The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-03
JUDGE TOWNSEND DEAD; NOTED JURIST PASSEDAWAY Died Saturday Night After Fruitless Battle With
 Disease. A NOTED LIFE ENDED A Jurist of Renown, a Be- loved Yale Professor and Eminent Citizen.

The death of Judge William Knee land Townsend, which occurred Satur- day night at his home, brings deep sense of personal loss and bereavement to the very large circle of friends who had long known him personally and to whom he was endeared by his unfail- ing kindness of heart, his high sense of honor, his bon-honie and his true mo- bility of character. In all the rela- tions of life he was loyal to high ideals. As citizen none was worthier. As a Yale man and professor none was more devoted to the university and mindful of its best interests. and as United States judge his record was of the fin- est, both as to devotion to the duties of his high judicial position and the quality of his work. Few, indeed, have realized how bravely he had borne the inroads of the malady which at last terminated his earthly career, and few, indeed, dreamed that his usefulness was so nearly over, or that he was i'll, for he died, as 1t were, in the harness and with his armor on. Up to near the end he was active in judicial la bors and social life and amenities, and the same rare, refined genlality of dis position that made his presence every where most welcome, In society, in the class room at Yale and at the Yale
 banquet or other Yale gathering, as a speaker, was ever with him. Ills play of wit and power of repartee were ever feature of his addresses that added
 to the life and enjoyment of the pub lie occasion where he was guest, and
 to all. whether men of high degree or of the ordinary walks of life, his urban ity was unfailing. Yale will miss him,
 and the city of his nativity in which
 during his nearly fifty-eight years of life was his home will miss him and will sigh for the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of voice that is still"
 Judge Townsend had been suffering | from consumption, but this had been
 known to only the immediate members
 of his family and a few close friends.
 During the past winter he had attend- led to his court duties continuously. His work in the fact of ever r-advancing tdisease called for the highest degree of Icourage and determination, and these lqualities Judge Townsend possessed to | a high degree.
 | Two weeks ago, during the visit of Secretary of State Elihu Root he was lattacked with violent hemorrhage, land since that time he had been con fined to the house, and his actual con- ditlon was not reported to his friends. This was done at the earnest request lof Judge Townsend as he shrank from the reputation of hopeless invalidism. The end came finally without pain or suffering, the close of a life of achieve- ment in his profession and devoted ser vice to his friends.
 William Kneeland Townsend was born in this city on June 12, 1S4a, and was the son of Hon. James M. Town Isend. He was graduated from Yale in I1S71 and received the degree of IL. B, lin 1874 and D. c. L. in 1880. On July Ii, 1874, he married Mary Leavenworth Trowbridge. In 1874 he was admitted to the bar and was afterward ap- pointed as corporation counsel for this city. On March 2S, 1892, he was ap- pointed judge of the United States dis trict court for the district of ConneetI- cut. In 1902 he was promoted to the United States circuit court bench for the Second circuit, which position he held at his death.
 Judge Townsend was professor of the law of contracts at Yale univer- isity and had contributed to numerous magazines on legal matters. He was the author of New Connecticut Civil Officers" and ''The History of American Law of Patents, Trademarks, Copy rights and Admiralty"
 Besides his wife, one son survives him, George H. Townsend, of the jun- for class at Yale, who was last week elected to the senior society of Skull and Bones, and who will be next years Yales track manager. Judge Town send had two children who died, daughter, Molly, who married Dwight Day, a Yale graduate, and a son, Win ston K. Townsend, who entered Yale with the class of 1901, and who met a tragic death In his. freshman year in a fall from a bicycle.
 Among Yale men Judge Townsend was universally beloved, no instructor having ever been more popular with his pupils. His lectures teemed with kindliness and wit, the latter always Illuminating wonderfully the points to be brought out His curcuit court du- ties occasionally kept him away from the. school, and he never failed, on his return after such trip, to get hearty ovation the moment he entered the class room, No one ever cut one of Judge Townsend's lectures if he could help It. He gave up his law lectures several years ago, but not because of his illness.
 The funeral services of Judge Town send will be held at the chapel of Yale university tomorrow (Tuesday) after noon at o'clock.