The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-03-02
JAMES c. CARTER.

haps he is the one man OF all that have
adopted this course whose name is Of
tenest before the public The late Ros-
coe Conkling was another great lawyer
who came here to win a fortune, and
when he was suddenly taken away, al
most by accident, he had gone far to-
ward fulfilling his ambition to die a
rich man, an ambition which he could
never have gratified had he remained
in politics, or, retiring from that excit-
ing pursuit, had gone to practicing law
in one of the lesser cities.
George Hoadley, ex-governor of Ohio,
is another man of the law who came to
New York to gain riches after he had
won a good degree of success both in
business and politics elsewhere. His
name is not SO often upon the lips of the
public, nor does it run off the ends of
reporters pencils with any such fire.
quency as that Of the free thinking, out
spoken colonel, but the ex-governor is
understood to be making a most excel
lent income all the same-in fact, prob
ably twice or thrice as much as Colo
mel Ingersoll. Ex-Judge Dillon is an
other instance of the same sort, and so
was the late silver tongued Daniel
de1phia, and SO is Charles W. Brooke,
| who has been termed the leader Of the
New York criminal bar.
Two Criminal Lawyers.
Mr. Brooke, who, like Dougherty,
came here from the Quaker City, is GER
tainly one of the notable figures of this
town. He came in the seventies, and
this story is told, though not vouched for
by me, concerning the cause of his leav-
ing Philadelphia: Ayoung man named
Gerald Eaton was accused of murder,
and he secured Mr.. Brooke for counsel.
| Brooke was SO thoroughly convinced of
| Eaton s innocence, in spite of the most
| damaging circumstantial evidence, that
| he vowed never to try another case in
| Philadelphia if the verdict should be ad-
verse. The jury declared Eaton guilty,
| and the lawyer kept his word. Whether
! the story be true or not, the honey Tipped
| lawyer has had no cause to regret the
transference of his allegiance to the
| Kniokerbocker town, for his celebrated
cases have been many and his fees fat.
His latest notable case was that of Mey-
er, the poisoner. Though Mr.. Brooke is
close to so now, he looks quite ten years
/ y
the elastic step of a boy.
More picturesque than Mr.. Brooke
and destined to be leader at the crimi-
nal bar is his partner, O'Sullivan, the
| young man who became famous at a
bound, SO to speak, because of his init
mate knowledge of medicine, displayed
during the trial of Carlyle Harris for
wife murder. O'Su1livap is physician
as we'll as a lawyer, and he understands
horse doctoring, too, for one of his nu-
merous degrees is that Of doctor of vet
Urinary medicine and surgery, and he
served in this capacity for time with a
regiment of British soldiers. He is still
young, being little if any over So, and
an athlete in build and bearing.
Who Is the Leading Lawyer?
Possibly owe the reader an apology
for mentioning these two ahead of such
practitioners as James G. Carter, Joseph
Choate, Colonel e. G. James, Elihu
Root, Wheeler H Peckham and others.
Certainly these men are more impor-
tant, broadly speaking, than either
Brooke or o Sullivan, and their earn
ings are much larger, though it is doubt
full if, aside from the frequent political
mention Of some of them, any one is SO
often named in the newspapers as either
O'Sullivan or Brooke, and Of a surety
they are not nearly as often mentioned
in the printed page as that strange pair
who do legal business under the firm
name of Howe & HummeI. But of these
last more anon.
All the newspaper reading world
knows Joseph Choate to be an impuI-
rTx he 5- 1-x 4
quent. He is an ardent Republican and
q practical politician. yet he did not
hesitate year or two ago. and at ST.
Patriok's dinner, if I remember Alright,
to charge the Irish with nearly all the