Born in
Northport, Scudder was a nephew of
Henry Joel Scudder, also a U.S. Representative from New York. Townsend attended preparatory schools in Europe and graduated from
Columbia Law School in 1888. He was admitted to the
bar in 1889 and commenced practice in New York City. Scudder served as the
Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of New York of
Freemasons from 1906 to 1907.
Congress Scudder was
corporation counsel for
Queens County from 1893 to 1899, and was elected as a
Democrat to the
56th United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1899, to March 3, 1901. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1900 and resumed the practice of law. He was elected to the
58th United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1903, to March 3, 1905.
Judicial career Scudder was a justice of the
New York Supreme Court (2nd District) from 1907 to 1920, and afterwards again resumed the practice of law in New York City. In
1921, he was defeated for the
New York Court of Appeals by Republican
William S. Andrews. He was State park commissioner and vice president of the
Long Island State Park Commission from 1924 to 1927. He was appointed to the
New York Supreme Court by Governor
Alfred E. Smith in February 1927 and was subsequently nominated by the two major political parties to succeed himself for the full term of fourteen years. In his first year on the bench, Scudder presided of the highly publicized murder trial of
Ruth Snyder and her lover Henry Judd Gray, for the murder of Ruth's husband Albert Snyder. Both were convicted and sentenced to death, though Scudder personally opposed capital punishment and would trade criminal cases with other judges to avoid having to pass such sentences. Scudder was active in the world of dogs. In 1932, he was the BIS (best in show) judge at the WKC (Westminster Kennel Club) dog show. Scudder remained on the bench until the end of 1936, when he reached the constitutional retirement age of 70 years.
Death Scudder died in
Greenwich, Connecticut in 1960; interment was in
Putnam Cemetery. ==References==