- Edward Conger
Edward A. Conger (
January 7 ,1882 –August 7 ,1963 ) was a prominent federaljudge inNew York City .Conger attended the
New York University School of Law and "read law" before being admitted to the New York bar. He practiced law inPoughkeepsie , New York until 1908, when he was appointed as AssistantDistrict Attorney of Dutchess County. Conger was then elected as the Dutchess County District Attorney in 1913, and served until 1918 when he became city judge.During his time as District Attorney, Conger is remembered for his pursuit of murderer Harry Thaw, who in 1906 had shot and killed architect
Stanford White on the roof ofMadison Square Garden and was foundnot guilty by reason of insanity . Thaw escaped in 1913 from the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane and was later arrested in and extradited fromSherbrooke, Quebec . Conger returned to private law practice in 1922.In 1938, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to serve as a judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. Among prominent matters before Judge Conger were cases arising from theUnited States Senate 's contempt citation of notorious underworld figureFrank Costello and with other criminal trials of smugglers, gamblers and narcotics dealers. Conger also presided at the 1949 trial of 17 Communist Party leaders indicted under theSmith Act . He also handled the protracted bankruptcy proceedings of theNew York, Ontario and Western Railway , which dragged on for almost 10 years.After 19 years as an active judge, Conger assumed
senior status on the court in 1954, which he retained until his death nine years later.
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