Editing Joseph Gary (section)

== Judicial service ==
In 1863, Gary was elected as a judge of the Superior Court of Chicago (which was in 1870 renamed the "[[Superior Court of Cook County]]").<ref name="1867a">{{cite web |title=Officers of Cook County |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/353914470 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription |publisher=Chicago Tribune |access-date=14 February 2025 |language=en |date=December 11, 1867}}</ref> He ceased practicing law after becoming a judge.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} Gary was re-elected in 1881, 1887, 1893, 1900, and 1905.<ref name="BlueBook">{{cite web |title=Illinois Blue Book, 1907-1908 |url=https://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/bb/id/26553 |publisher=State of Illinois |pages=223 |language=en |date=1907}}</ref>

As a judge on this court, Gary presided over the [[Haymarket Riot]] case in 1886, sentencing anarchists [[August Spies]], [[Michael Schwab]], [[Samuel Fielden]], [[Albert Parsons]], [[Adolph Fischer]], [[George Engel]], and [[Louis Lingg]] to [[Capital punishment|death]], and sentencing [[Oscar Neebe]] to 15 years. There was no evidence that any of the defendants had any connection with the bombing. Gary allowed them to be convicted on the theory that their speeches had encouraged the unknown bomber to commit the act. During the trial, anarchist sympathizers frequently made death threats against him, raising his general popularity.

In 1888, Gary was appointed as one of the three judges of the [[Illinois Appellate Court]] in the first district&mdash;Cook County&mdash;by the members of the [[Illinois Supreme Court]].  He served eight years assigned to the Appellate Court before being dismissed by the Illinois Supreme Court in June 1897, along with nearly every other appellate judge in the state.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-illinois-appellate-judge/126523077/  |title= New Bench for Cook |newspaper= [[Chicago Tribune]] |date= June 16, 1897 |page= 1 |accessdate= June 16, 2023 |via= [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref>

Gary had continued to hold his judgeship on the Cook County Superior Court while serving on the appellate court. After his dismissal from the appellate court, Gary continued serving on the county superior court. Later that year, he presided over the sensational murder trial of [[Adolph Luetgert]].

Gary was still active as a judge at the time of his death, and was the oldest judge on his court and one of the oldest judges in the country at the time. He held court on the morning before his death. He became ill the morning of his death, and soon died at home just after noon.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} On April 1907, a special election was held to fill the remaining four years of his term. Republican [[William H. McSurely]] narrowly defeated Democrat [[William Emmett Dever]].<ref>{{cite book |last = Schmidt |first = John R. |title="The Mayor Who Cleaned Up Chicago" A Political Biography of William E. Dever |year = 1989 |publisher=Northern Illinois University Press |location = DeKalb, Illinois }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The National Corporation Reporter |date=1907 |publisher=United States Corporation Bureau, Incorporated |page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZJDAQAAMAAJ |access-date=18 May 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Voter |date=1907 |publisher=Voter Company |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etVKAQAAMAAJ |access-date=18 May 2020 |language=en}}</ref>