Mitchell Hamline School of Law

Mitchell Hamline History Center

biography

William Scott Posten (WMCL 1959)

Posted: March 15, 2022
William Scott Posten
A Judge Who Listened to the Victim Hennepin County District Judge William Posten faced a dilemma in a rape case.  A 65-year-old woman had been through an unimaginable ordeal:  a 25-year-old drunken man had broken into her home through the kitchen window.  When she woke up and went to investigate, he dragged her from the …

William Scott Posten (WMCL 1959)

William H. DeParcq (SPCL 1930)

Posted: November 22, 2021
William H. DeParcq
William DeParcq said he “had not put too much strain on his brain” during his grade and high school years.  However, the trajectory of his life changed dramatically when he was 18 years old, and an automobile accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.  Throughout his life, he managed the difficulties resulting from his …

William H. DeParcq (SPCL 1930)

William T. Francis (SPCL 1904)

Posted: November 16, 2021
William T. Francis
Standing up to Terror When William Francis and his wife Nellie found a cross burning on their property yet again, they faced the dilemma of many African Americans who have suffered through this terror from Reconstruction days on.  Even today in Minnesota, African Americans are not free from the scourge of cross-burning, as evidenced in …

William T. Francis (SPCL 1904)

Warren E. Burger (SPCL 1931)

Posted: October 22, 2021
Chief Justice of the United States Warren Burger rose from Midwestern roots to become one of the longest serving Chief Justices in the Court’s history. In American history, only John Marshall, Roger Brooke Taney, and Melville Fuller had longer tenures as Chief Justices when Chief Justice Burger retired. Warren Burger’s Early Years Warren E. Burger …

Warren E. Burger (SPCL 1931)

Stephen L. Maxwell (SPCL 1953)

Posted: October 22, 2021
Carrying on a Legacy of Firsts He remembered hard times during the Depression, but he didn’t ever go hungry. Perhaps because his stepfather was a government meat inspector, he could make snacks for himself from the beef tenderloin in the refrigerator. He yearned for, and got, a bicycle, though a used one, when many had …

Stephen L. Maxwell (SPCL 1953)

Senator Thomas D. Schall (SPCL 1904)

Posted: October 22, 2021
Thomas Schall, his guide dog, and an unidentified woman
Thomas David Schall was a United States Representative and Senator, perhaps best known as the first blind member of the House of Representatives, and the first blind Senator from Minnesota.  He served as a Representative from Minnesota’s 10th District from 1915-1925. He ran as a Progressive from 1915-1919, returning to the Republican Party thereafter.  He then …

Senator Thomas D. Schall (SPCL 1904)

Gustav Aaron Youngquist (SPCL 1909)

Posted: October 22, 2021
Taking down a Gangster Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Aaron Youngquist was responsible for supervising the biggest case of his career. Alphonse (Al) Capone had taken over the Chicago mob empire of Johnny “the Fox” Torrio, who would be named by IRS Enforcement Branch chief Elmer Irey “the father of American gangsterism.” He had expanded the …

Gustav Aaron Youngquist (SPCL 1909)

Elmer Smith (SPCL 1913)

Posted: October 22, 2021
By Catherine HinchliffPosted on HistoryLink.orgon 5/15/2009HistoryLink.org Essay 9011 Elmer Stuart Smith was a central figure in the Centralia Massacre that occurred on November 11, 1919. Smith had advised a group of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) members that they had a right to defend their hall against a planned raid. The following week, the …

Elmer Smith (SPCL 1913)

Elmer Benson (SPCL 1918)

Posted: October 22, 2021
The Farmer-Labor battle over who would succeed the larger-than-life Floyd B. Olson (NwCL ‘15) as governor of Minnesota was contentious. As governor, Olson had worked his way through several major labor battles, from a trucker’s strike in 1934 to a demonstration by farmers who brought their starving cattle to the Capitol lawn to demand feed …

Elmer Benson (SPCL 1918)

John B. Sanborn, Jr. (SPCL 1907)

Posted: October 11, 2021
Judge John Sanborn
The Dilemma of an Unwise Law Judge John B. Sanborn, Jr. was in the uncomfortable position in which judges often find themselves, between loyalty to the black letter law and their own best judgment. The state of Minnesota was in the thick of the law enforcement effort known as Prohibition. The 18th Amendment, prohibiting the …

John B. Sanborn, Jr. (SPCL 1907)