The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-20
THE COMMON PLEAS ROLL.
NOTEWORTHY AUTOGRAPHS FOUND
ON AN OLD COURT RECORD.

NV1h VbIbA AO1VU no VOLA
ON AN OLD COURT RECORD.
Signatures That Marked tho HeHinning OF the
Career rs Attorneys OF Mon who Arterward
became Famous IA~wyers-flistory or tho
Roll Preserved by Nathaniel Jarvis. II.
Forty-two years ago an exclusive clerk was
given to the Court Of Common Pleas to perform
tho duties which had previously been attended
to by tho County Clerk OK oficio. The County
Clerk was then a Wing politician named Rib
lett, and when tho clerical work Of the Common
Pleas was detached from him he sold many Of
It's old records as waste paper. Tho now Com
mon Pleas clerk, Nathaniel Jarvis. Jr., who Is
stillliving in a well-prescrved and alert old ago at
tho Brady homestead, undertook to rescue some
Of these records from tho purchasers, and among
those preserved in this way were sundry loose
foolscap shects containing the signatures OF at
tornoys who had been specially admitted to tho
bar in the Common Pleas between tho years
1898 and 1916. Those loose sheets Mr.. Jarvis
collected and had bound. Its leaves yellow with
age, and containing thousands of autographs Of
Now York lawyers whose hands long ago be-
camo parts Of skeletons, whose names awaken
hosts of recollcctions OF old times and men and
manners In this city, the volume will probably
soon be placed In the custody OF the Bar Institute.
Tho first page is headed Roll OF tho attorneys
of the Court Of Common Pleas who on the fol-
lowing days and times respectively have taken
and subscribed In open court the following oath,
Gs by the Constitu- ion and laws of the State of
New York is prescribed and directed: l do SOL
emily swear that / shall support the Constitu-
ton of tho United States and the Constitution of
the State of New York, and that / will faithfully
discharge the duties of an attorney Of tho Court
Of Common Pleas according to tho best of my
ability. Also. that I have not been engaged in n
duel by sending or accepting n challenge to fight
n duel or in any other manner engaged in n
violation Of the act to suppress duclling
since the first day of July, 1916; nor will I be SO
concerned directly or indirectly in any duel dur
ing the continuance OF said act and while an in
habitant Of this State" This duelling prohibit
ton was consequent upon the meeting between
two members OF the bar-Burr and Hamilton
for the Legislators we'll concluded that II they
were to suppress duell!ng there must be a begin
ming with legal eNpounders.
Only three years Of legal studies were needed
for admission to practice in the Common Pleas;
but to plead in the Supreme Court seven years
preparation was required. subject to a deduction
for time spent in a university or college; where
fore all law students first rushed for admission
to the Common Pleas bar.
Among tho names earliest subscribed were
those OF Thomas l.. Wells. who subsequently
became n great bar leader; Samuel yerplanck,
William Beach Lawrence. and James II. Roose.
welt, who a quarter Of a century later became a
Judge, and was an uncle OF Theodore Roosevelt.
and whose wife was long a leader Of fashion.
Later, on the first page, are the miniature hand.
writing OF NJ. NJ. Noah and bold autograph Of
Richard Ray OF old Knickerbocker lineage, and
an ancestor Of Robert Ray Hamilton. In
the summer Of the same year the roll was
signed in a fine italian hand by William
lTItrhal1 1-A ~ tha p,nct 1nrnh14 ~ 800
who in after years adorned the Supreme
Court bench and was the father OF a recent Fed
eral District Attorney. In the next year tho
roll was signed by Daniel p. Ingraham, after
ward Of the bench; Washington q. Morton. who
became a great admiralty lawyer and authority
in yachting; James r. Whiting, a%fterward n
Judge; Charles O'Connor who subsequently
dropped one I'M. and william Kent, who af-
terward became n great Circuit Judge and sem
fenced James Gordon Bennett. the elder. TO q
fine for publishing q libel. and died as a profess
sor OF law in Harvard University after editing
several new editions Of his fathers celebrated
Commentaries. In company with these
names appear the signatures Of Jonathan
Prescott Hall, Federal District Attorney
in 1910: Isaac O.. Barker. long afterward
an unsuccessful candidate for Mayor on n Ma.
tive American ticket; the a%fterwnrd eloquent
Ogden Hoffman; David Prescott Hall. ono OF
the pioneer operators In real estate who helped
tlild up Newport as a fashionable watering
place, and John A. Dix. whose dashing auto.
graph, unchanged even from that OF the young
law student, was afterward, during the civil
war, signed to the historic despatch. IF any
one hauls down the American flag shoot him or
the spot" next, for the year 1928. follow the
autographs Of Francis Griffin. long a realty ex
pert; James Lorimer Graham. and F. Brock
hoist Cutting. with the last names hyphen
ated, who In later years was neck anc
neck in legal races with tho O'Connol
on the opposite pnge. There. also. is the me
thodical autograph OF William lnglis. who no
long afterward added to his attorney q oath ant
signature those OF n Justice Of the same court
Next is the signature OF Samuel b. Hurlber
Judah. who shortly nfter his admission. in June
1925, stood at the bar of the General Sessions
to be sentenced for a series of satirical libel
upon New Workers in a poem entitled Gotham
and Gothamites." which. when OCCASIONAL,
produced from old libraries for sale at auction
brings q score of dollars.
Another page brings to view the bold pen dasl
Of Smith Barker. whose son and namesake mar
ried n Vanderbilt heiress. and the French pen
manship OF Eugene Keteltas. who became
lawyer merely for tho honor of the name, an,
passed n pleasant life In n Second avenue man
sion as n leader Of fashion and as one OF the mos
hospitable Of dinner givcrs-the Keteltas win
tagcs being yet toothsome traditions OF tn
Union Club. Near to his signature ia that in
pulsive one Of Philo I. Ruggles, whose afterwar
cramped signature, as master in chancery an,
referee. signed multiple deeds OF uptown pror
erty, especially around Union square. In 1872
come the signatures OF young George +. TalmaT
unaware then that he was to become q Corpora
tion Counsel, and OF Nathaniel Bowditch Blum
New Works great District Attorney from 1876
to 1854. In 1927 is seen tho schoolboy hand @
Thomas Jefferson Smith, who long afterwar
served as a local Justice and made ms much mel
riment for reporters as does John o. Mott. Sid
by side come the autographs of David Graham
Jr., the most eminent and successful crimina
lawyer New York has ever known. and Charlie
A. Clinton, u son of De Witt Clinton. VIII
was long clerk OF the Superior Court, and /
that Office while insane through ovcrwork cor
mitted suicide. Here. too, is the crampcd auto
graph OF Charles Fenno Hoffman,, who soon CAV
up law for literature, and wrote lyrics and songs