York brewer who died in Aaron 1798, leaving Burr his as breakfast a Lawyer. of an egg and cup of coffee457 suf
two sons a large amount of real estate on the island of Manhattan. By the terms of his will, the sons were to share the property equally, and if either died childless, the sur vivor was to inherit the share of the de ceased. By their extravagance, and the dishonesty of certain creditors, the young men ran through their fortune in three or four years, and were reduced to great poverty. The case was submitted to the two leading lawyers of New York, Aaron Burr and Alex ander Hamilton, as to whether the estate could be recovered. Hamilton decided in the negative; Burr said it could. The former opinion was adopted, and the matter rested on that decision until after Burr's return from Europe, when his attention was called to the case by the death of one of the brothers. During the intervening years the property had greatly increased in value, and Burr thought it was worth an effort to try to re cover it. He sought out the surviving brother, and having induced him to agree to follow his advice in all things, he under took the case with his usual energy. The most valuable part of the property was in the city, held by banks and other wealthy corporations. These he let alone, but de voted his efforts to recover a small farm in the upper part of the Island, his object being to establish the principle first, and then to pro ceed against the other property. He won this first suit both in the lower court and in the Supreme Court of the State. Then he went for the holders of the city lots, plying them with a sudden storm of writs of eject ments, winning suit after suit, and succeeded in recovering a large amount for his client and himself. Burr had, at different times, many young men in his office as clerks and students. One of these describes the manner in which he passed the day : " He rose at five. A
ficed for this most abstemious of men; after which he worked among his papers for some hours before his clerks and assistants ar rived at the office. All day he was dis patching and receiving messages, sending for books, persons and papers, expecting everything to be done with next-to-impossi ble celerity, inspiring everyone with his own zeal, and getting a surprising quantity of work accomplished. He was business in carnate. About ten p. m. he would give over, and invite his companions to the side board, and take a single glass of wine. Then his spirits would rise, and he would sit for hours telling stories of his past life, and drawing brief and graphic sketches of celebrated characters with whom he had acted. About midnight, or later, he would lie down upon a hard couch in a corner of his office, and sleep like a child until morn ing. In his personal habits he was like a Spartan,— eating little, drinking little, sleep ing little, working hard. He was fond of calculating upon how small an amount life could be supported, and used to think that he could live well enough on seventy-five cents a week." On one occasion, soon after Burr began the practice of the law in New York, he and Hamilton were engaged on the same side in an important case. The etiquette of the bar assigns the closing argument to the leader of the case, but it was not decided who was the leader in this particular case. Hamilton, who had a very good opinion of himself, hinted that Colonel Burr should open the case. With that exquisite polite ness habitual to him, Burr assented to the arrangement without the slightest opposi tion. He determined, however, to give Hamilton a lesson. Having repeatedly talked over the case together, Burr knew every point Hamilton would make in his
