USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester county in history; manual and civil list, past and present. County history: towns, hamlets, villages and cities, Volume II > Part 13
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During the years 1909 and 1910, President Taft named, as well as a Chief Justice, four new Associate Justices, former Governor Hughes, of New York, Mr. Lurton, of Tennessee, Willis Van Devanter, of Wyoming, and Joseph R. Lamar, of Georgia. Lurton, Van Devanter and Lamar, at time of appoint- ment, had already high rank as Judges.
In 1910, Justice Moody, owing to ill-health, was retired with pay by special act of Congress.
In 1911, as reconstituted by President Taft, the Supreme Court of the United States is made up of six nominal Repub- licans-Harlan, McKenna, Day, Holmes, Hughes and Van Devanter, and three nominal Democrats-White, Lurton and Lamar. Edward D. White, of Louisiana, the new Chief Jus- tice, has been a member of the court since 1894.
While the history of the court shows that partisanship has rarely appeared in its councils, Mr. Taft has revealed in the four selections that he has made and in the elevation of Justice White admirable wisdom and tact in consulting legitimate sec- tional and political preferences. By conferring the Chief Jus- ticeship upon a Louisiana Democrat he gives to the South the greatest national honor that it has received since the Civil War.
In less than two years it has been President Taft's high privilege to name more members of the court than any other President except Washington and Lincoln.
A new United States Court, to be known as the Commerce Court, was created by act of Congress.
With the appointment, in 1910, of judges who are to preside in this new court the national judiciary, as recently enlarged, became complete.
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On the formation of the Government there were only the Supreme Court and the District Courts. For many years the Justices of the Supreme Court acted as Circuit Judges. When this service became burdensome the United States Circuit Court was established, and in time, for the purpose of relieving the Supreme Court still further, the United States Court of Appeals was created, the various Circuit and District Judges presiding. The United States Court of Claims, which sits only in Washing- ton, was founded quite as much for the purpose of removing responsibilities from Congress as to assist the older courts already overloaded.
The Commerce Court and the Court of Customs Appeals are in part the result of a conviction that the regular courts have too much to do and in part a response to the fact that the Inter- state Commerce Commission and the Custom House authorities have been exercising too much judicial power. The Judges of the Commerce Court will eventually be Circuit Judges desig- nated by the Supreme Court for this service.
In the Commerce Court the disagreements between railroads and shippers will be heard and settled. To the Court of Customs Appeals will be carried all the differences growing out of the administration of the tariff law that cannot be adjusted elsewhere. Both of these tribunals are charged with duties requiring on their part highly specialized and technical knowledge.
CIRCUIT COURT AND DISTRICT COURTS.
Justices of the Circuit Court of the United States, Second Circuit, of which Westchester County is a part, are as follows:
E. Henry Lacombe, appointed in 1887
Alfred C. Coxe, appointed in. 1902
Henry G. Ward, appointed in 1907
Walter C. Noyes, appointed in. 1907
Justices of the District Court of the United States, Southern District, State of New York, of which Westchester County is a part, are as follows :
George B. Adams (died 1911), appointed in. 1901
George C. Holt, appointed in .. 1903
Charles M. Hough, appointed in. 1906
Learned Hand, appointed in 1909
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Westchester County unites with the counties of New York, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Greene, Columbia, Ulster and Sullivan in forming the Southern United States Judicial District. Terms of court are held in the General Post-Office building in New York City.
No resident of Westchester County has ever been favored with an appointment as a Justice of this Court; most, if not all, of such appointments made by the President of the United States have gone to residents of New York County.
The salary of the Chief Justice is $13,000 per annum; Asso- ciate Justice, $12,500. The salary of a Circuit Justice is $7,000 per annum; the salary of a District Justice is $6,000 per annum; the United States Court of Claims Chief Justice receives $6,500 per annum, and the Associate Justices $6,000.
STATE SUPREME COURT.
(Continued from page 37, Vol. 1.)
The new Constitution, adopted in 1894, completely changed the judicial system of the State. The most notable changes were its elevation of the Supreme Court in rank; and the lessen- ing of the amount of work thrown upon the Court of Appeals. Thus the Court of Appeals was confined to questions of law, and a new court was created, known as the Appellate Supreme Court, to deal with questions of fact. Justices of the Supreme Court to be designated by the Governor to act as Justices of this Court. The new Constitution provided that this change in the judiciary system should not go in effect until January 1, 1896. The new Constitution made the following important provisions : Providing for the trial of impeachments when preferred by the Legislature or the Governor. This Court of Impeachment will consist of the Lieutenant-Governor, the State Senators and the Court of Appeals.
For a Court of Appeals, consisting of a Chief Judge and six Associate Judges, elected by the people of the whole State, to hold their offices for the term of fourteen years. The salary of the Chief Judge is $10,500, and of the Associate Judges $10,000, with an allowance of $2,000 each for expenses. This Court is to have jurisdiction to hear and determine appeals from the orders or judgments of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, and, except where the judgment is of death, it is limited to the review of questions of law.
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The Appellate Division, in any department, may allow an appeal upon any question of law which, in its opinion, ought to be reviewed by the Court of Appeals. The Constitution also says: " No unanimous decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, that there is evidence supporting or tend- ing to sustain a finding of fact, or a verdict not directed by the Court, shall be reviewed by the Court of Appeals, except where the judgment is of death." The Legislature is authorized to further restrict the jurisdiction of the Court and the right to appeal thereto; but the right of appeal is not to depend on the amount involved.
The new Constitution abolished Circuit Courts and Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and provided that after December 31, 1895, their jurisdiction be vested in the Supreme Court. The State, the new Constitution says, is to be divided into four judicial departments. The first, composed of New York County, and the others, to be divided by the Legislature, must be bounded by county lines, and be compact and equal in population as nearly as may be. Judicial departments, according to the Con- stitution, may be altered once in ten years, but without increas- ing the number. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court shall consist of seven Justices in the first department and five in each of the other departments. (Westchester County is in the second department of the Appellate Division.) Under the new Constitution, General Terms of the Supreme Court were abolished and their jurisdiction transferred to the Appellate Division. Justices of the Supreme Court are elected for a term of fourteen years. A Justice whose term of office has been abridged by limitation of age may, with his consent, be assigned by the Governor to any duty in the Supreme Court, while his compensation is continued.
The Constitution of 1894 provided that "the Legislature may erect out of the Second Judicial District as now constituted, another judicial district and apportion the Justices in office between the districts, and provide for the election of additional Justices in the new district not exceeding the limit herein pro- vided." In accordance with this provision, the Ninth Judicial District, of which Westchester County is a part, was erected.
Justices of the Supreme Court are prohibited, by the Consti- tution, from holding any other office or place of public trust ; from exercising any power of appointment to public office, and from practicing as attorney or counsellor, or acting as referee.
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They are removable by concurrent resolution of both Houses of the Legislature, if two-thirds of all the members elected to each branch concur therein.
Back of fifty years ago, during the continuance of the former Judicial District (when Westchester County was combined with the County of Kings and other counties composing the district), as a rule Westchester County received little or no consideration when it came to selecting men to fill the office of Justice of the Supreme Court. Up to 1859 Westchester County stood modestly back, and the bigger county of Kings, with delegates to nomi- nating convention overpowering in number, confiscated all the Judgeships. In that year, through the influence of Hon. Thomas Smith, who was then the local Judge, as well as editor and owner of the Yonkers Herald newspaper, and recognized Democratic leader of Yonkers, it was agreed to give Westchester County recognition long delayed. Judge Smith was specially honored by being permitted to name his choice, with the expressed under- standing that such choice would be duly ratified. Much to the surprise of the gentleman selected, the Judge named William W. Scrugham, of his own town of Yonkers. The selection was not made on personal grounds, but owing solely to the belief that Mr. Scrugham, who stood well as a representative of the Westchester County bar, was well equipped for the office and would fill the place most acceptably to citizens generally, regard- less of politics. The nomination of Mr. Scrugham was made unanimously, Judge Smith presenting his name to the Judicial Convention; his election followed, by a large majority. The writer of this was present when Mr. Scrugham sought an inter- view with Judge Smith, and heard him tell the Judge that he was under everlasting obligation to him, and to him alone, for his selection as a candidate for Justice of the Supreme Court, and asked why he was so particularly favored, when he had no political claim upon the Judge; it was then that the latter related to Mr. Scrugham the reason for it, of his belief that the people demanded of every political party the nomination of the best men obtainable to hold public office and discharge public trusts; men responsible for nominations should not be influ- enced by personal considerations; what would serve the people best should be first thought of.
Justice Scrugham's career on the bench justified Judge Smith's good opinion of him. The election of Scrugham was
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that of the first Justice of the Supreme Court elected from this county, but not the last. Next came, in 1867, the election of Abraham B. Tappen, of Fordham, and later of Tuckahoe, Yonkers; then followed the first election of Jackson O. Dykman, of White Plains, in 1875, who was re-elected fourteen years later, in 1889; and finally, in the old district, in 1895, came the elec- tion of Martin J. Keogh, of New Rochelle, who is still on the bench, having with great credit served fourteen years, and who was unanimously re-elected in 1909 in the new district.
At the termination of Justice Tappen's eight years' term of office, in 1875, he was a candidate to succeed himself; he was renominated by the Democratic Judicial Convention, with every prospect of re-election. From causes not necessary to enumerate, a formidable opposition to Justice Tappen had sprung up within the Democratic party. This opposition, while not power- ful enough to prevent Tappen's renomination, was of sufficient strength to justify the holding of a Convention and the nomi- nating of an independent Democratic candidate for Supreme Court Justice. Such a convention was held, in September, 1875, in Brooklyn. Of the willing aspirants, the choice fell upon Jackson O. Dykman, of White Plains, who just previously had served a term as District-Attorney of Westchester County. The Republican Judicial Convention, held nearby, realizing it impos- sible to elect an out and out Republican, and to encourage Democratic splits on general principles, endorsed the nomina- tion of Mr. Dykman. Then began one of the most exciting and peculiar political campaigns for an important judicial office ever held in this State. Democrats were arraigned against Democrats, and Republicans against Republicans, the latter deciding they could vote as pleased them, both candidates being Democrats. In Yonkers, where Justice Tappen resided, Demo- cratic and Republican leaders agreed to the destroying of Dyk- man ballots, printed in the old form, that Tappen might receive the total vote of the town; as a result Dykman received but a few scattering votes in Yonkers on election day. In Orange County, where the opposition to Tappen originated, the tactics employed by Tappen's friends in Yonkers were used to help Dykman, particularly in the city of Newburgh, where but few votes for Tappen found their way into the ballot box. The majority for Dykman in Newburgh more than offset the majority for Tappen in Yonkers. After Dykman's election, Tappen
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retired from politics, and devoted his time to legal practice and his farm in Tuckahoe.
APPELLATE DIVISION JUSTICES.
Designation of Presiding and Associate Justices for the four Judicial Departments, in which the State is divided, to com- pose the Appellate Divisions, is made by the Governor, pur- suant to section 2, article 6, of the Constitution.
A Justice of the Supreme Court, in any Judicial District, may be assigned to duty in any other Judicial District Court of the State. The Governor may select from any Judicial Dis- trict, when choosing Justices to become members of an Appel- late Division Court. Such selection is considered a special honor by the Justice chosen.
No Justice of the Appellate Division can exercise any of the powers of a Justice of the Supreme Court, other than those of a Justice out of court, and those pertaining to the Appellate Division, or to the hearing and decision of motions submitted by consent of counsel.
The Appellate Court of the Second Department, of which the Ninth Judicial District is a part, is located in Brooklyn.
The Second Department consists of the Second and Ninth Judicial Districts. The Second Judicial District (of which Westchester County was formerly a part) includes the counties of Kings, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Nassau. The Ninth Judicial District is composed of counties taken by special act of the Legislature from the Second Judicial District and formed into a separate district, viz .: Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland and Putnam.
From the date of organization of the Ninth Judicial District, in 1906, to 1909, the Justices comprising the Second Department Appellate Court were, viz .: Michael H. Hirschberg, of the Ninth District, Presiding Justice; John Woodward, Almet F. Jenks, William J. Gaynor, Adelbert P. Rich, Warren B. Hooker and Nathan L. Miller, Associate Justices.
Governor Hughes made an appointment to succeed Justice Hooker, as an Associate Justice, in January, 1909, and other appointments followed when necessary to keep the number up to the required five. The last vacancy was that caused by the resignation of Justice Gaynor, who became Mayor of Greater New York, January 1, 1910.
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The Second Department Appellate Division, at the beginning of 1910, was composed as follows: Justice Hirschberg, of New- burgh (in the Ninth Judicial District), presiding, and Associate Justices Almet F. Jenks, Joseph A. Burr and Edward B. Thomas, of Brooklyn, and John Woodward, of Jamestown. (The Governor may select Justices from any section of the State to compose Appellate Courts.)
Official records give the ages of Associate Justices of this Appellate Court to be as follows, in the year 1910: Justice Burr, who was 55 when elected in 1899, is 66 in 1910, and will reach the age limit when his term expires, December 31, 1913. Justice Thomas, who was 58 when elected in 1904, is 64 in 1910; will be 72 years of age when his term expires in 1918. Justice Jenks, who was 45 years of age when last elected, in 1898, is 57 in 1910, and will be 59 when his term expires in 1912. Jus- tice Woodward, whose term expires this year, was but 37 years of age when elected fourteen years ago; was but 51 years old in January, 1911. Chief Justice Hirschberg, whose new term commenced January 1, 1911, was 49 years of age fourteen years ago.
Governor Dix, on January 7, 1911, designated Justice Almet F. Jenks as Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, of the Second District, and named William J. Carr as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division. Justice Hirschberg, whom Justice Jenks succeeds as Presiding Justice, was re-elected in the Ninth Judicial District as a Justice in 1910, was, in January, 1911, named by Gov. Dix for Associate Justice, of the same court, for the full term of five years.
NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT.
A special act of the State Legislature creating the Ninth Judicial District, composed of the counties of Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland and Putnam, was passed in 1906* and the first Supreme Court Justices chosen for this new Judi- cial District were elected at the general election held in Novem- ber, 1906.
Isaac N. Mills, of Mount Vernon, Westchester County, Arthur S. Tompkins, of Nyack, Rockland County, and Joseph Mors-
* The bill providing for this act was first suggested and drafted by Hon. Theodore H. Silkman, Surrogate of Westchester county, and the bill was introduced in both branches of the Legislature by representatives from this county.
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chauser, of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, were chosen as Supreme Court Justices, and they, together with Justice Martin J. Keogh, of New Rochelle, Westchester County, and Michael H. Hirschberg, of Newburgh, Orange County, are associated with the new Ninth Judicial District Supreme Court.
The terms of office of the several Justices expire on dates as follows :
Isaac N. Mills.
December 31, 1920
Arthur S. Tompkins
December 31, 1920
Joseph Morschauser December 31, 1920
Martin J. Keogh.
December 31, 1923
Michael H. Hirschberg December 31, 1924
Justice Keogh and Justice Hirschberg were transferred from the Second Judicial District to the new Ninth Judicial District, on account of their being residents within counties included in the new district.
Justice Keogh, whose first term expired December 31, 1909, was unanimously renominated by both the Democratic and the Republican political parties, in separate and in joint conven- tion, in 1909, and his election followed, for a term ending December 31, 1923.
Justice Hirschberg was unanimously renominated for Supreme Court Justice, Ninth Judicial District, by both the Republican and the Democratic political parties, and re-elected in 1910.
The Justices of the Ninth Judicial District are all men in the prime and vigor of life, fitted for many years of usefulness. According to official record, in 1910, as the age has to be stated when filing oath of office, Justice Hirschberg is entering his 63d year; Justice Keogh was, on January 1, 57 years of age; Justice Mills is in his 58th year; Justice Morschauser owns up to 46, and is proud of it; and Justice Tompkins, the youngest of the number, is close on to 44 years of age.
The Judiciary of the Ninth District has been everywhere spoken of in terms that make residents of the district proud. It is admitted that no collusion or fraud can stand before our Judiciary.
This is the character that causes capital to seek employment here; this is the character that gives security to our rights, and value to our property; and to these combined causes are to be attributed a large portion of the flowing prosperity that is felt throughout every portion of the Judicial District.
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The salaries of the Justices were made $6,000 per annum; besides which they receive an annual allowance of $1,200 each for expenses (except in the First District). The Justices of the Second District each receive an additional annual allowance of $10,300, which amount is levied on the counties in said dis- trict by the State Comptroller. The total salary received by each Justice in the Second District being $17,500 per annum.
The law regulating the salary of a Supreme Court Justice in the Second Judicial District (which was divided to make the Ninth Judicial District) was made applicable to the new (the Ninth) district. Therefore the Justices in this latter Judicial District also receive a salary of $17,500 per annum each.
The salary of a confidential clerk, to each Justice, is fixed at $2,500 per annum.
The business transacted in the local Supreme Court has grown rapidly. It was not many years ago that the Supreme Court sitting in this county held but four terms a year, each term lasting about three weeks. The increasing legal business of the county, together with that contributed by the nearby large cities, made it necessary for the creation of a new Judicial Dis- trict and the providing of more Judges. As a result, we have the Ninth Judicial District Supreme Courts, ready and able to dispatch all business presented. Two trial parts have been established in the county, giving eighteen terms of court of four weeks each, with four terms of Special Term for trials, in addi- tion to Special Term days on Saturday for the hearing of motions.
The naturalization of aliens, presided over by a Supreme Court Justice, is under the supervision of the United States Government.
COUNTY COURT.
(Continued from page 100, Vol. 1.)
On the erection of the County of Westchester, in 1683, West- chester, in the southern section of the county, was made the County Town by an act of the General Assembly, passed in October of that year, which act directed that Courts of Sessions for the county should be held on the first Tuesday of June and December, one to be held in the village of Westchester and the other in the village of Eastchester. On the first Wednesday of December a " Court of Oyer and Terminer and general jail delivery " was to be held.
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From official records it is learned that the first Court of Sessions in this county was held on June 3, 1684.
John Pell, of Pelham, was, in 1684, appointed the first County Judge and he continued in office until 1693, when he was suc- ceeded by Caleb Heathcote, of Mamaroneck, who served until 1721; William Willett, of Harrison, served to 1732; Frederick Philipse, of Yonkers, to 1734; Israel Honeywell, of Yonkers, from 1734 to 1737, and 1740 to 1743, and who were followed in succession by others, as shown on page 100, volume 1.
Westchester continued to be the county seat until November 6, 1759, when the last session of the Court of Common Pleas was held there.
The Court House in Westchester was destroyed by fire on February 4, 1758. Recognizing the necessity of locating the County Court House in a locality more central, it was decided not to rebuild the Court House in Westchester village. To secure proper authority to designate a new " shire town " and construct a new Court House, the General Assembly was appealed to. On December 16, 1758, the following legislative act was passed :
"An Act to empower the Justices of the Peace and Aldermen of the Borough of Westchester, in Conjunction with the Super- visors of Westchester County, to ascertain and fix a place for erecting a new Court and a new Court House and gaol for the said county ; and for raising a sum not exceeding one thousand pounds, on the estates, real and personal, of all the freeholders and inhabitants of the said county, for and towards erecting the said Court House and gaol."
White Plains village was selected as the county seat, princi- pally through the efforts of Dr. Robert Graham, who was Super- visor of White Plains and later a County Judge. He gave to the county the site, on Broadway, White Plains, upon which the Court House was erected. (See page 33, volume 1.)
On November 5, 1776, at midnight, a party of disorderly per- sons, said to be " straggling " followers of the American Army, set fire to this Court House, more for the fun of seeing it burn than for anything else. Fortunately the records of the Courts and of the Provisional Convention were removed previous to the Court House being destroyed.
Courts were held during the Revolutionary War period in the Presbyterian Church in Bedford, until the destruction of the church building by the British in 1779. From latter date
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courts were held in the meeting house in Upper Salem, until 1784.
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