Charles O. Stockslager was a justice of the

Idaho Supreme Court The Idaho Supreme Court is the state supreme court of Idaho and is composed of the chief justice and four associate justices. The decisions of the Idaho Supreme Court are binding on all other Idaho state courts. The only court that may reverse ...

from 1901 to 1906, serving as chief justice from 1901 to 1902. In 1905, Stockslager wrote an early environmentally conscious opinion, holding that mining companies had no right to dump "debris and poisonous substances" in waters with downstream users. Stockslager was also a Democratic candidate for Governor of Idaho in 1906, and in pursuit of that effort, traveled to

Caldwell, Idaho Caldwell (locally CALL-dwel) is a city in and the county seat of Canyon County, Idaho. The population was 59,996 at the time of the 2020 United States census. Caldwell is considered part of the Boise metropolitan area. Caldwell is the location of ...

, in the wake of the assassination of Governor

Frank Steunenberg Frank Steunenberg (August 8, 1861December 30, 1905) was the fourth governor of the State of Idaho, serving from 1897 until 1901. He was assassinated in 1905 by one-time union member Harry Orchard, who was also a paid informant for the Cripple C ...

there, in order to take advantage of the high public profile to be gained from appearing to be involved in the investigation.Beau Riffenburgh, ''Pinkerton's Great Detective: The Rough-and-Tumble Career of James McParland, America's Sherlock Holmes'' (2013), p. 260-61. He also ran for U.S. Senate in 1909.

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20th-century American judges Justices of the Idaho Supreme Court Year of birth missing Year of death missing Chief Justices of the Idaho Supreme Court {{Idaho-state-judge-stub