Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-21
JUDGE MCPHERSON,
DEAD. IS HONORED
United States Court of Ap.
peals Adjourns to Pay
Tribute
EULOCIZED AS JURIST
Members of Bench Express
Sorrow Over Death - Flu.
neral Services Thursday

neral Services Thursday
The United States Court of Appeals
adjourned today as a mark of respect
, for Judge John B. Mcpherson. a MEM
ber of the court and one of Pcnnsylva
: MAS most distinguished jurists, who
died last night in the Presbyterian Hos
pital Tribute was paid the Judge by
: his colleagues
When his death was ann need in
Court of Common Pleas No. 3 today
, Judge Stake ordered a suitable minute
spread upon the records of the court
\ meeting in honor of Judge McPher-
sons memory was held at . so O'Clock
this afternoon in the District Court, with
Judges Thompson and Dickinson pre-
. siding.
Death Causes sorrow
Formal announcement of Judge Me-
Pherson'S death was made to the court
when it met for the January term today
by United States District Attorney Kane.
Judge Joseph Burlington, of Pittsburgh,
/, senior member of the Court of Appeals,
was so affected by the death of his col
+. league that the response to Mr.. Kane for
an adjournment was made by Judge VIC
F.. tor b. Woolley
"Our loss is not only the loss of an
associate, but n loss that brings with
: it great personal sorrow" Judge Woolley
declared after paying high tribute to
= Judge Mcpherson as member of the
4 judiciary.
Mr.. Kane. in his eulogy said the loss
r of Judge Mcpherson is not confined to
the circuit in which he sat, but to the
: whole country. He was a great Judge"
...,I g
singular acutcness and strength. He
thought rapidly and accurately. going to
g the root of n question with a directness
= which never erred He was a close stu
$ dent, his mind was stepped in the science
:. of the law but he abhorred technical
n tiles and qubbling. The sophist did not
= have an easy time before him; Judge
Mcpherson went straight to the merits
.. of the case.
:. I'VE are thinking today of Judge Me-
= Pherson as Judge. an eminent jurist,
l. but we can with the same truthfulness
n eulogize h as "A man, for he was one
among ma,iy thousands. He was a true
friend and true patriot, and in his
death Pennsylvania has ,ost one of
her greatest citizens
EuIogized by stake
Judge Mcpherson was near and
friends" Judge Stake said. He was a
distinguished and learned member OF
=. the legal profession and a Judge of higl
attanments Personally he was a most
lovab,e character"
Funeral services for Judge Mcpherson
will be he'd Thursday afternoon at 3 81
=, O'Clock in tho Second Presbyterian
- Church. Twenty-second and Walnu
y streets.
Itlrv vi lo, cit
.d early in November. lie was seventy-twc
le years old.
50 His career on the bench began ir
1882 in the Dauphin County courts
re when Governor Hoyt named him Com
u mon Pleas Judge for the 'Dauphin
f., Lebanon district. In 1899 he was ele
ne waited to the bench of the United State.
n District Court and in 1871: he was pro
e, NOTED to the United Stat2s Circuit Cour
n Of Appeals.
20 Judge Mcpherson was born in Har
I'd risburg. He was graduated from Prince
III ton In 1865. In later years he wa
ne honored with the degree of doctor o
!, laws by Princeton, Franklin and Mar
w. w. shall College and by the University o
g. Pennsylvania.
"a Framed Evidence Laws
or He was recognized authority on IN
ed surance ,aw and the law of evidence
er Virtually every statute on the law o
70 evidence in Pennsylvania was framed
by Judge Mcpherson.
He was admitted to practice in tn
Dauphin county courts +. January, 1870
after studying wen Judge Hanna Brigg
In the state capitol and with Scammor
es McClagg and Fuller, a Chicago firm
TWO years later he was elected dstric
#. attorney of Dauphin county for fou
IiS rtn
in MacVeagh. afterwards attorney genera
20 of the United States and Ambassado
en- to Italy. Lyman d. Gilbert was hi
bss partner at later period.
His most notable decisions in tn
en- early part of his career were in I'll
m ''death-bed insurance cases. in Leblanc
n: county He was professor of insuranC
In, in the University of Pennsylvania La
no School. In addition he was an autho,
ar , ity on the law of evidence and he wa
H. said to have prepared every Pennsy
IS: vania statute on the subject. Jude
lse Mcpherson gained distinction in presto
ing over many cases in which the Con
|n |I,- monwealth was party.
eet Appointed by President Mckinley
President Mckinley appointed him
ge the United States Court to succee
RS Judge William Butler, who had ju.
IN finished twenty-one years on the Fec
j. eral bench. The promotion in Marcl
ns 1912, came from President Taft. an
here Judge Mcpherson succeeded Wi
r. liam NJ. Lanning. of Trenton.
Judge Mcpherson married Miss Ann
Cochran Patterson. daughter of Jude
on David w. Patterson, Of Lancaster,
1879. A few months after. their daughte
Elizabeth was drowned accidentally
nst Point Pleasant, y. j., Mrs. McPherso
sAI Nj lta,.. g
Tho - '"IanI -,
Ian iiarrispurs' VINO was MISS MARY MI
lge Pherson. another daughter, died yea
to ago An eight-year-old son survive
, her
'he Judge McPherson's clubs in Philade
The phia included the Union League and III
ain Shakespeare Society. He was a truste
on of the Second Presbyterian Churcl