USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 44
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"I shall always regard it as one of the most fortunate circumstances of
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my life that I was brought into such intimate association with Davil F. Gedney. And as my life passes on into the 'sere and yellow leaf and I sit among the lengthening shadows of its afternoon looking back upon the friends and friendships of my youth, I shall very, very often recall Judge Gedney-the slender, erect figure; the strongly marked face ; the scant but expressive gesture ; the wonderfully melodious and well modu- lated voice ; the words so deftly chosen from a vocabulary surpassingly rich and full, that they always reminded me of the sentence in holy writ : 'Words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in pictures of silver ; and above all I shall recall his kind and generous deeds, the fit exponents of a loving, loyal heart; and, thus recalling him, I shall often in the future exclaim-as I have already in the past-in no empty phrase and with no exaggeration of speech :
'Oh for the touch of a vanished hand And the sound of a voice that is still" "
This extract is made not solely to embellish the portrait of Julge Gedney, the man-though I indeed left it unfinished intending thus to invoke Mr. Anthony's aid in completing it-but also to illustrate Mr. Anthony's own cast of mind, character and literary style. Mr. Anthony is by nature and inclination, a scholar and a rechise. If he were rich he would shut up his office and browse in his library ; but not selfishly, for no one has been more generous than he in responding to demands for public and literary addresses. I heard him once, before the Chautauqua Assembly, give a purely extemporaneous lecture upon wit and humor which for range of reading, wealth of information, critical analysis an ! brilliant characterization has never been surpassed by our most famous lecturers ; and yet it was delivered with a modesty, sweetness and sim- plicity which seemed to deprecate the suggestion that it was anything out of the ordinary.
His memory of Judge Gedney unconsciously reveals how deep was the impression made in youth upon a mind singularly susceptible to the charms and graces of literature and upon a nature no less susceptible to the beauties and joys of friendship. As in the case of all such natures. the books must be choice and the friends fit but few. Not, in leed, that Mr. Anthony is deficient in the elements of personal popularity. Hi- election twice to the office of district attorney of the county, the duties
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of which he most ably discharged, attests his popular strength. But it is undeniable that his predilection for the society of the great and wise of every age, to be found in his well-filled library, has tended more and more to withdraw him from the society of the shallow, the superficial, the frivolous. He stands to-day a lonely but alluring figure, on whose heights those who choose to follow may find in him the charming companion, the accomplished scholar, the earnest inquirer, the inspiring instructor.
Let no captious reader take cynical exception to the note of honest praise sounded in these memoirs. Let it be remembered that, out of hun- dreds of lawyers, only a few of those entitled to admiration and praise have been selected for extended mention. While personal memoirs should be accurate they need not be exhaustive. In those rare instances in which conspicuous talent has yielded to temptation and, in weakness or dishonor, forfeited public respect, it has seemed to be the truest kindness to pass over it in silence. Indeed, as one surveys the procession down half a century of those who have become notable in the law he is pro- foundly impressed that not by infirm, invertebrate character have they gained their prominence but only by firm resolution, high endeavor, moral purpose and intellectual power. One is led to wonder not that there should be so few entitled to praise, but that there should be so many. Impartial criticism will demand of the contemporary chronicler not that his praise be stinted, but only that it be discriminating.
Indeed only the most unstinted, unqualified praise would be either just or appropriate in summoning from that stately procession of great and honored lawyers the lofty, imposing figure of Judge John J. Beattie, who for eighteen years-1889 to 1907-presided over the County Court of Orange County, having been elected for three successive terms. His dignity of presence, weight of character and wealth of learning amply sustained the traditions of a bench once occupied by Gedney and Fuller- ton. Many of Judge Beattie's decisions have been in cases of far-reach- ing public importance-notably the case involving the construction of the eight-hour law in which Judge Beattie decided that the provision pro- hibiting a contractor from allowing his men to work over eight hours a day on a public improvement was unconstitutional and void. The Ap- pellate Division reversed but the Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Beattie in an opinion sustaining every position which Judge Beattie had taken in his opinion.
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Judge Beattie is grounded in the principles of the law. In all that he does he is thorough, going to the very bottom of the case whether as to the law or the facts. This quality was strikingly brought out in the case tried by him for eight days before Judge Maddox involving the liability of a railroad company for the damage resulting from the explosion of a locomotive boiler. There was absolutely nothing about a boiler that Judge Beattie did not understand. One would have supposed that he had been brought up in boiler works and had then run an engine on the road. He succeeded in dividing the jury and Judge Maddox said after the trial that he had never seen a finer display of sheer intellectuality than Judge Beattie's management of the defense.
He is an omniverons reader and his marvelous memory retain- all that he ever read. His conversation is an intellectual feast, for he pours out a never-failing stream of literary anecdote, historic incident an ! choice passages from the classics of every age, all ready to gush forth from his well-stored memory as the conversation glances from one sub- ject to another.
Judge Beattie carries into his retirement from the County Court the gratitude and respect of the bar and of the public for the fine example of judicial dignity and learning which he has given for eighteen year- an example which may well be followed not only by all who succeed him in the County Court, but by all who administer in the same court houses and from the same bench the wider jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
Having considered several leaders of the bar who came into practice in the late sixties, but who, like their predecessor-, Winfick, Gelney an ! Fullerton, were never invited to the bench of the Supreme Court, we come now naturally to that group of their early associates who have achieve I judicial honors, those honors which have always held a glittering fascina- tion for the bar whether in the wearing or the recounting of them. There never have been enough judgeships to go around and the long tennre now established wholly excludes rotation among the leaders of the bar in respect to judicial position. Hence the prospect that any member of the bar, however able, will ever attain judicial honors is so remote and dependent upon so many unforeseen conditions that when they do de- scend and repose upon the modest brow of some highly favored but always unenvied brother, the circumstances combining to produce such a fortuitous selection possess all the charm of romance and all the fasci-
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nation of a fairy tale. While it is true that many unforeseen conditions must always unite in determining the destination of this coveted prize, there still seems to be one inexorable condition to which all Orange County aspirants must conform. They must not reside in the interior of the county. They must practice in the old, historic city of Newburgh-a city which has always taken a deep, honorable, patriotic pride in its Revolutionary associations and in the land they represent, but which has no more pride in, no more sense of connection with, Orange County as a whole than West Point has. Its bar has always been distinguished for great ability and high character.
The Supreme Court of the State of New York, the wide jurisdiction of which extends from Long Island to the St. Lawrence and the Lakes, was never more fortunate than in the acquisition to its bench from the Newburgh bar of the two Browns, father and son-John W. Brown and Charles F. Brown-the elder having ascended the bench in 1850 and the younger in 1883.
It is Charles F. Brown who belongs to the period we are now consider- ing. Graduated from Yale College in 1866, admitted to practice in 1868, elected district attorney in 1874 and county judge in 1877, he resigned in 1882 the position of county judge to assume the duties of supreme court judge.
Mr. Winfield had always ardently desired a position upon the bench of the Supreme Court. It was one of the bitterest disappointments of his life that he so narrowly missed this object of his ambition in 1875, when Judge Dykman was elected. In that year the widespread revolt among the bar and public against the re-election of that most unpopular official, Judge Tappen, who had received the regular democratic nomina-, tion, made it evident that any independent democratic candidate who should receive the endorsement of the republican convention would be elected. Mr. Winfield's hopes of receiving this endorsement rose high and were on the point of being realized when an unexpected influence in- tervened to dash them. General Benjamin F. Tracy, who had a long- standing personal feud with William Fullerton, the brother of Stephen W. Fullerton, suddenly came to the conclusion that he did not want upon the bench an intimate friend of the Fullertons. He therefore threw his influence in favor of Jackson O. Dykman, then a prominent democratic lawyer of Westchester County, who thus received the nomination. His
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election by a large democratic and republican vote confirmed the pre- diction that such a coalition would easily accomplish the defeat of Judge Tappen. Orange County, notwithstanding that it shared Mr. Winfield's disappointment, followed his generous lead in supporting Judge Dykman and gave him a majority of 10,000. No one labored for Mr. Winfield's nomination at this time more earnestly than Charles F. Brown himself.
In 1882 Mr. Winfield's hopes of obtaining a nomination revived, but Charles F. Brown, who cherished the natural and honorable ambition to emulate his father's noble example and distinguished career as a jurist, felt that he ought not to stand aside again. He of course secured the delegate from his own assembly district without opposition. Overcoming the opposition offered by Mr. Winfield's friends in the second assembly district, he secured its delegate also. By thus presenting a united front Orange County was able to successfully assert its claims in the judicial convention and to secure for Judge Brown the nomination that was fol- lowed by his election.
No one was more gratified by Judge Brown's election than Mr. Win- field himself, especially as it involved the defeat of General Tracy, the very man who, seven years before, had snatched from him the same prize when almost within his grasp. When General Tracy, of Kings County, was nominated by the republican convention against Judge Brown, of Orange County, he confidently expected to defeat Judge Brown, whose greatness was then unknown to the district at large. through the promised support of many large Brooklyn interests. But all his calculations were confounded by a wholly unexpected event. This was the cataclysm in which Grover Cleveland, with whom Judge Brown was running, carried the State by the enormous, unprecedented majority of 200,000.
Thus was Orange County enabled to contribute to the bench of the Supreme Court a jurist who, in the fourteen years of his incumbency. made a profound. a lasting impression upon the jurisprudence not only of his State but of his country.
After serving for six years with great acceptance in the trial and special terms, he was, upon the formation of the second division of the Court of Appeals, promoted to its bench. His services during the four years' existence of that court were of the highest value, his luminous opinions being still quoted and followed in every State in the Union.
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Some of the litigations which came before him were in the highest de- gree difficult and complicated ; one of the most important being the case involving the construction of the Tilden will, in which the opinion of Judge Brown, declaring the trusts invalid, was adopted by the court. His opinions rendered in this court constitute an imperishable monument to his learning and ability.
Judge Brown's manner upon the bench, at trial and special term, was a happy mingling of simplicity and dignity. His most noticeable personal trait was his entire lack of self-consciousness. He never thought about himself or about the impression which he might be making upon the bar or the public. His mind was wholly upon the case and upon the prin- ciples involved in it. He was considerate of the feelings of counsel and rarely rebuked them for imperfect presentation of their views. When they wandered from the point he thought about the case and when they came back to the case he followed them again. It is simply the truth of history to say that the members of the bar, not only of Orange County but of the entire State, do not expect to see in this generation a nearer approach to the ideal judge than they were permitted to behold during the fourteen years of Judge Brown's incumbency.
There was one marked characteristic of Judge Brown while upon the bench which deserves more than a passing mention. After a case was submitted to him and while it was still under consideration he was never afraid to enter upon a discussion of the principles involved in it, with either of the counsel he might happen to meet, if he felt that such a dis- Passion might prove profitable. In this respect he differed from some no his colleagues who were perfectly aghast at the thought of counsel con- versing with them upon any phase of a pending case in the absence of op- posing counsel. This of course was due to their high sense of the im- portance of preserving not only real impartiality but the strictest appear- ance of impartiality. But there was something in Judge Brown's char- acter which did not need the protection of such a rule: something in the very atmosphere which he threw out; something in the impression which he gave of being simply a thinking, working, impersonal, intellectual ma- chine, which left no room for misunderstanding on the part of any lawyer thus admitted to a share in his deliberations and which left his judicial independence and impartiality absolutely untouched. This capacity at once constitutes the highest test and the consummate type of the strictly
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judicial temperament. To this test Judge Brown easily responded and of this type he was the perfect embodiment.
No one can be accused of sycophancy in awarding to a judge long since retired from the bench his merited meed of praise and gratitude for distinguished public services. Nor even in the case of judges still occupying the bench can such a charge fairly lie when the faithful his- torian surveying and reviewing, from the serene heights of retirement and reflection, the stirring scenes in which once he bore an active part. is now as indifferent to, as independent of, the opinions of judges as they are of his. It would indeed be far more entertaining if there could be contributed to this volume the opinions which the judges hold of each other, thrown into literary form instead of merely being promulgated from the bench or disseminated by the press. When, upon the occasion of Queen Victoria's jubilee, the judges met in London to prepare an address to Her Majesty, the proposed draught submitted to them began with the words, "Conscious as we are of our shortcomings," whereupon Lord Bowen gravely suggested, as an amendment, "Conscious as we are of each other's shortcomings." Human nature is very much the same here and in England ; very much the same, in its manifestations, among judges and among lawyers.
Judge William D. Dickey ascended the bench in 1896, one year before Judge Brown's retirement from it. The second judicial district, of which Orange County then formed a part. was for many years demo- cratic and it was not unusual for the republican conventions to endorse the democratic nominations. But in 1895 there seemed to be such a fair prospect for success that the republicans put forward a full ticket of judicial nominees, including Judge Dickey, who was elected, though one of his associates upon the ticket, Hugo Hirsch, of Brooklyn, was defeated by Judge Martin J. Keogh, whose court ought to be attended every year by visiting delegations of judges from all parts of the State as a training school and object lesson, illustrating how a busy judge may at all times, in all circumstances and under all provocations still be the model. fault- less, consummate gentleman.
Although Judge Dickey removed from Newburgh to Brooklyn soon after his election and is counted as a judge of the second judicial district. while Orange County is now a part of the ninth judicial district. still Orange County is where he was born : where his professional life was
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passed; where he rose to prominence and power, and where he lived when he was elevated to the bench. He exhibited even in boyhood the qualities which have marked his public career, his patriotic ardor inspir- ing him to enlist in the Union Army when only seventeen years of age; his promotion being so rapid that before he was twenty years old he had been breveted colonel in recognition of conspicuous gallantry.
Admitted to practice soon after the close of the Civil War he threw himself with characteristic energy not merely into the legal contests which arose in his city, but into all the public and political controversies of the day. Ardent in his affections and implacable in his hatreds, loyal to his friends and relentless to his enemies, he soon acquired an extensive influence and attracted to himself a devoted following, both personal and political.
The public spirit and civic pride shown by Judge Dickey in promoting every enterprise tending to beautify or benefit his native city was gener- ally recognized and his election to the constitutional convention of 1893 was a distinct turning point in his career. His ability, vigilance, au- thority, force of character and readiness in debate, soon gave nim a dom- inant influence in the deliberations of that highly intellectual body-an influence aided by his commanding presence and resonant voice, advan- tages not without value in that most difficult of all auditoriums, the as- sembly chamber in the Capitol at Albany. Among the many far-reaching reforms which he proposed or advocated in the convention he undoubt- cdly looks back with special satisfaction upon the provision incorporated. with his active support, in the new constitution prohibiting any legislative limitation upon the amount of recovery for death occasioned by negli- gence, since he has had abundant occasion in his experience upon the bench to verify his convictions of the justice, necessity and public policy of this amendment.
Judge Dickey displays upon the bench the same sterling qualities which marked his active professional career. Among them none is more pro- nounced than his remembrance of and kindness to old and valued friends. The exercise by a judge of the patronage necessarily pertaining to his office has always been a trying question for him. But since one lawyer has no natural, superior claim over any other lawyer upon the fruits of patronage, there seems to be no reason why a judge should not be per- mitted to gratify his feelings of friendship and esteem in the appoint-
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ment of referees whom he knows to be not only estimable but entirely capable. No one questioned this sentiment or principle of conduct when Judge Brown appointed his old friend and partner, Mr. Cassedy reterce to sell the West Shore railroad, or when he appointed his old friend, William Harvey Clark, of Minisink, receiver of the Port Jervis and Mon- ticello railroad; Mr. Clark, by the way, proving to be so capable a re- ceiver that he not only paid its debts but surprised the stockholders by handing over to them a large amount of money.
But in the distribution of patronage Judge Dickey has not only been loyal to the claims of private friendship: he has nobly used it in the recognition of the debt which the public owes to distinguished public services and sacrifices. I know one able lawyer whose physical infirmi- ties disqualify him from active practice at the bar, but whose eve is still as clear, whose judgment as alert as when, from the heights of Gettys- burg, he directed the Federal forces on the first day of the battle and saved the fortunes of the day till they could be turned and redeemed upon the morrow. In appointing this old hero to important service in various public condemnation proceedings, in which his sound judgment and wide experience have been utilized to the public benefit, Judge Dickey has en- titled himself to the gratitude of all who believe that conspicuous worth ail patriotic service should not be forgotten and neglected by judges any more than by governors or presidents. And personal gratitude is no less due to Judge Dickey from all those whose appointment by him to posi- tions of trust and responsibility has enabled them to justify his own un- crring judgment as to their fitness and capacity.
It was in the autumn of 1902 that Judge Dickey was called upon to pass through the first deep sorrow of his life in the loss of his only son, Frank R. Dickey, cut off in his young manhood at the very beginning of his promising career at the bar. Born and educated in Newburgh he had followed his father to Brooklyn, where he established himself in practice and where he soon won a large and growing clientage. His solid abilities ; his pure, lofty character ; his open, sincere nature ; his refined, engaging manners ; his gentle, amiable disposition united to create a per- sonality of singular charm and interest. Troops of new friends, attracte.1 to him by the graces of a sweet and beautiful character, joined with those who had always known an I love l him in heartfelt sorrow over the tin- timely grave of Frank R. Dickey.
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Judge Dickey's wide experience in affairs, with his knowledge of human nature, its secret springs and devious ways, enables him to arrive at decisions always prompt and usually just. His influence upon the bench has always been powerfully exerted in support of the domestic virtues and social purity. Gambling, which is fast becoming one of the most threatening of our national dangers, as it is already one of the most degrading and corrupting of our social vices, whether practiced by men in policy shops, or by women at bridge parties, finds in him, when- ever it comes within his judicial purview, neither countenance nor toler- ation.
There is one trait of Judge Dickey upon the bench which calls for special mention. When, in an action which has been tried and decided by him, without a jury, the attorneys come before him for settlement of the case upon appeal, he does not seek to emasculate the appeal, as some judges in their weakness and vanity do, by striking out the exceptions designed to bring up sharply for review the points of difference between him and the defeated counsel. He always gives the unsuccessful and dis- satisfied litigant a fair opportunity to review every issuable ruling and to get a reversal if he can. He is not hyper-sensitive upon the subject of being sustained by the appellate courts. Indeed, his mental attitude toward them is doubtless reflected in the remark once made by the famous judge, Lord Young, when he was told that one of his decisions had been affirmed upon appeal by the House of Lords, "Well, I may have been right, notwithstanding," said Lord Young.
As Judge Dickey has never been assigned to the Appellate Division and much prefers the close contact with the bar and with vital human interests which is enjoyed by judges constantly engaged in trial term and special term, he has never felt called upon to accompany his decisions with opinions of any length. When he does write, his opinions are clear, terse and sententious. Indeed there is very little satisfaction for a judge at special term in writing elaborate opinions, only to find them arrested and archived in that mere vestibule of fame, that hall of unmerited but predestined and pathetic oblivion known as the Miscellaneous Reports.
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