Ramsey County Law Library Blog

Edwin Ames Jaggard was born on June 21, 1859 in Altoona Pennsylvania.  He graduated from Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA) in 1879, and received his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania in 1882.  He came to Minnesota that same year, and joined the St. Paul law practice of Young & Lightner.  In 1890 he married Anna May Averill. He was elected to the Ramsey County District Court in 1898.  He served as a district judge for one term, and was then elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1904.

A reputable legal scholar, Jaggard was a lecturer on medical jurisprudence at the St. Paul Medical College.  He went on to lecture at what is now the University of Minnesota Law School for 19 years, where then-Law School Dean W.S. Pattee stated that Jaggard was one of the most popular professors of the department.  He was also the author of several treatises on torts and taxation, including the familiar Jaggard on Torts.  The last work he did on the bench was the opinion of the court in the case of Keever v. City of Mankato (113 Minn. 55) establishing that a city is responsible for the quality of water it furnishes to its citizens.

Judge Jaggard was known as a popular and generous man, whose Christmas gift recipients list contained roughly three hundred names.   A post-mortem tribute tells of him placing his overcoat on the shoulders of a homeless person one cold day, and forgetting about it.   He was also an avid outdoorsman.  He was known to go fishing in the Mississippi River at the end of his workday, and commented favorably on the quality of the aquatic life therein.

He served as Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court until his death on February 13, 1911 from heart failure while on a trip to Bermuda.  He was only fifty-one years old.   It was thought that his body was weakened due to a case of ptomaine poisoning (or just food poisoning).

Sources:

• “His death was unexpected:  Demise of Judge Jaggard of Minnesota Court,” The Bemidji Daily Pioneer Feb. 15, 1911, p. 4
• “Hobbies of Judges,” Saint Paul Globe, May 25, 1902, p. 30
• History of the Bench and Bar of Minnesota, Legal Publishing and Engraving Company (1904)
• “A man named Jaggard,” St. Paul Dispatch Feb. 20, 1911,
• “Death of jurist regretted by all,” St. Paul Pioneer Press Feb. 15, 1911,
• Proceedings:  Memory of Associate Justice Jaggard, 113 Minn. R. 1-10 (1911)

William Sprigg Hall

William Sprigg Hall was born on July 9, 1832 at South River in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.  He came to St. Paul, MN in 1854. That same year he was admitted to practice law and formed a law partnership with Harwood Inglehart.  (Minn. Reports 20, xi) In 1856 he was appointed Superintendent of the Common Schools of Minnesota, wherein he served for two years.    He married Elizabeth Seliman Welsh in 1857. That same year he was elected to the first Minnesota Senate as a Democrat, and served until 1860.

The Minnesota Court of Common Pleas was established in 1867 to handle the increase in business and resulting judicial backlog of the Ramsey County District Court.  Hall was promptly elected to this new position.*  (Williams, A History of the City of Saint Paul, and of the County or Ramsey, Minnesota, 428) As Judge, Hall worked with his colleagues and platted 160 new acres on St. Paul’s East Side.  Hall Ave. is named for him, with Arundel St., Kent St. and Maryland Ave. all being named for his birthplace.  Floral-themed street names (Geranium, Ivy, Rose, etc.) were designated as a play on his middle name, imagined as ‘sprigs’ of flowering plants.  (Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society 17, p. 624-5)

In 1869 Judge Hall presided over a criminal trial which featured Minnesota’s first black jurors. (Five of the jurors on the panel were black men.)  The facts are murky, but it was theorized that the Judge and the Sheriff orchestrated this mixed jury so as “to send a message” of sorts. (Green, A Peculiar Imbalance: the fall and rise of racial equality in early Minnesota, 174)  Judge Hall later heard a case involving a boy who became injured playing on a railroad turntable.  The Judge ruled in favor of the railroad, stating that there were no legal grounds on which to hold in favor of the trespassing boy. Upon its appeal, however, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued an opinion reversing Hall’s judgment that helped form the basis of modern tort law’s “attractive nuisance” doctrine. (Keffe v. Milwaukee & St. P. Ry. Co., 21 Minn. 207 (1875); Karsten, Heart versus Head: judge-made law in nineteenth-century America, 211)

Following a period of shaky health, Judge Hall was returning home to St. Paul from a trip to back to Maryland when he died aboard the train.  Only forty-two years old, he left behind a widow, two sons, and three daughters.  (Minn. Reports 20, x)

*This position was later merged into the Ramsey County District Court Bench.

Loevinger (before)

Loevinger (after)

This week ten of our historic judges came back from the much-needed R and R (restoration and repair) sabbatical they took in September. All of us at the Law Library are amazed and impressed by the excellent work done by Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis. As you recall from this post, the library received a Legacy Grant which made this excellent work possible. Our Legacy Grant was financed with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.

The restoration work that was done to the portraits did much in the way of smoothing wrinkles and impurities that were present in the canvasses, as well as restoring the vivid colors and details. Much “dirt/grime” had also been removed from all of the canvass surfaces. (Smoking used to be permitted in the Law Library. Similar to the way medical experts warn us, secondhand smoke had also taken a toll on the health and appearances of the portraits.) As an example of the excellent work that was done, consider the before and after shots of Judge Loevinger. The hole in his coat has been repaired, and the entire canvass has been treated to eliminate glare and bumps, illuminating the rich purple of Loevinger’s tie. Also consider how Judge Palmer’s canvass has now been, shall we way…moisturized(?), thus alleviating the severe brittleness and wrinkling that developed over time.  (Note:  The Law Librarian apologizes for any differences in these thumbnails which may be due to lighting and photo exposures.)  

Palmer (before)

Palmer (after)

So stop into the Ramsey County Law Library to help welcome our distinguished gentlemen back home.

Frederick M. Catlin

Frederick Miles Catlin was born in Erie Pennsylvania on October 31, 1859. He graduated from Cornell University in 1881. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1994. Feeling the “Call of the West” in 1994, he started out for Seattle. He was changing trains in St. Paul and met up with friends, who persuaded him to stay. He was admitted to the Minnesota Bar that same year, and began practicing law in St. Paul. In 1898 he married Bertha Crosman, with whom he had two daughters: Eleanor and Elizabeth.  Catlin served in the Minnesota National Guard as a First Lieutenant and Judge Advocate. He was commissioned a First Lieutenant of the 15th Minnesota Infantry when the Spanish-American War broke out, and remained in service until the war closed in 1899. He ran for the state legislature in 1900, but was defeated.

He returned to the practice of law until 1911, when he was appointed Vice-President of the St. Paul Police Board. The Board President resigned shortly thereafter, and Catlin was thus appointed to that office. When the Chief of Police John O’Connor abruptly resigned and no proper successor could be found, Catlin became the Acting Chief of Police. According to The St. Paul Globe, O’Connor deliberately resigned 5 months before the mayoral election so as to send the City into a “reign of terror” and discredit then-Mayor Kelly. (The St. Paul Globe – 5-2-1912) Catlin sought to bring “efficiency” to the Department, organizing the Police Traffic Squad in 1912. But Catlin told reporters that he did not like police work and was a lawyer at heart. (Catlin was one of three Acting Chiefs from 1912-1913, before O’Connor was reinstated in 1914. According to information from the St. Paul Police Historical Society, Chief O’Connor reigned from 1900 to 1920 with the exception of a 2 year period during this time. Typically, politically connected men would be forced out of positions when a new mayor of different political stripes came into power. )

In 1913, Catlin’s police career finally ended when was appointed to the Ramsey County District bench to complete the unexpired 2-year term of Judge Hallam. During his term he issued an injunction against state law that ordered a minimum wage for women and minor workers. (The New York Times – 11-24-1914.) He then returned to the practice of law, only to be appointed again to fill the unexpired 2-year term of Judge Dickson in 1921. This term ended in 1923, after which he again returned to the practice of law. His health slowly deteriorated, and he died in 1929.

Catlin’s career may be a reflection of how political the community was at the time. He may have been an attractive “neutral” candidate during a corrupt era for many of these appointed positions that he held, as he lacked longstanding family or school connections in this area. For the same reason, he may have lacked a loyal voting base which could have carried him to an electoral victory.

The Law Librarian thanks the individuals at the St. Paul Police Historical Society, as well as the St. Paul Public Library and their excellent newspaper clipping collection for their assistance with this blog post.

POST-CORRECTION (Added November 6, 2013):   O’Connor’s resignation and the resulting “reign of terror” were described by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, not the St. Paul Globe.  The Mayor at the time was Herbert Keller, not Kelly. 

Visitors to the library will notice that ten of our 36 historical portraits are currently “checked out.” They have actually been sent to the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis for restoration, and will return in late October. The library received a Legacy Grant to restore a portion of the collection, and these ten were in the heaviest disrepair:

Kenneth Gray Brill
Frederick Dickson
William Louis Kelly
Gustavus Loevinger
Carlton McNally
James Michael
Grier M. Orr
Charles Otis
E.C. Palmer
Howard Wheeler

The portrait collection includes judges who served in the mid-nineteenth century. Many were painted by Minnesota artist Edward Brewer. The judges represent some fascinating aspects of St. Paul and Minnesota legal history.

One of the purposes of the Legacy Amendment’s Art and Cultural Heritage Fund is “to preserve Minnesota’s history.” Appropriations made this year from the Constitutional Amendment passed by voters in 2008 will help preserve history across the state. This will be accomplished through Minnesota Historical Society programs, grants, partnerships and statewide programs. Arts and Cultural Heritage funding for history grants and statewide programs increased compared to the previous biennium. See here for more information on our grant.

Archie Gingold was born in 1908 in St. Paul to Lithuanian immigrants, and grew up in the nearby West 7th neighborhood. He attended St. Paul’s Mechanic Arts High School, went on to Macalester College, and ultimately graduated from the original St. Thomas Law School in 1932. (He was the last surviving alumnus of the original law school.) He was admitted to practice law in 1933. At one point he was hospitalized for an appendectomy, during which he was tended to by Nurse Helen Mae Swanson. She and Gingold were married in 1945, following his service in the Army. They had three daughters: Sandra, Carla, and Mimi.

Gingold was appointed to the St. Paul Municipal Court in 1954, and then to the Ramsey County District Court in 1960. He spent the next 18 years serving in juvenile court. He was a stern but benevolent juvenile judge, known for pounding his fist and leaving the youngsters “shivering and shaking” before handing down light sentences. Other times he would remind offenders of the “bus for Red Wing” parked outside the court ready to take them away if they did not mend their ways. Adoption proceedings were his favorite, which he turned into courtroom celebrations featuring cake or cookies. He also changed how the court viewed alcoholics, seeing that they needed treatment for their problems before it was commonly recognized. He was also instrumental in developing temporary homes for children requiring out-of-home placement. He retired from the bench in 1978, but continued to serve the court in various capacities for the next ten years.

Judge Gingold’s contributions to community and justice were recognized by many institutions. St. Thomas University Magazine published an article tribute to him, “Society’s Conscience” (1/07/2001). A special tribute was written of him by current Ramsey County District Judge John Van de North, which can be read here. He was active in organizations including the United Way, the Bethesda Foundation, the St. Paul-Ramsey Mental Health Board, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of St. Paul. He received awards for his efforts from Brandeis University, the Ramsey County Bar Association, Mount Zion Temple, Alcoholics Anonymous, Goodwill Industries, as well as an honorary Ph.D. from the University of St. Thomas Law School.

Archie Gingold died in 2006 at the age of 97.

The Law Librarian discovered abundant information regarding the late Honorable Gingold’s contributions to community and society, but knows that many people have fond personal memories of him. She invites readers to please share them in the comments box, as well as any other information they might have.

Carlton Francis McNally was born in 1886 in Oakdale MA. He moved with his family to St. Paul in 1902. Young Carlton worked for his father, a meat dealer until he was 18. He became interested in law at this time, and became a stenographer with the hope that it might help him get work in a law office. He was working in the law offices of O’Brien, Young, and Stone, where he continued his employment even after he enrolled in the St. Paul College of Law in 1907. He completed his legal education in 1910, and married Katherine McCann the following year. He then entered into his own law partnership with M.J. Doherty in 1912, which he continued until his was appointment as Corporation Counsel in 1920. From there he was appointed to the Ramsey County District bench in 1925.

Judge McNally served a total of 34 years on the District bench. He was cited in the 1948 Minnesota Supreme Court case of Anderson v. City of St. Paul, et al (226 Minn.186) as the Judge in the District Court case from which Appellant sought to overturn a St. Paul Ordinance prohibiting women from working as bartenders. McNally also served a lengthy stint as juvenile judge, continuing even after he became the senior judge in 1949. In this capacity he dedicated much effort to making juvenile court what he called “corrective…rather than punitive.” McNally’s colleagues elected him the chief judge in 1957.

A fit and active man, Judge McNally was known for making the daily 2-mile walk between his home and the Courthouse. He estimated in 1953 that he had trod roughly 50,000 miles over 42 years, with walks to Prescott (WI) Stillwater, Hastings, and White Bear Lake. Judge McNally retired from the bench in 1959. Judge and Mrs. McNally took a 6-week Caribbean cruise in 1962. Returning, they stopped in St. Louis to visit their son. That was where the Judge suffered a heart attack and died shortly thereafter at the age of 76.

James C. Michael was born on March 19 1863 at Morgantown West Virginia. He grew from a “pioneer boyhood,” in that he attended a log school until he was 16 years old, and claimed he used to hunt squirrels with a “muzzle-loader.” He worked as a teacher prior to graduating from the University of West Virginia in 1883. He moved to Red Wing Minnesota in 1885 and practiced law there until he moved to St. Paul in 1889. In 1891 he married Jennie Crandall of Minneapolis. He served as Corporation Attorney of the St. Paul from 1903-191. He was appointed to the Ramsey County District Court in 1915 following the creation of an additional judgeship for the St. Paul area by the Legislature and Governor. Judge Michael served in this capacity the rest of his life.

Among the cases Judge Michael heard involved a state suit involving nearly $50,000,000 against the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railways for taxes allegedly due on stock of the Burlington Railway for which the two companies jointly held control. Judge Michael ruled the assessment illegal, which was later upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In 1921 the City Railway Company tried to instill a 7-cent street car fair, which was attacked as “having been decided without sufficient justification” in hearings before the State Railway and Warehouse Commission. Judge Michael sustained this conclusion, and was affirmed on appeal.

Judge Michael died on March 12, 1946 at age 83, thus ending his 31 year term on the bench.

Gustavus Loevinger was born on March 4, 1881 in Ulm, Wurttemberg, Germany. His family immigrated to South Dakota in 1889, where he received his BA from Dakota Wesleyan University in 1903. He received his LLB from the University of Minnesota in 1906 and went to work as a law clerk in St. Paul the same year. He practiced law in the partnership of Heim & Loevinger from 1907 until 1931, when he was appointed to the Ramsey County District Court.

Judge Loevinger was loved by constituents and respected by the legal profession for his modern and progressive approach to the law. As a family court judge, he was against legal impediments to divorce and advocated that the realities of marriage be taught in schools. He also recommended that family court have a clinic to help users of the court system constructively resolve their domestic difficulties. He advocated a criminal probation system to put non-habitual offenders back on the right track in lieu of lengthy prison sentences, which he saw as an often-unnecessary taxpayer expense. He defended the criminal jury trial system at a time when it was under attack, stating that it was fundamental to the cause of liberty and justice, and that few criminal charges resulted in acquittal by juries. He also helped organize Minnesota’s Farmer-Labor Party, a predecessor of the Minnesota DFL party.

In a particular case he heard as a District Court Judge, Loevinger soundly rebuked University of Minnesota for its role in a ring that involved it buying nearly 500 stolen dogs. This, plus heavy sentences given to the “dognappers” got him an outpouring of fan mail from constituents. In another case he ordered more than $1,000,000 in refunds to St. Paul telephone customers. After the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Cardozo, roughly 200 local attorneys signed a petition urging appointment of Judge Loevinger to fill the vacancy, which stated that “[h]is fearless honesty, his love of his fellow men and his sympathy for the underprivileged and oppressed, his respect for individual rights and his profound knowledge of the law qualify him for the high position…” (The Judge was touched by the gesture, but asked the committee to withdraw its petition.)

Judge Loevinger served as a District Judge until 1955, and died on August 28, 1957.

(Judge Loevinger’s son, Lee Loevinger, became a chief of the Justice Department’s antitrust division under President John F. Kennedy. He was also a member of the Federal Communications Commission, and an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.)

The Law Librarian extends a special thanks to the St. Paul Public Library and its excellent collection of historical newspaper clippings.

The Law Library has on display judicial portraits of past Second Judicial District Court judges, going back to 1857. If you have any information or commentary about Judge Loevinger, please leave a response or send us an e-mail. To view the portraits in person, visit us on the 18th floor of the Ramsey County Courthouse.

Charles Eugene Otis was born May 11, 1846 near Kalamazoo Michigan. He received his BA from the University of Michigan in 1869. He taught school for a time, and was Superintendent of Schools in La Porte, IN from 1869-1871. Charles Otis married Elzabeth Noyes Ransom of Kalamazoo in 1874.

He came to St. Paul in 1871 to work in the law firm of his brother George Otis. He was admitted to the MN bar in 1875. When George died in 1883, Charles formed a new partnership with his brother Arthur. He was appointed to the Ramsey County District Court in 1889 following the death of Judge Levi Vilas. He served two terms, leaving the bench in 1903. He thereafter resumed private practice with his son, James C. Otis.

Judge Otis served on the St. Public Library Board from 1896-1899. He also served on the St. Paul City Council, where he was instrumental in bringing the Minnesota State Fair to St. Paul. It should also be noted that he was the great uncle to a prominent American historical figure. His brother, Alfred G. Otis, was a U.S. District Court Judge in Kansas. Alfred raised his granddaughter in Atchison Kansas, who grew to be the aviator, Amelia Earhart.  Judge Otis died on November 8, 1917. He left behind son James C. Otis and daughter Maribel R. Otis. No obituary is available for him and his burial place is unknown.

The Law Library has on display judicial portraits of past Second Judicial District Court judges, going back to 1857. If you have any information or commentary about Judge Otis, please leave a response or send us an e-mail. To view the portraits in person, visit us on the 18th floor of the Ramsey County Courthouse.