The 115th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5 to April 26, 1892, during the first year of Roswell P. Flower's governorship, in Albany.
Background Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1846, 32 Senators and 128 assemblymen were elected in single-seat districts; senators for a two-year term, assemblymen for a one-year term. The senatorial districts were made up of entire counties, except New York County (seven districts) and Kings County (three districts). The Assembly districts were made up of entire towns, or city wards,Except New York City where the wards were apportioned into election districts, and then some whole wards and some election districts of other wards were gerrymandered together into Assembly districts. forming a contiguous area, all within the same county.
At this time there were two major political parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. In New York City, the Democrats were split into three factions: Tammany Hall, the "County Democracy" and the "New York Democracy". The Prohibition Party and the Socialist Labor Party also nominated tickets.
Elections The 1891 New York state election was held on November 3. Roswell P. Flower was elected Governor; and Speaker William F. Sheehan was elected Lieutenant Governor, both Democrats. The other five statewide elective offices up for election were also carried by the Democrats. The approximate party strength at this election, as expressed by the vote for Governor, was: Democratic 585,000; Republican 535,000; Prohibition 30,000; and Socialist Labor 15,000.
This was the first time that seats in the Legislature were contested in the courts. Previously, since Independence in 1777, seats could be contested only in the Legislature, after the beginning of the session, and it took usually a long time to come to a conclusion. Most contestants whose claims were found to be correct, were seated only a few days before the end of the session. Now it became possible to take the contest to the courts, swiftly being decided by New York Court of Appeals, before the session began. At this time, the Court of Appeals was composed of five Democrats and two Republicans, and ruled in favor of Democrats Edward B. Osborne, John A. Nichols and Charles E. Walker who were referred to in the press as "usurpers", holding their seats by fraud. Seven more seats were then contested in the Legislature.
Sessions The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 5, 1892; and adjourned on April 25.
Robert P. Bush (D) was elected Speaker with 65 votes against 55 for James W. Husted (R).
Jacob A. Cantor (D) was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate with 15 votes against 14 for George Z. Erwin (R).
On January 13, the Democratic senators met in caucus to discuss the scheme of unseating Republicans John H. Derby and Harvey J. Donaldson. Senator William L. Brown refused to go along with the scheme.see SENATOR BROWN SAID NO AND SHEEHAN'S BOLD GAME WAS BLOCKED in NYT on January 14, 1892
On January 14, Senators George Z. Erwin, Edmund O'Connor and Charles T. Saxton (all three Rep.) refused to vote on a substitute Enumeration Bill, and were declared in contempt by the Democratic majority.SENATORS "IN CONTEMPT" in NYT on January 15, 1892
On January 20, the Enumeration Bill was finally passed.see ENUMERATION BILL PASSED in NYT on January 21, 1892 It had been due in 1885, but Republicans and Democrats could not agree on the terms. The Census Bill passed by Republican majorities in the Legislature of 1885 was vetoed by Gov. David B. Hill. In 1892, for the first time since 1885 the majorities in both Houses of the Legislature and the Governor were of the same party, and the enumeration bill was rushed through. The enumeration was needed as a basis for the re-apportionment of the Senate and Assembly districts.
On February 10, the Legislature elected James F. Crooker (Dem.) as Superintendent of Public Instruction, with 81 votes against 71 for Andrew S. Draper (Rep.), to succeed Draper on April 7 for a term of three years.MR. DRAPER'S SUCCESSOR in The New York Times on February 11, 1892
The Legislature met for a special session on April 25, at 8.30 p.m., to consider the re-apportionment of the Senate districts and the number of assemblymen per county.THE NEW APPORTIONMENT in NYT on April 26, 1892
On April 26, the Re-Apportionment Bill was passed by a vote of 17 to 1 (the 14 Republicans refused to vote) in the Senate; and by a vote of 67 to 58 in the Assembly.WALKER'S FIRMNESS WINS in NYT on April 27, 1892 Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Jefferson, Niagara, Oneida, Oswego, Otsego, Saratoga, Ulster, Washington and Wayne counties lost one seat each; St. Lawrence County lost two seats; Erie and Queens counties gained one seat each; and Kings and New York counties gained six seats each.
On August 5, Monroe County Judge Rumsey declared the Re-Apportionment Bill as unconstitutional and void.APPORTIONMENT ACT VOID in NYT on August 6, 1892
On September 23, Supreme Court Justice Stephen L. Mayham declared the Re-Apportionment Bill as constitutional.JUDGE MAYHAM'S REASONS in NYT on September 24, 1892
On October 13, the Court of Appeals upheld the Re-Apportionment Bill by a party vote of 5 to 2.APPORTIONMENT TO STAND in NYT on October 14, 1892
State Senate Districts
Note: There are now 62 counties in the State of New York. The counties which are not mentioned in this list had not yet been established, or sufficiently organized, the area being included in one or more of the abovementioned counties.
Members The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Joseph Aspinall, Martin T. McMahon, Charles P. McClelland, Edward B. Osborne, Cornelius R. Parsons and Matthias Endres changed from the Assembly to the Senate.
Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."
District Senator Party Notes1stEdward Floyd-Jones DemocratChairman of Game Laws2ndJohn McCarty DemocratChairman of State Prisons; and of Public Buildings3rdJoseph Aspinall* Republican4thPatrick H. McCarren* DemocratChairman of Commerce and Navigation; and of Public Expenditures5thWilliam L. Brown* Tammany Dem.Chairman of Affairs of Cities; and of Grievances6thJohn F. Ahearn* DemocratChairman of Banks; and of Public Printing7thGeorge F. Roesch* Tammany Dem.Chairman of Judiciary8thMartin T. McMahon* Tammany Dem.Chairman of General Laws; and of Militia9thEdward P. Hagan Tammany Dem.Chairman of Claims10thJacob A. Cantor* Tammany Dem.elected President pro tempore; Chairman of Finance; and of Rules11thGeorge W. Plunkitt Tammany Dem.Chairman of Miscellaneous Corporations; and of Engrossed Bills12thCharles P. McClelland* DemocratChairman of Insurance; and of Joint Library13thWilliam P. Richardson* Republicancontested by C. Frederick Lamont (D)14thClarence E. Bloodgood DemocratChairman of Roads and Bridges; and of Poor Laws15thEdward B. Osborne* Democratcontested in the courts by Gilbert A. Deane (R);Deane had received more votes than Osborne, but the county canvassers did not allow 31 votes which had ink marks on the edge (which could have been made by printers' quads), and declared Osborne elected. Deane died on November 20, 1891, but the Republican Party continued his contest in the courts. On December 5, Judge Barnard ordered the votes to be counted, and instructed the County Clerk to inform the corrected result to the state canvassers. Judge Fursman ordered a stay of Barnard's decision. On December 19, Supreme Court Justice Edgar M. Cullen vacated Fursman's stay, and in the evening of December 21, Dutchess County Clerk Emans mailed the corrected result to Albany. On the same day however, Justice Ingraham had stayed Cullen's decision and Emans was accused of contempt of court. Emans traveled to Albany himself, and appeared at Deputy Attorney General Isaac H. Maynard's home at half past 8 a.m. next morning demanding to have the corrected result returned to him. Maynard and Emans went to the State Comptroller's office, and Maynard subtracted the letter from the incoming-mail pile and handed it over to Emans, explaining to the office employees that the letter had been misdirected. Subsequently, the original result was counted by the state canvassers, and Osborne was declared elected. Chairman of Affairs of Villages; and of Erection and Division of Towns and Counties16thJohn H. Derby Republicancontested by Michael F. Collins (D)17thAmasa J. Parker Jr. DemocratChairman of Taxation and Retrenchment; and of Public Health18thHarvey J. Donaldson* Republicancontested by Edward H. Hoyt (D)19thLouis W. Emerson* Republican20thGeorge Z. Erwin* RepublicanMinority Leader21stJoseph Mullin Republican22ndHenry J. Coggeshall* Republican23rdJohn E. Smith Republican24thEdmund O'Connor* Republican25thJohn A. Nichols Democratcontested in the courts by Rufus T. Peck (R);The Court of Appeals upheld the decision by the county canvassers of Onondaga County to throw out 1,252 ballots for Peck on a technicality, thus giving Nichols a majority. Chairman of Salt; and of Agriculture26thThomas Hunter* Republican27thCharles E. Walker Democratseated in place of Franklin D. Sherwood (R);Sherwood was at the time of election a Park Commissioner of the City of Hornellsville, and for this reason declared ineligible by the Court of Appeals. The state canvassers refused to declare any candidate elected, but Walker was seated at the beginning of the session by a vote of the Senate. Chairman of Internal Affairs of Towns and Counties; and of Manufactures28thCharles T. Saxton* Republican29thCornelius R. Parsons* Republican30thGreenleaf S. Van Gorder* Republicancontested by Harvey Arnold (D)see SENATOR VAN GORDER'S SEAT in NYT on January 6, 189231stMatthias Endres* DemocratChairman of Canals; and of Indian Affairs32ndJames T. Edwards Ind. Rep./Dem.Chairman of Railroads; and of Public Education
Employees Clerk: Charles T. Dunning Assistant Clerk: Charles W. Sutherland Sergeant-at-Arms: Adelbert E. Tallmadge Doorkeeper: Joseph Jerge Stenographer: James M. Ruso
State Assembly Assemblymen
The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature.
Note: For brevity, the chairmanships omit the words "...the Committee on (the)..."