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THE GREEN BAG
which had been tried under his predeces sors, and it would be difficult to present detailed statistics of the work of the Appeal Bureau. It is, however, interesting to observe that since Jerome took office twelve cases of murder in the first degree have been argued on appeal, and, in every instance, the judgment has been affirmed. The respective defendants were: Filipelli, Flanigan, Triola, Conklin, Gaimari, Tobin, Spencer, Koenig, Totterman, Jackson, Breen, and Patrick. The fact that during the court year, which comprises the months of October, 1904 — June, 1905, thirty-five matters were argued in the Appellate Division, and twenty-six in the Court of Appeals of which but two were lost, speaks for itself. People often ask why Jerome does not try cases himself. The reason is that his purely legal duties do not leave him time. It is as a lawyer even more than as a fighter that Jerome is of such inestimable service As a public officer to the citizens who elected him. It is as a lawyer that he sits day after day in his office, passing upon the complex situations presented in intricate commercial and financial frauds, in the mismanagement of corporations, in the delicate questions of jurisdiction and extra dition, and in the large number of investiga tions into malfeasance in public office which have been instituted under his direction. As a lawyer, he knows the iniquities pos sible to members of his profession, and with relentless persistence he has pursued and brought to justice eight members of the New York Bar during his term of office, including lawyers Robert A. Ammon, Mills, Birnbaum, Conlon, Harris, Seeley, Alderdice, and Wooten. A majority of these convic tions were for crimes arising out of breaches of trust towards the client by the defendant. Some fifteen other members of the legal pro fession are awaiting trial. In conclusion, this fragmentary sketch would be incomplete indeed, without some reference to the fact that Jerome is and al
ways has been "the lawyer" of his office as well as its "chief." When the members of his official family make use of this latter term for him with affectionate respect, it is in no idle sense, and although the profes sional staff contains several men of mature years and long experience as general prac titioners of law, it is to Jerome himself that his assistants turn for help and advice in their time of need. It is then that they discover, if they have never realized it be fore, that the District Attorney has at his fingers ends a thorough knowledge of evenaspect of the criminal law as well as its allied branches. It is often said that Jerome knows the Penal and Criminal Codes, with the decisions thereunder, better than any other man at the New York Bar, and he uses this knowledge to solve a problem or reach a desired end as a skilled mechanic manipulates a complicated, but powerful machine. The writer is unaware of an in stance where an assistant when caught un prepared by one of the many exigencies of a criminal trial, has appealed to Jerome for aid that it was not instantly forthcoming without the necessity of sending for books of reference or reports, and he recalls more than one occasion where his Chief's fortui tous presence at a trial, and his ability to furnish the law to the Court. itself has saved a case about to be abandoned. Whatever else he may be as well, the Dis trict Attorney of New York County is a lawyer of thoroughly balanced legal mind, of unusual attainments in his own depart ment, with a comprehensive knowledge of the law as a whole, and a statesmanlike grasp of the purposes and possibilities of legislation. With an extraordinary capac ity to see all sides of a question at one and the same time, he unites rapidity of thought and precision of statement. These qualities, apart from his independence of judgment, steadfastness of purpose, and indomitable energy entitle him to a permanent place among the leaders of the Bar. NEW YORK, N. Y., October. 1905
