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 4
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of a will, unless subsequent to such purchase the devisor republishes his said will with the requisite solemnities. 9 Johnson 312.
Jackson ex dem. Samuel Woodruff against John Gilchrist. Action brought to eject Woodruff from lot 2 of subdivision of lot 8, in the 13th allotment of the Kayaderosseras patent. Levi H. Palmer and John V. Henry for plaintiff, and M. Van Everen jr., Martin Van Bmen and Abraham Van Vechten for defendant. The suit was brought to trial at the Saratoga Circuit in 1816, before Judge Platt, with a jury. The plaintiff proved title by descent from Ann Bridges, afterward Ann Hunloke, one of the original patentees named in the patent of Kayad- erosseras granted by Queen Anne, dated November 2, 1708. Defendant plead title and proved a com- plete chain from a conveyance made by Joshua Hun- loke and Ann his wife to Peter Fanconier, bearing date February 10, 1711, which bore this endorse- ment : "That this day came before me, one of his majesty's justices for the county of Essex, the within named Joshua Hunloke and Ann his wife to acknowledge this indenture to be their acts and deed, this 17 of February, 1711. Attested per me, Jno. Blanchard." After hearing the testimony the jury by direction of the court returned a verdict for the plaintiff, subject to the opinion of the Su- preme Court. The opinion of that tribunal was given by Chief justice Thompson, who held that the law could not presume that the certificate could mean merely that the parties came before the justice to acknowledge the deed, but that it went further
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and held that they did so acknowledge it ; and that after such a lapse of time the privato examination of the wife ought to be presumed, and that the estate thus acknowledged was confirmed by the act of General Assembly passed in 1771. Judgmentre- versed. 15 Johnson 88. This celebrated cause is vet distinctly remembered by the old residents of Charlton, it being called by them "the great land case." They tell of the enormous fee charged by Mr. Van Buren, whose services, they say, were confined to a two hours' address before the jury. They little think of the hours of study the brilliant advocate spent in mastering the vague details of the case, or of his commanding influence over the Su- preme Court, exerted in carrying the knotty point in Gilchrist's favor, or they would not have deemed his five hundred dollars so very exorbitant. Thus early did our highest courts set the stamp of disap- proval on claims of real estate whose titles verge on the extremity of doubt. Subsequent to the de- cision the hopes of the heirs of Aneke Jans and others by-gone worthies have been buried under many adverse decisions, but like Banquo's ghost they refused to "down."
Edward Fitch and Gilbert M. Wright, executors of Ebenezer Fitch against Seth C. Baldwin. This case, reported in 17 Johnson. 161, was an action on an alleged covenant seizin which was brought to a trial at Saratoga Circuit June 1818, before Judge William W. Van Ness and a jury. James Me- Kown, John V. Henry and Martin Van Buren managed the plaintiff's case, while the defendant's interests were guarded by Samuel G. Huntington
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and Abraham Van Vechten. The respective boun- daries of the Saratoga and Kayaderosseras patents were the questions in issue, although the case ulti- mately turned upon another point raised by the defendant. Fitch insisted that the one hundred and sixty-five acres of land in the town of Saratoga, which was claimed by him, were a part of the west end of lot 16 of great lot 25 of the Saratoga patent, granted to Peter Schuyler and others October 9, 1708, as distinguished on a map made by John R. Bleecker in 1750; and which was purchased by Ebenezer Fitch of Jonathan Lawrence, one of the patentees, January 25, 1798. On the contrary, the defendant's pleadings set up that it was lots 10 and 11 in the ninth allotment of the Kayaderosseras patent. The ignorance of the royal grantor of the vast domain she was deed in thewestern world was equal only to the cupidity of the grantees and the evident carelessness of their surveyors, for it was found that the boundary lines of all of Queen Anne's patents overlapped each other ; and this was but one of the many suits which occupied the state courts for half a century in rectifying the conflict- ting claims under color of title from the different patentees. . The defendant also plead estoppel, and offered a writing under the hands and seals of Fitch, the testator, and Baldwin, the defendant, dated May 22, 1812, by which it was argued that the de- fendant should withdraw a suit against the testator for the possession of certain lands in Saratoga, and each party pay his own costs; by which the tes- tator released to defendant all the lands in lots 10
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and 11 in the ninth allotment of the patent of Kay. aderosseras, not included in a deed from Jonathan Lawrence. By this agreement a survey was to be made by one Caleb Ellis. who made such survey and found the lands to be in the patent of Kayade- rosseras. An able and exhaustive argument fol- lowed in which Mr. Van Vechten supported the offer, and Mr. Van Buren opposed. The latter gained his point. The court ruled out the evidence, it appearing, during the argument on the offer, that Ebenezer Fitch was an old man, who trusted much to the clear head of his son Edward. The wily Baldwin took advantage of the latter's absence in Albany, and procured the elder Fitch's signature by misrepresentations. The court directed a ver- dict for the plaintiff for $1,819.58 and costs. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, where the judgment was reversed. The court held that the plaintiff was estopped by the testator's execution and acceptance of said agreement from alleging that the lands released did not lie in the patent of Kayaderosseras. If, however, there was fraud on the part of the defendant in the execution of said agreement, the plaintiff could gain relief by a bill in Chancery. This decision, so often quoted as a ruling case in estoppels, was, however, declared erroneous. The next year, Mr. Henry having secured a re-argument, the Supreme Court affirmed the verdict of the Circuit. This decision was not reported, by some oversight, but of the fact I am informed by Gen. E. F. Bullard, who is a grand- 3*
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son of Ebenezer Fitch. Mr. Van Buren's fee for the argument of this case (he was not present at the trial) was fifty dollars. This is in marked contrast with the expenses of litigation in the present year of grace. Van Buren then stood in the same rela- tion to the bar of this state as at the present do Charles O'Conor, and William M. Evarts. Their fees of $5,000 and $10,000 are in strong contrast with that recorded in this instance ; and, indeed. it may be doubted if the services of a counselor of the first rank could now be secured in a case in- volving no larger pecuniary interests than that of Fitch os. Baldwin.
CHAPTER VI.
. TRIALS IN OYER AND TERMINER. 1819-47.
Around the court house whose completion we witnessed in the fourth chapter, gather the bright- est memories of the Saratoga county bar. Within the forum enclosed by the four posts of its bar cir- cle and from its bench have been uttered some of the most glowing periods in our tongue ; to attempt to describe which, or to enumerate the brilliant names would be to guild the stars or paint the azure. Its history will ever be sacred in the minds and memories of those permitted in later days to walk within its sacred precincts. Like the Roman standing in the midst of the ancient forum and list- ening in vain for the voices that were wont of old to awaken its echoes, so do we now fail to hear the strains of majestic eloquence which have fallen from cunning lips within the walls of our time-honored court room.
The first Circuit Court and Oyer and Terminer held in it convened on Tuesday, May 25, 1819. It was presided over by Chief Justice Ambrose Spen- cer, assisted by James Thompson, first judge, and James McCrea and Abraham Moe, judges. The court officers were Thomas Palmer, clerk ; General John Dunning, sheriff ; Richard Montgomery Liv- ingston, district attorney and Ezra Buel, crier.
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By the act of April 21, 1818, the office of district attorney was limited to each county, and Mr. Liv- ingston was the first appointed for Saratoga. He held office until February 13, 1821, when he was succeeded by William L. F. Warren. They held their office by appointment of the Court of Sessions. Gen. Earl Stimson was foreman of the grand jury. Seven indictments were found at this term. one being against Isaac G. Armstrong, charging him with polygamy. He was tried at the Sessions in the following August. Notwithstanding he was defended by Esek Cowen and Azarialı W. Odell, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in states prison at hard labor.
The second Circuit and Oyer met May 30, 1820. It was destined to be the first court in this county which directed the execution of a murderer, whose mandate was fulfilled. Benjamin Bennett, who had been indicted at the previous Sessions for the kill- ing of Seth Haskins in Corinth, September 4, 1819, was brought to trial. The court consisted of Judge Jonas Platt ; First Judge James Thompson, and Judges Sahon Child. James McCrea and John Prior. Richard M. Livingston represented the people, and Zebulon R. Shipherd of Greenwich, Washington county, was the prisoner's attorney. It is said that Bennett gave his counsel the follow- ing terse directions: Acquit me, or hang me ; 1 don't want to go to prison." The jury sworn con- sisted of Jacob Vanderheyden, John Allen, Zadock Smith, John B. Taylor, Zalmon Olmstead, John Rosevelt, Joseph Potter, Oliver Cleveland, David
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Sanford, Onesimus Hubbell, Arthur Caldwell and Henry Clow. The following witnesses were sworn for the people, viz: Ira Haskins, Patty Hunt, Joseph Sanford, Dr. Henry Reynolds, Peter Ostran- der, Eli Baldwin, Daniel Loveless and Peter Mal- lery. No evidence was given on Bennett's behal :. From the testimony it appears that Bennett, wl o was a roystering farmer addicted to drinking and gambling, lived in a log cabin on the site where James Early's house now stands, had been down to Jessup's Landing, and on returning home, intox- icated, met Haskins, a quondam friend, coming out of his house. He drew up a loaded whip, and say- ing that he would not allow no man to visit his wife in his absence, struck him on the head. Haskins fell, and Bennett picking up a stone, struck him another blow, fracturing his skull, from the effects of which he died eleven days afterward. Under the law this would have been manslaughter, but proof of Bennett's subsequent declaration showing malice were admitted by the court, and he was con- victed and sentenced to be hanged on Friday, July 21, 1820. After his conviction Bennett developed traits which showed him to have been insane, among other things drawing charcoal sketches of the Savior and Satan on the walls of his cell, saying he "wanted to keep good friends with both. for he did not know into whose hands he would fall." He would spit in the faces of clergymen calling to see him, and utter the vilest abuse to his friends and acquaintances who visited him. He also refused to allow Messrs. Azariah W. Odell and Lyman B. Langworthy to
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intercede with Gov. De Witt Clinton, who was then sojourning at Saratoga Springs. Notwith- standing all this. he was executed in public on the appointed day, on the "hanging ground," about a mile northeast of the court house ; and, to many elderly citizens of the county. the hanging of Ben- nett marks an era. Gen. Dunning was the execu- tioner in person, not shrinking from his duty as sheriff, and the prisoner was prepared for the scaf- fold by deputy sheriff's Joseph Jennings, Philip H. McOmber and Potter Johnson. His remains, and those of his victim, lie interred in the old cemetery at Jessup's Landing. Bennett was thirty- two years of age, and Haskins was upwards of fifty.
At the same Oyer, Herman Ostrander was tried for forging the name of Gabriel Leggett. George W. Kirkland defended him. Thirty-four witnesses were sworn for the people, and twenty-three for the prisoner, who was acquitted. Samnel Downing, afterwards widely known as the last surviving revo- lutionary pensioner, was the foreman of the jury. Leggett was then indicted for perjury, and after a delay of several years, the charge was dismissed. The third and fourth Oyer were held by Judges John Woodworth and Joseph C. Yates.
By the constitution of 1821, a change was made in our courts. The Supreme Court was restricted to appellate jurisdiction. and the state was divided into eight cirenits, in which a "Circuit Judge" was appointed, to possess all the powers to preside in the courts of law held formerly. by the Supreme
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Court judges, and who were also to be vice chan- cellors in equity in their respective circuits. Reu- ben H. Walworth of Plattsburgh was appointed judge of the fourth circuit. He soon removed to Saratoga Springs to be convenient of access to the members of the bar in his jurisdiction. The fifth term was accordingly held by him in July, 1823, at which term Samuel Vinegar was convicted for an assault with intent to kill Samuel Silliman, and sent to states prison for five years. Vinegar's offence was raising and throwing a heavy hammer at Silliman. . Judge Walworth said that as the prisoner had murder in his intent. the court would apply the extent of the law. He signalized his advent to the bench by stern sentences. He con- tinued to hold the terms in this county (with the exception of that of 1824, which was presided over by Judge Samuel Nelson, of the sixth Circuit, ) until 1828, when, on April 22, he was nominated . and commissioned chancellor by Governer Nathan- iel Pitcher. The only cases of importance, as showing the stern way the honest old judge admin- istered the criminal law in cases tried before him, are those of John Jackson, 1826, petit larceny sec- ond offense, three years at Anburn; Charles L. Peterson, like offense, 1827, sent to "House for the reformation of juvenile delinquents in the city of New York" until twenty-one years of age ; and Horace Lane, convicted of grand larceny, sent to Auburn for three years.
The May term, 1828, was held by Judge Nathan Williams of the fifth circuit, at which Octavio
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Nolande, convicted of burglary, was sentenced to states prison for life. The November term of the same year was held by Judge Esek Cowen of Sara- toga Springs, who had been commissioned Circuit Judge, April 22, 1828. vice Walworth appointed chancellor. Judge Cowen continued to hold all the terms in this county until 1836, when he was appointed judge of the Supreme court by Governor Marcy, with the exception of the May term, 1830, which was held by Judge James Vanderpoel of the third Circuit. At that term Isaac and Jane Craig, convicted of aiding a prisoner, George D. Miller, to escape from jail, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in Auburn.
Samuel Ostrander, who had been indicted for exhuming and carrying away for purposes of dis- section from the Clifton Park cemetery, November 10. 1828, the body of Patrick Folie, deceased, was brought to trial at this term. He was defended by Oran G. Otis and Joshna Bloore, both then in the zenith of their legal fame. Mr. Otis was a man of remarkable genius, and our older counselors unite in saying that he was the most eloquent advocate at the bar our county has produced. Mr. Bloore. too, was an attorney of great talent. Both passed away in the full prime of life and usefulness. Not- withstanding the skill of Mr. Bloore in examining the witnesses, and the eloquence of the silver- tongued Otis, district attorney Warren succeeded in convicting Ostrander of the disgusting crime, and he was sentenced to sixty days' imprisonment in the county jail
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At the November Oyer, 1831, another murder trial was had, being the only occasion since the erection of the county that an instance of wife mur der has occurred within its limits. James Mason had been indicted for killing his wife Catharine, in the town of Clifton Park. It occurred during a drunken brawl, in which he struck his wife with a club, from the effects of which, it was testified, she died. Circuit Judge Cowen presided, assisted by Judges Thompson and Palmer of the Court of Ses- sions. District attorney Warren was the public prosecutor, and Oran G. Otis prepared the prison- er's defense. The jury was composed of Isaac Hubbs, William Baker, William DeRemer, Otis Bentley, Henry Rosekrans, Garrett Van Vranken, Judd Hoyt, John S. Andrews, John Kelly, Pierson Crane, Barton Gridley and John J. Sherwood. Mason was found guilty of wilful murder and received a sentence to be hanged on the last Friday in March, 1832, and it was ordered by the court that his body should be given to Dr. Samuel Freeman for dissection. Mr. Otis, however, was indefatigable in his efforts to save his client, and finally succeeded in inducing Gov. Enos T. Throop to commute his sentence to imprisonment for life. The crime hardly arose above manslaughter, and that was doubtless a wise conclusion of his case.
At the May Oyer, 1832. before Judge Cowen, another case involving the taking of human life was brought to trial. Patrick Sheridan was con- victed of manslaughter in killing James Judge at the town of Saratoga Springs, March 26, of that
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year. The scene of the affray was on the railroad near Wakeman's crossing, between Ballston Spa and Saratoga Springs, on which they were laborers in the construction of the road. Sheridan was sen- tenced to be imprisoned at Mount Pleasant (Sing Sing) states prison for seven years. William Hay and Judialı Ellsworth were his counsel.
Again the shadows of a judicial taking of a hu- man life descended upon the county. John Wat- kins was tried at the November Oyer 1833, for the wilful murder of Aaron Case at the village of Balls- ton Spa on the ninth day of November 1833, by stabbing him with a knife in the throat and sever- ing the jugular vein. Case had formerly been a hotel keeper in Mechanicville, and during the absence on 'a visit of the proprietor of the Eagle hotel in Ballston Spa, the late James LaDow, he was in temporary charge. Watkins was a disre- putable mulatto barber of the village. On the fatal day, Case discovered Watkins in the baggage room of the hotel and endeavored to capture him. The latter seizing a knife from behind the bar ran ont in the street followed by Mr. Case. Reaching the middle of the street he halted and plunged the knife into the throat of Case, and then fled. Case walked back into the hotel, sat down in a chair and fell lead upon the floor. The murder was witnessed y Mr. Samuel R. Garrett, a farmer, who had just come upon the street from the hotel shed. As soon as the murderer fled, he gave chase, sounding the aların. Watkins was seized in front of where the
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First National bank now stands by Samuel S. Wake- man, Stephen Fox, Abraham T. Davis and Moses Williams, and by the aid of Mr. Garrett he was securely tied and delivered to jailor Dunning. The court which tried Watkins was composed of Circuit judge Cowen with First judge Samuel Young and judges Steele, Granger, Van Schoonhoven and Pal- mer. He was defended by Oran G. Otis. The jury consisted of Samuel S. Southard, Joseph Wil- cox, Robert Kelly, Edward Rexford, Henry Kil- mer, Benjamin R. Putnam, Judd Hoyt, Arnold Paul, John Jones, Michael Vincent, John B. Ross and Eli Dunning. The witnesses sworn for the people were Samuel R. Garrett, Alonzo Gould, Ellen Bevin, Sarah Jane Ladow, Joseph W. Loomis, George W. Beach, Dr. E. St. John, S. S. Wake- man, Abraham T. Davis and Moses Williams. The culprit having no witnesses to prove mitigating cir- cumstances, counselor Otis had only to depend on cross examination to furnish his defense. District Attorney Warren secured another conviction, and - Watkins was sentenced to be hanged on Friday. January 17,1834. He now began a series of dissimu- lations and gained somewhat the popular sympathy by professing great religious zeal and repentance for his past misdeeds. Mr. Otis' efforts to secure a commutation of his sentence would have been effectual, doubtless, had not Watkins by another base" and"murderous act sealed liis fate. During the month of December, jailor Dunning went into his; cell to read a chapter in the Bible to him, and while the good old man was reading the sacred text, the culprit struck him with a billet of wood, seized
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his keys and escaped. He concealed himself for some days in S. S. Seaman's barn in Ballston, and went from there in the night to a barn in Malta, on on the Merrill farm. While in Seaman's barn his feet were badly frozen. His hiding place was at last divulged by a colored man and he was taken back to his doom. On the appointed day, he was taken to the spot where Bennett thirteen years before had expiated his crime, and on the same gallows he was "hanged by the neck until he was dead" by sheriff John Vernam. He, too, was pre- pared for the fatal fall by under sheriff Joseph Jen- nings, who yet retains the noose used on the occasion. Ex-Judge Hulbert, then an apprentice boy of the Ballston Spa Gazelle, tells me that he remembers the printing at that office of an alleged confession of Watkins, along with his trial and execution, in which he stated that he had formerly been a pirate and had committed the crime of murder on several former occasions. The "confession" was printed in a sensational "Police Gazette" style and was said to have been written by the late Elias G. Palmer. It is also said, however, that when Watkins made the confession he hoped that it would secure his reprieve and a commutation of his sentence. On the gallows he declared it was false. Since then the old scaffold has rotted in its storage place, and may it be hoped many years may elapse ere the sheriff of Saratoga county shall again be called upon to erect another.
The November Oyer, 1836, was held by Judge
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John Willard of Saratoga Springs, who had been appointed by Gov. Marcy, September 3, to the place vacated by the appointment of Judge Cowen to the Supreme bench. He had previously been first judge of Washington county. On the fourth day of the term county clerk Goodrich made the fol- lowing entry : .'Court tried to convene and could not ; Hon. Jolin Willard only being present. Ad- journed sine die." This entry is explained as fol- lows : The judges of the Court of Common Pleas insisted that being a numerical majority they could control the action of the court in bringing in the criminal calendar. Both Circuit Judges Cowen and Willard resisted this claim, as trenching on their prerogatives. At a previous term, a collision of authority had arisen between Judges Cowen and Young, in which the latter was at first success- ful in ordering the district attorney to call the criminal calendar, and the former gained his point by forbidding the clerk to obey Young's orders. These differences grew out of a dual jurisdiction of the two courts, which created more or less trouble throughout the state, until both courts were abro- gated by the constitution of 1846. The district attorney was an appointee of the Court of Sessions, while the county clerk was clerk of the Circuit court and bound to obey its commands. At the December Oyer, 1840, Jonathan A. Brown of Half- moon was convicted of illegal voting in Waterford, Nov. 5, 1839. Chesselden Ellis was district attor- ney, and the prisoner was defended by Joshua Bloore.
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At the May Over, 1841, an indictment was found for one of the most audacious conspiracies to defraud that has ever disgraced the annals of any criminal court. SamuelS. Welden. Amaziah Ford and Ben- jamin Howd were charged with conspiring to de- fraud William Green of Ballston Spa. They were brought to trial at the May Over. 1843. Edward F. Bullard, special district attorney to try cases in which District Attorney Beach had been engaged for the defense previous to his appointment, ap- peared for the people ; William A. Beach for defendants Welden and Ford, and John K. Porter for Howd. I find the proven facts from the record of conviction to have been that the prisoners illegally conspired February 29, 1842, to falsely, move and maintain suits before Samuel Wilbur, a justice of the peace of the town of Clifton Park, and. also, before James Van Hyning, a justice of the peace of the town of Malta, against William P. Green in which Ford appeared as plaintiff, and, also, others in which Welden was the plaintiff. That they procured the issuance of a summons against the said Green from the said justices and delivered them to Howd. a constable of Clifton Park, for ser- vice. That ho duly returned them "personally served," when in fact they had been served on another person procured to personate Green. That on the return days of said summons appearance was made by Ford and Welden 'as plaintiff's, and judgments were taken against Green. as in default. The proof was so direct against Ford and Wolden that they were convicted and sentenced to three
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