The Biographical Dictionary of America/Beach, William Augustus

​BEACH, William Augustus, lawyer, was born at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Dec. 9, 1809. He attended Partridge's military school at Norwich, Vt., and on leaving that institution studied law with his uncle, Judge Warren, and was admitted to the bar in 1853. He soon secured an active and successful practice, and was appointed district-attorney of Saratoga county, acquiring in this office a thorough knowledge of criminal law, as well as a reputation as an orator. In 1851 he removed to Troy, N.Y., where his reputation as a sound lawyer had preceded him. He was the leading counsel for the plaintiff in the celebrated Albany Bridge case, brought to prevent the construction of a bridge across the Hudson river. He defended Canal Commissioner Dorn, who was impeached for malfeasance in office before the court for the trial of impeachment, and secured his acquittal, and in 1867 he was associated with James T. Brady in the defence of General Cole, charged with the murder of L. Harris Hiscock. He later removed to New York city, where his name was associated with some of the most important litigations of the period. He was the leading counsel for the plaintiff in the celebrated Tilton-Beecher trial, appeared also in the Vanderbilt will case, in the defence of Judge Barnard in his trial for impeachment, and in the trial of E.S. Stokes for the murder of James Fisk, Jr. He died in Tarrytown, N.Y., June 28, 1884.