James Walker Osborne was born on January 5, 1859, in Charlotte, North Carolina, the son of James W. Osborne and Mary (Irwin) Osborne. His ancestors on both sides of the house came of North-of-Ireland stock. His father was a judge of the superior court of North Carolina, highly respected and esteemed in his community; his mother was a woman of strong and vigorous mind, deeply read in literature, profoundly interested in public affairs, and a devoted companion to her children.
James Osborn was graduated in 1879 from Davidson College, North Carolina. He stood high in his classes and showed even then the enormous energy, mental and physical, which characterized him throughout his life. In 1883 he sought a wider field for his ambitions in New York, where he studied in the Columbia University Law School, graduated in 1885, and was immediately admitted to the bar.
James Osborne was by principle and by heredity an ardent Democrat and his legal and political activities soon brought him into public notice. In 1891 De Lancey Nicoll, who was then district attorney of New York County, appointed him as a member of his staff of young men remarkable for their character and ability. In this good company Osborne soon made his mark. During his eleven years of service, he conducted many of the most important criminal prosecutions in the County of New York. Of these, perhaps, the best known were the cases of Roland Burnham Molineux and Albert T. Patrick. In the former, upon the first trial, the defendant was convicted, but the judgment was reversed by the court of appeals, and upon the second trial he was acquitted. Albert T. Patrick was convicted, and the conviction was affirmed, but the sentence of death was commuted by Governor Higgins to life imprisonment, and Patrick was afterwards pardoned by Governor Dix.
Osborne was thorough and careful in preparation, logical and forceful in the presentation of his evidence, and searching in his cross-examinations. In his addresses to the jury, he was eloquent and persuasive. In 1902 he resigned and entered into private practice, resuming after an interval membership in the firm of Osborne, Lamb & Petty, with which he had been connected before his public service. In 1905 he was nominated by the Democratic party as district attorney for New York County but was defeated by William Travers Jerome, an independent Democrat, nominated upon a fusion ticket, who won by a small majority. Osborne continued in private practice during the rest of his life, but accepted a number of public retainers in which he rendered notable service.
In 1909, he was appointed a special attorney general of the state of New York for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting the American Ice Company for violation of the antitrust statutes. After a long and bitterly contested litigation, he was successful in securing the conviction of the Ice Company and the imposition of the maximum penalty. In 1910 he appeared as counsel for State Senator Benn Conger in the prosecution of State Senator Jotham Allds before the New York Senate upon the charge of taking a bribe to influence his action as a legislator. Although Allds had at his back very powerful influence, both political and financial, and counted many devoted friends, Osborne conclusively proved his guilt and his conviction followed. In the following year Osborne was counsel for the committee of the New York Senate which investigated political and social conditions in the City of Albany, uncovering many gross evils. In 1913, as special attorney general, he conducted a vigorous investigation of conditions and treatment of prisoners in the state prison at Ossining, which disclosed many abuses and led to the appointment of Thomas Mott Osborne as warden of Sing Sing prison.
James Osborne died in New York at the age of sixty.
On January 8, 1896, James Osborne married Lelia Van Wyck, the daughter of Judge Augustus Van Wyck.
He was a judge of the superior court of North Carolina, highly respected and esteemed in his community.
She was a woman of strong and vigorous mind, deeply read in literature, profoundly interested in public affairs, and a devoted companion to her children.
