Sacramento County
Biographies
JOHN KING ALEXANDER
JOHN KING ALEXANDER
is one of those who, while not now residents of Sacramento, still have figured
prominently as members of the bar in the past. He is a brother of D. E.
Alexander, and was born at Brandon, Missouri, October 10, 1839. He was educated
at Sacramento and is a graduate of the High School. He read law with George R.
Moore, and a year after his admission to practice in the Supreme Court, he
formed a partnership with that gentleman, which continued until the latter’s
death in 1868. Some years later he became associated with John W. Armstrong
(now Superior Judge), and afterward with Add C. Hinkson. This partnership
continued for three years, when it was dissolved, and Messrs. Alexander and A. C.
Freeman were then associated until 1875, when Mr. Alexander left Sacramento.
While here he held the office of district attorney one term. He removed to
Salinas City, where, although a prominent Democrat, he, in 1879, at the first
convention of the Republican party, after the creation
of the office of Superior Judge, received the nomination of the party for that
high position, and was subsequently indorsed by the Democratic convention and
elected. He was again chosen at the next election, this time on the straight
Democratic ticket. His term expires in 1890. Judge Alexander’s reputation as an
able jurist is among the best, and as an evidence of that fact we quote from a
decision of the Supreme Court of this State in the case of People vs. James, which was tried before him in
the lower court, reported in the 137th California Reports, page 130,
as follows: “The last point involves the correctness of the charge of the
court, and the instructions to the jury: We have examined that part of the
transcript with great care, and are obliged to say, in justice to the learned
Judge who presided at the trial, that the charge to the jury is a very clear
and able statement of the law of homicide. It is a
long charge, completely covering all the points of the case, and is in our
opinion entirely correct.”
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 11/29/07.
Source: Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated
History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 799-800.
Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Vicky Walker.