John William Goff, Sr. (January 1, 1848 – November 9, 1924) was an American lawyer and judge from New York City. Early life and education Born in County Wexford, Ireland, Goff emigrated with his family to the United States while still a child. The family settled in New York City, where Goff worked for ten years as a clerk in a dry goods store while attending night classes at Cooper Union. In 1865, he took a job as a junior clerk in an attorney's office and eventually was admitted to the bar. Politics Ireland Goff was a committed Irish nationalist and in 1875 he played a prominent part in arranging for the rescue of six Fenian rebels imprisoned in a British penal colony in Western Australia. The seaborne expedition, which successfully evaded Royal Navy patrols, involving the New Bedford whaler Catalpa, was popularly known as 'Goff's Irish Rescue Party'. New York City In 1888, Goff was appointed as Assistant New York County District Attorney by D.A. John R. Fellows. In November 1890, Goff ran on the County Democracy (Anti-Tammany) ticket to succeed Fellows as District Attorney, but was defeated by Tammany man De Lancey Nicoll. Goff became involved with work for the Society for the Prevention of Crime. He made the acquaintance of the reforming clergyman Charles Henry Parkhurst and became prominent among the ranks of those critical of vice and police corruption in Manhattan. In 1894, Republican boss Thomas Platt, seeking political advantage over his enemies at Tammany Hall, arranged for the establishment of the Lexow Committee to investigate corruption in the NYPD. Goff was appointed Chief Counsel to the committee. He interrogated corrupt police Commissioner John McClave, the notoriously brutal Inspector Alexander S. Williams, and Superintendent Thomas F. Byrnes, the former head of the New York City Detective Bureau noted for giving his prisoners the "third degree." His investigation led to support from several Anti-Tammany organizations for Mayor of New York City in October 1894, but Goff declined to run for the office. Instead, he ran on the Anti-Tammany ticket as Recorder of New York City and won. New York Supreme Court In 1906, Goff was elected to the (trial-level) New York Supreme Court on a fusion ticket nominated by Democrats and William Randolph Hearst's Independence League. Goff remained on the bench until the end of 1918 when he reached the constitutional age limit. In October 1912, Goff