October 1887: Mercer Beasley Jr., 43, the son of New Jersey’s former chief justice, died by his own hand in Trenton on Sept. 16. The younger Beasley, who had been Mercer County’s prosecutor for 11 years, was a widower and left behind three small children. “He … had at one time a brilliant career before him,” the Law Journal editors observed. “It is said that temporary insanity probably induced the sad act.”
100 Years Ago
October 1912: Cars and trucks were taking over city streets, and Paterson lawyer T.W. Randall said the day of the horse and pedestrian was clearly over. “The automobile is the absolute boss of the road, with no one to say nay,” he wrote. “No spectator can suppose that either man or beast has any rights. If they think they have, let them try to exercise them and then see the maimed and shattered and mangled results.”
