Frank Henry Kerrigan

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Frank Henry Kerrigan (September 17, 1868 – February 9, 1935) was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He also served for nearly 30 years as a California state court judge, and was an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court from January 8, 1923, to February 11, 1924.
Kerrigan was an early bicycle aficionado, and was president of both the Associated Cycling Clubs in 1897, and the next year of the Bay City Wheelmen. In 1900, he was grandmaster of the 20-mile road race for the Baker & Hamilton Trophy. In 1904, he awarded the winner of the mile bicycle race the Frank Kerrigan cup. In December 1909, Kerrigan and his friends in the Olympic Club ran a four mile course capped by a mid-winter swim in the Pacific Ocean. He also belonged to the California Club, where he competed in tournament tennis. Kerrigan was a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and the Order of Eastern Star.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Henry_Kerrigan
=== Clubs ===
* Bay City Wheelmen
* San Francisco Bicycle Club
* Olympic Cyclers
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...
Frank H. Kerrigan has been identified with cycling for several years past. He is the attorney for the California Division, League of American Wheelmen, and is thoroughly posted on the rights of wheelmen and is, furthermore, a splendid worker and remarkably popular among ah his fellow-wheelmen.
THE SPEEDY CYCLERS. - Coast Records Sure to Be Lowered. - Eastern Cracks Now on the Road. - San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Apr 1894
F. H. Kerrigan, attorney of the League of American Wheelmen, delegated his rights of speech to L. Devaney, Chairman of the wheelmen's delegation. He said his constituents wanted to leave the matter entirely in the hands of the Park Commissioners, and that they desired no change under the proposed ordinance.
THEY THINK THEY CAN AGREE. - Park Commissioners and Bicyclists Arrange a Conference - The San Francisco Examiner, 28 Sep 1894
FOR GOOD WHEELING.
Committee Appointed to Draft a Suitable Ordinance. 
City and County Attorney Creswell, as chairman of the wheelmen whose object is to promote good wheeling in this City, has appointed the following committee to frame ordinances for the regulation of wheelmen in this County to be submitted to the Board of Supervisors:
L. R. Ellert, manager California Title and Insurance Company, Mills building, unattached wheelmen: F. H. Kerrigan, Justice of the Peace, new City Hall, Bay City Wheelmen; Charles A. Adams, attorney-at-law, 137 Phelan building, Olympic Club Wheelmen and Camera Club Cyclists: Joseph F. Coffey, attorney-at-law, Supreme Court building, Olympic Cyclers, and Harry F. Wynne, [Henry F. Wynne] druggist, northeast corner Folsom and Twenty-second streets, California Cycling Club. On recommendation Chairman Creswell himself was added to this committee.
The six gentlemen will try to frame ordinances that will not only satisfy wheelmen but will protect pedestrians and drivers in every particular. They fully realize that the walking and driving public want their rights on the highway preserved and protected as well as the wheelmen. Ex-Mayor Ellert has been made chairman of the committee. He will call a meeting at an early date.
FOR GOOD WHEELING. - The San Francisco Call, 24 Oct 1895
Early in the coming week, under the direction of F. H. Kerrigan, the wheelmen's representatives of the Cycling Club and Cycle Board of Trade will be called together to arrange the programme for "Bicycle Day," and to see what Eastern riders of not can be obtained to compete in the races of that day.
ORGANIZING THE CARNIVAL. - Meeting to Be Held Friday Evening at the California Hotel. - The San Francisco Call, 17 Jan 1897
Then the "club" resort was had. On December 13, 1878, a club was formed known as the San Francisco Bicycle Club, which was the first organization of its kind on the Coast, and the second in the whole United States. Among the members were Governor George C. Perkins, Colonel Ralph de Clairmont, Judge Kerrigan, George H. Strong, G. Loring Cunningham, F. G. Blinn, J. G. Golby, George Hobe, Robert M. Welch, Charles L. Barrett, F. C. Merrill, [maybe F. T. Merrill] E. Mohrig. F. E. Osbourne, Charles C. Moore, Fred Russ Cook, Herman C. Eggers, Frank D. Elwell and many others.
When San Francisco Was Teaching America to Ride a Bicycle - Sun, Feb 26, 1905 - Page 5 - San Francisco Chronicle
Judge Kerrigan helped make Bicycle Day happen, in San Francisco, in 1916.]
ATHLETES WHO HAVE MADE GOOD
JUDGE FRANK H. KERRIGAN. NO. 7.
FRANK H. KERRIGAN, associate justice of the Court of Appeal of California, was a famous amateur bicycle rider and bicycle track official in the halcyon days of the early nineties when the sport of the wheel held the country in its grip.
Judge Kerrigan belonged to the old Bay City Wheelmen, being one of its directors for several years and holding many important offices in the organization. p Although he had many an offer to turn professional, Judge Kerrigan adhered strictly to the amateur rules of the game. He took up "bike" riding for the love of the sport and he devoted many years of his life to fostering it and furthering its advancement.
The noted jurist was a familiar figure in many of the great road races which were wont to be staged in this city and across the bay in the early days. He was regarded as one of the brainiest riders of his time and disappointed many of his friends and admirers when he turned a deaf ear to the alluring professional offers that came his way during his career as a rider.
Among Judge Kerrigan's associates on the bicycle track were the Downing brothers. Hardy and Lace; Otto Zeigler, Walter Foster, Lloyd McFarland and hosts of others who either became famous as professional bikers or who later made good in other walks of life.
Judge Kerrigan still takes a healthy interest in the game that gave him his athletic start and nothing suits him better than a fanning bee with a bunch of the old time riders.
Judge Frank H. Kerrigan, judge, Bay City Wheelmen history, amateur not professional TO BLOG 24 Mar 1921, Thu The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) Newspapers.com
MERRY RACE FOR SUPREME BENCH JUDGESHIPS ON
MANY CANDIDATES SEEKING HONORS
Appellate Justice Kerrigan Visits Stockton and Recalls Old Days
The visit of Justice Frank H. Kerrigan to San Joaquin last week when he addressed the Stockton Foresters, the San Joaquin County Bar Association in session at Hotel Stockton and a gathering of banklers at Lodi, recalled the old days of 30 years ago, when Judge Kerrigan was the official head of the bicycle sportsmen on this coast.
For the last 16 years Justice Kerrigan has been a member of the first district court of appeals in San Francisco. Previous to that time he served eight years as a superior judge and six years as a justice of the peace in San Francisco. Now, after rounding out 28 years on the bench, he is seeking promotion to the supreme court bench of California, being a candidate for one of the long terms subject to the will of the people at the August primaries.
Justice Kerrigan met a number of his old-time Stockton friends during the two days spent here and enjoyed chatting over the exciting old days of strife between the Oak Leaf Wheelmen of Stockton and the Bay City Wheelmen. Kerrigan was a rider in the latter organization, and he frequently came up to Stockton by boat, accompanying Bay City Wheelmen teams. Charles C. Moore, who was president of the Panama-Pacific international exposition, also was an enthusiastic member of the Bay City Wheelmen and joined in the inter-city competition. Judge Kerrigan was elected head of the California division of the League of American Wheelmen and was for a number of years chief counsel for that organization on this coast.
While fanning with his old friend, Charles L. Neumiller, Judge Kerrigan said, speaking of the cyclists: "We particularly liked to come to Stockton because the Oak Leaf Wheelmen had a habit of staging 'watermelon runs,' which were very popular. Those were in the days when Lodi was famous as the watermelon producing center of California. 'Lodi sweet watermelons' were known throughout the coast, and the mere mention of them was sufficient to stir enthusiasm.''
And then Mr. Neumiller and Judge Kerrigan recalled a certain "watermelon run" to the Hogan ranch, near Lodi, in which both had participated. Needless to say, Judge Kerrigan's friends of the old bicycle days took great pleasure in showing him around and introducing him in commendatory terms.
Judge Kerrigan says it was his interest in bicycling which really gave him his start in politics. Twenty-eight years ago he aspired to become a justice of the peace in San Francisco. His friends among the bicycle clubs rallied to his support loyally and secured his election by a handsome vote. Judge Kerrigan is a native of Contra Costa county.
An interesting campaign for places of the supreme bench is developing this election year. There are three places to be filled and there is no dearth of candidates. Chief Justice Lucien Shaw, who was elevated to that position when Chief Justice Frank M. Angellotti resigned some months ago, announces that after rounding his career on the bench by attaining the highest position within the gift of the state, he will retire at the expiration of his term next January. Judge Curtis D. Wilbur aspires to succeed Chief Justice Shaw and rumor has it that Judge William P. Lawlor will oppose him.
Judge William H. Waste, who was appointed by Governor Stepheny to fill the vacancy on the supreme court bench caused by the resignation of Chief Justice Angellotti and the promotion of Judge Lucien Shaw, will be a candidate for the unexpired or short term, to succeed himself, and it is quite likely that he will have no opposition. The terms of Judges William A. Sloane and Charles Shurtleff are expiring and they will again be candidates. Judge w Kerrigan of the appellate court has announced his desire to step up to the supreme bench and is actively campaigning and there are rumors that Judge Emmett Sewall of Sonoma and T. A. Norton of San Luis Obispo, both superior court judges, will also be candidates for the supreme court judgeships.
Judge Kerrigan Bay City Wheelmen Lodi Supreme Court TO BLOG Cc Joel Metz 10 May 1922, Wed Stockton Daily Evening Record (Stockton, California) Newspapers.com
OH. SHOCKING! THOSE RIDERS OF BICYCLES!
Many of Best Citizens Sowed Wild Oats Over Handlebars in "Good Old Days"
Bowed by the drooping handle-bars he leans 
Upon his bike and gazes at the ground; 
His back is humped and crooked and his face 
Is strained and agonizing in its look. Who made him sit upon a wheel like this?
- Newkirk.
San Francisco's youthful Sheiks and Shebas yesterday went out and dug up a lot of dirt about their ancestors.
Exasperated by the criticism of courts, the rebukes of churchmen and the disapproval of parents, these short-skirted flappers and speed-mad youths checked back on the records of some of our best people. 
OH, IT WAS AWFUL!
The archives of San Francisco disclose, for instance that many of our jurists, lawyers, public officials, business men and society matrons, back in the Gay Nineties, brazenly risked life and limb and defied the conventions by riding bicycles.
Ministers inveighed against it; reformers protested it was ruinous to morals as well as to health; police declared it was a menace to safety, and Lombroso, learned criminologist, cited the bicycle as a cause of crime, but all to no avail.
Such scapegrace youths as Frank H. Kerrigan, now a Federal Judge; Jimmy Rolph, now Mayor of the city; Dan O'Brien, now chief of police; ex-Governor Perkins; George H. Strong; Ralph De Clairmont; Frank D. Elwell and others of like ilk, persisted in the reprehensible practice,
SUCH CARRYING ON!
Not only that. They induced many a San Francisco maid to venture upon a contraption known as a tandem and to ride with them to Golden Gate Park and elsewhere. Judge Kerrigan - he wasn't a judge then - even had the effrontery to become president of the Bay City Wheelmen, an organization which came into existence in 1884 and gradually supplanted the old San Francisco Bicycle Club.
These erstwhile dashing young blades may not approve of such modern effusions as "Moonlight Madness and You," "That's My Weakness Now" and "Oh You Have No Idea," but they thrilled the heart of many a girl in this very community by such classics as this: 
"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true, 
I'm half crazy, all for the love of you! 
It won't be a stylish marriage, 
I can't afford a carriage, 
But you'll look sweet 
Upon the seat 
Of a bicycle built for two."
Judge Kerrigan, when faced with these accusations and confronted with indisputable proof, admitted that the San Francisco youths of that day prevailed upon the Park ...
ARCHIVES REVEAL SHOCKING ANTICS OF BICYCLE RIDERS 
Commissioners to build a special bicycle road and a Cyclers Rest in Golden Gate Park. They even held races in the old Mechanics Institute Pavilion when it was in Union Square.
This despite Eleanor Hoyt's philippic on "Bicycle and Its Wild Oats," and the American Law Review's strong article on the "Rights. Duties and Liabilities of Bicyclists." 
ACT JUSTIFIED.
The Park Commission, in 1898, sought to justify its act in building a bicycle road by declaring that:
The extension of the road can also be urged with a view to the protection of the bicyclists from runaways and from collisions with carriages.
The great event of the year for the wild youth of San Francisco, Judge Kerrigan admits, was the famous "Century" run down to San Jose and back.
Proof that San Francisco femininity was partially to blame for the wicked bicycle craze is furnished by an early article by Myrtile Cerf, who wrote:
"For those ladies who wish an escort on their rides, the tandem safety has been devised. This brings the thought that there are many girls who are anxious to ride, but who are too timid to try without the arm of a brother to assist them."
Talk about modern jazz!
OH, SHOCKING! THOSE RIDERS OF BICYCLES! part 1 01 Oct 1928, Mon The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) Newspapers.com
OH, SHOCKING! THOSE RIDERS OF BICYCLES! part 2 01 Oct 1928, Mon The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) Newspapers.com
Category:people
Category:Bay City Wheelmen
Category:advocacy
Category:Olympic Cyclers
Category:San Francisco Bicycle Club