James Edgar Martine (August 25, 1850February 26, 1925) was an American Democratic Party

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

who served as

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

Biography

He was born in

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on August 25, 1850. He moved with his parents to

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, known by its nickname as "The Queen City."

in 1857; attended the public schools; engaged in agricultural pursuits, the real estate business, and in building; member of the Plainfield common council; unsuccessful candidate for election as Mayor of Plainfield, New Jersey; unsuccessful candidate in 1906 for election to the

Sixtieth United States Congress The 60th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1907, to M ...

. He was elected as a Democrat to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

and served from March 4, 1911 to March 3, 1917, where he served as chairman of the Committee on Coast Defenses (

Sixty-third United States Congress The 63rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1913, ...

), Committee on Industrial Expositions (Sixty-third and

Sixty-fourth United States Congress The 64th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1915, to M ...

es); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1916; resumed agricultural pursuits; died in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

; interment in Hillside Cemetery located in

Scotch Plains, New Jersey Scotch Plains is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The township is located on a ridge in northern-central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 ...

. During the 1913 Senate Committee investigation into the West Virginia miners strike Senator Martine aggressively confronted Kanawha County coal company executive Quinn Morton for arming and directing the use of the armored "Bull Moose" train against a Holly Grove tent village of miners and their families in the middle of the night on February 2, 1913 during which Charles Estep, young miner with a young child and a pregnant wife, was killed. The train contained dozens of private mercenaries armed with a Gatling gun. Martine confronted Morton over his refusal to acknowledge giving the command to fire and then reportedly asking the sheriff to back the train up and do it again. The two other senators on the committee attempted to censor Martine by requiring that his questions be submitted for prior review. According to historian David Allen Corbin's 1997 book ''The West Virginia Mine Wars'' the Congressional Record of this hearing "breaks off suddenly, the topic switches, and Senator Martine disappears from the panel of inquisitors.
(p. 39)
He died on February 26, 1925 in

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

External links

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Political Graveyard information for James Edgar Martine

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martine, James 1850 births 1925 deaths Democratic Party United States senators from New Jersey New Jersey Democrats Mayors of Plainfield, New Jersey Burials at Hillside Cemetery (Scotch Plains, New Jersey)