View source for Judge Amasa J. Parker and the Anti-rent Wars

[[File:Tin Horn.jpg|100px|right|link=Anti-rent Wars |Go to Anti-rent Wars ]][[File:HistoryLogo.jpg|71px|right|link=History|Go to History]]
The later incidents of Judge Parker's life are more familiar to our readers. He 
was appointed by Governor Bouck circuit judge and vice-chancellor of the Third 
Circuit, on the 6th of March, 1844, and immediately removed to the city of Albany, 
where he resided till his death. He held that office till the spring of 1847, when it 
was terminated by the adoption of the constitution of 1846. He was then elected in 
the Third Judicial district a justice of the Supreme Court of this State for a term of 
eight years. 

At no time in the history of this State have the judicial labors devolving upon a 
judge been more difficult and responsible than those he was called on to discharge 
during his twelve years of judicial service. It was during this time that the anti- 
rent excitement, which prevailed throughout a large portion of his judicial district, 
was at its height. It crowded the civil calendars with litigations and the criminal 
courts with indictments for acts of violence in resisting the collection of rents. 

The trial of " Big Thunder" before Judge Parker at Hudson, in the spring of 1845, 
lasted two weeks, and the jury failed to agree. When the next Court of Oyer and 
Terminer was held in that county. Judge Parker was engaged in holding the court 
in Delaware county, and Judge Edmonds was assigned to hold the Columbia Oyer 
and Terminer in his place. At that court " Big Thunder" was again tried and was 
convicted and sent to the State prison. 

In the summer of 1845, Osman N. Steele, under sheriff of Delaware county, while 



146 

engaged with a judge in his official duties in the collection of rent due from Moses 
Earle at Andes, in that county, was violently resisted by about 200 men, armed and 
disguised as Indians, and was shot and killed by them. Intense excitement prevailed in the county. A great struggle followed between those who resisted and 
those who sought to enforce the laws. On the 25th of August, 1845, Governor 
Wright declared the county of Delaware in a state of insurrection, and a battalion 
of light infantry was detailed to aid the civil authorities in the preservation of order 
and the making of arrests. At the inquest held on the body of Sheriff Steele and at 
a county General Sessions, the whole subject was fully investigated. Some indictments were found for murder, but most of them were for manslaughter and lesser 
offenses. Over two hundred and forty persons were indicted, most of whom were 
arrested and in custody awaiting trial at the then approaching Oyer and Terminer. 
The regular jail and two log jails, temporarily constructed for the purpose, were 
filled with prisoners. Under these discouraging circumstances and with armed men 
stationed in the court room and throughout the village to preserve order, Judge 
Parker opened the Oyer and Terminer at Delhi on the 22d of September, 1845. We 
find a brief statement of these proceedings and an extract from the charge of Judge 
Parker to the grand jury in the history of Delaware county, by Jay Gould, published 
in 1856, and dedicated to Judge Parker. 

We have heard Judge Parker .say that, as the time for that court was approaching, 
he hesitated as to whether he should hold the court himself in the county with the 
citizens of which he had so long lived and been so intimately associated, or whether 
he should not rather ask the governor to assign some other judge to the duty who 
was an entire stranger to all concerned ; and, in his doubt, he wrote for advice to his 
former student and life long friend, the Hon. Lucius Robinson. In answer, he was 
urged by all means to hold the court himself, and he was told that if some other 
judge held the court he might, perhaps, adjourn the court after two or three weeks 
of trials, leaving most of the cases untried and the jails still filled, which he was sure 
Judge Parker would not do. Judge Parker hesitated no longer, but proceeded at 
once to the discharge of the duty. 

After charging the grand jury, he gave notice, that, whatever time it might take, 
he should continue to hold the court till every case was tried and the jails were 
cleared. 

The indictments were prosecuted by the district attorney appointed by John Van 
Buren, then attorney-general, and by Samuel Sherwood, a distinguished member of 
the bar, then of New York, but who formerly resided at Delhi, and the prisoners 
were defended by able counsel, among whom were Samuel Gordon, Mitchell Sanford 
and Samuel S. Bowne. 

John Van Steenbergh was first tried and convicted of murder. Edward O'Connor 
was next tried with a like result. Both men .sentenced to be executed on the 29th of 
November then next. Four others were convicted of felony and sent to the State 
prison for life, and thirteen men sent to the State prison for different terms of years. 
A large number who had been engaged in resisting the sheriff, but who had not been 
disguised, pleaded guilty of misdemeanors. Some of these were fined, but as to 
most of them, and as to some who pleaded guilty of manslaughter, sentence was 
suspended and they were told by the court they would be held responsible for the 
future preservation of the peace in their neighborhoods, and were warned that if any 



147 

other instance should occur of resisting an officer, or of a violation of the statute 
which made it a felony to appear for such purpose, armed and disguised, they would 
at once be suspected and might be called up for sentence. Under this assurance, 
they were set at liberty, and it is but justice to them to say that they became the 
best possible conservators of the peace, and that no resistance of process by violence 
has ever since occurred in that county. 

At the close of the third week of the court all the cases had been disposed of. No 
prisoners were left in jail, except those awaiting execution or transportation to the 
State prisons. The military were soon after discharged and the log jails taken down, 
and peace and good order have since reigned in the county. 

A report of the trial of Van Steenbergh, with a note referring to the business of 
that court, will be found in 1 Park. Cr. Rep., 39. 

The sentences of Van Steenbergh and O'Connor were subsequently commuted by 
Governor Wright to imprisonment for life, and about a year later all those in the 
State prison were pardoned by the successor of Governor Wright. 

Great credit was awarded to Judge Parker for his successful discharge of the 
delicate and difficult duties devolving upon him at the Delaware Oyer and Terminer, 
and the next commencement the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by 
Geneva College. 

As has been stated. Judge Parker's services as circuit judge and vice-chancellor 
terminated in 1847 by the adoption of the new State Constitution of 1846, under 
which an elective judiciary succeeded to the exercise of the judicial power of the 
State. In all the counties of the Third judicial district meetings of the bar were held 
and complimentary addresses to Judge Parker were signed, approving his judicial 
course.
:[[Landmarks of Albany County, New York]] - (1897) - Parker, Amasa J. (Amasa Junius), 1843-1938, ed
<gallery>
Image:KnoxHistoryParkerTitle.jpg|[[Landmarks of Albany County, New York]] Title Page
Image:AntiRentParkerPage145.jpg|[[Landmarks of Albany County, New York]] Page 145
Image:AntiRentParkerPage146.jpg|[[Landmarks of Albany County, New York]] Page 146
Image:AntiRentParkerPage147.jpg|[[Landmarks of Albany County, New York]] Page 147
</gallery>