Los Angeles County
Biographies
LE COMPTE DAVIS
DAVIS, LE COMPTE, Lawyer, Los Angeles, California, was born in Mercer County, Kentucky, May 1, 1864, the son of Henry Clay Davis and Josephine (Le Compte) Davis. He married Edythe Gilman at Ventura, California, April 18, 1908.
He was educated in the common schools of his native state and finished with a course in law at Centre College, Danville, Ky., from which he was graduated in 1887, with the degree L. B. He was admitted to the bar in Kentucky that year, but did not practice there. Instead, he went immediately to Los Angeles and began practice.
During the twenty-three years in which he has been a member of the bar, Mr. David has made a reputation as a criminal lawyer and eloquent pleader. He served one term of two years as Assistant District Attorney of Los Angeles County, under H. C. Dillon, and upon retiring in 1895, established a partnership with Judson R. Rush, as David & Rush.
Davis and Rush have appeared in sixty murder trials, successfully defending the majority of their clients. Mr. Davis was associated in the defense of the celebrated “McNamara dynamiting cases,” following which he was associated in the defense of Clarence Darrow, the noted attorney, accused of bribery as an outgrowth of these cases. In 1908 he defended Dr. Hedderly, Warren Gillellen and R. C. Kenny, accused in the Oregon land fraud cases, securing acquittals in two instances. He was also a successful pleader for the defendants in the Imperial Valley land fraud cases in 1909.
Mr. Davis leads a scholar’s life, reading liberally of philosophy, history, science and biography. His private library contains more than 3500 volumes and his collection of old engravings, antique books and paintings is one of rare value. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 563,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2010 Joyce
Rugeroni.
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