Joseph Easton Gary (July 9, 1821 – October 31, 1906) was an American lawyer and judge in the state of Illinois. He served over 40 years as a judge of the Superior Court of Cook County, including eight years as judge of the Illinois Appellate Court for the Cook County district. He infamously presided over the trial of eight anarchists for their alleged role in the Haymarket Riot, and sentenced seven of them to death despite a lack of a clear connection to the bomber.
Early life
Joseph Gary was born in Potsdam, New York. As a young man he worked as a carpenter, following the trade of his father. He then moved to St. Louis in 1843 to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1844. He practiced for five years in Springfield, Missouri, then moved to Las Vegas in 1849 and established a practice there. At the time, Las Vegas was a small settlement in what was then the State of Deseret. After three years, he moved to San Francisco, California, and then to Berlin, Wisconsin. He finally settled in Chicago in 1856, and remained there for the rest of his life.
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 as one of the three judges of the Illinois Appellate Court in the first district—Cook County—by the members of the Illinois Supreme Court. He served eight years assigned to the Appellate Court before being dismissed by the Illinois Supreme Court in June 1897, along with nearly every other appellate judge in the state.[1]
He resumed his work at the Superior Court of Cook County, and later that year presided over the sensational murder trial of Adolph Luetgert. 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 and one of the oldest judges in the country at the time. He held court on the morning before his death, became ill the next morning, and died at home just after noon.
Joseph Gary was the eldest of five children born to Eli Bush Gary and his wife Frances O. (née Easton). Eli Gary was a carpenter and joiner who served as a volunteer in the War of 1812. Joseph Gary's younger brother, George Gary, was a notable politician and judge in Wisconsin.[5]
In 1855, Joseph Gary married Elizabeth Jane Swelting, at Berlin, Wisconsin.[6]
^Schmidt, John R. (1989). "The Mayor Who Cleaned Up Chicago" A Political Biography of William E. Dever. DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press.
