127th New York State Legislature

The 127th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 6 to April 15, 1904, during the fourth year of Benjamin B. Odell Jr.'s governorship, in Albany.

127th New York State Legislature
← 126th 128th →
New York State Capitol (2009)
Overview
Legislative body	New York State Legislature
Jurisdiction	New York, United States
Term	January 1 – December 31, 1904
Senate
Members	50
President	Lt. Gov. Frank W. Higgins (R)
Temporary President	John Raines (R)
Party control	Republican (29-21)
Assembly
Members	150
Speaker	S. Frederick Nixon (R)
Party control	Republican (97-52-1)
Sessions
1st January 6 – April 15, 1904

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1894, 50 Senators and 150 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 (twelve districts), Kings County (seven districts), Erie County (three districts) and Monroe County (two districts). The Assembly districts were made up of contiguous area, all within the same county, .

At this time there were two major political parties: the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The Socialist Party, the Prohibition Party and the Socialist Labor Party also nominated tickets.

Elections

The New York state election, 1903, was held on November 3. The only statewide elective office up for election was a judgeship on the New York Court of Appeals. The incumbent Democrat Denis O'Brien was re-elected with Republican endorsement. The Socialist candidate received about 33,000 votes, the Prohibition candidate about 19,000.

Sessions

The Legislature met for the regular session at the State Capitol in Albany on January 6, 1904; and adjourned on April 15.

S. Frederick Nixon (R) was re-elected Speaker.

State Senate

Districts

• 1st District: Richmond and Suffolk counties
• 2nd District: Queens and Nassau counties
• 3rd District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Ward of Brooklyn, as constituted in 1894
• 4th District: 7th, 13th, 19th and 21st Ward of Brooklyn, as constituted in 1894
• 5th District: 8th, 10th, 12th and 30th Ward of Brooklyn, and the annexed former Town of Gravesend, as constituted in 1894
• 6th District: 9th, 11th, 20th and 22nd Ward of Brooklyn, as constituted in 1894
• 7th District: 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th Ward of Brooklyn, as constituted in 1894
• 8th District: 23rd, 24th, 25th and 29th Ward of Brooklyn; and the annexed former Town of Flatlands, as constituted in 1894
• 9th District: 18th, 26th, 27th and 28th Ward of Brooklyn, as constituted in 1894
• 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st District: Parts of the City of New York, defined geographically by their bordering streets, regardless of Wards or Assembly districts
• 22nd District: Westchester County
• 23rd District: Orange and Rockland counties
• 24th District: Columbia, Dutchess and Putnam and counties
• 25th District: Greene and Ulster counties
• 26th District: Chenango, Delaware and Sullivan counties
• 27th District: Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery and Schoharie counties
• 28th District: Saratoga, Schenectady and Washington counties
• 29th District: Albany County
• 30th District: Rensselaer County
• 31st District: Clinton, Essex and Warren counties
• 32nd District: Franklin and St. Lawrence counties
• 33rd District: Otsego and Herkimer counties
• 34th District: Oneida County
• 35th District: Jefferson and Lewis counties
• 36th District: Onondaga County
• 37th District: Oswego and Madison counties
• 38th District: Broome, Cortland and Tioga counties
• 39th District: Cayuga and Seneca counties
• 40th District: Chemung, Schuyler and Tompkins counties
• 41st District: Steuben and Yates counties
• 42nd District: Ontario and Wayne counties
• 43rd District: 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th Ward of Rochester; and the towns of Brighton, Henrietta, Irondequoit, Menden, Penfield, Perinton, Pittsford, Rush and Webster, in Monroe County
• 44th District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 15th, 19th and 20th Ward of Rochester; and the towns of Chili, Clarkson, Gates, Greece, Hamlin, Ogden, Parma, Riga, Sweden and Wheatland, in Monroe County
• 45th District: Genesee, Niagara and Orleans counties
• 46th District: Allegany, Livingston and Wyoming counties
• 47th District: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 15th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th Ward of Buffalo
• 48th District: 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th Ward of Buffalo
• 49th District: 17th, 18th and 25th Ward of the City of Buffalo; and all area in Erie County outside Buffalo
• 50th District: Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties

Note: In 1897, New York County (the boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx), Kings County (the borough of Brooklyn), Richmond County (the borough of Staten Island) and the Western part of Queens County (the borough of Queens) were consolidated into the present-day City of New York. The Eastern part of Queens County (the non-consolidated part) was separated in 1899 as Nassau County. Parts of the 1st and 2nd Assembly districts of Westchester County were annexed by New York City in 1895, and became part of the Borough of the Bronx in 1898.

Members

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature.

District	Senator	Party	Notes
1st	Edwin Bailey Jr.*	Democrat
2nd	Luke A. Keenan*	Democrat
3rd	Thomas H. Cullen*	Democrat
4th	Thomas C. Whitlock*	Democrat
5th	James H. McCabe*	Democrat
6th	Walter C. Burton*	Democrat
7th	Patrick H. McCarren*	Democrat
8th	Henry Marshall*	Republican
9th	Joseph Wagner*	Democrat
10th	Daniel J. Riordan*	Democrat
11th	John C. Fitzgerald*	Democrat
12th	Samuel J. Foley*	Democrat
13th	Bernard F. Martin*	Democrat
14th	Thomas F. Grady*	Democrat	Minority Leader
15th	Nathaniel A. Elsberg*	Republican
16th	Peter J. Dooling*	Democrat
17th	George W. Plunkitt*	Democrat
18th	Victor J. Dowling*	Democrat	on November 8, 1904, elected to the New York Supreme Court
19th	John W. Russell*	Democrat
20th	James J. Frawley*	Democrat
21st	John A. Hawkins*	Democrat
22nd	Francis M. Carpenter	Republican	elected to fill vacancy, in place of Charles P. McClelland
23rd	Louis F. Goodsell*	Republican
24th	Henry S. Ambler*	Republican
25th	Frank J. Lefevre*	Republican
26th	Jotham P. Allds*	Republican
27th	Spencer K. Warnick*	Republican
28th	Edgar T. Brackett*	Republican
29th	James B. McEwan*	Republican
30th	William D. Barnes*	Republican
31st	Spencer G. Prime*	Republican
32nd	George R. Malby*	Republican
33rd	Walter L. Brown*	Republican
34th	William Townsend*	Democrat
35th	Elon R. Brown*	Republican
36th	Horace White*	Republican
37th	Francis H. Gates*	Republican
38th	George E. Green*	Republican
39th	Benjamin M. Wilcox*	Republican
40th	Edwin C. Stewart*	Republican
41st	Franklin D. Sherwood*	Republican
42nd	John Raines*	Republican	President pro tempore
43rd	Merton E. Lewis*	Republican
44th	William W. Armstrong*	Republican
45th	Irving L'Hommedieu*	Republican
46th	Frederick C. Stevens*	Republican
47th	Henry W. Hill*	Republican
48th	Samuel J. Ramsperger*	Democrat
49th	George Allen Davis*	Republican
50th	Albert T. Fancher*	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: James S. Whipple
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Charles R. Hotaling
• Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: F. H. Adams
• Doorkeeper: Christopher Warren
• Assistant Doorkeeper: Charles H. Barnard
• Stenographer: A. B. Sackett

State Assembly

Assemblymen

District		Assemblymen	Party	Notes
Albany	1st	Charles W. Mead*	Republican
	2nd	Abram S. Coon*	Republican
	3rd	Ellsworth Carr	Independent
	4th	William J. Grattan*	Republican
Allegany		Jesse S. Phillips*	Republican
Broome	1st	James T. Rogers*	Republican	Majority Leader
	2nd	Fred E. Allen*	Republican
Cattaraugus	1st	Theodore Hayden*	Republican
	2nd	James C. Sheldon*	Republican
Cayuga	1st	Judson W. Hapeman	Republican
	2nd	Charles J. Hewitt*	Republican
Chautauqua	1st	Arthur C. Wade	Republican
	2nd	S. Frederick Nixon*	Republican	re-elected Speaker
Chemung		Sherman Moreland*	Republican
Chenango		Edgar A. Pearsall*	Republican
Clinton		H. Wallace Knapp*	Republican
Columbia		Edward W. Scovill*	Republican
Cortland		Henry A. Dickinson*	Republican
Delaware		James R. Cowan*	Republican
Dutchess	1st	John T. Smith*	Republican
	2nd	Robert W. Chanler	Democrat
Erie	1st	Charles J. Quinn	Democrat
	2nd	Robert L. Cox*	Republican
	3rd	Anthony F. Burke*	Democrat
	4th	Charles V. Lynch*	Democrat
	5th	Charles F. Brooks	Republican
	6th	George Ruehl*	Republican
	7th	John K. Patton*	Republican
	8th	Elijah Cook*	Republican
Essex		James M. Graeff*	Republican
Franklin		Charles R. Matthews	Republican
Fulton and Hamilton		Frank C. Wood	Republican
Genesee		S. Percy Hooker*	Republican
Greene		Charles E. Nichols*	Republican
Herkimer		Abram B. Steele	Republican
Jefferson	1st	William A. Denison*	Republican
	2nd	J. Frank La Rue	Rep./Dem.
Kings	1st	Thomas O'Neill	Rep./Cit. U.
	2nd	John McKeown*	Democrat
	3rd	Thomas P. Reilly	Democrat
	4th	John E. Bullwinkel*	Democrat
	5th	Fortescue C. Metcalfe*	Democrat
	6th	Frank J. Ulrich*	Democrat
	7th	William Keegan*	Democrat
	8th	John C. L. Daly*	Democrat
	9th	James J. Kehoe*	Democrat
	10th	Frank H. Cothren	Rep./Cit. U.
	11th	William S. Shanahan*	Democrat
	12th	Oscar L. Thonet	Rep./Cit. U.
	13th	Thomas F. Mathews*	Democrat
	14th	John B. Ferre*	Democrat
	15th	Harry H. Dale*	Democrat
	16th	Richard C. Perry	Republican
	17th	Edward C. Dowling*	Rep./Cit. U.
	18th	Jacob D. Remsen*	Republican
	19th	John Wolf*	Democrat
	20th	Louis J. Zettler*	Democrat
	21st	Edward A. Miller*	Dem./Cit. U.
Lewis		H. Elias Slocum	Republican
Livingston		William Y. Robinson*	Republican
Madison		Robert J. Fish	Republican
Monroe	1st	Martin Davis*	Republican
	2nd	Charles E. Ogden	Republican
	3rd	Charles E. Callahan	Republican
	4th	John Pallace Jr.*	Democrat
Montgomery		William B. Charles	Republican
New York	1st	Thomas B. Caughlan	Democrat
	2nd	Al Smith	Democrat
	3rd	Anthony J. Barrett	Democrat
	4th	William H. Burns*	Democrat
	5th	Edward R. Finch*	Rep./Cit. U.
	6th	Charles Anderson	Democrat
	7th	Peter P. Sherry*	Democrat
	8th	Bennett E. Siegelstein	Democrat
	9th	Patrick H. Bird	Democrat
	10th	William Sohmer	Democrat
	11th	Hugh Dolan*	Democrat
	12th	Edward Rosenstein*	Democrat
	13th	John C. Hackett*	Democrat
	14th	Albert C. Wiegand	Democrat
	15th	Thomas J. McManus*	Democrat
	16th	Samuel Prince*	Democrat
	17th	John F. Curry*	Democrat
	18th	George P. Richter*	Democrat
	19th	Charles F. Bostwick*	Rep./Cit. U.
	20th	Peter L. Fitzsimons	Democrat
	21st	Joseph H. Adams	Republican
	22nd	William H. Hornidge*	Democrat
	23rd	Josiah T. Newcomb	Rep./Cit. U.
	24th	John F. Carew	Democrat
	25th	Ezra P. Prentice	Rep./Cit. U.
	26th	Charles Leopold	Democrat
	27th	George B. Agnew*	Rep./Cit. U.
	28th	Emanuel S. Cahn	Democrat
	29th	Frederic E. Perham	Rep./Cit. U.
	30th	Gotthardt A. Litthauer*	Democrat
	31st	Ernest H. Wallace	Republican
	32nd	Julius Brosen	Democrat
	33rd	James O. Farrell*	Democrat
	34th	William J. Ellis*	Democrat
	35th	Peter J. Everett*	Democrat
Niagara	1st	George F. Thompson	Republican
	2nd	John H. Leggett*	Republican
Oneida	1st	Thomas A. Mortimer*	Democrat
	2nd	Jay H. Pratt	Republican
	3rd	John C. Evans*	Republican
Onondaga	1st	Frank X. Wood	Republican
	2nd	Edward Schoeneck	Republican
	3rd	Martin L. Cadin*	Republican
	4th	Fred W. Hammond*	Republican
Ontario		Jean L. Burnett*	Republican
Orange	1st	John Orr*	Republican
	2nd	Louis Bedell*	Republican
Orleans		Charles S. Bridgeman*	Republican
Oswego	1st	Thomas D. Lewis*	Republican
	2nd	Fred G. Whitney	Republican
Otsego		John B. Conkling*	Republican
Putnam		John R. Yale*	Republican
Queens	1st	Joseph Sullivan*	Democrat
	2nd	William A. De Groot	Republican
Queens and Nassau		William W. Cocks	Republican	on November 8, 1904, elected to the 59th U.S. Congress
Rensselaer	1st	Frank L. Stevens	Republican
	2nd	William V. Donovan	Democrat
	3rd	Calvin A. Gardner	Republican
Richmond		George Bechtel	Democrat
Rockland		Matthew Hurd	Republican
St. Lawrence	1st	Charles S. Plank*	Republican
	2nd	Edwin A. Merritt Jr.*	Republican
Saratoga		George H. Whitney*	Republican
Schenectady		William W. Wemple*	Republican
Schoharie		George M. Palmer*	Democrat	Minority Leader
Schuyler		Olin T. Nye*	Republican
Seneca		John F. Crosby	Republican
Steuben	1st	Frank C. Platt*	Republican
	2nd	Jerry E. B. Santee	Republican
Suffolk	1st	Willis A. Reeve*	Republican
	2nd	Orlando Hubbs*	Republican
Sullivan		John F. Simpson*	Republican
Tioga		Edwin S. Hanford*	Republican
Tompkins		George E. Monroe*	Republican
Ulster	1st	Charles T. Coutant*	Republican
	2nd	William D. Cunningham	Republican
Warren		Loyal L. Davis*	Republican
Washington		James S. Parker	Republican	elected on December 29, 1903[1]
Wayne		Addison P. Smith*	Republican
Westchester	1st	George N. Rigby	Republican
	2nd	J. Mayhew Wainwright*	Republican
	3rd	James K. Apgar*	Republican
Wyoming		Elmer E. Charles	Republican
Yates		Cyrus C. Harvey*	Republican

Employees

• Clerk: Archie E. Baxter
• Assistant Clerk: Ray B. Smith^[2]
• Sergeant-at-Arms: Frank W. Johnston
• Doorkeeper: Frank Sherer Jr.
• First Assistant Doorkeeper: Andrew Kehn
• Second Assistant Doorkeeper: D. Cameron Easton
• Stenographer: Henry C. Lammert

Notes

1. Assemblyman-elect William H. Hughes (R) committed suicide on November 11, 1903, see GEN. HUGHES A SUICIDE in NYT on November 12, 1903; Parker was elected at a special election on December 29, 1903, see James S. Parker Elected to Assembly in NYT on December 30, 1903
2. Murlin, Edgar L. (1904). The New York Red Book. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company. p. 599.

Sources

• Official New York from Cleveland to Hughes by Charles Elliott Fitch (Hurd Publishing Co., New York and Buffalo, 1911, Vol. IV; see pg. 348f for assemblymen; and 365 for senators)
• COUNT ON LEGISLATURE in NYT on November 5, 1903
• THE LEGISLATURE READY in NYT on January 6, 1904
• NIXON OPPOSES ODELL in NYT on January 7, 1904