W. Joe Pack (1875 – November 13, 1939)"Pack Suffers Fatal Stroke", ''Jackson Clarion-Ledger'' (November 14, 1939), p. 1. was a Mississippi lawyer and judge who served on the

Supreme Court of Mississippi The Supreme Court of Mississippi is the highest court in the state of Mississippi. It was established in the first constitution of the state following its admission as a State of the Union in 1817 and was known as the High Court of Errors and Appe ...

in 1928. Leslie Southwick
Mississippi Supreme Court Elections: A Historical Perspective 1916-1996
18 Miss. C. L. Rev. 115 (1997-1998). Born in

Lauderdale County, Mississippi Lauderdale County is a county located on the eastern border of the U.S. state of Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the so ...

, Pack

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 ...

to gain

admission to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

. He worked in private practice in

Laurel, Mississippi Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. It is located northeast of Ellisville, the first county seat, which contains the first coun ...

, and served as a county attorney. In January 1928, Mississippi Supreme Court Justice John Burt Holden died, and that same month Governor

Dennis Murphree Dennis Herron Murphree (January 6, 1886February 9, 1949) was an American politician. He served three separate terms as Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi and two as Governor of Mississippi. Biography He was born on January 6, 1886, the son of Th ...

appointed Pack to the seat. Pack ran for the seat in a special election later that year, and won the first round of primary election voting on August 21, 1928, but was defeated in the run-off election on September 11, 1928, by Chancellor Virgil A. Griffith. The following year, Pack was elected as a state circuit judge for Jones County, Perry County, and Forrest County. Pack died from a sudden

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

during the first year of his third term on the circuit court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pack, W. Joe 1875 births 1939 deaths People from Lauderdale County, Mississippi U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Justices of the Mississippi Supreme Court