The Alaska citizen., 1917-05-21
FAMOUS LAWYER AND STATESMAN
 PASSES BEYOND
Associated Press)

characters. died at his home in this city at the advanced age of S5 years. From all over the nation messages f condolence and sympathy are pour ng in to the family. From his early lays he has been a conspicuous fig ire in American courts. and his one political appointment brought him .ame alike in America and Europe, where he served as American ambas sador to England. Funeral arrange nents will be announced later.
 Mir. Choate was S5 years old q lifetime during which he was one oi the most distinguished practitioners of law in the Aited States, ambas 5ador to England with signal sue cess, a speaker applauded on in numerable public occasions, and, fin ally, a remarkable octogenarlan.
 He came from an old New England .amily, noted for strength of char ucter and mental vigOr. His father was cousin of the famous Rufus Choate. He was graduated from liar yard in 1852, a college mate of Phil lips Brooks. He established himself in New York in 1856. soon after finishing his law studies, and as q member of the firm of Evarts, South mayd and Choate he rose to leader ship of the New York bar.
 He appeared in all the celebrated cases-it was said case was not a case unless Choate appeared in It
 where his fluency and wit and searching cross-eXamination brought him considerable success. He figured in the prosecution of Boss" Tweed and his followers who footed the New York city treasury; he so sue cessfully defended General FitzJohn Porter that by reversal of a court martial that officer was reinstated; he appeared in the TiIden will case, the contest over Commodore Vanderbilt's millions. and the Chinese exclusion case, arguing against the validity of the act. These were but a few of the famous litigations in which he figured, his presence invariably mak- ing any case an intellectual treat for the public, and a professional education for junior members of the bar"
 It is on record that, during his younger days, he had the daring to rebuke a judge, who had turned to converse with someone behind him, while Choate was addressing the court. Choate stopped short in his address. The judge remarked the silence, and as his honor turned to face the room the lawyer began anew:
 Your Honor, 1 shall need all the time allotted me for summing up; and I shall need your Honor's un- divided attention
 And you shall have it." the court apologized.
 Mir. Choate was a Republican, but had never held public office, beyond a brief term as member of a state constitutional convention, when he was invited by President Mckinley in 1899 to go to London as the Am erican ambassador At farewell dinner at the Union League club, Mr. Choate remarked upon his in experience in political or diplomatic life. q shall rely" he said, upon happy temperament"
 A conferred upon a foreigner in Eng land since the middle of the 17th century was paid him when he was adopted by the inner circle of the British bar and made "bencher' or member of the governing body of the middle temDle It was in fact, a compliment never before paid in London to lawyer of American birth and training.
 As an after-dinner speaker MT. Choate was a national-internatonal possession.
 The stories told about him. too, were as countless as those he told, for he was one of those picturesque figures about which stories cluster some of which undoubtedly belonged to others One typical flash of his wit is that with which he answered a dinner partner, who asked who he would choose to be if he were not Joseph H. Choate.
 Mrs. Choate's second husband was the instantaneous reply.
 Mrs. Choate was Caroline D. Ster- ling, of Cleveland. O., whom he mar hyy urh hn