Los Angeles County
Biographies
WALTER THOMAS GUNN
GUNN, WALTER THOMAS, Attorney-at-law, Los Angeles, California, was born in La Salle County, Illinois, June 4, 1879, the son of Luther V. Gunn and Alice E. (Rogers) Gunn. He married Vina L. Dayton at Danville, Illinois, June 29, 1904, and to them there have been born two children, Horace Edson and Marjorie Gunn. He is of English descent and his paternal great uncle, the Rev. Walter Gunn, for whom he was named, was a missionary to India. He lost his life in the siege of Cawnpore during the Mutiny of 1857, when the natives rose simultaneously in various parts of the country.
Mr. Gunn, who is an attorney of wide experience, received his preliminary education in the common schools of Vermilion County, Illinois, later attended high school at Hoopeston, Illinois, and was graduated from Greer College in the class of 1898 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then entered the Law Department of Wesleyan University at Bloomington, Indiana, and was graduated in 1901. He was admitted to the Illinois Bar the same year.
Opening offices at Danville, Illinois, Mr. Gunn practiced alone for about two years, but in 1903 formed a partnership with J. W. Keeslor, State’s Attorney, of Vermilion County, Illinois, and was named by Mr. Keeslor as Assistant State’s Attorney, an office in which he served until 1908. During this time Mr. Gunn figured prominently in several notable cases, among them the trial of a band of men indicted for participation in the lynching of a negro at Danville in 1903. This act was followed by serious rioting in the city and other acts of violence, which caused the State troops to be called out. Fourteen men were tried on the charge of participation in the lynching and subsequent acts of lawlessness and all were convicted, this being the first time on record where such conviction was obtain. Mr. Gunn was one of the active attorneys for the State in this prosecution.
Another important case in which Mr. Gunn appeared as counsel for the State was that of the prosecution of Manager Davis, who was charged with manslaughter growing out of the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago, in which more than six hundred persons lost their lives.
In 1906 Mr. Gunn was appointed Master in Chancery of the United States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Illinois, and held this office until he left the State in the latter part of 1911 to transfer his home to Southern California.
During the ten years of his residence in Danville, Mr. Gunn was active in political affairs as a member of the Republican party, and served one term as Alderman. In the capacity of Master in Chancery he heard many of the cases involving oil rights, following the discovery of oil in Illinois, and also acted as Special Master in fixing the valuation of street car properties in the controversy between the City of Belleville, Illinois, and the East St. Louis Suburban Railway Company.
Although he was active in public affairs during this entire period, Mr. Gunn also maintained his private practice, devoting most of his time to the handling of oil and corporation matters. He figured in numerous cases of this character, and was generally regarded as an authority on the laws regarding them.
Mr. Gunn, between the years 1903 and 1906, was a member of the National Guard of Illinois, but resigned at the end of three years’ service.
Since locating in Los Angeles, in October, 1911, Mr. Gunn has met with gratifying success in his professional work, and has established himself among the strong members of the Bar of Southern California. His splendid professional record gave him ready welcome to a position among the progressive members of the Bar and in his work he is associated with some of its most successful exponents. He maintains a general legal practice, but specializes in oil and mining law.
In addition to his legal practice, Mr. Gunn also is interested in various commercial enterprises, among them the American Glass Sand Company, of which he is a Director. Endowed with an unusual amount of energy, Mr. Gunn takes an active part in the various concerns in which he is interested and which he serves as legal counsel. Although comparatively new in Los Angeles, he takes a keen interest in various movements for its advancement.
Mr. Gunn is a member of the Sierra Madre Club of Los Angeles, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Masons, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America and the Court of Honor.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 561,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2010 Joyce
Rugeroni.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES
BIOGRAPIES