The Washington herald., 1914-04-25
HISTORY BUILDERS.
David B. Hills Hard Luck in Two
Famous Gases.
Written Expressly for The Herald.
BY DIR. Z. j. EDWARDS,


was chatting with one of the justices
OF the Supreme Court of New York State
year or two after the death of David
b. Hill, who was twice elected governor
of New York. and served one term in the
United States Senate, and who was the
candidate of the Democratic organization
in New York for the Presidential nomina-
tion in 1892. The judge told me an inter
esting aaecdote about Mr.. Hill, but in
view of the fact that he was one OF the
Justices who heard a great argument in
murder case made by Hill. he asked
me not to make use of his name.
/ had said to the Judge that / often
wondered whether Hill had taken seri-
ously to heart his defeat for the Presiden-
tial nomination in 1892 by Grover Cleve-
land.
II never saw any evidence either in
Hills manner or in what he said that ne
was particularly disappointed because
Cleveland beat him for the Presidential
nomination" he replied. Il do know,
however. that he did take to heart bitter
ly his defeat before the court after he
had appeared as counsel for Albert s.
Patrick and made an argument In sup
port of the reversal of the verdict by
which Patrick had been found guilty of
murder in the first degree.
Gov Hill was retained by friends of
Patrick, who, you will remember. was
convicted after a most sensational trial
as accessory to the murder of a very
wealthy man named Rice. with intent
to secure large part of the Iatter's for
tune.
Gov Hills retainer was fixed at 81 lOoO.
! think 1t was the largest fee he ever
received. He took up the case rather re-
luctantly but after he began work upon
it he became intensely Interested in it
His analysis OF the evidence upon which
Patrick was convicted was wonderfully
clear and profound. He became convinc-
ed that upon the evidence Patrick should
never have been convicted. He began to
make a personal matter Of this profess
siOnal cmplOymC Mt. and by the time the
court was ready to hear the argument he
had become completely absorbed in the
case.
His argument was one OF the ablest
ever delivered before the court As a
piece Of reasoning it was clear. and his
argument WAS utterly free from any
rhetorical effort. He tried to demonstrate
his case as he would have demonstrated
a problem OF mathematics.
''Hc lost his case, although the court
was nearly equally divided. There was
on" majority against him. The loss Of
that case almost made Gov. Hill ill., He
took it grievoUsly to heart and it was
some weeks before he was able to con-
centrate his mind upon his other profes-
slOnal work
Il have good reason for prcsuming that
II was largely due to Gov HilTs argu-
ment that Patrick's sentence was com
muted by the governor shortly after to
Imprisonment for life
Now. here was n queer feature of
Gov. Hills professional practice in this
respect He was retained twice in CAP
ital cases. once by the friends of Albert
J. Patrick. and asterward by the STATE
TO max" the argument before the Court
OF Appeals in favor Of sustaining the YER
dict by which Roland r. MOlir aux had
been convicted. in another So onaf
trial. Of murder in the first deg The
friends OF MolineauN retained John G. !
Milburn to make tn" argument in favor
OF granting new trial. Gov. Hill's argu- I
ment in favor Of sustaining the verdict was
and yet he lost that case do !
not know what the state paid him for
this service. but it is indeed a curious
piece Of professional destiny that he
should hav" appealed to the court to re- !
verse IN" trial OF one man convicted of /
murder and in another case was employ :
pd hy the State TO sustain verdict Of /
murder in the first degree. and should .
lose both cases To some of his friends /
Gov. Hin intimated that he would have |
been wiser had he remained out Of poll /
tics and devoted himself exclusively to ,
Tho practice Of his profession"
Copyright Isli by pr 3 J. Edwards All tights
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