Evening journal., 1914-01-15
EEs.Eg EEEs.E NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Judge Who Objected to
an Increased Salary
B, Holland.

The title OF Joh~ Clinton Cray. who
retired from the bcnch OF the highest
court Of New York State ON January 1,
having reached the age of 10 years. will
be retired Judge nat is not a nom-
nal on colloqual title. II is specified in
the statutes Of New York State a ''rc-
tired judge who has served upon the
bench OF the highest court receives for
life pension Of $4,000
Judge Gray as a imist gained, in the
twenty-five years of his services upon
the bench OF the Court of Appeals. ma
tional, even an international, rcputn-
tion. or the bench he is one of the
most companiouable OF men, His great
stores OF ieaning. his long service as a
student al one of the German universe
tics a. young man and the unusual
opportuniiics which hc has had foi
meeting upon terms of intimate friend
ship many OF the foremost men of at
fairs political. professional and lnan-
cial. have enabled him to get together
a store OF anecdotes, many of which
throw Illuminating silcliehts upon the
characters of men who ia The genera
tion that has PASSED were esteemed
great.
ON the eve of Judge Crays depart
urc TO Europe whittier lac has gone TO
take a prolonged rest. | had delightful
conversation with him. lie spoke OF
many OF the men who had achieved
greatly Ia the time now gone by. lie
related anecdotes which served TO show
that the popular conception of famous
men was frequently not in all respects
just one.
~ will tell you said Judge Gray.
"an Wuccdotc OF Martin Grover The
story was told TO me some years ago
by a judge, who, When "a Young man.
was familiar with Al'uAin Growers ca-
reer and who knew him personally
Judge GroNqr was one of the ablcst
legal ntellecis New York State has
ever produced. He was completely ab
-orbed in his profession as a lawycr and
aiterward in his long service as Judge.
Ills name is still remembered by the
older lawyers of the United
States and is no doubt familiar
TO every one of the younger lawyers
who + student of important eases
Judge Grover was an Old bachelor
He believed that the law should be
his sole mistress. He did not nave
time to court and marry a wife He
was blunt. outspoken. rugged man
OF vigorous although rather coarse
intellect
"He was esteemed man Of incor-
ruptible life and he undoubtedly was.
He was fond OF his reputation IN that
respect While he was judge. and
think about ten years before his
death. the Legislature increased the
pay of the judges in certain courts
one of these being the court in which
Grover sat from $4,000 to $4,000.
Judge Grover with earnestness and
aggressiveness denounced the action
OF the Legislature. lie declared pub
licly and IN private to his associates
upon the bench that $4,000 was SUI
ncient salary for any Judge. lie said
that he would continue to be content
with that salary He gave the i'm
preston TO an his associates that he
drew only $4,000 year. AS he was
a bachelor and was of the utmost
simplicity of life that sum was re-
garded as amply sufficient for him
after Judge Growers death the
administrators of his estate decided
that they undoubtedly had the right
to collect from the State of New York
that part of Judge Growers salary
which NE had not drawn. 1t amount
ed 10 about 50 800. If I recollect cor
roctly. Therefore, the administra-
tors went to Albany In order TO learn
what the exact amount due the estate
was They speedily discovered what
the amount was. II was not a copper.
The fact was that Judge Grover had
{ drawn his full salary as regularly AZ
any of the other judges had done, al
though he stood conspicuous before
his associates and the people Of the
State as a man who was content TO
receive no more than the salary
which appertained to his office when
he first went upon the bench.
"Curiously enough, the admnistra-
tors were unable to discover what
he had done with that money He
was fond of law books and il was
very likely expended in accommodating
additions 60 his library"