De Lancey Nicoll

De Lancey Nicoll was born on Shelter Island on June 24, 1854. He was the son of Solomon Townsend Nicoll (1813–1864) and Charlotte Anne Nicoll (1827–1891). State Senator Courtlandt Nicoll (1880–1938) was his nephew.

He attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire; and graduated from Princeton University in 1874, and from Columbia Law School in 1876.

After serving in private practice,{{cite news|title=THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S AIDS.; THE ASSOCIATES SELECTED BY RANDOLPH B. MARTINE.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1884/12/31/106292581.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=December 31, 1884|language=en}} he was appointed Assistant New York County District Attorney by D.A. Randolph B. Martine in 1885.{{cite news|title=IRVING HALL'S SUPPORT.; INDORSING THE WHOLE OF THE REPUBLICAN TICKET.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/10/28/100939017.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=October 28, 1887|language=en}} In November 1887,{{cite news|title=DE LANCEY NICOLL CHOSEN; PUT ON THE REPUBLICAN TICKET WITH MARTINE. DECIDING TO ACCEPT THE NOMINATION --THE OTHER CANDIDATES SELECTED BY THE COUNTY CONVENTION.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/10/26/100938556.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=October 26, 1887|language=en}} he ran on the Citizens Reform, Republican and Irving Hall (a faction of Anti-Tammany Democrats) tickets to succeed Martine as D.A., but was defeated by his fellow Assistant D.A. John R. Fellows who ran on the Tammany Hall/County Democracy (the larger faction of Anti-Tammany Democrats) ticket. Upon taking office in January 1888, Fellows dismissed Nicoll from the office of Assistant D.A.{{cite news|title=RESULT OF THE CITY VOTE; IT PROVES TO BE A SWEEPING DEMOCRATIC VICTORY. THE LABOR VOTE BROKEN UP IN AN UNEXPECTED WAY--CANDIDATES WHO ARE ELECTED TO OFFICE.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/11/09/106186394.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=November 9, 1887|language=en}}

In November 1890, Nicoll ran on the Tammany Hall ticket to succeed Fellows as D.A., and was elected.{{cite news|title=HAS REPUDIATED HIS PLEDGES.; DE LANCEY NICOLL'S CURIOUS POSITION AS A TAMMANY NOMINEE.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/10/20/103273228.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=October 20, 1890|language=en}} Nicoll was D.A. from January 1891 until the end of 1893. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law.

In 1896, Nicoll was among the Democrats who repudiated William Jennings Bryan and campaigned for Republican William McKinley. In 1904, he was chosen by Chairman Thomas Taggart as Vice Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.{{cite news|title=SHEEHAN FOR HEAD OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE; Democratic Chairman Taggart Selects His Campaign Aids. PEABODY TO BE TREASURER De Lancey Nicoll Vice Chairman -- McLean, Guffey, and Smith Named -- Gorman to Assist.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/08/04/100474569.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=August 4, 1904|language=en}}

He successfully represented Joseph Pulitzer and the New York World in a libel case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1910 regarding press freedom.{{cite news|title=SUPREME COURT ENDS PANAMA LIBEL SUIT; Federal Courts Lack Jurisdiction in The World Case, Chief Justice White Holds.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/01/04/104853177.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=January 4, 1911|language=en}}{{cite news|title=PANAMA LIBEL SUIT QUASHED BY COURT; Judge Hough Holds That the Circuit Court Lacks Jurisdiction Under the Storey Act. SENT TO SUPREME COURT Useless to Waste Time, He Declares, on a Question Which Pertains to State Jurisdiction.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/01/27/104918263.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=January 27, 1911|language=en}} During the 1908 U.S. presidential campaign, the New York World had published an account of how a consortium involving President Theodore Roosevelt's brother-in-law Douglas Robinson, U.S. Secretary of War William H. Taft's brother Charles P. Taft, William Nelson Cromwell and J. P. Morgan had bought the French Panama Canal company for US$4,000,000 and re-sold it to the U.S. government for US$40,000,000, thus netting a fortune of about US$36,000,000.

On December 11, 1890, he married Maud Churchill (1871–1924).{{cite news|title=DE LANCEY NICOLL MARRIED.; A VERY QUIET CEREMONY PERFORMED AT THE HOME OF THE BRIDE.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1890/12/12/103285804.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=December 12, 1890|language=en}} Together, they were the parents of:

• De Lancey Nicoll Jr. (1892–1957), also an attorney.{{cite news|title=DELANCEY NICOLL, LAWYER, 65, DEAD; Ex-Counsel for Taxi Group Had Represented General Motors and Ford Here Had Variety of Interests Operated Muskrat Farm|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/09/16/archives/delancey-nicoll-lawyer-65-dead-excounsel-for-taxi-group-had.html|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=16 September 1957}}
• Josephine Churchill Nicoll (1894–1915), who died at age 19.{{cite news|title=JOSEPHINE NICOLL DEAD.; Lawyer's Only Daughter Had Intended to Become a War Nurse.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/04/27/100151948.pdf|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=April 27, 1915|language=en}}

Nicoll died at his home at 23 East 39th Street in Manhattan.{{cite news|title=DE LANCEY NICOLL, NOTED LAWYER, DIE; Former District Attorney Is Stricken Suddenly in His 77th Year. "BOODLE ALDERMEN'S" FOE Convicted Several for Accepting Franchise Bribes--Delegate to Constitutional Conclaves. His Early Struggles. Won Fight for Pulitzer.|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E14F7355C157A93C3A9178FD85F458385F9|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=1 April 1931}} He left a fortune of nearly a million and a half dollars.{{cite news|title=$1,403,603 NET LEFT BY DE LANCEY NICOLL; Appraisal Shows Lawyer Had $1,559,790 in Securities -- $25,000 Gift to Hospital. FRENCH'S ESTATE $158,388 Sculptor's Property Included Bronzes of Lincoln -- R.C. Black's Wealth Put at $2,294,914 Gross.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/11/01/archives/1403603-net-left-by-de-lancey-nicoll-appraisal-shows-lawyer-had.html|accessdate=29 September 2017|work=The New York Times|date=1 November 1932}}

• John Jay McKelvey, Sr., attorney, founder of Harvard Law Review

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{{succession box | before = John R. Fellows | title = New York County District Attorney | years = 1891 - 1893 | after = John R. Fellows}}

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Category:1854 births

Category:1931 deaths

Category:People from Shelter Island, New York

Category:New York County district attorneys

Category:Columbia Law School alumni

Category:Princeton University alumni

Category:Presidents of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York