The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-08-19
THE TERMoNrAIN AND COLORADO CATHOLIC AUGUST TO- 1905

the best traditions of fine, free and vigorous
national life is Recorder John W. Gotf, OF New
York City Readers of the newspapers will recall
celebrated murder trial that took place several
months ago IN New York, in which the most nau-
seating details were brutality held UP to the pubic
gaze. The prosecuting attorney seemed a peculiar
illustration of the law of the survival OF the yul-
garest He chewed gum, and used brand OF Ian
guage that was as vigorous and unWashed rs raw
onion. The defendant was type of the chorus
girl who wears the hair the left eye and crowd
the Broadway resorts after 10 o'clock. She was
travesty of pure womanhood. The spectators were
of the sort that usually oo2e into murder trials
married women whose home life was too SLOW,
young girls who wanted to know hte' and TOOL
ish young men about town.
The only dignifving touch in the whole proceed
ings the presiding justice, whose venerable lace
and hair as white as a chd's First Communion
dress set him apart and above the sordid drama
surging around him. Recorder Got maintained
the majesty of the law when the law sadly needed
whatever i1vestituring halo it could gather to-
gether. His charge to the jury model OF state
ment--luminous, clear calmly dlSpasslonate. in
that muck of passion and crime it man Of
Celtic birth-who by the way, gIories in the fact
who gave the trial touch OF solennltJ that re-
deemed it from utter loathsomeness.
The career Of the Hon John ". Golf, the pres
ent recorder Of the city of New York, should be an
example and an inspiration to every school boy IN
the land. In his rise to power and fame are EN-
phasized the splendid opportunities offered by our
republic to young men endowed with industry, zeal
a lofty independence and an lndOm1table VIII, TIC
peculiarly Celtic qualities.
Fifty-six years ago he was born III the town OF
Corey County Wexford, Ireland, and he Is as proud
of his Irish nativity as he is of his American cltl-
zenship. His parents died when he was years old
land he went to live with an uncle in England. He
became a telegrapher, but, moved by the spirit OF
,J,- no Of no b1da adj To
uncIe's family and travelled through England and
Scotland.
Soon after he took passage for the United
States and in the summer of 1865 landed in New
York.
Realizing the great possibilities in store for the
deserving with light heart and still lighter purse
the energetic youth at once sought such employ
ment as would give him the start in life ne so much
desired. In the large dry goods establishment OF
Arnold, Constable d Co. he secured a cIerkshlp
This he resigned couple of years later to accept
Il higher position III the Broadway house OF \. l.
Stewart the merchant prince.
Between Stewards and the house at which he
boarded stood the great institute of learning
founded by the phanthropiSt. Peter Cooper. Here
young Golf entered a student and fer several
years supplemented his days of hard labor at Stew
arts by nights of hard study In science and art
in Cooper Union. Graduating with honor III 1872
he became a law student in the offices of Hon
Samuel G. Courtney, United States district attor-
ney.
The modest compensation received being insuf-
fcient to support him, he earned enough to meet
his expenses by reportoral work of the great
dailies of the metropolis After four years of study
by day and of work by night he was admitted to the
bar, being one of the four students who received
honorable mention from the examining board.
In 1883 he appointed assistant to the dis
trict attorney of New York. In 1890 he was nom
mated for the office of district attorney by the
lo1 tiol-a hv-
many thousand votes, In 1894 he was nominated
for the office of mayor Of New York, but refused.
He was then nominated for the Office of recorder
of the city and county accepted, and elected
for term of fourteen years by a majority of some
sixty thousand votes. He polled ten thousand
votes more than any other candidate on the same
ticket The recorder is judge of the highest grim
ina court The Office is of the four important
ones established in the early history of the colony,
and has always been regarded as a position of the
very highest honor and Importance
One of Recorder Colts characteristics through
life has been his intense devotion to the cause Of
his native land Indeed, he could not well be other
WISE for as the grandson of patriot who had
shouldered his pike and followed the rebel Father
Murphy upon the Wexford hills in the memorable
days of 49, he could not be other than rebel
against injustice and wrong. While IN his early
teens, one of his first acts after reaching New
York was to join the famous Phil Sheridan Circle
of the Fenian Brotherhood, of which he was made
secretary. As such he attended the different con
ventions and was active in it's ranks until the
Fenian Brotherhood was supplanted by the Clan
na-Gael. In the Clan he held at various times
positions of the highest trust and Importance. One
| of the Clan achievementS-the rescue of the sly
| Fenian prisoners from the penal colony of Free
mantle in western Australia, in 1876, was planned
| and executed by the supreme council of the Clan
na-Gael OF which he was a member
His career as a judge accentuates his previou.
enviabe record at the bar. His honOrs rest lightly
upon him. His great characteristic is his perfec
| naturalness. There is nothing of the grand
! gloomy and peculiar" about him.