Judge James D. Fox Dies in St. Louis

Had Served on the Supreme Bench in Missouri Since 1903

Was Born in State

Considered as Possible Candidate for Governor at Next Election

Judge James D. Fox of the supreme court of Missouri died suddenly last night in St. Louis.   News of the death reached Columbia this morning in a telegram received by Dean E. W. Hinton of the University School of Law from David Harris of Jefferson City.

Judge Fox was considered as a possible candidate by the Democrats for governor at the next election.  His name had been talked of for that position in many parts of the state.

Judge Fox was born at Fredericktown. Missouri, January 22, 1847.

He was educated in the Fredericktown public schools and attended St. Louis University in 1864-5.

Before he was 20 years old. he was admitted to the bar in Fredericktown.

In the first case that he tried, which was before a Justice of the Peace, his father. David M. Fox, was the opposing counsel, and in the first case that he tried in the circuit court his father was again his opponent.

In 1870 he was married to Miss Laura Frazer.

He was a member of the Catholic Church.

In 1880 Judge Fox was elected on the Democrat ticket as circuit judge of the twenty-seventh judicial circuit he was re-elected three times and was still serving when he was nominated and elected associate justice of the supreme court of Missouri In 1903.

He was presiding judge of the second division of the Supreme Court in 1908.

University Missourian – Columbia, Missouri, Friday, October 7, 1910

Chief-Justice Of  Missouri Dies In A Hospital

St. Louis, Oct. 8.—Judge James D. Fox, Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, died suddenly at a hospital here Thursday night.

Olympia Daily Recorder - October 10, 1910

Judge James D. Fox

 Missouri Judge Dies

Heart Disease Claims Chief Justice James D. Fox of State Supreme Court.

Special to the news

St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 6.—Chief Justice James D. Fox of the Missouri Supreme Court died of heart disease at the Josephine Hospital here tonight a short time after he entered the Institution.

Judge Fox came to St. Louis yesterday from Jefferson City and complained of  a severe headache. He went to the hospital to consult with one of the physicians who was a friend. The doctor advised him to go to bed. A few minutes later a nurse hurriedly summoned the doctor, saying- Judge Fox was dying.

The Judge began his career of the Supreme bench in1892. Last spring he became Chief Justice.

Dallas Morning News Historical Archive - October 7, 1910

Judge James D. Fox, Chief Justic of the Missouri Supreme Court, died suddenly in St. Louis

on October 6th.

He was born in Fredericktown, Madison County, Missouri, January 23, 1847.

He was educated at St. Louis University and admitted to the bar in 1866.

He was elected judge of the circuit court inthe twentieth judicial circuit, now the twenty-seventh, in 1890; was re-elected in 1886, in 1892, again in 1898.  In 1902 he was elected to the supreme bench.

Judge Fox says the St. Louis Republic, was a lawyer of the old school.  He was of the  rugged type in personality and mannerisms, and his determination and strength of character, tempered by certainvery human qualities, wereof the sort that commands admiration.  The unusual expressions of regret that follow his death show that the capacity for forming strong friendships commonly possessed by menof this type was his.

Those who came in intimate contact with Judge Fox wer left in no doublt as ot his natural aptitude for the legal profession.  He ame of the legal family and his long service on the bench had made him deeeply read in the law.

A man of native shrewdness and mature equipment for a judicial service is lost to the state in his death.

Case and Comment, The Lawyer's Magazine - Volume 17 - June 1910 to May 1911

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