Thomas Crowell Taylor Crain (May 25, 1860

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

– May 29, 1942) was an American lawyer and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He was

New York County District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state la ...

from 1930 to 1933.

Biography

Crain was born on May 25, 1860, on 14th Street, near the old

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

. He was the son of

Dunham Jones Crain Dunham Jones Crain (February 28, 1831 – May 17, 1908) was an American politician and diplomat from New York. Biography He was born on February 28, 1831, in Cullen, Herkimer County, New York, the son of Assemblyman William C. Crain (1798–186 ...

who was appointed U.S. Consul in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

in 1877. Thomas Crain accompanied his father to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

but returned in 1881, and began the study of law. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1884, and commenced practiced with Cockran & Clarke. Later he became a partner in Kenneson, Crain & Allen. In 1887, he became a member of the Tammany General Committee, representing the 7th Assembly District. In 1889, Mayor

Hugh J. Grant Hugh John Grant (September 10, 1858 – November 3, 1910) served as the 88th mayor of New York City for two terms from 1889 to 1892. He remains the youngest mayor in the city's history, was one of the youngest mayors of a major United States, Am ...

appointed him as his private secretary, and in February 1890 as City Chamberlain to succeed

Richard Croker Richard Welstead Croker (November 24, 1843 – April 29, 1922), known as "Boss Croker," was an Irish American political boss who was a leader of New York City's Tammany Hall. His control over the city was cemented with the 1897 election of ...

who had resigned. He remained in office until May 1893, when Mayor Thomas Francis Gilroy appointed Joseph J. O'Donohue to the office. He was Tenement House Commissioner from 1904 to 1905 when he resigned following a dispute with Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. in the wake of a fire at 105 Allen Street that killed 18 people, mostly children. Fire officials said windows and fire escapes were blocked. Charges were made that the department had not properly inspected it although Crain said the records showed inspections twice a month. He was the presiding Judge in the 1911 trial of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory owners Max Blanck and

Isaac Harris The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. ...

. He was a judge of the Court of General Sessions from 1906 to 1924. In 1914, his wife Agnes (Clarke) Crain died. In 1921, he was elected a sachem of the Tammany Society. In January 1924, he was appointed by Governor

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a ...

to the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

(1st D.) to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Irving Lehman to the

New York Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by t ...

. In November 1924, he was elected to succeed himself. In November 1929, he was elected

. He convened a grand jury to look into the

Arnold Rothstein Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 4, 1928), nicknamed "The Brain", was an American racketeer, crime boss, businessman, and gambler in New York City. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athleti ...

murder and it adjourned saying it could not solve the case. In 1930, he convened a grand jury to investigate job buying Magistrate George F. Ewald. When the jury did not indict, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt convened a jury and got an indictment. In 1930, he announced a war against rackets which produced few results. Charges were filed against him for general negligence, urging his removal. This was common procedure by Anti-Tammany reformers since the precedent of 1900 when Governor

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

removed D.A. Asa Bird Gardiner. This time the charges were ultimately dismissed by Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. After leaving the D.A.'s office at the end of his term in 1933, he became a New York Supreme Court referee. He died on May 29, 1942.

Biography

References

Further reading