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 JUDSON HARMON

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JUDSON HARMON BY HON. H. D. PECK JUDSON Harmon was born at Newtown near Cincinnati in the year 1846 and grew up and received his early education in the schools in that vicinity. As he ap proached manhood he went to the Dennison University at Granville, Ohio, from which he received a degree in the year 1866. His father, the Rev. Benjamin F. Harmon, was a Baptist minister, much beloved in the community where he lived, and a descendant of old Xew England Puritan stock, — as was also Julia Bronson Harmon, his mother. While at college and as a young man Judson Harmon was noted among other things for his proficiency in athletic sports. Traditions still linger about his native place concerning his skill and prowess in the game of baseball. An elderly member of the Cincinnati bar delights to relate how his first sight of the future jurist and statesman was when he was posing in the center of the diamond as pitcher for his village team; and throughout his whole life to this day Judge Harmon has retained his appearance of athletic strength and vigor. More than six feet in height, of a broad and powerful frame, erect in carriage, swift and graceful in movement, he remains as he always has been, a commanding figure among men. It is also related of him that he distinguished himself in the collegiate debates and discussions in which he took part, which can be readily believed by those who know him well and appreciate his fondness for the discussion of legal proposi tions. After graduation he studied law in the office of Judge George Hoadly and at the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was admitted to the bar in March, 1869. He had already achieved a considerable success as a practitioner, when in October, 1876, he was nominated by the Democratic party as a candidate for judge-of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County. At the election

he received a majority of the votes, but the result was very close and party feeling ran very high, so that the election was con tested; and the senate of the state, at that time Republican, ousted him from his posi tion on the ground that there had been illegal votes cast at the election. A year or two afterwards he was nomi nated and elected a judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati, and in the year 1883 he was re-elected by an increased majority. He administered his office of judge of the Superior Court to the great satisfaction of the people and the admiration of the bar for about nine years, terminating with his resignation in 1887, which was brought about by reason of the fact that Ex-Governor Hoadly had determined to remove to New York and engage in the practice there, and he and his partners invited Judge Harmon to take his place at the head of the firm of which Ex-Governor Hoadly was then a member, and which enjoyed a very large practice. Upon his retirement from the bench he recommended to the governor the appoint ment as h;g successor of a rising young Cincinnati lawyer, now the Secretary of War, and so it happened that William H. Taft was appointed to his first judicial position by Joseph B. Foraker upon the recommendation of Judson Harmon. Judge Harmon met with the same success in resuming the practice which he always had in his professional endeavors. His clients were numerous and his days filled with the congenial labor which is the delight of a lawyer who loves his profession. One day in June, 1895, he was astonished to find among his correspondence a letter from President Cleveland, inquiring whether he would accept the office of attorney-general. As it was the one office, other than judicial, for which he was by nature and training best