Lieutenant Governor, and then take his seat across the bar, facing her When he came to his final address to the court, in a tribute to maternal love, alluding to the anxious waiting of the mother of the accused, he advanced towards
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his own venerable parent and in a strain of pathetic and impassioned eloquence poured forth his tribute of filial devotion. Its effect was highly demonstrative and there was not a dry eye in the vast auditory as the great lawyer stood as a child in the presence of her who gave him being and acknowledged that his all was owing to the sanctity of her prayers and maternal counsels. The personal appearance of Mr. Beach is known to all of my readers. Of a tall and commanding figure, straight and erect as a model of Grecian statuary, with aquiline features and eagle glance his is a form and countenance easily marked among men as one ranking above his fel- lows. His once raven hair and beard, the latter worn on'y on the chin, is now of the snowiest hue. But still his iron constitution and indomitable will power renders him yet a man in his prime. Time sits lightly on him and he has many years of use- fulness in the profession he has honored with his name and fame. Socially he is one of the most gifted of men, strong in his friendship and genial in every sense of the term. The only persons who can say that there is a harsh side to his nature are those who have endeavored to give a " crooked" version of a transaction on the witness stand, and then saw only his rigid countenance and fiery eye, as he forced the truth from their lips under a searching cross examination.
District Attorney John Lawrence of Waterford is a native of Stillwater. In his early manhood he was a successful school teacher for several years. 14
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He studied law in the office of Porter & Waldron and was admitted to practice in May, 1847. In June of that year he was elected district attorney, the first under the new system. He married the sister of Hon. John K. Porter and practiced his profession for several years in Waterford. After- wards, he removed to Chicago, where he embarked in mercantile pursuits. Gaining wealth, he retired from business last year, and returned to Waterford, where he has again established his home.
District Attorney William T. Odell was the son of William Odell, a farmer of the town of Ballston, and was born in the year 1814. Educated in the common schools, supplemented with an academic course, he for several years followed the profession of teaching and civil engineering. He then studied law with Judge Scott, and was admitted to practice at the bar in 1841. He married the danghter of Alpheus Goodrich of Ballston Spa, and entered upon a fair practice in that village. He was elected district attorney in 1850, and re-elected in 1853. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the same office in 1856, and again in 1868. An ardent dem- ocrat, he never refused to lead the forlorn hope of his party in this county, and was their candidate for congress in 1858, for the state senate in 1863, and for the assembly in 1873. He was supervisor of Milton in 1858 and 1860, and was chairman of the board in the former year. His advice was accepted by a large clientage, and prior to the general prostration of his health, about two years
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previous to his death, his practice was one of the largest in the county; as is shown by the successive court calendars. He died March 8, 1875. At the May Circuit, his deatlı was announced at a meeting of the bar and the customary resolutions were adopted.
District Attorney John O. Mott is a grandson of Zebulon Mott, an agriculturalist of Halfmoon, who represented that town in the board of suyervisors from 1801 to 1817, inclusively. The latter year the town was designated by the name of Orange. In 1820, its name was again changed to Halfmoon. Young Mott studied law with Hon. John K. Por ter, and was admitted to the bar in 1854. At first opening an office at Crescent, he soon afterwards removed to Waterford, where he formned a law partnership with Hon. Cornelius A. Waldron, the present surrogate. He was elected district attorney in 1856. Several years since he removed to New York city. He is yet in the prime of life and has secured a good clientage in his new field, end was recently, in connection with William A. Beach, counsel for Pesach N. Rubenstein, the Polish Jew murderer, managing his case with consummate skill. He is reckoned among the rising lawyers of the metropolis.
District Attorney Charles S. Lester, 1860-3. (See , ante, County Judge Lester.)
District Attorney Isaac C. Ormsby of Waterford is a son of Ira Ormsby a farmer wlio tilled the rug- ged soil of Greenfield, near Porter's Corners, where
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his son was born April 24, 1820. The latter was educated in his home district school. The last term that he attended was taught by Judge Bockes. Next, he in turn taught school for several winters, but having determined upon his future course in life, he entered the office of Ellis & Bullard in Waterford in the year 1845, was admitted to prac- tice in Common Pleas in December, 1846, and to the bar of the Supreme Court in the following June. He began a successful practice at Waterford, which he yet retains. Mr. Ormsby is of medium stature and of a vital temperament, his mind is of a quick intuitive turn ready to seize a point at an instant, a quality of eminent use in the duties he has so long and ably performed. Naturally not a fluent speaker, when he becomes warmed in his subject he speaks strong, terse English that is both forcible and to the point. He was elected district attorney in 1862, and re elected in 1865. In 1868, he was not a candidate ; but was, however, again chosen in 1871, and re-elected in 1874. He is a fearless and honest public officer and a faithful public prose- cutor. A Supreme Court justice, who has held several of our Oyer and Terminers, said of Mr. Ormsby's appearance before a jury as a prosecuting attorney : " Without the eloquence of Mr. Beach, but with his earnest manner and thorough pre- paration he is a more dangerous adversary than Beach, before a Saratoga county jury."
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