The Irish standard., 1912-09-28

Governor Dix is accredited with
having exercised good judgment when
he named Justice John w. Golf, Of
the New York Supreme Court, as spe-
cial judge to conduct the trials of the
| men indicted in connection with the
police graft and Rosenthal murder
cases, says the Literary Digest.
| 1t is hardly possible that jurist
better fitted for this particular task
cou,a have been picked by the Gov
ernor. If We may judge by what Ben
jamin Baker writes about him in the
Boston Transcript. Justice Golf was
counsel for the famous Lexow Com
mlttee, which in 1894 exposed official
corruption in the New York Police
Department, second only to that which
! tiourished under the notorious Tweed
Ring, and he is further qualified for
the job by q long career on the GRIM
inal bench, during which he presided
over trials that attracted nation wide
attention. One of his chief charac-
teristics, it is said, Is disposition to
| disregard minor technicalities in the
admission OF testimony when q strict
! adherence to the letter of the law of
evidence would defeat the ends Of
justice. These two paragraphs from
MIR. Bakers article tell briefly the
story of Justice Goffs rise:
Justice Golf is a self-made man. and
the manner and method of the max.
ing throw a good deal of light on the
man as he now is. To get quickly
over the statistical beginning, Justice
! Golf was born in County Wexford
ireland, in 1850, Of a family that had
for generations been active in sacri-
ficing even their lives in the struggle
for the independence of Ireland. Ills
father and mother died when he was
about nine years old, and he then
lived with an uncle until he was four
teen. Then he learned biography.
and was in the government service in
| both England and Scotland, leaving
that service shortly to go to Brazil.
Sidetracked by yellow fever, he was
landed in Argentina, and from there
he made his way north, landing in
New York In the summer of 1866. He
got job, finally, with A. T. Stewart,
and studied O. nights taking courses
at the Cooper Institute-a pretty de-
termined program for an orphan boy
of fifteen in a strange country. He
was soon advanced by Mr.. Stewart
to a responsible position =. which he
held until 1872, when he left to study
law In law office. AS he got no SAL
arN there, he had to support himself
by night work at telegraphy and by
writing for the newspapers. He mar
ried in 1874, was admitted to the bar
two years later and at once entered
| private practice.
10 one who has not received the
! Impression Of personal intercourse
with Justice Golf, 1t may seem note
worthy that the young Golf did not
ally himself with the new Tammany
which rose under John Kelly on the
ruins of Boss Tweed. Golf has all
ways been Democrat. but up to the
time of his election as Recorder of
the Court of General Sessions, fol-
lowing the Lexow inquiry, the only
Office he had held was that of an as
sistant district attorney under John
! r. Fellows. The mental and moral
fastidiousness of the man, hardly less
than his inflexible honesty, must have
made any active alliance with Tam
many impossible to him. He ran for
the office of District Attorney in 1890
against Delaney Nicoll, but was beat
en-. From that time until his appear
| ance In the Lexow investigation Golf
was little known to the general pub
lic Since the beginning of that in
vestigation Tammany, which he has
always opposed, has feared him. His
public life since his election as Re-
corder has been passed in his court
room. His private life has been tran
quill, inconspicuous, and without blem-
| ish.
Justice Golf is of middle height,
slender, erect, white-haired, white
bearded, and probably would not be-
very distinguished looking but for his
piercing blue eyes, in which seems
concentrated all the compelling force
and dignity of the man. He is gentle
and at the same time austere. Mr.
Baker continues:
Justice COTS personality lifts him
above the common run of New York
Supreme Court judges as lighthouse
towerS above low-lying fog. There
are now, and have been in the past,