Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/484

 The Late Judge Gaskill of Massachusetts THE death of Judge Francis Almon Gaskill of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, at the age of sixty-three, is mourned not only in Worcester county, which takes pride in having given him birth, but throughout the old Commonwealth. In Boston the most prominent members of the bench and bar, as well as the executive heads at the State House, noted Judge Gaskill's death with much sorrow, praising his marked attain ments as a jurist and his rare ability in charging a jury. He died of heart trouble at York Cliffs, Maine, where he had gone to pass the summer recess, on July 16, only a few hours after writing a long letter to his son in which he had declared himself to be in the best of health. He was born January 3, 1846, in that part of Mendon, Mass., now known as Blackstone, the son of Albert Gaskill and Anna Smith Comstock. Attending school in Mendon, and completing a course at Woonsocket (R. I.) High School, he entered Brown University, from which institution he was graduated in 1866, at the age of twenty. For a year he served as private tutor in the family of Clement B. Barclay, in Newport, and then entered Harvard Law School, remaining there a year and a half, when he went to Worcester and continued the study of law in the office of Hon. George F. Verry. After his admission to the bar, March 3, 1869, an association was formed for the prac tice of law, under the style of Verry & Gaskill, which continued under favorable auspices until the death of Mr. Verry in 1883. He then became associated with a stepson, Col. Horace B. Verry, and for ten years this firm continued. He specialized in corporation law, and during this time was District Attorney for the middle district of Massachusetts, hold ing that office from 1887 to 1895, when he was appointed by Gov. Greenhalge Associate Justice of the Superior Court. Judge Gaskill served the city of Worcester as a member of the common council in 18751876, and as a director of the free public library for six years and as president of the board in 1888. His fondness for books, of which he pos sessed a rare assortment, brought him into a circle of various literary and social clubs.

He was vice-president and a director of the People's Savings Bank, and director of the State Mutual Life Assurance Co. In 1899 Brown University gave him the degree of LL.D., and later paid him the honor of placing him upon its board of fellows. He was a member of its board of trustees from 1888 to 1904. He became a director of the Worcester Natural History Society in 1882. In 1893 he was a candidate for the Re publican nomination for Attorney-General, but it became apparent that the nomination for State Treasurer was likely to come to western Massachusetts and he withdrew from the canvass. Judge Gaskill was first married in Provi dence, October 20, 1869, to Katherine M.Whittaker. She died January 25, 1889, leaving two children, Mary M., .and George A. Gaskill. Judge Gaskill afterward married Josephine L. Abbott of Providence, July 12, 1892. No children were born of this marriage. At a meeting of the Worcester County Bar Association called to take appropriate action after his death, Hon. Herbert Parker, former Attorney-General of Massachusetts, seconded the motion that the Association attend the funeral in a body, in the following words:— "Not here or yet may we speak words of adequate tribute of the great judge and lawyer, of a generous and noble-hearted friend. I dare not trust heart or tongue to speak further now. "So great and generous was his heart, that none of us may say we were first chosen in his heart. None of us owed so much to him as I. I am here to give evidence of the sentiments of love, and second the motion of Col. John son." President W. H. P. Faunce of Brown Uni versity, in his eulogy delivered at the funeral services in Worcester, said:— "The first impression our departed colleague made upon us was that of buoyant over flowing vitality. The farmer's boy had in earliest years laid in a stock of sturdy strength, of restless energy. And that overflowing strength was at the service of all who needed it. He delighted to put his strong shoulders under other men's burdens. "Judge Gaskill was never so happy as when helping young men. He trusted men into