The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-29
HENRYL.CLINTON VERYLOW
THE LAWYER WHO COT COMMODORE
YANDERBILTS WILL THR0UGH.

For almost a year Henry l.. Clinton has been
critically Ill at his homo. SO Park avenue. HALF
q century ago Mr.. Clinton assisted In the de-
fence In tho most famous OF murder trials OF that
day. Thirty years lhter he was famous for his
success In the SurroRate's Court. where he was
concerned with many OF the greatest will cases.
notably that of Commodore Vanderbilt. For
his services TO the Vanderbilt heirs he received
S20O,0 600.
Tho stroke OF paralysis from which Mr.. Clln-
ton is now suffering came upon him last sum-
mer at Richfleld Springs, where he has spent q
part OF every summer but one between 1853
n 1897. Mr.. Clinton's age is uncertain. He
always evaded answering any question about
It. One OF those who has been most close
ly associated with him said yesterday
that he was sure that Mr.. Clinton
was nearer o0years old than 80. Another. and
perhaps a closer. acquaintance was quite sure
that Mr.. Clinton was not moro than 70. He
was born In East Haddam. Conn. He started
out in life penniless. he never went to any
school other than the township schools at East
Haddam. He taught school for q good many
years in Connecticut. He came to New York
early in the thirties. and entered the law ONCE
of David Graham. the elder brother Of John
Graham. and worked there until 1S48. when he
was admitted to the bar.
I'm that day criminal lawyers were not O
class apart" said an associate OF Mr.. Cllnton's
yesterday. New York was not by any means
tho great commercial and business centre that
It is now. In tho public eye the most interest
ing cases, the biggest cases II you care to put
it that way, were criminal cases. To practice
in such cases In no way affected n lawyers
standing in other departments of legal activ-
ity. As an ambitious young lawyer Mr.. Clinton
felt that practice In criminal courts afforded
him his best opportunity"
Another reason. why the, criminal law was
years, ago, called Extraordinary Cases:
"especiaily u the jury we're %Ge' Kept t RS
(which was generally the case in noted ,%trialsl.
for the Jury. but supplied dinners TO the mem
bers Of the court, to the counsel on both sides
and generally some few invited, guests. The
yTsbss os stint hite OF al fHln fI + 'lRgIadin sn q b %lne
s ssPRs dau ST! yc IF foa@ says: Al In enj Sge fa tSe Ge-
&c sDf c Gl9is i Tsi b ! 3,GlPef rS Il. v RGq Fsp. si aS sv thS
day Of the trial, which lasted for weeks. ,,
Mr.. Clinton himself doubtless appreciated
S Ssfi9|,s GSaEt IN , the GAYS q g. sq%FlE Sygn c CALVIN YIN
tained in court by an important case and sept
S|SD SlsT Is,0 9qs E I9E a /. % p}nts Of the SSr G S%ds w sSDdi
mepbered That as be finished the las, 81 tho
six he would almost always say: That's good,
be- SSi ie iii i s was h timse lGr him M 70 Ss SS s 20 Sss q do SsST
When he g. could 3 md. not cot two large porterhouso
Mr.. Ciinton's most famous case was the de-
murder oi b: BuFdsfi n Bond street on Jan.
Re as NJ. Clinton has always EaS Hf6S been re.
Rnrding his private life, he would talk for, hours
trisi. 4 HastfH'pi oass Which, vi His was sase eqHsssn 4 'r res
CALLED in his "reminiscences was that Of Henri
faF 1Re eO %hS~ d Rf sb defended ps0eesai IN 3 p aiter 6t trlHll
appeals to Gov, Hunt for Eeprieves There
s%sss them he ss}haiyYs he as fought "a r tEs oas iP t6 SaRisaas
the Oyer and Terminer Court and General
e~epti9ns to whose rulings all the, appeals ,were
based. presided; and in the end he turned the
e edsse Of f s6m n sBe sbs l HsEtslat%rs sh tS h hsd of tSe
case. When 4. Oakley Hall became District At
torney, Carnal, on Mr.. Clinton's advice. pleaded
guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to a
His procedure in the Oarnal case has been
S 81 the msn. G He Ra q b stsSG Ssslsae Sps to Tie casS
against his VIII, He was quite without, sympa-
1 mipS d to Fss Ria t tRs e ease ei ana. vi FL hsa he Se Sia.
suffered the penalty for the crime OF which he
Mr.; Clinton found in the early eOs that he had
nearly exhausted the remuperative p2ssibill-
| lltS Oh IHb pTdCICc OF criminal law. lie Ilau De-
come famous, but his Income was but mod
crate. He determined to enter the civil courts.
S Si1Hst Infa5m IA liar NJ, ,h6 Si Wl, RPs0S9R8qPP S,t and tech naG
counsel for the General Electric Company. who
had an office in the same building with him.
to such an extent that he usIaiy? REUSED to
take a case unless Mr. Putney was called as as
ing q name as a civil lawyer. he Went to Buffalo
s sSRs d %nFEEsa Il Fli ESo9ss " SgeGGfiiG Clifton GIGGfS3}e ei
l 1nutiOn nf Fhn RnnAFi0F (n1Ff md fha
SasS Of De " witt snG clla H9Ret'MSf r. GPHtSn IS sh Son see
ayusgtlE the brotheritn.law Of SPENCER Clinton
Buckner Democrats for Lieutenant Governor.
A. about this time he entered Tamm9ny Hall.
II de t fs1 games me- 6|B B2ittfi'ib rs a GstSgneHF He BY m %9S
Hall, unity he became such a formidable. lnhu-
ence that the leaders OF the Democratic ma
chine were constrained to conc!liate him. Mr..
Clinton became q close friend Of John Kelly
Etenn%s Sf the T SrPsaSin "t tTiu %RT2aSs, c RHtSFS
Kelly. and Schel" was openly regarded as In
entire S2ntr0l Of the 0agaPiFSdo Hrn.. %, ,no
prosecution In the Tweed trial. Later. with
Col. Fellows. he defended Richard Croker on
counsel for the defence In a number of great
will eases. before Surrogate CALVIN. His fee Of
largest that had ever been paid to a lawyer al
that time. Other eases In which he figured
StsRaEFt [e Jam saSf s, Tay yeTe William ShRss 4 f. i Ieve ri +
RollwaGen, and Nancy Smith estates in the
Surrugate's Court.
gates Court he was 9 rich man. He had pc
now, practices in the Third District NUM-
cipal Court, and two or three other young men
law clerks and stenographers. he worked FIRE
9psntly for twenty-t9ur hours at a TING. 4,
found no difficulty In Overwhelming three short,
hand writer's with work.
One OF his most famous cases was that b
Peter Marie and others against Cornelius, X
Garrison oyer Chg, reorganization OF the Mis-
100000. Associated with, Mr.. Clinton yer,
Joseph II. Choate; George y. Comstock, Mel
ytIlo G, Day, and William =. PYtney, On tn
other side was Roscoe Conkling. with al
equally formidable array OF assistants. Mr.
Clinton lost this case.
After they had been associated n manyca sel
Mr.. Clinton persuaded Mr.. Putney to shar,
Offices with him, When the firm OF Pptney 4
Bishop moved into the Boreel building Mr.
Clinton vent with them: He was not a mem
began to drop out Of the practice Of law. Witt
Smith Ely and others, he entered into real es
tate speculation. He did some other specula
ton by himself. always pr9ntaBIy. or Iat
ierson NJ. low In real estnle transactions