Editing Joseph Gary

{{short description|19th century American judge}}
{{infobox officeholder
|name            = Joseph E. Gary
|image           = Joseph E. Gary Chicagoitshistory04curr 0177.jpg
|office          = Judge of the [[Illinois Appellate Court]] {{nowrap|for the 1st district}}
| term_start     = November 12, 1888
| term_end       = June 1897
| predecessor    = [[William K. McAllister]]
| successor      = Francis Adams 
|office1         = Judge of the [[Superior Court of Cook County]]
| term_start1    = November 1863
| term_end1      = October 31, 1906 (died)
| predecessor1   = John M. Wilson
| successor1     = [[William H. McSurely]]	
|party           = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|birth_date      = {{birth date|1821|7|9}}
|birth_place     = [[Potsdam, New York]], U.S.
|death_date      = {{death date and age|1906|10|31|1821|7|9}}
|death_place     = [[Chicago]], Illinois, U.S.
|restingplace    = Oakwood Cemetery, {{nowrap|[[Berlin, Wisconsin]]}}
|spouse          = {{marriage|Elizabeth Jane Swetting|1855|1906}}
|children        = {{unbulleted list
 | Mary Swetting Gary
 | {{sup|(b. 1856; died 1858)}}
 | Frances Louise Gary
 | {{sup|(b. 1858; died 1868)}}
 | Fannie Cary (Patrick)
 | {{sup|(b. 1861; died 1922)}}
 | Charlotte Blanche (Barnum)
 | {{sup|(b. 1863; died 1945)}}
}}
|relatives        = [[George Gary]] (brother)
|profession       = Lawyer
}}
'''Joseph Easton Gary''' (July 9, 1821{{spnd}}October 31, 1906) was an American lawyer and judge in the state of [[Illinois]].  He served over 40 years as a judge of the [[Superior Court of Cook County]], including eight years as judge of the [[Illinois Appellate Court]] for the Cook County district.  He infamously presided over the trial of eight [[anarchist]]s for their alleged role in the [[Haymarket Riot]], and sentenced seven of them to death despite a lack of a clear connection to the bomber.

==Early life==
Joseph Gary was born in [[Potsdam (town), New York|Potsdam, New York]].  As a young man he worked as a [[carpenter]], following the trade of his father.  He then moved to [[St. Louis]] in 1843 to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1844.  He practiced for five years in [[Springfield, Missouri]], then moved to [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]] in 1849 and established a practice there.  At the time, Las Vegas was a small settlement in what was then the [[State of Deseret]].  After three years, he moved to [[San Francisco, California]], and then to [[Berlin, Wisconsin]].  He finally settled in [[Chicago]] in 1856, and remained there for the rest of his life.

== 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>

==Personal life==
Joseph Gary was the eldest of five children born to Eli Bush Gary and his wife Frances O. (''{{nee}}'' Easton).  Eli Gary was a carpenter and joiner who served as a volunteer in the [[War of 1812]].  Joseph Gary's younger brother, [[George Gary]], was a notable politician and judge in [[Wisconsin]].<ref name="comm">{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/commemorativebio01chic/page/988/ |title= Commemorative Biographical Record of the Fox River Valley Counties of Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago |year= 1895 |publisher=J. H. Beers & Co. |pages= [https://archive.org/details/commemorativebio01chic/page/987/ 987&ndash;989] |accessdate= June 15, 2023 }}</ref>

In 1855, Joseph Gary married Elizabeth Jane Swelting, at Berlin, Wisconsin.<ref name=Marquis>[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinamerica02marq/page/419/mode/2up  GARY, Joseph], in ''[[Who's Who in America]]'' (1901-1902 edition), via [[archive.org]]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* "Judge Gary Dead.", ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 1, 1906.

{{s-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Grant Goodrich]] }}
{{s-ttl|title  = Judge of the [[Superior Court of Cook County]] |years= November 1863{{spnd}}October 31, 1906 }}
{{s-aft|after  = [[William H. McSurely]] }}
{{s-bef|before = [[William K. McAllister]] }}
{{s-ttl|title  = Judge of the [[Illinois Appellate Court]] {{nowrap|for the 1st district}} |years= November 12, 1888{{spnd}}June 1897 }}
{{s-aft|after  = Francis Adams }}
{{s-end}}
{{Haymarket affair}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gary, Joseph}}
[[Category:1821 births]]
[[Category:1906 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Potsdam, New York]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Chicago]]
[[Category:Illinois state court judges]]
[[Category:Haymarket affair]]
[[Category:Judges of the Superior Court of Cook County]]
[[Category:Missouri lawyers]]
[[Category:American carpenters]]
[[Category:19th-century Illinois state court judges]]