6o
THE GREEN BAG
tion of the courts by the impeachment of the Ring Judges, Barnard, Cardozo, and McCunn. Tweed and his lawless gang were not secure in power until they had debauch ed the Supreme Court; when that had been accomplished, the political subjugation of the City was complete. The task of over throwing this thoroughly intrenched and corrupt regime was a Titanic one, but "there were giants in those days" and Wheeler H. Peckham was one of them; and the result proved that Charles O'Connor did not err in judgment when he selected him to lead the attack upon the redoubtable Tweed, defended as he was in the criminal suit by two such veterans as David Dudley Field and John Graham, and the then young, but bril liant, Elihu Root. It is doubtful if so able and stubborn a defense was ever made for any criminal at the American Bar as was made by the masterful and invincible Field, the greatest legal strategist of his day, and his associates, for Tweed. Mr. Peckham was never heard to claim any particular credit to himself for this great legal victory, so far reaching in its consequences, so pregnant with the fate of American institutions. The eyes of all the world were upon New York in those days. Peckham's were on Tweed, the public enemy, and denier of the courts of Justice, in which he practiced. Relentlessly he pursued him until he accomplished his conviction and the destruction of his band of plunderers. The service that Mr. Peckham and his associates rendered to the cause of good government during the Tweed regime was of national importance. Thus, early imbued with the real spirit of Reform, Mr. Peckham never ceased to battle for good government and the protec tion of the courts until the day of his death. He was appointed in 1876, by Governor Tilden, a member of the famous "Commis sion to devise a plan for the Government of Cities in the State of New York," of which Wm. M. Evarts was Chairman and James C. Carter, Simon Sterne, and other eminent
lawyers, were members. Of this Commis sion Bryce says in his American Common wealth : "The Commission, of which Mr. W. M. Evarts was Chairman, included some of the ablest men in the State, and its report pre sented March 6, 1877, may be said to have become classic." He was several times president of the Bar Association, and it was while he was serving in that capacity that he was largely instru mental in instigating the proceedings against Judge Maynard. He was appointed district attorney of New York County by Grover Cleveland, but after a very short service retired in conse quence of ill-health. He was associated with the writer in 1900, as counsel for the New York World, in pro ceedings against Mayor Van Wyck and Dock Commissioner Charles E. Murphy, J. Sergeant Cram, and Peter F. Meyer, and in the subsequent proceedings before Governor Roosevelt for the removal of Mayor Van Wyck, growing out of charges in connection with the famous "Ice Trust." His exami nation of the mayor in proceedings before Mr. Justice Gaynor was a masterful per formance and as successful as it was brilliant. In 1904, he acted as counsel in the Bolte case and secured the removal of Civil Justice Bolte by the Appellate Division. He acted in this, as he did frequently in public cases, without compensation. Mr. Peckham's last public service was as Chairman of the State Commission appointed by the Governor under an Act of the Legis lature to inquire into the causes of the delay and expense of the administration of justice in the City of New York, commonly known as the Law's Delay Commission. He took the deepest interest in the work of the Commission, which he never lived to see entirely accomplished. His health began to break down during the last year of its existence, and he attended its sessions often by a great effort. There has not been a time since the
