San Francisco County
Biographies
CARROLL
COOK
COOK, CARROLL,
Attorney. Ex-Judge of the Superior Court,
He comes of a family of lawyers, his
father having been one of the celebrated practitioners in New York State and
California, while the latter’s two brothers, Eli and Josiah Cook, attained
distinction as the leaders of the bar of Buffalo, New York. Following in the
footsteps of their father and uncles, Judge Cook and his brother, William Hoff
Cook, have long been among the honored members of the bar of San Francisco.
Judge Cook has been twice married, his
first wife being Lena Stow, daughter of the Hon. W. Stow of
Judge Cook received his first mental
training in the well-known private school of George Bates in
For two years he was occupied as a clerk,
and then went to
The following year he began active
practice, which he continued with encouraging success until 1884, when he was
appointed First Assistant United States Attorney for the term of four years.
This post he resigned in 1888 and resumed his private practice until 1896, in
which year he was elected Judge of the Superior Court of California. At the end
of his first term of six years he was re-elected for six years more, and on the
expiration of this second term—January 1, 1909, he again became a private in
the legal ranks, and has been fighting hard therein ever since.
Judge Cook’s official career, as well as
his practice, has been lime-lighted by cases whose dramatic and legal interest have attracted national if not worldwide,
attention. In the famous trial of Cordelia Botkin he rendered the first decision for a crime committed
in two States, a ruling which the United States Supreme Court upheld. Mrs. Botkin was tried and convicted of sending poisoned candy to
Mrs. John Dunning and her sister, of
In the case of the “Gas Pipe Thugs” one
culprit pleaded guilty, and Judge Cook sentenced him to the gallows without a
jury trial. Again the Appellate Court affirmed him. He also sentenced to death
the “criminal of the century,” Theodore Durrant, in
the notorious belfry murder trial. Durrant was
convicted in November 1895, of killing two young women, and his trial was one
of the most celebrated in the history of the country. He fought desperately,
but finally was hanged in 1898 after three years of litigation.
In the famous case of John McNulty, who
had received the death penalty from the Superior Court, and for whom the
gallows had been erected eight different times, Judge Cook acting as his
counsel, stayed the execution and finally carried the case to the Supreme Court
of the United States where he saved his client’s neck by securing him a term of
six years in the Penitentiary.
It has been often presumed that the
judicial mind is of a fiber different from that of the barrister, that the
qualities, which make for success on the bench, are opposed to those required
at the bar. To this rule, however, if it be one, the career of Carroll Cook is
a shining exception. His record as Judge and advocate has made an indelible
impression on the legal history of
Endowed with unusual analytical ability,
and being a clear thinker, Judge Cook was enabled to solve rapidly and sharply
the problems which presented themselves to him in his service as a jurist.
Since his retirement from the bench Judge
Cook’s practice has been confined largely to the defense of the accused. With
his rapidly expanding clientele, and his duties as chief counsel of the Chinese
Six Companies and other large corporations, Judge Cook has been one of the most
active attorneys in practice at the Bar of California.
He finds relaxation in the management of
his beautiful ranch of 1700 acres, in
Judge Cook is a member of the Union League
Club of San Francisco and is a prominent figure in fraternal circles, being
member of the Scottish Rite Masons, Knights Templar, Order of Eastern Star,
Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Druids.
Transcribed by Gloria (Wiegner) Lane.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 691, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.
1913.
© 2007 Gloria
Lane.