which had never elected a Democrat before, and but once since. Here he was chairman of the Ju diciary Committee; and the criminal code of the State, to a very large extent, is the result of his work. So great was his care and skill in the pre paration and examination of the numerous bills that came to his Committee, that so far as the writer of this has knowledge, the constitutionality of the same has never been questioned. When Mr. Cleveland received the nomination for Governor in 1882, Judge Nelson on the first ballot received almost as many votes. A serious misunderstanding among his friends made his nom ination impossible. Had he been nominated he surely would have been elected, and the political history of the State of New York and of the United States would have been different In 1890 he was a member of the Commission to revise the Judiciary article of the Constitution, and a member of the sub-committee of five, who put into words and form for legislation the mass of resolutions and propositions which had been adopted by the whole commission at their nu merous meetings. During all his political life he never gave up the practice of his profession. While he never had an extensive Court practice, he was constantly appearing in the trial of cases, as counsel, at Cir cuit and at General Term both in the Second De partment, where he had his home, and in New York City, where since 1872 he had had offices. He kept his clients from litigation as much as he could, without sacrificing their rights to too great an extent, or violating law principles to any sig nificant degree. His motto was, " Settle if you can." But it was before the Court of Appeals that the real strength of his legal ability manifested itself. Nearly every volume of the New York State Re ports contains one or more cases argued by him. In a very large proportion of these cases he was successful. If the subject were a new one, he brought to the argument an industry and research, a legal skill and acumen, which in cases like Wood
- • Fisk, 63 N. Y. 245, Johnson v. Lawrence, 95
N. Y. 154; Thorn v. Garner, 113 N. Y. 198; and in the Vassar Will case, decided in April of this year (not yet reported), the first three being ap peals taken by him, established new principles in bw and equity not only in his own State, but quite generally in the other States.
Judge Nelson cared little for so-called social life, — evening companies, receptions, and the like, — but he delighted in the society of those whom he called his friends. He was a man who seldom lost his temper, and always sorry if his zeal and earnestness had carried him too far He was fond of his home, and he never would allow business or pleasure, except when away on his vacations, to keep him from his home at Poughkeepsie on Sat urdays and Sundays. On these days he would have with him many of his friends, to whom he would point out all the beauties of his beautiful place; showing where every bird had its nest, every squirrel its tree; telling the kind of fruit each tree bore, the flower each plant or shrub put forth. There the lawyer was lost in the husband man, the politician in the kind and gentle natural ist, and the busy man of the world in the loving husband, brother, and friend. In the daily walk about his city he had a pleasant word and smile for all alike. To all he gave freely of his advice, in the street, in the public conveyance, alike as in his office. He was charitable in his giving, a friend to everybody, and an enemy to no man. To the young lawyer was he peculiarly kind. He seemed to take pleasure in having such come to him with their cases whenever they would meet with some difficult point. If the question involved old ideas, he would freely explain; and if the matter brought out new principles, he would lend the vigor and skill of his mind to help the young practitioner to carry his case to a successful issue. The State of New York has sustained a loss in Judge Nelson's death. His friends appreciate him more than ever now since he has gone. His family mourn and revere his memory. As Judge B , Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court in the Second Department, and one of his closest friends, remarked when informed of his death, " It is getting lonely here now." William S. Ladd, of Lancaster, N- H., died on May 12. He was born in Dalton in 1830, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1855, in the class with Judge Walbridge A. Field of Massachusetts, Judge Greenleaf Clark of Minne sota, and the Hon. Nelson Dingley of Maine. He studied law with the Hon. A. A. Abbott of Salem, Mass., and Burns & Fletcher of Lancaster, and was admitted to the Coos County Bar in 1859. He began practice at Colebrook, continuing there
