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 2
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Elias Palmer and William Bradshaw, substantial freeholders of Saratoga county, returned into court with an inquisition taken on the body of an unknown man who came to his death by a wound on the back of his head at the hands of a person or persons un known.
There is no further record of this mystery, and we can only conclude that his blood, like that of righteous Abel, "'yet crieth from the ground," and that his soul joined
" The innumerable caravan
That journeys to the pale realms of shade."
This term was the last held previous to the com- pletion of the first court house, which was located
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at Court House Hill. now a hamlet in the town of Ballston, two and a half miles southwest of the county seat. In addition to the names of the attor- neys practicing at the bar of the several courts, some of whom were among the most distinguished counselors of the day, may be mentioned William P. Van Ness, James Kent and Brockholst Living- ston, whose names appear in connection with sev- eral causes tried. Hon. Geo. G. Scott also informs me that his father, James Scott, told him that at one of the circuits held at the church at Ballston Centre, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were opposing counsel in an action there tried.
CHAPTER 11. THE COURT HOUSE AT COURT HOUSE HILL.
" The evil that men do lives after them ; The good is oft interred with their bones."
These words, which the Bard of Avon places in the mouth of Antony in his eulogy pronounced over the dead body of Julius Caesar, are a verity that has been proven in numerous instances. A petty quarrel has often led to dire consequences, as was demonstrated in the case of the man in Rhode Island who killed a trespassing pig belonging to a neighbor. and the feud thus engendered led to cir- eumstances which resulted in the election of a con- gressman by whose decisive vote the war of 1812 was declared to exist by the resolution of congress. Previous to 1790 there had lived in the town of Ballston for several years two men who had become quite prominent among the early settlers. They were Gen. James Gordon, a native of the north of Ireland, but of Scottish descent, a colonel in the army of the revolution, who was taken a prisoner in his own house during the tory raid in 1780, and was held as a prisoner several years in Canada : and JJudge Beriah Palmer, a native of Connecticut, a man who. it would seem. was endowed with all the talents usually possessed by the sons of that enterprising commonweatlh. Gordon then lived on the farm now owned by Henry Wiswall jr., on
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the middle line road, and Palmer lived near Burnt Hills, on the farm now owned by Hon. Samuel W. Buel. The town of Ballston then included all the western and northern portions of what is Saratoga county. For several years previous to 1790 Gordon had been its supervisor. The election for that spring was called to be held in the meeting house at what is now known as Milton hill. The day was bright and balmy and it was suggested that the election be held outside the church, and one of the justices taking a suitable position, declared the polls open. The votes were taken viva voce, and. Palmer, who was a candidate, soon found that the assemblage was quite adverse to his claims. So taking one of the justices, friendly to him, he went into the church and opened another poll, where thirteen citizens asserted their preferences and Palmer was declared unanimously elected. A con- test arose, and though Gordon received the largest number of votes outside the church. Palmer's elec- tion was affirmed because he had the inside of the church and the argument in his favor. Gordon acquieseed in this decision, but his wily Scotch blood was excited, and five years later he aided in turning the tables on Palmer. The feud thus created led to an appeal to the courts. Gordon se- cured a verdict stamping certain allegations proved to have been set afloat by Palmer to have been libelous, and Palmer obtained Gordon's indictment for assuming to act in the capacity of a judge of Common Pleas without taking the constitutional oath. He had held that office in Albany county,
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and supposed that the erection of the new county transferred him to its bench. The indictment was, however, soon afterwards quashed. Both, it would appear, were highly esteemed by the community, for both sat as judges in the county courts and each served two terms in the national house of rep- resentatives. Palmer survived his opponent and as Surrogate probated his will. Gordon sleeps the last sleep in the Briggs cemetery in Ballston, and Palmer lies in the cemetery at Ballston Spa.
We have seen in the preceding chapter that there was no settled place of holding the courts, the shire town or public buildings not having been lo- cated until four years later. At that time the most important place in the county was Half Moon Point (now Waterford), but its location was out of the question. Next came Stillwater village, the residence of Judge Thompson and county clerk Swart. But the same objection existed as to that and Schuylerville (the home of John Bradstreet Schuyler, a son of the patriot general), as there did to Waterford. Next came Ballston (meaning the Centre), which was then an important place of trade for the northern country, having two hotels and offering many and strong inducements to have it made the county seat. It numbered among its ad- vocates Judges Beriah Palmer and Epenetus White, Henry Walton and Seth C. Baldwin, who were among the most influential men of the time. An act was passed by the legislature March 26, 1794, naming John Bradstreet Schuyler, Richard Davis jr., James Emott, John Ball and John McClelland
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commissioners for locating the county seat and building the court house and jail. James Emott was a son-in-law of Beriah Palmer, and was favor- able to locating it at the Centre, which was to the citizens of the town what Boston is to the sons of the old Bay state. Ball was the son of Rev. Eliph- alet Ball, and brother-in-law of Gen. Gordon, and lived then at Gordon's mills, now Milton Centre. He too, was supposed to be favorable to the same location. Mr. Davis lived in Half Moon and Mr. McClelland lived in Galway.
Now came the question of location. The town of Milton had been set off from Ballston in 1792, and Col. John Ball had been its first supervisor. A fine and thriving settlement had sprung up around the church on the hill, and like most new and enter- prising embryo cities it affected to despise its staid old neighbor on the south as rather too old fogyish. The forty-third parallel (which is the dividing line between Ballston and Milton) soon became as noted a point of divergence of common interests as did the 'I'weed of old in dividing the Scot from his Saxon foe, or as in later days did Mason and Dixon's line mark the opposing currents of free and slave labor. Of course, Milton put in its claims for the location of the public buildings and its designation as the shire town. Its claims were presented to the com- mission by Col. John Ball, to the disgust of his old Ballston friends. He was backed by supervisor Abel Whalen, Elisha Powell and Dr. Aaron Greg- ory, a son-in-law of Judge Thompson. The latter and Gen. Gordon, it is alleged, secretly aided Col. Ball in his endeavors. Ballston Spa and Saratoga
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Springs were then unknown, and of course were not contestants for the honors about to be conferred. The commission deliberated long the mooted ques- tion ; the decision wavered, and finally seemed to be decided in favor of the southerners. John B. Schuyler, who remembered his late encounter with Seth C. Baldwin, still stood firm with Col. Ball against the designation of Baldwin's home as the county seat. At this juncture Capt. Edward A. Wat- rous, who lived on the hill north of Gen. Gordon, offered as a compromise to give to the county a site on his farm to be public property as long as occu- pied by the court house and jail which he proposed should be located thereon. This proposition un- doubtedly had its origin in the mind of Gen. Gor- don. The offer was accepted by the commission, Ballston was declared the shire town, but Gordon enjoyed the discomfiture of his old antagonist, Palmer.
The site having been decided, the commissioners began to perfect. £1,500 New York currency had been appropriated for the purpose of erecting a suitable building or buildings for the court house and jail. There was no provision for the county clerk's office, and the same was kept by the clerk in his own office, wherever it might be located, until 1824, when the little stone edifice, so familiarly known in Ballston Spa, was built. A contract was made with one Luther Leet to erect the building according to the plans agreed upon. It was to be of wood, two stories in hight, fifty feet square, with a one-story wing upon the rear twenty by thirty
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feet. For the accompanying diagrams of the build- ing and the court room I am indebted to Hon. Geo. G. Scott.
Like some modern commissioners and contract-
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PRINCIPAL FLOOP.
1, Barroom. 2, Debtors' Room. 3, Jailor's Private Room 4, Kitchen and Dining Room. 5, 5, Cells. 6, Corridors.
ors, the commissioners found the sum first appro- priated was insufficient, and $600 had to be further raised for the purpose of completion in each of the two succeeding years. The court house thus cost the then enormous sum of $6,750. The timber for the building was furnished by Edmund Jennings,
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father of the venerable ex-sheriff Joseph Jennings, who yet distinctly remembers its erection.
The court house having been completed, the May term of the Common Pleas and Court of Sessions for 1796 was held therein. John Thompson, first judge; and judges Sidney Berry and Epenetus White, with associate justice Eliphalet Kellogg, sat on the bench in the former ; and judges Gordon
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COURT ROOM FLOOR.
1, Bench. 2, Bar. 3, Sheriff's Room. 4, Jurors' Room.
and White, and justices Van Schoonhoven, Kellogg and John Ball held the scales of justice in the lat- ter. In the Common Pleas, on due proof of resi- dence and on taking the prescribed oaths, John Franklin, an alien, was admitted to citizenship. The first case tried with a jury within its walls was a declaration in assumpsit by one James S. Smith against James Reynolds. The chosen twelve were,
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William Reeves, foreman ; Noah Taylor, Henry Dunn, Hez. Vanderwerker. John Hoyt, Joseph Rogers, Thos. Ostrander, Stephen Benedict, Aaron Wilson, John Pettit, Chas. Deake jr. and Mark A. Childs. It is recorded "that without leaving their seats the jury rendered a verdict for the plaintiff for £10,10s., and six cents costs." If. as in modern times, the successful attorney received the costs for his fees, Mr. Guert Van Schoonhoven must have felt liberally rewarded for his forensic efforts in be- half of Mr. Smith. For several years the principal business in the Common Pleas related to petitions from imprisoned debtors to be released from durance vile ; for it must be remembered that in those days the "glorious privilege of imprisonment for debt" was a feature of our laws and was cherished by creditors as one of the rights secured by Magna Charta. That it was not appreciated by the debtor class is shown by the numerous petitions filed by them in Common Pleas. The court was otherwise occupied extensively in settling partitions of lots of the allotments of the Kayaderosseras patent. In 1805 the Court of Common Pleas employed James Scott to survey the jail liberties, which "contained three acres, exclusive of the lands on which the court house stands, and takes in the greatest part of the buildings on the hill." As debtors "on the limits" could only leave the same on Sunday with- out liability of re-arrest by their bailors orcreditors, it limited their circle of acquaintances to a very ex- clusive "set." However, in 1811, this was so far modified as to allow them "to walk in the highway
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to and from the Spring in the village of Ballston Spa."
Judge John Thompson, having reached the age of sixty in 1809, the constitution rendered him in- eligible for further service. Salmon Child of Green- field was appointed first judge by Gov. Tompkins. He held office until 1818. The following gentlemen sat on the bench with him as judges during his term of office, viz : Beriah Palmer, Samuel Clark, Adam Comstock. John Taylor, Nathaniel Ketchum, John McClelland. John Stearns, William Stilwell, Benj. Cowles, Samuel Drake, Ashbel Andrews, William Patrick jr., Elisha Powell, Ziba Taylor, John M. Berry, Abner Carpenter, Abraham Moe. Thomas Laing, Avery Starkweather, Jeremy Rockwell, Thomas Dibble and Herman Ganzevoort. Until 1818 there was no limit to the number of judges. The legislature that year limited the number to a first judge and four associate judges. The last en- try in Common Pleas held in the old court house was the report of Onesimus Hubbell, James Scott and Jeremiah Mann in the partition suit of Martin Goodrich et. al. against Lewis Goodrich, filed Jau- uary 30. 1816. The following attorneys were ad- mitted to practice in Common Pleas at Court House Hill, viz : Daniel L. Van Antwerp, James Thomp- son, Jonathan T. Haight, Zebulon R. Shipherd, Samuel Cook, Nicholas B. Doe, Samuel Young, George Palmer, William Ganzevoort, Esek Cowen, Daniel G. Guernsey, Samuel A. Foote and John L. Viele.
In the Court of Sessions, April term, 1798, there
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was tried an indictment which shows that the beef market was at a low ebb, for a good milch cow was valued at only $12.50. Abel Buck having been in- dieted for stealing such a cow from James Green at Ballston Centre, he was on proof of her value, con- viction of petit larceny and sentenced to hard labor in the county jail for two months. So far as is known by the records he was jailor Gregory's first boarder. At the January term of the Court of Sessions in 1800, the first indictment for perjury was tried against one Amasa Parker, of Milton. Josiah Ogden Hoffman. attorney general appeared for the people and Guert Van Schoonhoven for the prisoner. The alleged perjury was said to have been committed at the preceding term of Common Pleas. The judges who had heard the testimony gave conflicting accounts of his evidence as they understood it, and the jury gave Parker the "benefit of the doubt."
The spirit of improvement was abroad about the year 1800, and. as ever, it was opposed by conflict- ing private interests. Numerous mill owners in all parts of the county were indicted for maintaining nuisances. The thing complained of being the dams which held back the waters to the alleged great increase of fever and the detriment of the pub- lic health. Noticable among these was one against Joshua B. Aldridge of Ballston Spa, on complaint of Stephen H. White, for stopping the flow of water in Gordon's creek by his saw mill dam. In this case, as in nearly all others at the time, an order for the razing of the dam was entered in the min ntes of the court.
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At the October term, 1801, an indictment was found against Abraham LaDieu of Northumber- land and his wife Abigal, for arson. They were tried in the next Oyer and acquitted. At the same Court of Sessions John Robinson pleaded guilty to stealing £10 from Gilbert Laing and was sentenced to state prison for one year and one month. George Green for beating his wife Peggy was sentenced January 12, 1804, to "two weeks in the county goal on bread and water." At the November term, 1805. Graudus Van Schoonhoven and Samuel Demarest were each fined five dollars for keeping gambling tables in their taverns ; and Jacob S. Viele, a town collector of taxes, was found guilty on three indictments for extortion and fined $105.
At the April term, 1806, "Justices Jacobus Van Schoonhoven, Beriah Palmer, Samuel Clark, and Epenetus White (who were to have held the Ses- sions), found that they had not been named in the general commission of the peace as justices (they being judges of Common Pleas) after serious con- sultation, and taking the advice of the bar, declared that they were not legally qualified to hold said term, and the court was adjourned by one of the justices of the peace who was present at the last term until the first Tuesday in November next, and the clerk was directed to enter the same on the minutes." The entry shows a becoming distrust of doubtful powers by the gentleman named there- in, and sets a worthy example for all judges to fol- low when their authority to act might be questioned.
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The first "equine" mistake of ownership of property recorded was the stealing of a bay gelding from Eleazer Wheelock by one James Jones, alias Paul P. Jones, alias James Johns. This much named individual was arrested flagrante delictu. He was indicted and tried at the January Sessions, 1807, and was convicted and remanded for sentence. I find but one other mention of his name. The next day the grand jury came into court with an indict ment charging James Jones alias, etc .; Silas Deuel, John Scheator and Leonard Barnes, alias John Robinson, with jail breaking. They had in fact taken French leave of jailor Hollister the night previous. Similar escapes ensued and similar in- dictments followed. Deuel was the only one of the "special jail delivery" who was recaptured. He was bailed and again fled the country. By an act of the legislature of 1814 it was ordered that judges of Common Pleas should thereafter hold the General Sessions. The last trial in this court house was that of John Hart, jr. and George Bil- lings, indicted for fraud and deceit. They were found to be not guilty. Billings was remanded to jail on another similar indictment for trial at the next Oyer and Terminer. Before the appointed day he had gone to meet his final judgment, having been burned in the destruction of the jail, March 24, 1816.
The first Circuit Court and Oyer and Terminer held in the court house at Court House Hill was held in 1799, and was presided over by Judge John Lansing, afterwards the chancellor whose sudden
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disappearance a few years later yet remains one of the mysteries of the present century. The other terms there held were holden by Judge Kent, af- terwards the famous chancellor, Judge Jacob Rad- cliff, Chief Justice Morgan Lewis, Chief Justice Smith Thompson, Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer, Judge William W. Van Ness, and Judge Jonas Platt, who held the last term in it in May, 1815. At the June Oyer, 1801, Jacobus Wheeler, con- victed for burglary, was sentenced to state prison for life by Judge Kent. I find the following entry in the Oyer minutes, June, 1804, in the trial of Isaac French for grand larceny : "Mr. D. L. Van Antwerp was assigned by the court as counsel for the prisoner, in conformity with the humane prac- tice of our laws." However he was convicted and Judge Smith Thompson sentenced him to three years' imprisonment. At the June term, 1805, Margaret Curtis plead guilty to an attempt to poison Esther Foote, an infant of three years. Judge Spencer gave her sentence to be confined in "the county gaol for the space of one whole year." At the June Oyer, 1806, it is recorded that one David Wheeler had "grasped at time and caught" -not eternity, but one year in state prison for stealing a watch of the value of $12.50. At the June Oyer, 1808, John Martin and Patrick Free- man, for passing counterfeit money, were sent to states prison for life by Judge Smith Thompson. This conviction and sentence, and the indictment of Mott Vandenburgh and the members of his gang . the next year had a wholesome effect, for the
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"bank" was scattered, Vandenburgh fled to Canada, and for a time common people had confidence in their currency. William House and George Bur- noits received life sentences for burglary at the same term.
At the May Oyer, 1810, Russell Hibbard [was convicted of an attempt to poison the family of Garrett A. Van Vranken. George Metcalf repre- sented the people and Young and Van Antwerp the prisoner. Judge Van Ness sentenced him to "close confinement in the county jail for one year, to pay a fine of $50 and enter a security with two good sureties for $300 to keep the peace in future."
At the May Oyer, 1811. Judge Spencer gravely sentenced John Robertson, convicted of assault and battery on his step-mother, "to be confined in the county jail for three months. and until you find securities for your good behavior, particularly to- wards your father's family and especially towards your step-mother in the sum of $1000 ; your securi- ties being two freeholders in the sum of $500 each." How long he remained in the custody of jailor Kel- logg, county clerk Baldwin failed to note. At the same term Joseph Rhodes, who was convicted of burglary, was sentenced for a life term, notwith- standing he asserted his innocence after conviction. Whether circumstances proved his innocence after- wards, whether he suffered wrongfully a long life of ignomious servitude, or was a hardened villain, there is no scrap on which to base a conjecture.
By the year 1813 counterfeiters were again bold- ly at work. A large hanl having been made by
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the detectives in those days, a special Oyer was held in August of that year and nine indictments were disposed of. One of the parties gave evidence against the others and eight were convicted re- ceiving sentence from seven to twenty-one years ; Thomas H. Pratt, the leader, having the heaviest term imposed on him. Jail breaking had been for some years a common amusement, and at last, in the May Oyer, 1815, Nathaniel Green, who had been detected in leaving surreptitiously by jailor Taylor, was sentenced to "five year's imprisonment in the state prison in the city of New York." This was the last conviction had in the old Court House. The other offences for which indictments were framed, but on which no recorded convictions were had, were for blasphemy, being a common cheat, illegally transporting paupers from one town to another, polygamy (this was the case of one Henry Young, an alleged antetype of Brigham), dissect- ing the dead, and attempting to enslave a freeman.
In addition to the other distinguished counselors mentioned as having stood within its bar at the practice of their professions may be named Am . brose Spencer, John Woodworth, Matthias B. Hil- dreth, Ebenezer Foote, Abraham Van Vechten, Thomas Addis Emmet, Martin Van Buren, Daniel Cady and Richard M. Livingston. So far as I am able to learn there is but one surviving lawyer who was admitted to practice within its forum, viz : the venerable Samuel A. Foote of Geneva. He studed law with Judge James Thompson and board- ed with a Mr. Dibble, who lived where Hiram Wood
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now resides. He resided with his brother Ebene- zer Foote, in 1815, in the city of Albany, and his name appears in our Common Pleas minutes at the July term of that year as having been admit- ted to practice therein. In 1851 Judge Foote sat in the Court of Appeals. He is now (April, 1876, ) about eighty-five years of age, and recently argued a case before the Court of Appeals.
CHAPTER III. THE BURNING OF THE COURT HOUSE.
In the last chapter the erection of the Court House on Court House Hill was described. Its lo- cation was admirably suited in some respects. It stood on the crown of an eminence and its cupola, it is said by old residents could be seen at that date from every town, then created, in the county. It was situated opposite the present residence of Sanford A. Pierson. During its existence Douw I. Fonda of Stillwater, Henry Davis of Halfmoon, Seth C. Baldwin of Ballston, Daniel Bull of Sara- toga, Asahel Porter of Greenfield, Nathaniel Ketel- um of Stillwater, Hezekiah Ketchum of Halfmoon, and James Brisbin, jr. of Saratoga held the in- portant office of sheriff. The prisoners (eight in number) who had been kept at the expense of the county in the Albany jail were brought to the cells in the new jail March 23, 1796 by sheriff Fonda. Enos Gregory, Joseph Palmer, Samuel Hollister, Jonathan Kellogg and Raymond Taylor were suc- cessively placed in charge of it by the sheriff, in the capacity of jailors. During the period the courts were held within its walls Dirck Swart of Stillwater, Seth C. Baldwin of Ballston, Levi H. Palmer of Milton and William Stilwell of the same town were clerks of the county and ex-officio clerks
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of the several courts.
Around the court house a thriving village was growing and doubtless the owners of the surround- ing farms discussed the probable value of "corner lots ;" and saw in imagination their pastures and corn fields bisected with avenues and streets. And without doubt there were others who saw with an air of dismay the ruin of their sylvan homes beneath the crushing weight of taxation for local improve- ments. Several stores and two hotels were erected and did a "land office business" in court terms. Two lawyers, Messrs. John W. Taylor and Samuel Cook early displayed their "shingles" there, trust- ing in the maxim to secure the "worm." But sud- denly a blight came over this rural Arcadia and its hopes were forever blasted. To-day the site of the court house is as undistinguishable from the surrounding clods as were the ruins of Pompeii for seventeen centuries. Let the following from the Independent American, published in Ballston Spa, March 27, 1816, tell the disastrous and tragic fate of the court house and one of its unfortunate in- .mates :
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