Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Bradley

The most prominent person from the town of Berne was the late Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Bradley. Judge Bradley was born March 14, 1813 in Berne. In 1833 the Dutch Reformed Church of Berne advanced young Joseph Bradley $ 250 to study ministry at Rutgers College. While there he decided to study law instead. Upon graduation in 1836 he obtained a teaching position but soon left to work in a law office in Newark. He was admitted to the bar in 1839 and practiced law until 1870. In 1870 he was named to the Supreme Court by President Grant. Judge Bradley's notoriety came during the Presidential election of 1876 when Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio opposed James Tilden of New York. Tilden won the popular vote. The electoral vote was nearly tied, then contested due to fraud. Congress created a special commission of fifteen men to vote to decide the electoral vote. Judge Bradley was appointed to fill the vacancy of Judge Davis, who declined. The vote was tied at seven each and Judge Bradley was given time to consider his vote because of his late appointment. He was visited by some of his Democratic party members that night and they left Judge Bradley's house confident that he would vote for their man Tilden. The next day Judge Joseph P. Bradley from Berne New York cast his ballot to elect our 19th President, Rutherford B. Hayes. It seems Mrs. Bradley had a greater influence on the Judge than his fellow party members, and she was a Republican.
Lived in the house now owned by Von Haugg's on Cole Hill. At age of five Joseph went to school. Among his teachers was Abraham H Myers, who, in 1831, returned to Berne as a preacher in the newly erected meeting house. It was in Myers's parsonage that Joseph learned Latin and Greek. In 1828 Joseph, then 15, taught his first school and continued until 1832. He wrote that by the age of eleven he was working in the field with scythe and harrow, driving the plow over hillsides so steep that he could reach the handles only by standing on tiptoes. In 1827, his father bought his own farm and cut the forest. The wood was reduced to charcoal which Joseph would cart to town by the bushel and peddle. Sometimes they would have tanbark to haul to the tannery.
   The boy craved knowledge. He wrote in his autobiography, "histories and travels, I obtained from the town library, of which our uncle, only three or four miles distant, was the keeper. Many and many a Saturday night, when I could ge away, would i tramp down to this mecca and during the entire Sunday revel in the intellectual treats which it offered. In my father's collection was an old copy of Moore on surveying and Wilson's old book on navigation. These were favorites. I learned the art of practical surveying before I was sixteen, and was frequently employed by the neighbors to settle disputed boundary lines, and to survey their farms. My fees were a dollar a day." He also taught himself algebra.
   In 1831 Joseph asked his father's permission to leave home to seek an education. His father agreed and gave him about $20. His plan was to go to NYC, work, then return to study at the Albany Academy for Boys. Just as he got to the wharf, the last boat of the winter had pulled out ahead of time. Joseph remained in Albany a few days, during which he discovered the delights of the State Library. He returned to Berne where he was met by Rev. Myers who took him into the parsonage and prepared him for college.
   Joseph entered Rutgers in 1833 and graduated in the class of 1836. He describes himself as a "very hard student". He wrote, "I do not remeber ever to have entered a professor's room without being ready to answer any question that could fairly be put on the lesson of the day." A very serious youg man, he was also the leading mathematician of the school.
   Upon graduation and after teaching briefly, Joseph read law with Archer Gifford, lawyer and collector of the port of Newark. He visited Washington and heard Clay, Calhoun, Webster and the other great orators of the pre-Civil War era. Admitted to the bar in Nov. 1839, Bradley practiced law in Newark until 1870, and became an outstanding railroad lawyer. In February, 1870 he was named to the Supreme Court by President Grant. His mechanical ability made him especially valuable in patent cases.
   In the election of 1886, Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican of Ohio, opposed Jams Tilden, Democrat of New York. The election was very close. Tilden won the popular vote by a margin of over 264,000 but the electoral vote was claimed to be 185 to 184 for Hayes. The 20 votes of Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina were climed by the Republicans but contested by the Democrats. The Republicans tried to prove violence and fraud by the Democrats, especially against the negro voters. Canvassing boards were established to determine who had won. The Republican electors were declared winners in all three states, but at the same time, The Democrat electors of the same states, met and voted for Tilden. Hence, two sets of conflicting votes were sent to the Senate. Also, meantime, one Republican elector of Oregon was declared inelligible and a Democrat elector was appointed to replace him. This one vote reversed the vote to 185-184 in favor of Mr. Tilden.
   The problem of which side to believe was debated for one month. There was nothing in the Constitution to solve the question. Finally a law was passed by Congress on Jan. 29, 1877, creating a special Electoral Commission with 15 members, 5 from the House, 5 from the Senate, and 5 Supreme Court Justices. By agreement, 7 were to be Democrats, 7 Republicans and one the impartial Justice Davis of Illinois. Davis declined and Bradley was appointed in his place. On the night before the final vote the Democrats visited Dr. Bradley and were led to believe that he would decide in their favor. But the next morning his vote was pro-Republican and Hayes was declared President. Sometime after midnight, a delegation of Republicans had visited the Bradley home and perhaps with the aid of Mrs. Bradley, had convinced the Judge to change his opinion. Whatever happened, the vote of Joseph Bradley, born in Berne, NY, had elected Rutherford B. Hayes as President of the United States.
   Joseph Bradley continued to serve as Justice of the Supreme Court until his death in Washington, January 19, 1892.

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