Clarence Lexow

Clarence Lexow circa 1899

Clarence Lexow (September 16, 1852 – December 31, 1910) was a member of the New York Senate from 1894 to 1898.

Biography

He was born on September 16, 1852, in Brooklyn, New York City. His father was Rudolph Lexow (1823-1909) who was born in Germany. His mother was born in England and had died prior to 1880. His siblings include: Charles K. Lexow (1850–1928) who was a lawyer in 1880; Allen Lexow (1855-?) who was a banker in 1880; and Rudolf Grant Lexow (1865-?).^[1]

He studied abroad and at the Columbia Law School, where he was graduated in 1872. He was admitted to the bar and established practice in New York City, where he had many German-American clients.^[2] In 1880 Clarence was living in Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York with his parents, and he was already a lawyer. Rudolph Lexow, his father was working as an editor. Clarence and Charles also appear as living in Manhattan in the Benedict Building at 79 Washington Place in New York City. In 1882, he became a resident of Nyack and was active in the Republican Party there. In 1890 he was an unsuccessful nominee for Congress. Though Lexow was unsuccessful, the majority for the Democratic victor was lower than had been usual.^[2]

In 1893, he was elected to the state senate where he served till 1898. Here he at once took a leadership role, and was chairman of the committee on internal affairs and introduced the bi-partisan police bill calling for an investigation of the New York City Police. This led to the appointment, in 1894, of the so-called “Lexow Committee,” of which he was head.^[2] The committee documented how Tammany Hall leaders and the police extorted bribes from operators of gambling and prostitution houses. He was a Senator from the 16th District from 1894 to 1895; and the 23rd District from 1896 to 1898. Lexow was also the introducer of the bill creating the city of Greater New York, was chairman of the joint legislative committee for the investigation of trusts and unlawful combinations, of the committee on primary elections reform, and of the judiciary committee.^[2]

In 1896 he was chairman of the committee on resolutions at the Republican State convention and introduced the gold standard plank in the platform; in 1900 he was a presidential elector.^[2]

He died in 1910 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack, New York.^[3]

Works

He is author of reports on:

• Municipal Government (5 vols., 1895)
• Trusts and Unlawful Combinations (1895)

See also

Biography portal

• Lexow Committee

References

1. ^ "C. K. Lexow Dies of Heart Attack". New York Times. July 14, 1928. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0614FE385C177A93C6A8178CD85F4C8285F9. Retrieved 2007-03-08. "Commissioner of Supreme Court Records Was Found Stricken in His Office Thursday. In Politics for 47 Years. Oldest Republican District Leader in New York City. Brother of Late Clarence Lexow. A Native of New York City. Entered Politics in 1881. Charles K. Lexow, Commissioner of Records of the Supreme Court, died yesterday afternoon at Beekman Street Hospital. He had been taken to the hospital Thursday morning after a cleaner had found him helpless in a chair in his office in the Hall of Records." 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e}  "Lexow, Clarence". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 
3. ^ "Ex-Senator Lexow, Investigator, Dead". New York Times. December 31, 1910, Saturday. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00F12F7385417738DDDA80B94DA415B808DF1D3. Retrieved 2007-03-08. "Headed Famous Inquiry Into Now York City Police Department in 1834. Notable Career in Senate. Author of Bills Extending Anti-Trust Laws and Primary Reform Legislation, Robin Company Director." 

Further reading

• Clarence Lexow, Report and proceedings of the Senate Committee appointed to investigate the Police Department of the city of New York, 1895
• Isabelle Keating Savell (1905-?), Politics in the Gilded Age in New York State and Rockland County; A Biography of Senator Clarence Lexow
• Cops, Crooks, and Criminologists. An international biographical dictionary of law enforcement. By Alan Axelrod and Charles Phillips. New York: Facts on File, 1996
• Dictionary of American Biography. Volumes 1-20. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928–1936
• The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Volume 5. New York: James T. White & Co., 1891. Use the Index to locate biographies
• Who Was Who in America. A component volume of Who's Who in American History. Volume 1, 1897-1942. Chicago: A.N. Marquis Co., 1943

• 

  Report and proceedings of the Senate committee appointed to investigate the police department of the city of New York. Volume III

• 

  Washington Post, June 09, 1910

External links

• "SENATOR LEXOW TO GERMANS; He Tells Them that Tammany's Clock Has Run Down". The New York Times. November 2, 1894. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0C17F63A5515738DDDAB0894D9415B8485F0D3. 
• "Clarence Lexow". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=18269. Retrieved August 28, 2010. 

Persondata
Name	Lexow, Clarence
Alternative names
Short description	New York politician
Date of birth	September 16, 1852
Place of birth
Date of death	December 31, 1910
Place of death