CHIEF JUSTICE MORRISON R. WAITE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 05/04/1887 - HFSID 35485

MORRISON R. WAITE
Morrison R. Waite sends an autograph letter about General Este who died after his wife.
Autograph Letter Signed: "Very truly yrs/M.R. Waite" as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1p, 4½x6¾. Washington, D.C., 1887 May 4. To Belmont Perry, U.S. Representative from New York. In full: "Gen. Este left no widow - his wife died some years before he did." MORRISON REMICK WAITE (1816-1888) was appointed the seventh Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (to succeed Salmon P. Chase) by President Grant in 1874. Waite, who first came to prominence for representing the U.S. in the Alabama claims, was largely responsible for helping to interpret Amendments adopted after the Civil War to the U.S. Constitution. Assuming a large portion of the work of the Court, he wrote over 1,000 opinions in his 14 years on the bench. GEORGE PEABODY ESTE (1829-1881), the "Gen. Este" of this letter, was a former law partner of Waite's in Toledo. A member of the Ohio Infantry, he was brevetted Brigadier General of Volunteers on December 9, 1864 and given full rank on June 26, 1865. After resigning on December 4, 1865, Este resumed his practice of law in Washington, D.C. BELMONT PERRY (1851-1947), the brother of Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, served as a Democratic Congressman from New York from 1881-1888 and was U.S. Minister to Spain from 1888-1889. Perry was also the author of a number of books on national and political affairs. Tape stains at blank left margin, show through from tape stain on verso touches the "W" of Washington. Overall, fine condition.