Francis J. Heney

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Francis J. Heney (1912)

Francis Joseph Heney (born March 17, 1859 in Lima , New York , † October 31, 1937 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American lawyer and politician .

Career

Francis Joseph Heney, son of Juliana Schreiber (1823–1900) and Richard Heney senior (1822–1893), was born in 1859 in Livingston County . His mother immigrated to the United States from the Kingdom of Prussia and his father from Ireland, which was then still part of the United Kingdom . He had at least five siblings: Richard junior (1847-1919), Helena (1848-1934), Julia (1851-1913), Elizabeth S. (1856-1944) and Benjamin "Ben" (1861-1956). During the Civil War , the family moved to San Francisco, California in 1863 . In his youth he worked in his father's furniture store. Heney studied law . He attended Hastings College of Law , but was expelled from there in his freshman year of college because of a brawl with a fellow student. It is not known where he continued his studies. But he received his license to practice law in California in 1883. He then followed his younger brother Ben to the Arizona Territory and settled there in Tucson . In the following years he worked as a lawyer. In 1891 he represented the abused wife of Dr. John Christopher Handy in their divorce process. In the course of the trial, her husband threatened to kill Heney. When he finally attacked Heney, he shot him. A judicial investigation found that Heney had acted in self-defense. Heney then served as a district attorney in the Arizona Territory for two years.

From 1893 to 1895 he was Attorney General in the Arizona Territory.

Heney returned to San Francisco in 1895, where he led a successful legal practice. US Attorney General Philander C. Knox appointed him special investigator in the Stephen Puter case, the first of the Oregon Land Fraud Trials , in 1903 . Puter and his accomplices were suspected of defrauding the US government by fraudulently acquiring forests from the common property. After the conviction of turkey in December 1904 Heney and Special Agent could the Secret Service , William John Burns , persuade him, before the jury to testify against several corrupt officials, including US Senator for Oregon , John H. Mitchell , and Congressman for Oregon, Binger Hermann . Were indicted on December 31, 1904, the same day as Mitchell and Hermann, dismissed President Theodore Roosevelt the United States Attorney for the District of Oregon , John Hicklin Hall , and appointed Heney his successor.

While in Portland, Oregon, he became a close friend of US Jury Commissioner CJ Reed. At Heney's request, President Roosevelt appointed Reed the new US Marshal to replace Walter “Jack” Metthews, who was involved in the fraud scandal. The collaboration between Reed and Heney met with contempt from the city's elite, which his son, reporter John Reed, did not go unnoticed.

Heney gained national attention in July 1905 for his successful prosecution of U.S. Senator Mitchell and, after the 1906 earthquake, for his prosecution of San Francisco Mayor Eugene Schmitz and politician Abe Ruef . Schmitz and Ruef were accused of accepting bribes for awarding city contracts. During the spectacular trial of Ruef on November 13, 1908, a disgruntled former juror, Morris Haas, shot Heney in public session. Later on, Ruef and Schmitz were both convicted. After recovering from his injury, Heney resumed his work in the Oregon Land Fraud Trials . In this context he prosecuted John Hall in 1908 and Binger Hermann in 1910. Hermann was acquitted and Hall was later pardoned by President William Howard Taft . In 1908, Heney also acted against US Senator Charles William Fulton , the only member of Oregon's congressional delegation who was not charged in 1905. Partly because of Heney's allegations that Fulton was involved in the fraud scandal, Heney lost re-election in 1908.

In 1914 he ran unsuccessfully for a US Senate seat in California. He competed for the Progressive Party . He lost the election to Democrat James Phelan - a defeat some attributed to personal enmity with Governor Hiram Johnson .

Heney was appointed a judge on the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1931 .

family

Heney was married twice. In September 1906 he married Rebecca Wentworh McMullin (1860-1911), daughter of Eliza Fleming Morgan and Captain John McMullin. After her death, he married Edna I. Van Winkle (1876–1955) on February 13, 1915. Both marriages remained childless.

Web links

Commons : Francis J. Heney  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Juliana Schreiber Heney in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b Death of Mrs. J. Heney , The San Francisco Call, January 23, 1900, p. 7
  3. ^ Richard Heney Sr. in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  4. ^ Richard Heney in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  5. ^ Helena Heney in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  6. ^ John Haynes in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  7. ↑ Elizabeth S. Heney in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  8. ^ Benjamin Heney in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  9. ^ Opinions of the Attorney General , State of Arizona, Department of Law, 1956
  10. ^ Opinions and Report of the Attorney General , Department of Law, 1971
  11. ^ Journals of the seventeenth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Arizona , Volume 17, 1893, p. 11
  12. ↑ Stephen Puter on The Oregon Encyclopedia website
  13. ^ Oregon Land Fraud Trials (1904-1910) , The Oregon Encyclopedia
  14. ↑ Rebecca Wentworh McMullin Heney in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  15. ^ Edna Heney in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 19, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Heney, Francis J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heney, Francis Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Lima , New York
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1937
Place of death Santa Monica , California