A Change of Justices

John Killigrew was elected justice of the peace in 1913 or 1914. He was only about 21 years old, but thenceforward the newspapers made him sound much older as they referred to him by the distinguished title of "Judge Killigrew." With the retirement of John Mathews, Judge Killigrew became Hobart's only J.P. His prominence in the community increased when the war began and the federal government organized an army of public-relations volunteers known as the "Four Minute Men": John was one of them.

But he evidently had other fish to fry, even early on in his term. What sort of fish they were, I don't know, but they called him away from Hobart so often that legal matters he should have been deciding were instead farmed out to J.P.s in other towns. The problem became so acute that Hobart had to have a second J.P. appointed in August 1917 — attorney John W. Thiel.

In the summer of 1918, Hobart found itself without a justice of the peace — since Indiana J.P.s served four-year terms,* Judge Killigrew's term probably had finished and he chose not to run for re-election. As for Judge Thiel, his absence from the office went unexplained. Perhaps he had found it not to his liking.

After several months, the Lake County board of commissioners remedied Hobart's deficiency by appointing Paul R. Emery as its new J.P.

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A week later, the Gazette mentioned that "John Killigrew who underwent an operation at the Mercy hospital in Gary a couple of weeks ago is doing nicely and will be able to return home shortly." It neglected to mention whether that was John Sr. or John Jr.

[Update: A reader points out that John Killigrew, Sr., died in 1910, so it must have been John Jr. who underwent the operation.]

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*At any rate, such was Indiana law in 1886, and I've not been able to find evidence that it had changed since then.


Sources:
♦ "Attorney Thiel Has Been Appointed Justice of the Peace." Hobart News 30 Aug. 1917.
♦ "Hobart Again Has a Justice of the Peace." Hobart News 8 Aug. 1918.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 16 Aug. 1918.
♦ Murfree, William L. The Justice of the Peace. St. Louis: The F.H. Thomas Law Book Company, 1886. (http://openlibrary.org/books/OL23529485M/The_Justice_of_the_Peace)