Joseph Easton Gary (July 9, 1821 – October 31, 1906) was judge who presided over the trial of eight

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

s tried for their alleged role in the Haymarket Riot. Born in

Potsdam, New York Potsdam ( moh, Tsi tewate’nehtararénies) is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The town population was 14,901 at the 2020 census. The ZIP Code is 13676. When SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University are in session, the popul ...

, USA, he worked as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

, then moved to St. Louis in 1843 to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1844 and practiced for five years in Springfield, Missouri. In 1849 he moved to Las Vegas, which was then part of the State of Deseret, and established a practice there. He then moved after three years to San Francisco, then to Berlin, Wisconsin, before moving to Chicago in 1856.

Haymarket 8 trial

Gary practiced law until 1863, when he was elected a judge. He presided over the Haymarket Riot case in 1886, sentencing anarchists

August Spies August Vincent Theodore Spies (, ; December 10, 1855November 11, 1887) was an American upholsterer, radical labor activist, and newspaper editor. Spies is remembered as one of the anarchists in Chicago who were found guilty of conspiracy to commi ...

Michael Schwab Michael Schwab (August 9, 1853 – June 29, 1898) was a German-American labor organizer and one of the defendants in the Haymarket Square incident. Biography Early years Michael Schwab was born in Bad Kissingen, Franconia in Germany in 1853. H ...

Samuel Fielden Samuel "Sam" Fielden (February 25, 1847 – February 7, 1922) was an English-born American Methodist pastor, socialist, anarchist and labor activist who was one of eight convicted in the 1886 Haymarket bombing. Biography Early life Samu ...

, Albert Parsons,

Adolph Fischer Adolph Fischer (1858 – November 11, 1887) was an anarchist and labor union activist tried and executed after the Haymarket Riot. Early life Adolph Fischer immigrated to the United States in 1873 at the age of 15. He became an apprentic ...

, George Engel, and

Louis Lingg Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

to death and 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.

Subsequent career

In 1888 he was appointed by the Supreme Court to the Appellate Court for the First District of Illinois. He returned to the Superior Court of Cook County in 1897, and that year, presided over the sensational murder trial of

Adolph Luetgert Adolph Louis Luetgert (December 27, 1845 – July 7, 1899) was a German-American businessman in Chicago, Illinois, convicted of murdering his second wife Louisa Bicknese in 1897 and dissolving her body in a sausage vat filled with lye at his A.L. ...

. Both the

Republicans 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 ...

and the Democrats nominated him each time he ran for judge, a position he held continuously from 1863 to 1906. He was still active as a judge at the time of his death, the oldest judge on his court. He held court on the morning before his death, became ill the next morning, and died at home just after noon. In April 1907, a special election was held to fill the remaining four years of his term. Republican

William H. McSurely William Harvey McSurely (January 27, 1865 – May 27, 1943) was an American judge, lawyer, and politician. McSurely was born in Oxford, Ohio. He lived with his parents and family in Hillsboro, Ohio. McSurely received his bachelor's degree fro ...

narrowly defeated Democrat William Emmett Dever.

Personal life

In 1855, Gary married Elizabeth Jane Swelting, in Berlin, Wisconsin. GARY, Joseph
in '' Who's Who in America'' (1901-1902 edition), via archive.org

References

Bibliography

* "Judge Gary Dead.", '' The New York Times'', November 1, 1906. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gary, Joseph 1821 births 1906 deaths People from Potsdam, New York Lawyers from Chicago Illinois state court judges Haymarket affair Judges of the Superior Court of Cook County Missouri lawyers American carpenters 19th-century American judges