The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-25
JUDGE DUNDY's WAYS.
Eccentricities That Made Him Fam
OILS in Nebraska


New York Sun: The death of Judge
Elmer S. DundY of the federal court
for the district of Nebraska removes
one of the strangest figures that ever
occupied place on the bench even in
the west, where eccentrIcity is one of
the open Sesames to fame. He started
in life as an office boy for the late
| Senator William A. Wallace of Clear
| field. Pa. He was prominent in the
days that preceded the admission of
territorial judge until 1869, when Pres
ident Johnson appointed him federal
Judge.
In those days the state was torn by
political cliques that did not always &C
cept the verdict given at the polls, but
strove. sometimes b-r force and at
other times through the medium of the
law, to secure a reversal. On one oc
casion, when the latter method was
resorted to, Dundy, although suffering
from a broken leg, insisted upon being
brought into court in order that a
judge favorable to the opposition might
not be permitted to sit in the case.
In his court room Dundy was an
autocrat. He never hesitated when the
whim took him. to interrupt an attor-
Eey in the midst of an elaborate argu-
ment, brusquely tell him to sit down
and then proceed to argue the case
sharp visage. and in later years his
physical peculiarities were accumulated
by whftened hair and q bald pate. He
threw himself with interest into every
case that came along for trial, and it
was not unusual for him to show dis.
tinct bias. If it was a contest be-
tween a corporation or a city on one
Il ~
estate on the other, especially in per-
sonal injury cases, the corporation al
ways found him on the opposing side.
This popularity of the judge became
so well known in later years it was not
infrequent for attorneys for plaintiffs
in cases of this character to induce
the plaintiff to remove to some other
state until after the action had been
tried, thus giving the federal court jur-
iSdiction.
Judge Dundy was utterly defiant
both of public opinion and of prece-
dents. He denounced as mummery the
opening of court by the ''oyez" of the
bailiff and refused to permit it in his
court. He formulated an etiquette of
his own, however. No attorney crossed
the court room when court was in SeS-
sion except on tiptoe and then at the
risk of being vigorously called down.
No one, not even his clerks. dared take
the trial docket from his desk or re-
move any papers therefrom while court
was in session. 1t was the judges de-
light to administer a call down to a
pompous lawyer from another district
while in the midst of some learned ar
gument, and the subordinate officers,
district ATTORNEY, marshal, clerk and
all trembled whenever the judge roared
which was his usual method of decla-
nation whenever addressing jury,
counsel or officers.
AS a hunter the judge held an en-
Viable reputation. Each year he spent
his vacation in the Rockies, and many
a narrow escape and hair-raiSing en-
counter did he have with the big game
of that region. Sixty-six bears is the
judges record for his 80 years of hunt
ing.
His defiance of public opinion was
one of the curious phases of the mans
character. He appointed his own son
as clerk of the district court and a
cousin or some other relative of his
wife as clerk of the circuit court, both
large salaried offices. He had favorites
among the attorneys, and one of the
first pieces of advice loyal attorney
would give his client would be to re-
tain some one of those favoriteS, as
they almost invariably won their cases.
Charges of corruption were not made,
but the mans individuality was so
strong and his natural bias so great
that he could not sit as an impartial
arbiter in many of the cases that came
before him. Three years ago, when c.
w. Mosher, a Lincoln banker, pleaded
guilty in his court to thefts aggregat-
ing 81, 100000 and when public opinion
was wildly demanding that he receive
the utmost limit, Judge Dundy SEN
fenced him to five years, the lowest
punishment possible, just because he
liked the man and had trained with
him in politics. The storm that burst
on his head was tremendous, but he
never gave a sign that he heard or
felt it.