New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-07-15
JUSTICE DELANY
DIES AS POOR WAIT
Ex-Associate of d. L,
Dresser Was Invalid
from Pneumonia.
LAWYER, SOLDIER,
WRITER, LECTURER
Civil War Career Ended In Libby
Prison-Harvard Had
HonOred Him.


Ascension were striking $3.50 last even
ing one Of its best known members,
Justice John Joseph Delany of the Su-
preme Court died at his home in the
Clearfield Apartments, Riverside Drive
and 103d Street, from uremic poison
| ing
A silent crowd of poorly dressed
people, friends Of the jurist,. had
stood about the entrance to the build
ing for hours waiting for news, when
John Barry, Justice Delany's conhden-
tial officer, appeared in the door with
tears in his eyes and said: THE Judge
/ is dead" Then they dispersed, to
! mourn the loss of friend.
The family was gathered at the bed
side when the end came; his wife, ms
sons, John, jr., Arthur J. and Theodore
W.. and his daughters, Mary T., Alice
VI. and Mrs. Arthur Cunnion. Father
WYNN, S. j., was present, with Father
Sweeney, who administered the last
rites.
Many messages Of coincidence were
received by the family. The Board OF
Supreme Court Justices sent its SYM
pathy and Charles F. Murphy sent
message. During the afternoon Car
dinal Farley was among the visitors
| at the apartment.
Hard Work fastened End.
Justice Delany was a hard worker,
which undoubtedly aggravated the all
ment from which he died. He was
stricken in court on May IA. He should
have been home at that time con-
/ serving his strength to fight the dis
ease that afflicted him. But, besides
] being a man of activity, he was high
( " conscientious member of the bench,
| who spent every possible hour in his
/ official duties. A big man physically
and strong, he improved with few
: davs of rest. Then came a change for
! the worse, and last Sunday DR.. Will
( lam T. McMannis, who attended him,
1 saw there remained small hope that
the Justice would recover.
The rise of John Joseph Delany from
practising lawyer to justiceship OF
! the Supreme Court was not sudden.
He had been in public life many years
before he was elected, in 1910, and
once before when he was a Tammany
candidate for the same Office he was
defeated. Before that he had been an
Assistant District Attorney on the staff
of District Attorney Asa Bird Gardiner.
When he was appointed TO that office
he had become a member Of Tammany,
which previously he had attacked in
his vigorous way.
In 1904 Mr.. Delany was appointed
Corporation Counsel by Mayor McClel-
Ian, for whom he had been political
sponsor and campaign manager. How
ever, the tenure of Mr.. Delany in this
office was of brief duration, which was
due to the independence of action and
thought which had always character
lied him. Within a year and ten
months after his appointment he re-
signed his $4,000 a year office. He
was actuated to this by a spirit OF
loyalty to Charles F. Murphy, whose
rule of Tammany Hall was at that time
challenged by Mayor Mcclellan, Mr.
Delany sacrificing his job rather than
his principles Subsequently he was
nominated for the Supreme Court and
defeated. The second time he vas
nominated he was elected.
Justice Delany was born in New
York in 1851. He was graduated from
St Francis Xavier College in 1885, and
three years later was matriculated at
Columbia College. As early as two
years after his admission 70 the bar
Justice Delany in private practice be-
came associated IN many Important
municipal litigations, which practice
stood him in good stead when he was
Corporation Counsel.
Eloquent and Forceful.
For many years he figured in the
public life of New York, his particu-
lar social interests being in connection
with Irish and Catholic affairs. being
prominently identified with both. jus
tee Delany was a forceful and elo-
quent orator and was much in demand
at public functions and especially on
the stump, which he abandoned when
he went on the bench. AS lawyer
he was ever ready TO lend his profess
sional aid TO any poor person in dis
tress, and on the bench was as ready
to lend a sympathetic ear to the poor
est litigant as TO the highest paid law
yer of a large corporation. lie was
tolerant. This was shown by his read
mess TO serve the cause Of social bet
terment. even when that work was
taken up by some institution Of re-
ligious association foreign 10 his own
I Almost 10 the end Justice Delany