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 The Haymarket affair, also known as the Haymarket massacre, the Haymarket riot, the Haymarket Square riot, or the Haymarket Incident, was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in ...

. 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 Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. In 1849 he moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, which was then part of the

State of Deseret The State of Deseret (modern pronunciation , contemporaneously ) was a proposed state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Salt Lake City. The provisional state ...

, and established a practice there. He then moved after three years to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, then to

Berlin, Wisconsin Berlin is a city in Green Lake and Waushara counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,571 at the 2020 census. Of this, 5,435 were in Green Lake County, and only 89 were in Waushara County. The city is located mostly within t ...

, before moving to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1856.

Haymarket 8 trial

Gary practiced law until 1863, when he was elected a judge. He presided over the

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 Albert Richard Parsons (June 20, 1848 – November 11, 1887) was a pioneering American socialist and later anarchist newspaper editor, orator, and labor activist. As a teenager, he served in the military force of the Confederate States of Americ ...

, Adolph Fischer,

George Engel George Engel (April 15, 1836November 11, 1887) was a labor union activist executed after the Haymarket riot, along with Albert Parsons, August Spies, and Adolph Fischer. Early life George Engel was born to an impoverished family with three oth ...

, 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 Oscar William Neebe I (July 12, 1850 – April 22, 1916) was an anarchist, labor activist and one of the defendants in the Haymarket bombing trial, and one of the eight activist remembered on May 1, International Workers' Day. Early life He ...

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 The Superior Court of Cook County was a court in Cook County, Illinois. It was preceded by earlier courts. 1845 saw the creation of the County Court of Cook County. In 1849, this was renamed The Cook County Court of Common Pleas. In 1859, this was ...

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 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 William Emmett Dever (March 13, 1862 – September 3, 1929) was the mayor of Chicago from 1923 to 1927. He had previously served as a judge and before that an alderman. As an alderman and judge he would work to become the Democratic candida ...

Personal life

In 1855, Gary married Elizabeth Jane Swelting, in Berlin, Wisconsin. GARY, Joseph
in ''

Who's Who in America Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...

'' (1901-1902 edition), via

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

References

Bibliography

* "Judge Gary Dead.", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 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