Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-29
DEATH TAKES
ANOTHER JURIST
OFF HIGH BENCH
Stephen Leslie Mestrezat Dies
of Heart Disease,
Aged 20

GmIaueipn1a. April Z9.-Stepnen
Leslie Mestrezat, Associate Justice of
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania,
died in his apartments at the Aldine
Hotel yesterday morning after an ILL
ness of some months from heart dis
ease. He had been confined to his
room for three weeks and had ap-
peared on the bench but once since
the Supreme Court began it's sittings
in Philadelphia in January. With
him at the time of his death were
two sisters, Mrs Harriet T.. Hudson.
of Uniontown, and Mrs. Charlotte A.
John, of Trinidad, Col.
Judge Mestrezat's death is the
second to occur in the Supreme
Court within two weeks. Justice
William p. Potter having died with
in that time. The news of Judge Pot
ter's death affected Judge Mestrezat
greatly, causing him profound
feeling of sorrow.
Two vacancies now exist among
the seven Justices of the Supreme
Court, which will be filed by ap-
pointment by the Governor. The
court adjourned its sittings in this
city to-day until after the funeral.
Tribute From Associates
Justice John Stewart. who is pre-
siding at the sessions of the Supreme
Court in this city, said yesterday,
speaking in behalf of his colleagues
on the bench:
The absence from the city at this
time of the Chief Justice of the
court perhaps devolves upon me the
duty of giving some expression to
the sorrow and grief which has over
taken the surviving members of the
court in consequence of the death of
their late colleague, S. Leslie Mes
trezat.
"All that l feel called upon to do
at this moment, while as yet the
grave of our brother is untenanted
and the mourners are gathered at
his bed, is to testify to the love and
esteem in which he was held by his
fellow members, their profound sor-
row that he has been taken from
them, their deep sense of loss in that
he was a most useful and helpful
member of the court and a most
companionable and agreeable asso-
ciate."
Born at Maplewood, Greene coun-
ty, Pa, February 19, 184S, Justice
Mestrezat passed his boyhood on his
fathers farm, and after early tuition
in the public schools attended
Waynesburg College, from which he
was graduated in 1869. After COM
pleting the law course at Washing
! ton and Lee University at Lexing-
ton, Va, he was admitted to prac-
tice at the Greene county bar in
September, 1871.
He was elected a common pleas
judge in the Fourteenth Judicial dis
trict in 1898 and before the eXpira-
ton of his term was elected to the
Supreme Bench on the Democratic
ticket, taking his seat the following
January. His term would have ex-
pired in 1921.
In 1903, on the retirement of the
late Chief Justice James T. Mitchell,
from the bench, Judge Mestrezat
and Judge ]. Hay Brown, the present
Chief Justice, drew lots for the dis
tinction of succeeding to the chief
justiceship. both having been COM
missioned on the same date. The
choice fell TO Chief Justice Brown.
Justice Mestrezat came of an old
French family of Bordeaux and
could trace his ancestry back to
1892.
On the bench Judge Mestrezat was
one of the most careful jurists in the
preparation of the courts opinions
and a man of untiring industry. No
shadow of politics ever weighed in
his legal decision. He was regarded
as a man whose learning and repu-
tatlon ADORNED the dignity OF the
Supreme Court.
Commenting on Judge Mestrezat s
death, Justice Robert Won Moschzis-
ker, one of his associates on the Su-
preme Bench said:
Judge Mestrezat's death is a
| great loss to the State of Pennsylva-
MIA. particularly TO its judicial de-
partment. He was a man of sterling
! character and one of the hardest
working judges that ever sat upon
the bench of the Supreme Court. His
work in the law leaves marks of dis.
tinction that will live so Ions
as Pennsylvania Jurisprudence is
known. Personally he was a lovable
| character and his going is deeply felt
by his brothers upon the bench"
Michael j. Ryan, Public Service
| Commissioner, said: Justice Mestre.
| zat was a great judge and his death
will mean great loss TO the Com.
monwealth."