Born in England, about the same time that Judge Seeger was born in Germany, and brought to this country at an early age by his parents, as Judge Seeger was also, the career of both men is a striking illustration of what may be accomplished in this land of opportunity, without the social influence of generations of local ancestry, by sheer pluck, perseverance, energy and ability.
Mr. Watts is a very nucleus of abounding and super-abounding energy. He generates energy by a process of spontaneous mental combustion. His mental activity is more continuous and intense than any I have ever known. His mind never goes fallow, but seems to be constantly fructified by the floating pollen in the business, legal or intellectual atmosphere surrounding him. It is of course inevitable that, with such a temperament, he should repeatedly cross the path of people who would like to have him keep out of their way. But Mr. Watts is so constituted that where other people are there would he be also; and he is always willing to keep out of their way by letting them step aside.
Yet, despite all his initiative, aggressiveness and combativeness with respect to those who can meet him upon equal terms, he is tenderness and generosity itself to the weak, the helpless and the dependent. He has been known to pour out his bounty for years upon those who appealed to his sympathy or invoked his aid. He has, in a marked degree, the English love of fair play and is as ready to acknowledge a mistake as he is to resent an injury. Often brusque and impulsive in his manner when no offense is intended, and quick to regret when it is, he is always surprised to find that others are not so ready to forget as he is to forgive.
The fighting qualities of Mr. Watts are never shown to better advantage than when he is asserting the rights of the poor and weak against all the resources of corporate or individual wealth. He never tires. His tenacity cannot be shaken. No reversal of the first judgment dismays him. He enters upon the second or third trial with as much vigor and vim as upon the first. In one case he more than doubled upon the second trial the verdict obtained upon the first trial. Indeed he has led in the securing of large verdicts, having obtained the largest verdict in a death case ever rendered in the county and the largest verdict, with one exception, ever rendered for personal injuries.
The judgment for eight hundred thousand dollars to which reference has been made was obtained by Mr. Watts in an action brought by him for a contractor against a railroad company for extra work in the building of a branch, disputed by the company. Mr. Watts examined and cross-examined all the witnesses and, with the aid of his office force, prepared the final argument. He was opposed by the finest legal talent in the State and the case was tried before that learned, eminent and profoundly respected judge, the Honorable Alton B. Parker, sitting as referee. The case involved many intricate questions of which Mr. Watts exhibited entire mastery. His management of this case marks the zenith of his ability and reputation as a trial lawyer. A lawyer who, before such a tribunal, wins such a case, involving such large interests and attended with results of such magnitude, for the judgment was not only obtained but settled, has established his place, beyond all question, in the very front rank of the trial lawyers of the State.
Mr. Watts excels in cross-examination. In a case brought by him for injuries resulting from the explosion of a locomotive boiler, the judge hesitated at the close of his case about letting it proceed, but finally ruled that the railroad company should go on with its proof, reserving the questions that troubled him. Mr. Watts thereupon took the defendant's witnesses in hand and on cross-examination he so completely established the liability of the company out of the mouths of its own witnesses that all thought, not merely of non-suit, but of defense even was abandoned and the company was thrown into a panic. It made an offer in the recess and when the court convened again to resume the case it was announced as settled.
Mr. Watts' addresses to the jury are marked by pith, point and piquancy. He emphasizes the salient features of the case and lets all minor or subordinate issues take care of themselves. His sturdy defense of his client's rights, his strong individuality and his intellectual force combine to make him a formidable opponent.
Perhaps no lawyer at the bar of Orange County ever received a more emphatic, pronounced, unmistakable tribute of personal regard than John C. R. Taylor, of Middletown, received at the election of 1906, when, in a district opposed to him politically, he ran over four thousand ahead of his ticket and was elected Senator by a majority of over twelve hundred. The good opinion of him thus expressed by his fellow citizens has been confirmed by his broad, patriotic, statesmanlike course at Albany, which has attracted the attention and commended him to the approbation, of the entire State, without respect to party lines. The purity of his character, the singleness of his motives, the soundness of his judgment and the independence of his action carried him in a single session to a position of weight and influence usually acquired only after several terms of legislative service. Senator Taylor is one of those public servants who believe that the State is a great business corporation of which the Governor is president and each Senator a trustee. Under this conviction he refuses to consider either party advantage or private interests but seeks to ascertain solely what is best for the welfare of the people and the cause of good government. Whether he can repeat his phenomenal success at the polls under less favorable conditions is of course uncertain. But whether he does or not he has set an example of clean, straightforward, high-minded methods in politics and legislation which will long be remembered in his district. He has set a standard of political morals which will have to be satisfied by any successor who hopes to retain the mandate of a now aroused, vigilant, exacting and independent public conscience.
Senator Taylor's success at the bar was almost as immediate as his later success in the Senate. Early in his practice he went to Kingston to try a case against one of the leaders of the famous Ulster County bar and obtained a verdict of $10,000 in an action against the town of Shawangunk for damages resulting from a defective bridge, a verdict which was subsequently paid after passing the ordeal of all the courts. Judge Clearwater who presided over the trial and whose qualifications as a critic will be conceded, since he has himself made both the bar and bench illustrious, told me that he had never seen a case more ably tried and presented than this case was by Mr. Taylor.
Senator Taylor has the courage of the true lawyer. When a few years ago he was engaged to defend a client accused of a shocking offense, people went to him and said, "Why, you will be ruined if you defend that man." He simply replied, "He is my client and I shall stand by him to the end." Senator Taylor not only was not "ruined" but he completely reversed public sentiment which had been misled from the start, and established his client's entire innocence of the charge against him in a crushing cross-examination of the first witness which demonstrated its complete falsity.