The Garden City Telegram
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In the eyes of justice
Published 12/12/2009 in History Page
William Easton Hutchison, 26, left Pennsylvania in 1886. He headed west. His doctor, suspecting tuberculosis, recommended a drier climate hoping to give the young attorney "a few more years."
After a short hiatus in Wichita and small towns west, Hutchison, searching for a location where he could find work that would support him, bumped along towns in southwest Kansas... from Sockeyville to Sunrise and finally to Ulysses. All were representative of the earthy, bustling frontier.
His experiences as an early-day attorney were full of drama and color to say the least. Hutchison relates in his notes: "...We were holding court in an old hardware store on the frontier. There was a jury of six men with a justice of the peace presiding. Woods (the opposing attorney) was questioning witnesses and doing so in his usual disreputable manner. I was objecting and, one by one, my objections were being sustained by the court. After this had happened a number of times, Woods jumped up with a series of curses, seized a carpenter's mallet off the shelf and held it over my head and said, 'you blank blank if you make another objection I will crack your brains out.' Holding the mallet threateningly over my head he continued to ask questions and I made no further objections.
"When the examination of witnesses was completed, I was desperate and did not know what to do. I therefore asked for a recess just for the purpose of getting a chance to think. The justice, the jurors and Sam Woods left the room, and I turned to my client and found him gone. I walked to the door of the room and there beheld a great sight. My client had Sam Woods on his back on the ground and was pounding his face with his fist, the jurors stood in a circle watching bravely with interest. This continued for several minutes. Finally one of the jurors turned to another and said, 'Do you think that is enough?' Then they entered upon a quiet discussion as to whether it was enough and said, 'let us pull him off' which they did. I frequently tell this story as a fine illustration of the cooperation of a client with his lawyer."
Income in Hutchison's profession was limited.
"I had some justice of peace cases and some real estate and loan commissions, but during the first twelve months of my practice I earned and collected from legal business exactly $10 and no more."
Hutchison soon established his reputation as an honest, direct and competent member of the bar. In 1892, he was chosen judge of the 32nd judicial district of southwest Kansas. He remained unharmed through the bloody county seat wars and became a respected figure, traveling across the prairie in his covered buggy unarmed. His friends gave him a gun but finally agreed he was safer without one, considering he couldn't shoot it anyway.
Judge Hutchison cut a striking figure, always garbed in a black Prince Albert coat, high stiff collar with a white string tie and high black button shoes. He never varied from this style throughout his life. He had a full beard, sandy red in his youth, which turned snow white with age.
In 1895, William Easton Hutchison married Miss Reba Anderson in Beulah, N.Y. The couple moved to Garden City in 1886, and Reba became active in clubs, civic organizations and church groups. William continued to serve as judge of the 32nd Kansas judicial district. Although the couple had no children of their own, they loved and raised three children of his brother, Joseph, and his wife, Essie, after the couple died in a car accident in 1912.
Hutchison ran for Congress in 1907 but was defeated. He opened up his law practice in Garden City. Hutchison held several important state positions. From 1911 until 1927, he served as secretary of the State Board of Law Examiners. His reputation as a consistent advocate of law and order and an equally loyal and active member of the Republican Party brought him to the attention of the governor, who first appointed him executive clerk and pardon attorney and then a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court when a vacancy occurred in 1929. Hutchison continued as a justice until 1939, when at age 77, failing health caused him to declare he would not be a candidate for reelection.
Hutchison returned to his law office at the southwest corner of Main and Laurel streets. This location served as law offices for the judge and his successors until 1962. On April 5, 1952, the judge died quietly in his quarters at the Warren Hotel. He had gone to his law office daily until the 3rd of April. He is buried next to his wife in Valley View Cemetery.
The editor of The Garden City Telegram wrote a memorial two days later:
"Judge William Easton Hutchison, who has been introduced at every top local gathering for years as Garden City's first citizen slipped quietly away Saturday evening after a long and eventful life.
He was a pioneer Western Kansas gentleman. Respected by both the outlaws of the Old West and the good people of the new land, the Judge carried his courtly dress and manner all over Southwest Kansas and then to a dozen active years on the Kansas Supreme Court bench...Our (The Telegram) account of his life comes from many sources...it attempts to mirror the life of a man who despite the lack of physical strength became a great moral leader for a rough new country. In that story should be something for all of us."
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