The evening times., 1898-10-08
Self Written Obituary of a
Remarkable Man.
EDITOR, LAWYER AND ACTOR
A Short and Bitter Political Life.
ObserS atiens Upon Death-A Swe-
denbOrginn In Religion, Though
He Requests His Funeral Services
Performed by u Catholic Priest.

| not generally known until this morning
is the cause of no little genuine regret.
for though he had long stepped from
the paths of public life he was well re-
membered and there has always been a
| strong tingle of friendship for this able
and eccentric man.
| Six years ago Mr.. Hall wrote his own
| obituary. He called it his thanatopsis
This document was handed to his friend
Ballard Smith. of the New York World,
with injunctions that it should not be
| opened until after his death. The World
! this morning publishes the obituary
| In the course of the description of his
life history Mr.. Hall wrote:
| Il was born July 26, 1926. at Albany. in
| the house of my maternal grandfather
! and namesake. Abraham Oakley then and
| for many years, deputy treasurer of the
! State. He had married the daughter of
| an exiled French count-the Count d AS
| signie.
My paternal grandfather was an Eng
| lishmdn who married a native of Wales
| Their son, my father, was merchant in
| New Orleans, where he was buried when
l was scarcely three years old Some of
| my early years were passed in New Or
| leans and Albany
| eAoSn"ate Oh hayes ana hOuuIey.
But since the age of five | have been
resident of New York city. where / was
first schooled and where l graduated in
! 1874 from its university. Thence l went
to Harvard Law School in the dec lining
days of Professors Story and Greenleaf.
| and where | had as fellow classmates and
| boarding inmates the after President
! Hayes and the subsequent Gov. Hoadley
| OF Ohio
| Sketches OF my knowledge of Judge
; Joseph Story while there are embraced in
! his sons biography OF that great jurist.
| Thence / went to New Orleans to stuiy
| civil law. Was there admitted to its bar
/ Judah p. Benjamin being one of my ex-
aminers, while 1 took certificates from
| John Slidell, and where l casually at a
| donner party made the acquaintance of
! Jefferson Davis. then, as colonel of MI
| sissipi regiment. en- route To Mexican bat
tie fields.
| II was again admitted to the bar in
| New York city during October. lSiS. In
| 1851 l was appointed assistant district at
| torney.
| Il was elected full district attorney i'll
1854, again in 1861, again in 1864. again in
1867, and in 1868 foolishly and reluctantly
! resigned that Office tfor which / was fit
ted by tastes and training) for the office
! of mayor for which | was untitled by
habits, taste and training l was reject
ed in 1870.
In the spring of 1871 I found that the
municipal ship l commanded had fallen
into the hands of pirates. After suffering
a walk over the plank l successfully
| swan ashore.
| IF my political life was short and Bit
ter, my professional one was long and
sweet, as founder of the once noted law
firm of Brown. Hall & Vanderpoe!-the
latter having been a college chum. and
we agreeing at the university to STUDY
law and become partners. The partner
ship continued from 1852 until 1871
MY first law case of Importance Is to
be found in the eighth volume OF How
ards Reports of United States Supreme
Court, to which | was admitted on mo-
ton of Attorney General Reverdy john
son.
The New York statute books from 1893
TO 1877 contain about fifty acts which
drafted and assisted in procuring-most
| of them relating TO reforms in criminal
Jurisprudence suggested by my expert
ence as public prosecutor, and each OF
which in more or less compressed form
yet live in the criminal codes. The metro
politan police law of 1857 and the charter
of that year were solely drafted by me.
|
II was in my day noted social and
club man. l have belonged to the South
Side. Islip. the Yacht. the Jockey, the
Blossom and the Union Clubs. / have
been one of the governors of the Man.
haitian Club and die life member and
ex-president of the Lotos Club and an
honorary life member of the world-re-
| nowned Press Club. -
l rlX m CvTi . .
press In college l assisted slender in
come by being reporter and writer on
the Sunday Aurora Chat rose like the
tabled goddess. but, unlike her, set to rise
no more), the Noah's Messenger. the
New York American. While a law stu
dent I wrote for the Evening Tattler and
Evening Signal, the Sunday Mercury, the
| Brother Jonathan. the Western Conti-
nent and the New Orleans Delta and
Bulletin.
"As a Young practitioner. wrote for the
International and Harper's Magazines.
for the Evening Mirror and Home Jour
nal. of Morris & Willis: the Literary
World edited by the Duyckincks, and the
broadway Journal, in the days of Harry
Francis Briggs and Edgar A. Poe
During the exacting and dutiful days
of District attorneyships and mayoralties
/ was only slap-dash amateur. unpaid
journalist for the New York daily news
paDers and the Weekly Leader.
..In 1876. threatened severely with symp-
, toms of paresis, l was medically ordered
; to adopt the only reliable remedy adapt
| ed TO that insidious disease-change OF
employment
"I at first became an actor, but really
omitted the stage because that profession
was so distasteful and misunderstanding
| 70 an aged mother, to whose nurture ana
care I owed all that was good In my
comnosition-who believed that a theateI
, was limited section of Sheoi.
Editor and Correspondent.
} NJ Hall refers to his connection with
. the editorial department of the Worlo
/ when owned successfully by Tom Scott
5 and Jay Gould, and to his duties in Lon
? don as sub-head of the Herald bureau IN
/ that city, and says:
E at Is to the journalistic and literary cpl
. | sodes of my career / recur in memories
, the oftenest But claim that my episode
as district attorney during so many years
{: entities me to claim that Notwithstanding
g my many mistakes in other respects) de-
. | serve metropolitan remembrance.
81, as prosecutor, was never prosecutor
, never convicted an innocent accused
I | 7 nerhaps made mercy too elastic. never
| placed victory above justice. And l quit
! | ted the Office without even political as
persion upon any one of my official acts
II shall pass from this to the other life
| with only one regret-that of leaving tC
| follow me one who is all of this world tC
me- l feel as Sir Charles C0ldstream
a In the comedy of Used Up felt wher
n | be lappIidIy said 20 every offer for change