The sun., 1898-01-02
TOLD OF JUSTICE DANIELS.
FRUGAL, BARD-WoRKING, AND eIM.
PIE IN hrs TASTES AND HABITS.

~
never Hsd n Physician Uutn Ono was suu..
soned at His pcath-Revised Eninnsoir when
ne Pound no was wronE-LarEo Perferu,.
nncea for Little Feea-ClenrtnE the Calendar,
BUFFALO, Dec. 3l.-when Charles Daniels.
Tho eminent Judge, lay dying In his office, whore
ho had been stricken while at work. the friendn
who found him asked:
-"Who Is your physcianf' ID,
~ never had one," said he. II mover have
been sick"
1t did not seem at all strange to those who
knew him that a man of such strict principles
in life as Justice Daniels was should have
passed through sovcnty-threc years Of 1ife with
out n day Of sickness. The strong will which
dominated every act of life was mated to q
body which was strong because of the things
which had been denied 1t.
Justice Daniels is part of the legal history oe
New York state. Some Judges prefer not to
write opinions when only decisions are re-
oulred Of thom. They are content to give
their conclusions without making the logic OF
them open to criticism. Justice Daniels de-
lighted to show tho route by which no camc to
the end and in consequence In the twenty eight
years he served on the Supreme Court bench he
wrote a multitude OF opinions-more than any
other Judge Of the State. evor put on record
and his namo Ia indissolubly linked with the
law of the State. ..s-.
There trond Of homely romance in his
life. He began 1t as waif in New York, the
| son of Welsh parents. picked up as an appren.
tice by shoemaker, from whom he separated In
Toledo, coming to Buffalo Hero ho worked
as u cobbler in the shop Of Michael Glory, next
to tho Mansion House. He studied law while
at work. was taken up by Ell Cook, one OF
the first Mayors of Buffalo, and at tho ago Of
% was admitted to tho bar. The saorifces
n \
subjects that the Judge loved to dwell ON
when in tho company Of few personal friends
he had. He used to sleep in the shop and cat
his meals there, and he allowed himself no
recreation but reading the law books which he
could borrow. Even when he was retired
from the Supreme Court tho Judge found no
joys outside his books. He was elected to the
Supreme Court in 1868. and served two termss
A good part of this time he sat on the General
Term in New York. He tried some notable
CAGES. In 1886 he was nominated for the
Court Of Appeals. but was defeated by Rufus
w. Peckham.
Certainly no man. in Western New York. al
least, knew SO much of tho law as Justice
Daniels He studied it when on the bench, he
delighted in 1t while other men were at lunch,
O meal which the Judge rarely allowed himself,
and when not in tho society of his wife he gave
his evenings to it. His memory was the wonder
of tho bar
peared as ounscl in a suit brought to establish
the liability OF the trustees Of the Empire State
Damn, the bank wrecker. who died on the day
no was to have been sentenced. In his argu-
bearing i on the liability Of bank directors and and
| quoted from, opinions In twenty one Of these
H a n esrs9 S
before them found that the easiest way was 70
HIs' ss carried IN Ss Read % awyeT went to
him for help in an action against an express
company on a peculiar question OF liability.
IT have not had occasion to look that up for
about thirty years" said al Justice ,1 Daniels .6us
treated in The Chancery Reports"
| And he told the lawyer the volume where ho
| One Characteristic of Justice Daniels. which
all Buffalo knew and joked about, was s; that no
days S
frock coat, which except on days Of bitter cold
left bsS Ms o is that ss
for oyercoats and ruboers. mufiiers' ana hke
he smoked and chewed tobacco. One day while
trying case in court he got the impressiSin i,
| ing. He never used tobacco again. The long
upper lip. SO inyitng It to carieature. was an OUT
While sitting in the General Term in New
| York Justice Daniels wrote an opinion In an
Hun Hun sent @ for the opinion to print. Meanwhile
| Justice Daniels mad made some more researches
he to ths 1as ne be
against whom he had decided. suggested to him
ask for and nd then owSo, %Eots an
At another time he wrote an opinion deciding
case for the sRpellants Another JuStice 81. d
pt read The S opinion Of his colleague be found thas
ent way. Considering them, he became salts.
fed that he and his colleague were wrong so
tice tic Daniels related these incidents 70 Henry ".
Box ,p p% d :e t5nm 3n ne o uatTats
with his knowledge OF the law and his almost
unerring judgment approved as It h WAS py aRS me
earned a very big income after he left the bench
But he preferred to round out his life in In h his
office. T % He wrote his briefs in his own hand.
In fact, up to two years before his death he re-.
and % hs Gecsons are on file in New York
| and in Albany in his own plain big. regular
f Of the s steneerapher. % and when dispute arose
as to the testimony OF witness he always set,
tho reporter Of the court. On the bench he was
strict as the letter Of the law Itself He e5.
to With d m H M
suffered no trifing; He po7nghSd his way way
through heavy calendar ar with % the same saimS ear
In his office no lawyer was too humble to get
his advice offered most courteously., He never M
lng % his personai S attention to the details IT. in
| the course OF his labors on an opinion, he found
| It necessary to send telegram, for instance,
he would take his hat and carry the message to
| the office himself instead of ringing for boy.
| When the end OF year came he made u e
| him. His offices were acros, the hall from
those Of Porter Norton; Regularly on Dec u,
| about 5 o'clock, the Judge would stroll into
| Mr.. Nortons office and remark:
| Morton, it's all closed up, The last optni99
| is written. Happy New Year." Then he would
| walk home, happy
Justice Daniels tried many memorable cases.
nsdns the TfSa S ring to Ss which hba hsd
Harry Genet $4,000 and sentenced him to
| ten months imprisonment. He tried the
Jake sharp at Saratoga Springs. His integ-
| rity and his conception Of justice were meyer
second wife was very rich, but Justice Daniels
indulged himself In none Of tho, luxuries OF
| wealth. After no retired from the bench no
| was noted for his modest charges. He wrote
three opnions on the cOnstitntiOnality OF cor