Tillman Davis Johnson (January 8, 1858 – November 1, 1953) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Utah The United States District Court for the District of Utah (in case citations, D. Utah) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Utah. The court is based in Salt Lake City with another courtroom leased in thstate courtho ...

Education and career

Born in Rutherford County,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

, Johnson attended

Cumberland University Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee. It was founded in 1842. The campus's current historic buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896. History 1842-1861 The university was founded by the Cumberland ...

and

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under th ...

to enter the bar. He was a teacher in Tennessee from 1880 to 1885, and was principal of the Government Indian School in

Fort Bennett Fort Bennett was originally called the Post at Cheyenne River Agency and was established during the Indian wars in the Department of Dakota by the U.S. Army to control the Sioux. History Cheyenne River Agency was established in 1869, following co ...

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

(now

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

) from 1886 to 1887, and of the Government Indian School in

Fort Hall Fort Hall was a fort in the western United States that was built in 1834 as a fur trading post by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. It was located on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, now part of present-day Bannock County in southeastern Id ...

Idaho Territory The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho. History 1860s The territory ...

(now

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

) from 1888 to 1889. He was in private practice in Ogden,

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th sta ...

(State of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

from January 4, 1896) from 1889 to 1915. He was a member of the

Utah House of Representatives The Utah House of Representatives is the lower house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The House is composed of 75 representatives elected from single member constituent districts. Each district con ...

from 1898 to 1899. In 1912, he ran for

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...

as a Democrat.

Federal judicial service

Johnson received a

recess appointment In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the president of a federal official when the U.S. Senate is in recess. Under the U.S. Constitution's Appointments Clause, the President is empowered to nominate, and with the a ...

from President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

on November 2, 1915, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

John Augustine Marshall John Augustine Marshall (September 5, 1854 – April 4, 1941) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. Education and career Born on September 5, 1854, near Warrenton, Virginia, Marshall ...

. He was nominated to the same position by President Wilson on January 7, 1916. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

on January 18, 1916, and received his commission the same day. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on May 28, 1949. His service terminated on November 1, 1953, due to his death in Ogden.

Attempted assassination

On September 30, 1927 Johnson was shot three times while mounting the bench in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, Utah. The assailant, Eliza Simmons was angry at Johnson for ruling against her in a case decided in 1924 involving the death of her husband in a 1910 mining accident. Johnson was not seriously injured, only suffering flesh wounds to his lower body. Convicted of attempted murder in November 1927, Simmons was sentenced to seven years in prison.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Tillman Davis 1858 births 1953 deaths People from Ogden, Utah Members of the Utah House of Representatives Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Utah United States district court judges appointed by Woodrow Wilson 20th-century American judges Cumberland University alumni United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law American shooting survivors