The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-18
ABRAHAM LEVY DIES,
LONG CAREER AT BAR
Successfully Defended Many
Persons Accused of Murder,
Including Nan Patterson.

Abraham Levy, ior more IMAM lhiIy
years a notable figure at the criminal
bar of this city. died Thursday night at
his home, No. 81 West Seventy-third
street. He had been III since last Sep
TENDER, when he was operated upon for
gallstones. He rallied from thaS opera
ton. but later partial paralysis OF the
muscles OF his throat set in and for the
last month the physicians attending him
have had no hope Of his recovery.
Mr.. Levy was born In London. in 1851,
and came to this country with his par
ents when ne was three years old. He
was boy attending public school when
his father. who had been called as a wit
ness In a criminal trial. took him to the
court room to wait with him until he
had testified. The boy was so inspired
with what he saw and heard that he de-
cided then and there to become lawyer.
Later while attending the College OF
the City of New York he employed his
vacations in earning money with which
to pay his way through law school. He
entered the Law School of New York
University and was graduated from 1t
and admitted to the bar in 1880.
He began the practice of law by seek
ing assignments in the criminal courts
to represent defendants who had no
money with which to engage counsel and
by dint of close study and entire disre-
gard of fees made himself capable trial
lawyer within q very few years. His rep
utation grew as his name became asso-
ciated with one success after another.
and he had not been five years at the bar
before he found himself turning clients
from his office. or the first hundred
criminal cases he tried he lost only three.
Noted Cases Won by Him.
The first case to bring his name to
general public attention was that of
an Arab known as Frenchy who was
arrested after a CHASTITY ripper muir
der in a Water street hotel frequent
ed by sailors. The difficulties OF the
case were enough to daunt the most sea-
soned member of the criminal bar, not
the least of them being that the Arab
spoke a dialect which. II seemed at first
no one in New York understood. His
counsel overcame this only by an ex-
haustive search and finally found an
other Arab named Sultan, an Algerian
by birth and a university graduate, who
while waiting upon n change of fortune
was working as a cigar salesman at the
old Fifth Avenue Hotel. Sultan, in addi-
ton to various accomplishments, was at
home in Frenchy's dialect, and the case
duly went to trial.
Frenchy was found guilty in the Sec
ond degree after all the wiseacres of
Centre street had predicted that he would
inevitably pay the life penalty. It was
William f. Howe, OF the firm of Howe
& Hummel, then at its heyday, who gave
Levy in his summing up had dwelt inim-
itably upon the situation OF the poor,
friendess son of the desert" he was rep
resenting. IF you were not in court
when Levy cried to the jury" said
Howe to his brethren. you missed a
piece of legal education no Centre street
lawyer should be without
The Nan Patterson Cnse.
In 1905 Mr.. Levy was chief counsel
for Nan Patterson, chorus girl who
was accused Of shooting Caesar Young,
bookmaker, in a hanson cab She was
released after two trials, each resulting
In a disagreement Mr. Levy also was
counsel for the defence in the celebrated
cases OF Miles Mcdonald. a gambler OF
! Harlem, accused of shooting down a
friend, William J. koerner, charged with
wife murder. and Mrs Fayne Strahan
Moore, charged with extortion by Mar
tin Mahon. a hotekesper. He also de-
I Tended Police Justice Patrick Diver. a
/ picturesque character of twenty-five
FEARS ago. when certain OF the powers
\ OF politics sought DIVERS removal from
the bench by Impeachment.
Mr.. Levy's admirers used to say often
that he possessed genius as a court ad-
vocate but he himself used to insist with
equal heat that preparation from the
first name OF tho first juror called was
the essence OF his proficiency.
Mr.. Levy was at one time head of the
firm OF Levy, Friend a House, but OF
recent years his only associate has beer
his son, Newman Levy. formerly an As
sistant District Attorney. He leaves hi,
wife, his son and two daughters, IL,
Misses Elizabeth and Helen Levy.