1844-1895
Randolph B. Martine, the son of a grocer and real estate dealer, was born in New York City in 1844. He attended Columbia College and Columbia Law School, from which he graduated in 1868. Martine also studied law under future Court of Appeals Judge Charles A. Rapallo. He began law practice as a sole practitioner before forming a partnership with Charles A. Jackson.[1] Martine was politically active in Tammany Hall early in his career before breaking away to join a reform faction of the Democratic Party in 1881. In 1882, Mayor William Grace nominated him to serve as New York City Police Commissioner but the Tammany majority of the Board of Aldermen declined even to consider his nomination.
In 1884, Martine was elected New York County District Attorney on the County Democracy ticket, an anti-Tammany Hall faction of the city’s Democratic Party. On taking office, Martine appointed as his Assistants three future District Attorneys: John R. Fellows, De Lancey Nicoll, and Vernon M. Davis.[2] In 1886, District Attorney Martine “created a great sensation by having the entire Board of Aldermen arrested” for bribery in connection with their 1884 award of the Broadway streetcar franchise to horsecar magnate Jacob Sharp and his associates.[3] Sharp and several Aldermen were eventually convicted.[4]
In November 1887, Martine was elected to the Court of General Sessions (the criminal court with jurisdiction over felony cases) on both the Republican and Democratic tickets, including the latter’s Tammany and anti-Tammany factions.[5] On the bench, Judge Martine presided over numerous high-profile trials, including that of Harry Carlton, a member of the infamous Whyo gang, whom the judge sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer.[6] On December 5, 1889, Carlton became the last person hanged in the Tombs before the electric chair was introduced the following year.[7]
Judge Martine died unexpectedly of heart failure on March 30, 1895, at his New York City home.
[1] “The Vacant Commissionerships,” New York Times, May 10, 1882.
[2] “Death of Judge Martine,” New York Times, March 31, 1895.
[3] “Eleven Taken in Charge,” New York Times, April 14, 1886; see also John Oller, Rogues’ Gallery, Dutton, 2021, at 129-30.
[4] Sharp’s conviction was reversed by the Court of Appeals in People v. Strong (107 NY 427 [1887]) on the grounds that the trial court improperly admitted evidence of prior bribery offenses by Sharp in contravention of the rule that prior bad acts may not be introduced for the sole purpose of establishing that the prior offenses make it more likely that the defendant committed the offense charged.
[5] “De Lancey Nicoll Chosen: Put on the Republican Ticket with Martine,” New York Times, Oct. 26, 1887.
[6] “Handsome Harry Must Die,” New York Times, Oct. 18, 1889.
[7] Meyer Berger, “The Tombs – II,” The New Yorker, Sept. 6, 1941, at 36.