Fred Carl Gause (August 29, 1879 – February 15, 1944) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

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, and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

who served as a justice of the

Indiana Supreme Court The Indiana Supreme Court, established by Article 7 of the Indiana Constitution, is the highest judicial authority in the state of Indiana. Located in Indianapolis, Indiana, Indianapolis, the Court's chambers are in the north wing of the Indiana ...

from November 1, 1923 to January 5, 1925.

Biography

Gause was born in

Greens Fork Greens Fork is a town in Clay Township, Wayne County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 423 at the 2010 census. Geography Greens Fork is located at (39.891451, -85.042241). According to the 2010 census, the town has a total ar ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

to a

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family. Two years after he was born, his father, Dr. Thomas Gause, was murdered by Arthur Brooks after Dr. Gause told Brooks's wife that her husband was having an

extramarital affair An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...

. This caused Mr. Brooks to seek revenge, entering Gause's office, threatening him, and then shooting him with a revolver. Brooks was later convicted by a jury and given a harsh sentence. The case garnered media attention across Indiana. After the murder, Fred's mother, Christine Gause (née Boone), moved her family to Henry County.Minde C. Browning, Richard Humphrey, and Bruce Kleinschmidt,
Biographical Sketches of Indiana Supreme Court Justices
, ''

Indiana Law Review The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (IU McKinney) is located on the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana, the urban campus of Indiana University. In the summer of 200 ...

'', Vol. 30, No. 1 (1997), section reproduced i
Indiana Courts Justice Biographies page
Fred Gause attended New Castle High School, graduating in 1897. Gause attended the

Indiana University Maurer School of Law The Indiana University Maurer School of Law is located on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The school is named after Michael S. "Mickey" Maurer, an Indianapolis businessman and 1967 alumnus who donated $35 million in 2008 ...

in Bloomington from 1898 to 1900. He was admitted to the bar the same year he graduated. Gause returned to New Castle, where he

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

under John Morris and Eugene Bundy before beginning to practice law in the city himself. Gause became the Henry County Attorney, serving in the position from 1902 to 1912. Gause, a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, was elected judge of the Henry County Circuit Court, serving from 1914 to 1923. As judge, Gause approved the use of funds raised to assist American soldiers fighting in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

to build Henry County Memorial Park, which remains open to this day. Gause was appointed to the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Warren T. McCray Warren Terry McCray (February 4, 1865 near Brook, Indiana – December 19, 1938 in Kentland, Indiana) was the 30th governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1921 to 1924. He came into conflict with the growing influence of the Indiana Ku Klux ...

to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Howard L. Townsend. He is remembered as a prolific

opinion An opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, rather than facts, which are true statements. Definition A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with f ...

writer during his time on the bench. Gause wrote the opinion of the court in the case of ''Diamond v. Indiana'', regarding the legality of the

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...

of an

insane Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...

person (the court's decision would later be reversed by the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

decision, '' Panetti v. Quarterman''). Gause left the bench in 1925 and was succeeded by Justice

Willard Gemmill Willard Beharrell Gemmill (August 7, 1875 – May 24, 1935) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 5, 1925 to January 4, 1931.Minde C. Browning, Richard Humphrey, and Br ...

. Sources disagree about whether he chose not to run for re-election, or if he did seek re-election but was defeated. After leaving the court, Gause returned to private practice with the firm of Pickens, Gause & Pickens in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. Starting in 1926, Gause was a member of Indiana State Election Board, serving on the commission for many years, resigning shortly before his death. He was the President of the Indiana

Bar Association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separ ...

in 1936 and the President of the Indianapolis Bar Association in 1941. In 1930, Gause was one of the lawyers who represented the State of Indiana in the

case, ''Kentucky v. Indiana'', regarding a dispute about the construction of a bridge over the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

to connect

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in S ...

and

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *He ...

. Gause was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

, a member of

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Unite ...

, a member of the

Columbia Club The Columbia Club is a private club located on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The current structure was built in 1925 as the club's third home on the same site. Club history The Columbia Club was originally formed on February ...

, and a member of the Indianapolis Chapter of the Citizens Historical Association. In 1904, Gause married Mollie Cummins of Bluffton. They had one child, a daughter named Katherine. Gause died in 1944 in Indianapolis. He is buried in

Crown Hill Cemetery Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high poi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gause, Fred 1879 births 1944 deaths People from Wayne County, Indiana Indiana University Maurer School of Law alumni Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court American judges Indiana Republicans American Quakers