John Marshall (Kansas judge)

Marshall was born April 11, 1858, in Logansport, Indiana, the son of Humphrey Marshall and Margaret Marshall (nee Rice).[2][3] The family then moved to Kansas in 1870, the state John would spend the rest of his life in.[4] He started his education in the Independence school district, while living in Grenola the place where his mother died while he was young and her grave is located.[5] His father then moved back to Indiana but John stayed and lived with neighbors.[5] He acquired much of his education being self-taught, before going on to spend two years at Kansas State University where he graduated with high honors even though he suffered a severe measles attack during his education.[4][6][5] He qualified as a teacher holding a first grade teacher's certificate.[4]

After University he returned to Elk county and married Addie Jenks of Mound Branch in 1882.[5][3]

He served as a member of the school board of Howard, Kansas, for several years.[7] He was profoundly religious and it was said that he feared God and no one else.[8] Starting December 1915 he gave a series of addresses to the Second Presbyterian Church, in North Topeka, starting with "Am I a Jonah?"[9]

In 1882 he was admitted to the bar in Elk County, with his first official position as mayor of Howard the city where he lived.[7] He was then the Howard city attorney for several years, and then the Elk County Attorney from 1895 until 1899.[7] He later went on to become the Winfield city attorney and later an attorney for the Kansas State Temperance Union.[7] He also worked as the state assistant attorney general under Fred S. Jackson, and as attorney for the railroad commission and public utilities commission from 1911 to 1913.[7][10] He was a Republican throughout his career.[4]

He was known for being an outstanding figure in the enforcement of the Kansas prohibition laws.[2] Three decades before his death he had been a attorney for the Anti-Saloon League and the creator of the "padlock plan" for controlling blind pigs.[11] He also represented the Temperance Society of the Methodist Church in Colorado, and was part of the development of prohibition in Kansas.[12]

In January 1914 he announced that he would run for the Kansas Supreme Court with a desire to move from being John Marshall of Elk county to John Marshall of Kansas, he was living in Topeka at the time.[10] Although popular with many in September 1914 Mrs Myra McHenry made it "Her Hobby Now" to go after Marshall's "political scalp" not believing he was fit for the position.[13] Mrs McHenry had known him for thirty years and circulated pamphlets criticizing him.[13] She claimed that while he was the prosecuting attorney for Cowley County, Kansas, prisoners lounged in a carpeted lobby in the jail.[13] She also claimed she was held under guard at her home charged with insanity, then escaped and on securing legal help the charges were dropped.[13]

He was elected to the court along with John Shaw Dawson to replace Alfred Washburn Benson and Clark Allen Smith, with Henry Freeman Mason retaining his seat.[14][15]

He also lectured at the Washburn Law School from around 1915 teaching Real Property.[7]

Marshall died while serving his 17th year on the supreme court and Edward Ray Sloan was appointed to complete his unexpired term by Governor Harry Hines Woodring.[16]

He died March 25, 1931, at his home in Topeka, Kansas, aged 72, he had been suffering a prolonged illness.[2] He had had a severe cold that has prevented him from his service to the court for several weeks, returning for the January inaugural ceremonies.[2] Later that month he was again confined to his home with heart issues.[2] On the night of his death after sitting in a chair for an hour he complained of feeling tired and returned to bed, dying not long after.[2] He was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.[2]

• "Members of the Kansas Supreme Court - Kansas Memory - Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
• "Temperance history correspondence - Kansas Memory - Kansas Historical Society". www.kshs.org. Retrieved October 4, 2020.