NJ CORRUPTION ATTORNEY GENERAL GOVERNOR FORT PRESIDENT WILSON LETTER SIGNED 1902

Description

HON. EDMUND WILSON
(1863 – 1923)
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, APPOINTED BY GOVERNOR JOHN FRANKLIN FORT, and CONTINUING TO SERVE UNDER GOVERNOR (FUTURE PRESIDENT) WOODROW WILSON 1908-1914,
SPECIAL ASSISTANT IN THE UNITED STATES
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
IN 1903, APPOINTED BY
US ATTORNEY GENERAL
WILLIAM HENRY MOODY
TO PROSECUTE CASES AGAINST NEW JERSEY BANK OFFICIALS IN VIOLATION OF THE
NATIONAL BANKING ACT
,
MEMBER OF THE STATE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED BY GOVERNOR
EDWARD C. STOKES 1907-1908
&
MEMBER OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
During Edmund Wilson's term as NJ Attorney General, dozens of influential members of the
Atlantic County
Republican machine were
prosecuted for corruption
, including longtime
Atlantic City
boss
Louis Kuehnle
, (who was also a
pioneer in the growing resort town of
Atlantic City, New Jersey
, in the late 1880s and the early 1900s).
The indictments were made using a little-known law allowing for "elisors" on grand juries to be drawn from outside the local district, thus avoiding the influence of the Atlantic County sheriff, suspected of hand-selecting grand jury lists.
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HERE’S A LETTER SIGNED BY
“Edmund Wilson, Atty of Plaintiff”
CONFIRMING RECEIPT OF COPIES OF THE PRINTED CASE IN THE MATTER OF
“N.J. Supreme Court, Bloomfield D. Wolcott, Admr. etc. of Paul Wolcott, decd., Plaintiff
vs.
The N. Y. & L. B. R. R. Co., Defendant
Likely a case involving a New York & Long Branch Railroad Company accident that caused the death of Paul Wolcott.
A hand-written note on the face of the letter reads: “
In Tort – On Rule to Show Cause
.”
The letter is written on John S. Applegate & Son, law firm letterhead…
JOHN STILLWELL APPLEGATE
(1837-1916)
INFLUENTIAL 1880s NJ STATE SENATOR, 1
st
MAYOR OF RED BANK, NJ, PROMINENT LAWYER, CIVIL WAR RECRUITER and AUTHOR, and GENEALOGIST.
NOTE:
This letter came out of the John S. Applegate Red Bank, NJ Estate.
John Applegate was a prominent State Senator and notable 19th century lawyer who did much legal work in connection with the Railroads and telegraph Companies.
He worked with Civil War notables including General T. T. Eckert in railroad/telegraph company litigation.
He also wrote a rare book about his close friend Colonel Arrowsmith who was killed in action at Gettysburg in 1893 Titled:
“
REMINISCENCES AND LETTERS OF GEORGE ARROWSMITH OF NEW JERSEY, LATE LIEUTENANT-COLONEL OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT, NEW YORK STATE VOLUNTEERS”
A FINE PIECE OF NEW JERSEY POLITICAL HISTORY
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BIOGRAPHY OF THE HONORABLE EDMUND WILSON
Edmund Wilson Sr.
(December 15, 1863 – May 15, 1923) was an
American
lawyer who served as the
Attorney General of New Jersey
from 1908 until 1914. He was the father of literary critic
Edmund Wilson
.
Early life and education
Wilson was born in
Shrewsbury, New Jersey
in 1863 to Thaddeus and Charlotte Ann Wilson. He attended
Phillips Exeter Academy
and entered
Princeton University
in 1881. At Princeton he edited the student newspaper with his brother John. In his senior year, he led a rebellion against the faculty and was "rusticated" from the university, made to live in
Kingston, New Jersey
. He graduated in 1885 and studied law at
Columbia Law School
. After attaining his law degree he went into practice in
Red Bank, New Jersey
in the office of Henry M. Nevius. He entered into partnership with Nevius in 1898.
Career
In 1903 Wilson was retained by the
United States Attorney General
William Henry Moody
as special assistant in
Justice Department
cases against New Jersey bank officials in violation of the
National Banking Act
. He served on the State Board of Education, and in June 1907 was appointed to the State Board of Railroad Commissioners.
He resigned from the Railroad Commission when he was appointed
Attorney General of New Jersey
on November 17, 1908 by Republican Governor
John Franklin Fort
after the resignation of
Robert H. McCarter
. He was appointed for a full term in 1909 and continued to serve under Fort's Democratic successor,
Woodrow Wilson
(no relation to Edmund).
During Wilson's term as Attorney General, dozens of influential members of the
Atlantic County
Republican machine were prosecuted for corruption, including longtime
Atlantic City
boss
Louis Kuehnle
. The indictments were made using a little-known law allowing for "elisors" on grand juries to be drawn from outside the local district, thus avoiding the influence of the Atlantic County sheriff, suspected of hand-selecting grand jury lists.
Wilson married Helen Mather Kimball (April 20, 1865 – February 1951) in 1892. Their only child,
Edmund Wilson Jr.
(born May 8, 1895 in
Red Bank
), was a noted writer and literary critic. According to biographer Lewis M. Dabney, Edmund Jr. was influenced by his father's broad-minded social and political outlook. Dabney writes that Edward Sr., though a lifelong Republican, was "part of a genteel liberal tradition that was disappearing by the time his son was coming of age. He had a wide variety of friends unusual for an upper-middle-class WASP of his time, including blacks and Jews; on occasion he would even bring a Socialist friend home to dinner." Among Edward Sr.'s close friends was
Sigmund Eisner
(great-grandfather of
Walt Disney
CEO
Michael Eisner
), with whom he worked to improve the Red Bank school system.
In the spring of 1923, Wilson developed pneumonia in
Talcottville, New York
at an unheated stone house long owned by the Kimballs, his wife Helen's family. He died upon his return to Red Bank.
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OBITUARY
Hon. Edmund Wilson,
former Attorney General of this State, and the leading member of the Bar at Red Bank, New Jersey, died at his home in that place on May 15, 1923 from pneumonia after an illness of two weeks.
Edmund Wilson was born in Shrewsbury on December 15, 1863. His father was the late Reverend Dr. Thaddeus Wilson pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury for forty five years.
Edmund attended Phillips Exeter Academy, was graduated from Princeton University in 1885, and studied law at Columbia University. He was a student in the office of the late Judge Henry M. Nevius in Red Bank, N.J., was admitted to the Bar at the June Term 1888, and became a counselor at the November Term 1891.
He was a law partner of Judge Nevius until 1896 when the latter became Circuit Court Judge. Wilson continued to practice alone and was active in civil and criminal courts as trial lawyer.
In 1901 he was a member of the State Board of Arbitration.
In 1903 he was appointed by Attorney General Moody of the United States as a special assistant to the United States District Attorney to aid in prosecuting bank officials for violations of the National Banking Act.
He became a member of the Board of Railroad Commissioners in 1907 and the following year resigned to become
Attorney General
through appointment by the late Governor John Franklin Fort.
He succeeded Robert H. McCarter who had resigned. He was reappointed for a full term the year following.
Wilson was a member of the law firm of “Wilson & Smock.” He also had been a member of the law firm of “Vredenburg, Bedle, Wall & Wilson” of Jersey City.
For a number of years he served on the State Board of Education, and was also for a time a member of the Red Bank Board of Education.
He was a member of the State Bar Association, the Monmouth County Bar Association, and a Governor of Monmouth Memorial Hospital Long Branch.
Too much cannot be said of Edmund Wilson's active professional life. His character was above reproach, he was a diligent worker, and he achieved real success as a lawyer, and a man.
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