Viewing "Chief Justice Richard A. Jones (1821-1888)."

"Chief Justice Richard A. Jones (1821-1888)."

Special trains took over 400 mourners from 21 towns to the funeral of the Chief Justice in Rochester on August 26, 1888. There government offices and businesses were closed. Though he had moved to Oregon two years before, he was remembered as being without equal in the bar of Olmsted County. His authorship of the first Granger Act--also known as the "Jones Railroad Bill"--in the state House of Representatives in 1871 was retold, and grieving lawyers recalled that the constitutionality of that act was affirmed by the U. S. Supreme Court in Winona and St. Peter Railroad Company v. Blake, 94 U. S. 180 (1877).

Out West the Seattle bar marveled at the values, intelligence and work ethic of Richard Asbury Jones, the late Chief Justice of Washington Territory. During his 16 months in office, he had "established for himself the reputation of a profound, honest and fearless judge, and an upright and public spirited citizen. It has rarely happened that in so short a time a public official has so endured himself to all classes of people, as was the case with Judge Jones."

A sketch of the public life of Richard A. Jones is posted here.

View Article