70 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



moonbeams like the bright barrel of a pistol, and had a most murder- 

 ous look. The constable and his assistants started back appalled at 

 the hostile attitude of the lawyer, the former crying out, ' Oh, don't 

 point that this way ; it may go off; take care !' 



" ^ Leave me, you villains, or, by the heavens above us, I'll send a 

 bullet through the very heart of some of you ! Leave, I say !' And 

 he gave the inkstand a shake which caused it to click like the cock- 

 ing of a pistol. 



" This was enough. The next moment his pursuers were galloping 

 homeward as fast as their horses could carry them ; and Baldwin 

 went quietly home, thinking, as he afterwards said, that his protect- 

 ing genius had assumed the shape of an inkstand. 



'^ Baldwin was afterwards indicted in the county of Allegany for a 

 very bitter and, as was charged, libelous letter, concerning this same 

 magistrate. The letter was very lengthy, and written in such a man- 

 ner that portions of it only could be read by any persons except the 

 writer of it. In drawing the indictment the district attorney attached 

 the letter itself as part of the instrument. When the offender was 

 brought before the court he was required to plead to the charges. 



^' ' Before entering my pleas, I ask for the reading of the indict- 

 ment,' said he. 



*' In those days a prisoner could demand the reading of the whole 

 indictment found against him, and in this case the court directed it 

 to be read. The district attorney commenced. While reading the 

 usual or formal part of it he did very well, but when he attempted to 

 read the letter itself he soon came to a full stop — studied awhile upon 

 it, and commenced again. After stumbling through a few sentences 

 he was obliged to stop again. Turning to Baldwin, he asked if he 

 would not have the politeness to waive the reading of the letter. The 

 latter declined and the attorney made one more attempt to read, but 

 soon came to another full stop. 



" * Will you not read that horrid, ill-spelled, illiterate, and abusive 

 letter, Mr. Baldwin ?' asked the attorney for the people. 



"'No, sir; the letter is very legible — very indeed. If the good 

 people of Allegany County have seen fit to elect a district attorney 

 that don't know enough to read writing, why, I shall not help him 

 along,' said the prisoner. 



" The official then losing all patience, began in a strain of denunci- 

 atory eloquence to abuse Baldwin, and concluded by saying that * the 

 annals of crime did not present such an awful, willful, and terrible 

 defamer of human character as John Baldwin, the prisoner at the 

 bar.' 



" As he closed this speech he took a drink ol water from a tumbler 

 that was standing on the table before him. Baldwin, with great 

 gravity, addressed the court as follows : 



'' '■ May it please the court, in all the records of the past which I 

 have been able to consult, I have never until this moment seen or 

 heard of a wind-mill going hy water." 



" Peals and roars of laughter, even cheers, went up from all parts of 

 the court-room, and for once the vulnerable and brazen-faced district 

 attorney was silent, stricken through by the prisoner's reply to his 

 speech. 



" After silence was restored, Baldwin again demanded the reading of 

 the indictment. His opponent declared that it could not be read. 



" ' Then, if the court please, I ask that it may be quashed,' said the 

 prisoner. 



" After a few moments' consultation, the court directed that it should 

 be quashed, and Baldwin walked from the prisoner's box into the bar 

 amid the congratulation of his friends. 



" Mr. Baldwin was a thoroughly honest man, and never would con- 

 sent that a case in his hands should be carried by dishonesty or per- 

 jury. Once he turned a profitable client out of his office for saying 

 that he could prove anything that Baldwin wished to establish on the 

 trial of a certain cause which the latter was conducting for him." 



HON. DAVID RUMSEY. 



Hon. David Rumsey, who, at this writing, is one of the 

 justices of the Supreme Court of New York, was born in 

 Salem, Washington Co., N. Y., on the 25th of December, 

 1810. His father, David Eumsey, Sr., born April 17, 

 1779, was a printer by occupation, and, with Messrs. Dodd 

 & Stevenson, of Salem, established the Washington County 

 Fostj one of the earliest newspapers published in that sec- 



tion of the State. In 1815 he removed with his family to 

 what is now the town of Howard, in this county, where he 

 followed farming till the year 1816, when he removed to 

 Bath and published the third newspaper issued in that 

 village. The Farmers' Gazette. About a year afterwards 

 he removed to Auburn and became one of the publishers 

 of the Cayuga Patriot^ with which he was connected for 

 several years. At the expiration of this time he returned 

 to Bath, and on the 17th of April, 1828, issued the first 

 number of the Steuhen Messenger^ which was published by 

 him and his successors, Samuel M. Eddie, William P. 

 Angel, and Charles Adams, till 1834, when its name was 

 changed to The Constitutionalist^ and in 1844 to the Steu- 

 hen Democrat^ and its publication continued till 1852. 

 David Rumsey, Sr., resided in Bath till the time of his 

 death, which occurred on March 17, 1852. He was an 

 active, public-spirited man, frequently serving his town, 

 village, and school district in various responsible capacities, 

 and four years as clerk of the county, to which office he 

 was elected in the fall of 1829. 



David Rumsey, the subject of this notice, was brought 

 to Bath by his parents at the age of six years. On their 

 removal to Auburn he was taken to reside in that city, 

 where he enjoyed for several years the advantages of its 

 excellent schools. As a boy, he possessed an active and 

 vigorous intellect; his faculties were of that order which 

 led him early to acquire habits of close and careful investi- 

 gation, and even in boyhood he enjoyed the labor of sifting 

 truth from falsehood, in the tangled and complicated sub- 

 jects presented to his mind, with a zest which has only been 

 heightened in the more abstruse and complex problems 

 which have engaged his professional attention. 



He began the study of law at the age of nineteen, in the 

 office of Hon. Henry Welles, late justice of the Supreme 

 Court, then a resident of Bath, and was admitted to the 

 bar in the year 1831. His practice in this village, and in 

 a large number of adjacent counties, where his services 

 have been retained in important suits, has covered a period 

 of almost half a century, including his career during the 

 past five years on the bench of the Supreme Court. 



In 1832 he formed a law partnership with Hon. William 

 Woods, of Bath, which relation existed till the death of 

 Mr. Woods, on the 7th of August, 1837. Mr. Rumsey 

 then practiced by himself about four years. In 1842 he 

 entered into partnership with his brother-in-law, Hon. 

 Robert Van Valkenburgh, now one of the justices of the 

 Supreme Court of Florida, who studied law in his office. 

 This partnership continued until Mr. Van Valkenburgh 

 was appointed minister to Japan in 1865. 



Prior to Judge Rumsey's career in Congress, he discharged 

 for four years the duties of surrogate of Steuben County, 

 to which office he was appointed by Governor Seward, in 

 1840. 



In 1846 he was elected to Congress for the first time, 

 and discharged so acceptably the duties of a representative 

 that he was put in nomination again, and re-elected in 1848. 

 He served during the sessions of the Thirtieth and Thirty- 

 first Congresses, holding a responsible position as member of 

 the Committee on Private Fund Claims during both sessions. 



In 1867 he was elected a delegate to the Constitutional 



