About "Judge" Rutherford
Just as the Watchtower version of their history (Jehovah's
Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom) states, J. F. Rutherford was
born November 8, 1869. It further notes that he entered college when
sixteen although not saying which college (there were several in the area), says
he was under the tutelage of a Judge E.L. Edwards whom Missouri handbooks
indicate had been a state supreme court justice. Consulting the history
and other works shows that in 1889 when twenty years old he was made an official
court reporter, and he obtained a license to practice law on May 5, 1892.
His parents, according to the Catholic priest Rev Richard Felix who lived in the
same Missouri county and wrote Rutherford Uncovered (Our Faith Press, Pilot Grove,
MO) were "honest, hardworked, respected" people. They were James
Calvin Rutherford and Lenora Strickland Rutherford who lived nearly fifty years
on a small farm 3 ½ miles north of Versailles. They were active in a
church less than a mile from the farm called the Freedom Baptist Church.
The father died July 11, 1912. Rutherford's mother died October 9, 1926.
There is no indication whether either parent left the Baptists and in fact both
were buried in a small cemetery near their church. His mother was a
pensioned blind invalid the last three years of her life and Rutherford preached
at her funeral.
Rutherford had seven siblings. His oldest brother was W.P. Rutherford who
died in the West, possibly California, a few years before Felix's book was
printed in 1937. Sisters who were deceased at that time were Mrs Flora
Chism, Mrs Lena McDaniels and Mrs Anna Neville. Mrs Ella Newkirk of Tipton
and Mrs Virginia Ross of Versailles were then alive as was a younger brother,
James B. Rutherford who then lived in Kansas City. The Proclaimers
history mentions that Rutherford's wife Mary died on or about December 17, 1962
in California where Rutherford sometimes wintered at the Beth Sarim mansion.
A surviving son was Malcolm who it appears may still be alive though not on the
West Coast. Mary was a practicing JW but no indication is given that
Malcolm was.
As said, Rutherford was sometimes an official Court Stenographer at Versailles
(see Circuit Court Book 12, page 416) as well as in Boonville. (Book 19, page
181) The Cooper County Court record Book 19 on page 84 says he was
familiar enough with legal forms and procedures that he was admitted to the
Boonville bar on May 5, 1892 although not registered at any Law School
accredited in Missouri. In the state when a Presiding Judge was absent the
bar picked a local attorney to fill in as a substitute judge. This occurred
fours times in his own case. Each time it was for only a day. Twice
there were no trials that he presided over and on the other two occasions he
presided over only minor trials. Therefore his sometimes being called
"Judge" Rutherford is rather misleading.
Rutherford was cited for contempt of court on at least three occasions.
Proof of this is found in Morgan County Book 13, page 251 for August 8, 1894 and
Cooper County Book 2, page 376 on May 15,1895. His worst known
impropriety in law during the Missouri years was recorded in Permanent File
#5113 of the Cooper County Circuit Court dated February 4, 1896 and involved a
case heard by Judge Dorsey W. Shackleford. Rutherford was representing the
National Cash Register Company against David Nicholson of Boonville.
After Nicholson had levied a writ of attachment on a cash register machine that
had been used at the saloon of Charley Merstetter, a deputy constable named
Wright went to seize the machine but Rutherford met him at the saloon, held
papers before Wright and told him that if Wright would go to see William Muir
Williams the attorney representing Nicholson and who later became a state
supreme court judge, then Williams would confirm that Rutherford held possession
of the machine. Wright left the machine to speak with attorney Williams
and upon returning found that machine gone. Rutherford then lied that the
machine had been sent on to Sedalia, Missouri, for deputy Wright found it
"concealed" in a second office of Rutherford beneath some papers.
The court ruled against the National Cash Register Company which had the case
appealed but it lost on appeal too as is shown by examination of Missouri Appeal
Reports Volume 68, page 441 c.p.447. And of course, the Watchtower
history, Proclaimers, never even hints at this early scandal.
Another point deserving further inquiry is whether or not Rutherford was a
prosecuting attorney in the strict sense of the title. Missouri state
handbooks are also called "the Blue Books" and when those are examined
for the years 1893 through 1902 they show that the Cooper County prosecuting
attorneys were Ernest R Hayden, C.D. Corum and Ernest Chambers. This not
entirely rules out his having substituted in such a function and acting in a
prosecutorial or pugnacious manner; hence the issue is still unclear and for
other researchers to resolve. During Rutherford's years in Missouri
as well as today in 1999, if one is a county's prosecuting attorney then this
means he has been elected as such for a two year term. Cooper County's
elected officials during the Rutherford years were most all Democrats.
Another interesting issue is that the Proclaimers book notes that
Rutherford was first contacted in 1894 when he was twenty-four by two traveling
peddlers of for the Watchtower Society who were then called colporteurs.
He bought some of their books and wrote an appreciative letter to the Society
and yet he was not baptized a JW until twelve years later in 1906 at age 36.
Then a mere one year later he went off to the Society's headquarters in
Brooklyn, New York, to serve as legal counselor. Proclaimers notes
that he was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court bar in May 1909. After the
death of the Society's founding President Charles Taze Russell on October 31,
1916, a Halloween, Rutherford became the next President, wrestled power from
opposing board members, deleted all democratically-elected elders.
Membership plunged until he compelled those who remained to recruit extensively
from door-to-door. His death occurred January 8, 1942 in San Diego.
One work in particular stands out from his early years in Missouri, and it
may well have foreshadowed his later taking control of the Society which,
beyond the fact that it served as a promoter of religious ideas, was and is even
more concretely a publishing firm for religious materials. He compiled a
128-page work called "Laws Of Missouri. Compilation of the Laws and Legal
Forms for the Convenience of Farmers and Mechanics Merchants And Bankers.
Business Manual" which was printed by Stahl & Stahl. A date is
not included on his work but the publishers' preface states that he was then
"one of the leading members of the Boonville bar." The book was
well-organized and roughly half of it consisted of advertisements from Boonville
merchants. This must have realized quite a profit and showed him that
there was much money in publishing. Today the book is a genuine
collectors' item seldom seen even within Missouri.
Rutherford's actual burial site is officially given as on the East Coast but
this too is uncertain. Another mystery is whether he was also a Mason,
which is not an insignificant issue at all in view of the fact that much
evidence exists that the Watchtower Society's first President, founder CT
Russell, was also a Mason. Therefore this writer concludes by express hope
that other persons who have access to directories listing the Masons in Missouri
will pursue this additional mystery as I myself am no longer able to return to
my sources and hereby express sincere appreciation to Randy Watters for
publishing what I was able to find out.
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