in place of one formerly payable to a wife, and cancelled; Lamar v. Micou (112 U. S., 452; 114 U. S., 218), in which difficult questions were involved as to the liability of a guardian appointed in New York, of infants domiciled in the South, for changing investments, originally made in the North, to southern securities, during the war, and many in which the rights of Trinity Church were in question.

He was one of the most prominent members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. He was also a trustee of Columbia College, where a chair in the faculty of the Law School has been founded to commemorate him. He was a member of the New York State Bar Association, having been elected in 1880.

ROBERT GOELET.

Robert Goelet, who died abroad on April 27, 1899, was a descendant of Francis Goelet, who came to New Amsterdam from Holland in the year 1676. He was born in the city of New York in 1841, being the eldest son of Robert Goelet and Sarah Ogden, his wife.

Mr. Goelet graduated from Columbia College in the Class of 1860, receiving the degree of A. B., and from the Columbia College Law School in the Class of 1862, receivin the degree of LL. B., and in 1863 this college conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. Upon his admission to the Bar on May 21, 1863, Mr. Goelet began to practice in the office of C. J. & E. De Witt, where he continued in active practice until his father's death in 1879. The administration of his father's estate required his undivided attention, and in its course he gradually became more identified with matters of finance than with the practice of law.

During the last twenty years he has been a conspicuous figure in financial circles, and most of this time he served in the directorate of many

of New York's largest financial institutions, among them the Chemical Bank, New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, Guarantee Trust Company of New York, Union Trust Company, and the Illinois Central Railway Company. In this field his wide knowledge of corporation law, combined with his sound business judgment, made him a commanding figure. Although withdrawn from active practice he retained an interest in his profession up to his death, following the decisions of the courts in important cases, especially those relating to corporate law. Mr. Goelet became a member of the Association of the Bar of the city of New York in 1873, a life member of the New York State Bar Association in 1882, and maintained an active membership and interest in both Associations until his death.

. Mr. Goelet left surviving his wife, Harriette W. Goelet, daughter of the late George Henry Warren, of New York city, and two children.

CHRISTOPHER FINE.

Christopher Fine, long a striking and familiar figure in the courts of Manhattan, died on December 20, 1899.

Mr. Fine was born of Lutheran and Revolutionary ancestry at Finesville, a village built by his father in Warren county, New Jersey. He graduated from the Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, with the degree of A. B., in 1853. Later on he took the Master of Arts degree. His law school education was had at the State and National Law School at Poughkeepsie, where he took his LL. B. degree in 1855. After two years in the office of L. C. Clark, Esq., he entered the office of McCunn & Moncrief, into which firm he was, six months later, admitted to membership. Although during his long professional career Mr. Fine was connected with many important and notable

cases, it was in connection with the litigation over the fortune left by Judge McCunn that he took most pride. A partition suit involving vast interests was commenced in 1873, growing out of the McCunn estate, and after constant and unceasing strife in court for eight years, with opponents of the first rank such as John Graham, William M. Evarts, Joseph H. Choate, Joseph Larocque and ex-Judge Mitchell, Mr. Fine carried his case through to final judgment, receiving for his services, it is said, a fee of a quarter of a million of dollars.

Mr. Fine devoted himself exclusively to his profession and never became a candidate for public office. He was, however, for a great many years connected with Tammany Hall and represented that organization for many successive years in various conventions.

Mr. Fine will be remembered best for his ability in jury cases. He was skilled in all the arts of successful trial work and his eloquence, though of the old school order, won for his clients some of the largest verdicts that have ever been rendered in personal injury suits. He became a member of the New York State Bar Association in 1892. Mr. Fine left surviving a widow and seven daughters.

ROBERT C. ALEXANDER.

Robert C. Alexander died on November 4, 1899, after a lingering illness extending over a period of nearly two years. For several months he had sought to recover his formerly robust health at watering places in Europe, and less than two weeks before his death he returned to his work in better spirits than he had been for months, and confident of his ability to resume the exacting work to which he was so devoted.

Mr. Alexander was a farmer's boy, having been born on July 7, 1857, on a farm at West Charlton, Saratoga county,

this State, where he passed his boyhood. He graduated at the head of his class in Union College in 1880, and received his LL. B. degree from the Albany Law School. He continued his studies in the office of ex-Governor Lucius Robinson at Elmira, and subsequently began the practice of law there, having been admitted to the Bar in 1881. In October, 1884, he came to New York city, where he established his law office. Two years later Mr. Alexander was retained by the late Col. Elliott F. Shepard as attorney in some important matters, and the relation thus established resulted in close and intimate friendship and was. an important influence in his career. In March, 1888, he negotiated for Col. Shepard the purchase of the "Mail and Express," and soon became its secretary and treasurer, as well as counsel. In this way he rapidly drifted into newspaper work, for which he developed a strong inclination, and his law practice was gradually abandoned, except as to matters connected with the "Mail and Express" and the Shepard estate. In March, 1895, Mr. Alexander assumed the duties of editor of the "Mail and Express." Two years later he, with Robert E. A. Dorr, purchased the newspaper and, from that time until attacked by the malady which resulted in his death, Mr. Alexander was a leading force in its development and progress.

Mr. Alexander was active in many interests outside of his journalistic labors. In 1890 he was chiefly instrumental in organizing the Adirondack League Club, of which he was president for two years. Much of the State legislation for the preservation of the forests is his work, and so also are many sections of the game laws. Among the various organizations with which he was connected were the State Bar Association, of which he was a life member, the Bar Association of the city of New York,

the Alpha Delta Phi and the Phi Beta Kappa fraternities, the St. Andrew's Society, the University, Union League, Fulton and New York Yacht Clubs.

Mr. Alexander left surviving a widow, but no children.

RUFUS WHEELER PECKHAM, JR.

Rufus Wheeler Peckham, Jr., a member of this Association, died on September 16, 1899, at Altamont, N. Y., the country residence of his father. He was the youngest

son of Mr. Justice Peckham, of the United States Supreme Court, and a grandson of the late Hon. Rufus W. Peckham, Judge of the Court of Appeals.

Mr. Peckham was born on January 28, 1870, and received his early education at the Albany Academy, the Greylock Institute in South Williamstown, Mass., and Black Hall School, Connecticut. He entered Williams College in 1889, where he remained a year. In 1890, he entered the Albany Law School, which, in 1892, conferred on him the degree of LL. B. During the same year he was admitted to the Bar of this State, being at the time twenty-two years of age. He then entered the office of Miller, Peckham & Dixon in New York city, and in 1896 became a member of that firm, which position he held at the time of his death. He was elected a member of the New York State Bar Association in 1898. His widow, Harriet C., a daughter of the late Erastus Corning, of Albany, survives him. He left no children.

JAMES ALEXANDER Ross.

James Alexander Ross was born June 9, 1846. At the age of fifteen he enlisted as a private in the Civil War and served until its close.

After the war he studied law. He was graduated from the Columbia Law School May 16, 1871, and admitted to