Obituary of Judge Henry R. Prewitt

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Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003
From: http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000008
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Judge Henry R. Prewitt 
Bath County News-Outlook Thursday, February 19, 1939 
Death Claims Judge Prewitt 
Mt. Sterling Jurist Succumbs To Paralysis 
   A brief illness following a stroke of paralysis ended the career 
of Judge Henry R. Prewitt at his home at Mt. Sterling Wednesday morning.  
Judge Prewitt had been critically ill since Monday afternoon when he 
was stricken.  His death ended more than fifty years of active law 
practice, fourteen years of which time he was judge of the circuit 
courts of the twenty first judicial district. 
   A son of Allen and Mary Reid Prewitt, he was born in Montgomery 
county, June 2, 1868.  He began his career as a lawyer at Hill City, Kan., 
in September, 1889.  Returning to Mt. Sterling in 1894, he opened a 
law office where he maintained an intermittent law practice throughout 
the remainder of his life.  He was insurance commissioner of Kentucky 
under J. C. W. Beckham from 1901 to 1908 and was chairman of the State 
Democratic Committee for the four years following  Appointed by 
Governor Black to succeed the late William A. Young as circuit 
judge of this district, he was elected to fill out Judge Young's 
unexpired term and was re-elected for two full terms thereafter, 
serving fourteen years.  Only a few weeks ago, Judge Prewitt was 
the honor guest at a dinner in Mt. Sterling in commemoration of 
his fiftieth year as a practicing attorney. 
   During his fourteen years on the bench, Judge Prewitt gained 
a wide reputation as an able jurist.  Perhaps his most important 
cases were those connected with the "Battle of Evarts" trial, moved 
to Mt. Sterling on a change of venue and lasting 61 days with night 
sessions.  It was at that time that Jones and Hightower were convicted 
for complicity in the killings in the Evarts fights.  many of the more 
prominent lawyers of the state were connected with the trials and 
Judge Prewitt was widely applauded for his rulings on the various 
legal technicalities involved in the cases. 
   Judge Prewitt is survived by his wife, Mrs. Katie Grubbs Prewitt; 
three sons, Reid Prewitt, Mt. Sterling; Tom Prewitt, North Middletown, 
and Allen Prewitt, Frankfort; two brothers, M. A. Prewitt and Richard 
Prewitt, Montgomery county, and four sisters, Mrs. Henrietta Evans, 
Lexington; Mrs. Frank Jackson and Mrs. Jack McCord, Winchester, and 
Mrs. Tandy Chenault, Montgomery county. 
   Funeral services were held at 2 o'clock this afternoon at the 
First Christian Church at Mt. Sterling, of which he was a member.  
The Rev. Howard Stephenson, pastor, and the Rev. A. C. Brooks, 
Frankfort, officiated.  Interment was in Machpelah Cemetery, Mt. Sterling.