Hummel

etta Bastien and Bastienne, given by the Mac-
Dowell Club. He was also during this time
lecturing: on Bach and Wagner, contributing
articles to the musical journals and, as a close
friend and associate of the late Henry T. Finck
[#.?'.], writing music criticism. In 1916 he was
made assistant conductor of the New York Phil-
harmonic, and that same year he conducted a
MacDowell Club program of "lighter Bach"
music, the outstanding feature of which was a
scenic version of "The Peasant Cantata." In
1918 he conducted another Bach concert of mis-
cellaneous numbers in which the Triple Concerto
in D minor was performed. He remained with
the Philharmonic Society both as program an-
notator and as assistant conductor until 1921.

Despite his other activities Humiston did not
neglect the field of composition- His "Suite in
F sharp minor*' for violin and orchestra (1911,
revised in 1915) had been preceded by his
"Southern Fantasie" (1906), introducing Amer-
ican negro themes, the most popular of his
orchestral numbers. In 1913 he composed his
"Iphigeneia/* a dramatic scena for soprano,
chorus, and orchestra, performed by the People's
Choral Union of Boston. He also arranged the
music to accompany the Wagner centennial film
produced that year. His overture, "Twelfth
Night," written for Maude Adams' production of
the drama in 1916, and a few songs complete the
list. Although these compositions were all per-
formed, and although they showed in their work-
manship a certain skill and a sense of dramatic
values, they fall short, perhaps, in inspirational
quality. The "Southern Fantasie" may be said to
have won its favor because of the folk-flavor of
its thematic material. It was rather as a direct,
aggressive influence toward the cultivation of
musical appreciation and performance, especially
with regard to the composers to whom he had
specifically devoted himself, that Humiston was
important in American music. He possessed a
scholarship which commanded the respect of his
colleagues, and his detailed knowledge of the life
and works of Bach and Wagner— he knew the
Wagner scores almost note for note— made him
very nearly omniscient where they were con-
cerned.

t, Wfo's Wko in Music (1918) ; biographical
WDrtcfe in Programme of People's Choral Union, Boston,
Jan, *6t 19*3; the Musical Courier, Dec. 13, 1923;
Musical America, Dec. 15, 1923; obituaries in the N.
F. Times, N. K. Tribune, and Brooklyn Eagle, Dec. 6,
'^J F.H.M.

HtHOIEL, ABRAHAM HENRY (July 27,
i8so-Jta 2Z% 1926) , lawyer, was born in Boston,
tte sou of a Jewish pedler, Moses Htim-
and Ms wife HauaaL The family having

Hummel

moved to New York, he attended Public School
No. 15 on East Fifth Street and in January 1863
became office boy to William F. Howe [q.v.].
With Howe's connivance he was admitted to the
bar in 1869, when but nineteen years old, and a
few months later their partnership was in full
swing. For thirty years they were the cleverest,
most picturesque, most sought-after, most highly
remunerated criminal lawyers in the country.
Although they defended clients accused of every
perpetrable crime, their specialty was theatrical
cases, divorces, and homicides. One factor in
their success was a complete unscrupulousness
of which Hummel was chief engineer, Howe's
forensic and histrionic feats being reenforced by
the office work of his partner, a master at beating
a case "on the facts" and at working up a case
out of the scantiest and most unpromising ma-
terials. In genius complementary, the two men,
bound together by a romantic friendship, were
otherwise in sharp contrast. "Little Abe," con-
spicuous only for his large, bald head and rap-
torial features, was less than five feet tall, was
dressed always in sober black, and saved his af-
fability till after business hours. His huge win-
nings he squandered in the Tenderloin, at the
race-track, and in fast society; he was an in-
variable first-nighter and a noted gourmet. On
Howe's retirement in 1900 the firm's offices were
removed to the New York Life Insurance build-
ing, and the business declined somewhat.

Though even dull nostrils could detect in his
activities a reek of sharp practice, bribery, per-
jury, and blackmail, Hummel remained practical-
ly immune, having powerful friends in the un-
derworld, among politicians, and among men of
wealth, and his brother-lawyers being disposed
to tolerate him. Once, however, he was disbarred
for a short period for attempting to bribe a
Westchester County judge. Early in 1904 one
of his tools was indicted for perjury and offered
to turn state's evidence; during the next eleven
months Hummel used his every resource in an
effort to spirit the man out of the country or to
kill him by dissipation. On Jan. 27, 1905, Dis-
trict-Attorney W. T. Jerome secured Hummers
indictment for conspiracy and subornation of
perjury in a suit to set aside the divorce of Mrs.
Charles F. Dodge, who had later married Charles
W. Morse. He was convicted on the conspiracy
charge Dec. 20,1905, and sentenced to a year in
the penitentiary and a fine of $500. Until actual-
ly incarcerated cm May 21, 1907, in the Black-
well's Island prison, "the smartest lawyer in New
York" was imperturbable; the next day a guard
found him completely collapsed, Jerome pro-
duced him, still a sick man, as a witness in the

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