Merritt J. Gordon (March 17, 1859 – June 5, 1925)"2 Killed When Car Crashes Into Crowd", ''The Tacoma Daily Ledger'' (June 6, 1925), p. 2. was a justice of the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. ...

from 1895 to 1900.

Education, and career

Born in

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Canada East Canada East () was the northeastern portion of the Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new colony, known as the Province of ...

, Gordon attended the public schools of

Clinton County, New York Clinton County is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 79,843. Its county seat is the city of Plattsburgh. The county lies just south of the border with the Cana ...

, later entering the Champlain Academy, from which he graduated in 1878. In 1879 he moved to Lanesboro, Minnesota, and at the age of 20 entered one of the leading law offices. He was admitted to practice in Fillmore County, Minnesota, in 1880, and in 1881 moved to Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he became a prominent figure in city and county affairs. He served as city attorney of Aberdeen and district attorney of the fifth district and was chairman of the judiciary committee of the first

South Dakota House of Representatives The South Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Dakota Legislature. It consists of 70 members, two from each legislative district. Two of the state's 35 legislative districts, Districts 26 and 28, are each subdivided ...

in 1889. In 1890 he moved to the state of Washington, settling in Olympia.

Judicial career and later life

In 1895, Gordon was appointed to the superior court of

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, by Governor

Elisha P. Ferry Elisha Peyre Ferry (August 9, 1825October 14, 1895) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of governors of Washington, first governor of Washington from 1889 to 1893. Ferry was a Republican Party (United States), Republic ...

. Later that year he was elected to a four year term, but resigned to seek the nomination to the state supreme court, to a seat vacated by the retirement of Judge Theodore L. Stiles. Gordon was elected, taking office in January 1895. He served for five and half years, including one year as chief justice, before resigning to become counsel for the Great Northern Railway Company. He moved to Spokane where he resided until 1908, when he moved to Tacoma. In April 1909, Gordon was indicted on a charge of embezzling over $9,000 from the Great Northern Railway Company, but was acquitted in March 2010. He thereafter continued his law practice, in which he was "retained as counsel in many of the most famous cases in the state". In 1917 he was at the head of firm of Gordon & Easterday, and later formed a law partnership with Grover Nolte, though by 1921 he was in a solo practice, in which he remained for the rest of his life.

Personal life and death

Gordon married Jennie Thompson in

Carbondale, Pennsylvania Carbondale is a city in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carbondale is located approximately 15 miles due northeast of the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 8,828 at the 2020 ...

, in 1879, with whom he had a son and a daughter. Jennie died in 1922, and Gordon later married Minnie Bergeson of Tacoma. Gordan was killed by a runaway car that plowed through a crowd of shoppers in Tacoma; a woman was also killed in the accident, and five other shoppers were injured.Tragedy Shocks Tacoma
, ''Seattle Union Record'' (June 6, 1925), p. 2.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Merritt J. 1859 births 1925 deaths U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Members of the South Dakota House of Representatives Justices of the Washington Supreme Court Pedestrian road incident deaths Emigrants from pre-Confederation Quebec to the United States 19th-century members of the South Dakota Legislature Accidental deaths in Washington (state)