"The Public Service of the State of New York"
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RUFUS WHEELER PECKHAM was born in Rensselaerville, Albany county, New York, December 20, 1809. When he was young, his father removed with his family to Otsego county, and settled near Cooperstown. He was prepared for college at Hartwick Seminary in that county under the instruction of Rev. Dr. Hazelius. He entered Union College in 1825, at the age of sixteen, and graduated with honor, especially in the classics, two years later in a class which furnished a remarkable number of distinguished men, Having an elder brother, a physician, settled in Utica, he went to that city on graduation, and studied law in the office of Bronson — Beardsley, a firm composed of Greene C. Bronson and Samuel Beardsley, two of the most distinguished lawyers of our State, each of whom subsequently became chief justice. Here he formed a friendship with Mr. Beardsley which lasted through life. On admission to the bar in 1830, he formed a partnership with another elder brother, George, established at Albany, and soon took a place in the front rank with such advocates as Samuel Stevens, Marcus T. Reynolds and Henry G. Wheaton, three of the most brilliant advocates ever known to our bar. In 1838, at the age of twenty-nine, he was appointed by Governor Marcy district attorney of the city and county of Albany. He continued in this office until 1841, when he was succeeded by Henry G. Wheaton, who was appointed by Governor Seward. In 1845 he was a candidate before the Legislature for the office of attorney-general, but was defeated by the distinguished John Van Buren, by one vote. In the fall of 1852, he was elected a representative in Congress from Albany, and took his seat in the first year of President Pierce's administration. On the expiration of his congressional term he resumed practice at Albany, associating with himself Lyman Tremain, one of the most eloquent advocates of his day. This firm transacted a large and important business. In 1857 Mr. Peckham was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of justice of the Supreme Court. In 1859 he visited Europe in company with his professional instructor and life-long friend, Chief Justice Beardsley.^[1] On his return in 1859 he was nominated and elected to the Supreme Court justiceship by a large majority over Ira Harris, one of the ablest men and most excellent judges that our State has ever known. At the close of his term of eight years he was re-nominated and re-elected without opposition, no candidate being named against him. He sat as ex-officio judge of the Court of Appeals in the year 1866. In 1870, before the close of his term, he was elected an associate judge of the Court of Appeals for the term of fourteen years. Considerably broken in health and exhausted by the severity of his long judicial service, he sailed for Europe in 1873 on the steamer Ville du Havre for rest and recreation, and with his wife perished in the wreck of that steamer on the 22d of November, 1873. He left two sons, Wheeler H. Peckham, of New York city, and Rufus W. Peckham, of Albany, children of his first wife, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Lacey, formerly rector of St. Peter's Church at Albany, both of whom are still living and are distinguished members of their father's profession.

Although originally well grounded in the learning of his profession, and retaining its principles in a tenacious memory, Judge Peckham's habits of life were not sufficiently studious to make him what is commonly called a learned lawyer. His capacities were perhaps better adapted to the calling of the advocate than that of the judge, and possibly he was more aptly fitted for and happier in the position of a nisi prius judge than in that of a judge of an appellate court. Not only as an advocate but as a judge he exercised a dominant influence over juries. He not only carried his advocacy on to the bench, but he believed that it was the duty of the judge to let the jury know which side he thought right, and to endeavor to produce a verdict on that side. His strong expressions, powerfully urged, and emphasized by what one has aptly called his "spectral finger," were all-controlling in his nisi prius courts. This dangerous tendency probably produced as little ill effect in his case as in any judge who has brought similar theories and practice to the bench.^[2] As an appellate judge his opinions were not distinguished for exhaustive examinations of precedents. He loved rather to deal with cases on principle, and the reports contain many opinions from his pen, unadorned and unambitious, but marked by logical power and directness.

Judge Peckham was a man of strong passions and prejudices, and likewise of hearty and generous sympathies. Under a somewhat austere exterior and demeanor he hid a warm and tender heart. He put an habitual restraint upon his strong emotions. His positive and uncompromising nature made him many temporary enemies and hosts of life-long and devoted friends. His peculiarities may now and then, unconsciously to himself, have warped his judicial judgment, but no one ever seriously denied that he was a conspicuously honest man. He always struggled to attain what he thought right and just, treading straight onward toward his mark, dealing the blows of an athlete, and crushing without mercy what he thought wrong and fraudulent in his resistless course. It must be said that his keen and intuitive sense of justice and his innate knowledge of human nature generally protected him from error. He made up his mind only after patient hearing, examination and deliberate reflection. In so strong and positive a nature his patience was indeed singular. He was impatient of nothing but fraud and wrong. He deserves the fame which he has received, of a just judge, and his second election, without opposition, was a noticeable tribute of public confidence and honor.

Judge Peckham's honesty and independence shone bright in his congressional career. A Democrat, he refused to be bound by party ties when questions which he deemed vital to the prosperity and honor of the country were in issue. He spoke and voted against the famous Nebraska bill, and foretold with astonishing forecast the effects which that measure produced.

If it needed any thing to endear Judge Peckham to our State and keep his memory green, his tragic fate supplied the defect. His contemporaries love to bring before the mind's eye that heroic form on the deck of the sinking ship, the central figure of a group of dependent and shrinking friends his wife among them — looking to him for comfort and sustaining power, and to recall those last words, so typical of the great nature, "If we are to go down, let us go down bravely!" His pitiful and untimely ending wrung a unanimous expression of sorrow, admiration and respect from the bench and bar of our State. The numerous bar meetings held throughout the State furnished the most heartfelt and eloquent tributes to his virtues. His surviving brethren in the Court of Appeals, in their official memorial of his death, thus expressed themselves: "His firmness, his learning and his fearlessness and independence in maintaining his convictions, guided always by a strong sense of justice, which was a distinguishing feature of his character, won the confidence and respect of the bar and bench, and of all with whom he was associated." "His candor in discussion, patience under opposition his uniform courtesy to his associates, his kindness and tenderness of feeling, evinced a manly and generous nature, and so endeared him to us, both as a man and a colleague, that his death is felt by us as a family affliction." The venerable Chief Justice Beardsley was not called on to mourn his younger friend, for he preceded him a year; but the judge's elder brother and former partner, George, died suddenly with grief and horror at the news of the tragic fate of his beloved and favorite brother.

As his contemporaries love to review his traits of mind and heart, so they delight to recall his physical image. He was one of the most distinguished-looking men in the State. He had the form of an Apollo and a face like a Spanish grandee's looking out from a frame of Velasquez. Erect and soldierly, always elegantly dressed; moving with a natural dignity, only enhanced by a slight accidental lameness; his complexion ruddy, his features strong and noble, his hair gray and waving, with no beard save a gray moustache; his were a form and a face once seen never to be forgotten, and they are depicted with their true grace but scarcely with their proper strength in his portrait now hanging on the wall of the Court of Appeals chamber.^[3]

Footnote 2: Many years ago Judge Peckham presided at the trial, at the Albany Oyer and Terminer, of one Gordon for the murder of Thompson. The weapon with which the murder was committed was a rough stick used in baling hay. Convinced of the prisoner's guilt, the judge made one of his strong charges, and on coming down from the bench he accosted Judge John K. Porter with, "Well, John, what do you think of that charge?" "Well, Judge," replied Judge Porter, "I must say that I think you have killed Gordon as effectually as he killed Thompson, and with just about as blunt a weapon."

Footnote 3: The brilliant John T. Brady said it was worth a journey from New York city to Albany, to see Mr. Peckham walk up State street.

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