Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Stadter, Hon. Fred W. December 20, 1877 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 10, 2009, 12:28 am Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company HON. FRED W. STADTER, judge of the municipal court of Portland, is a man of great strength of character and determined will, a fact which has been strongly emphasized in his career, which has been somewhat varied and during which he has passed through some uncommon experiences. He is rendering capable service on the bench of the court over which he presides and commands the uniform respect of all who know him. Fred Lockley, in the Oregon Daily Journal of December 23 and 24, 1927, printed the following interesting narrative after an interview with Judge Stadter. "'If a man wants a thing hard enough he can usually get what he goes after,' said Municipal Judge Fred W. Stadter. 'I had rather hard sledding getting my education. I had to make every cent count. I determined that some day I would visit the Pyramids and see something of the Old World. I learned stenography, and took the civil service examination for the United States departmental service at large. I received an appointment and was sent to Angel island, California, where I worked for the government in the commissary department of the army a year and a half. From there I was transferred to Manila, in 1903, and during the three years I was in Manila I had an opportunity of visiting China and Japan. At the end of three years I was ordered back to the United States. I wrote to the commissary-general asking if I could come home the long way around, making the trip on my own time and at my own expense. He gave me permission to do so. At about the time I was going to start, the transport "Kilpatrick" came into Manila with orders to go to Newport News to transport troops to Cuba. When I applied to the colonel for permission to go on this transport he told me he had turned down dozens of applications, and it was useless for me to try. I said, "Colonel, if I can arrange the matter without bothering you in any way, can I go?" He said, "Yes, but I know you can't do it." I went to the commissary clerk, who told me to write out an order for my passage aboard the transport as a government employee and he would sign it. Government employees are allowed to travel on transports without charge, except a maintenance charge of one dollar a day to cover the expense of their meals. The colonel didn't hear any more from me until the transport sailed with myself as a passenger. "'We put in at Singapore, in the Straits Settlements. The English have, of course, a cricket ground, several golf courses, polo grounds, a race course, and there are any number of Hindu and Chinese temples and Mohammedan mosques. A railroad runs from Singapore to the town of Johore Bahru. During the several days that we laid over at Singapore I ran up to Johore, where I was fortunate enough to see the sultan of Johore. The palace was built by Sultan Abubakar. Johore is a sort of Oriental Monte Carlo. While it is near the equator, nevertheless it has a pleasant climate. The population consists largely of Chinese, Malays and Javanese. "'From Singapore we went to Ceylon, an island about two hundred and seventy miles long by one hundred and thirty-five miles in width. One of the striking features of Ceylon is Adam's peak, which is something over seven thousand feet above sea level. Pilgrims from all over the East come there, as the hollow in the summit is supposed to be the footstep of Buddha. Priests guard this footstep. I put in a day seeing the sights at Colombo and then went to Kandy, which is about seventy-five miles from Colombo. There are twelve Buddhist temples and four Brahmin temples in Kandy. The royal palace is also there, and the tombs of the kings. I visited Delada Malagawa, the famous temple in which is the shrine of the tooth of Buddha. In every temple I visited there were numerous worshippers. The temple ornaments, some of which are of hammered gold, are very elaborate. Inasmuch as the people pray aloud, a temple is no place for quiet meditation. Three miles from Kandy is a park called the Royal Botanic Gardens. I never expect to see more wonderful ferns or greater tropical luxuriance than there. Some of the bamboo trees are two hundred feet high, and they tell me that the young trees grow a foot a day. Ceylon is a regular Garden of Eden. "'From the tropical luxuriance and beauty of Ceylon, we went to Aden, a seaport of Arabia. At daybreak I looked out of the porthole and, instead of seeing trees and ferns and beauty, I saw a stretch of barren sand and volcanic rock. When I came out on deck I found the natives had put out in small boats, and you couldn't guess in a year what they were singing. They were singing "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight." We tossed pennies overboard and they dived and caught the pennies before they could strike bottom. The heat is intense at Aden. They have little or no water. I saw a train of camels coming to Aden, carrying water. A few palms have been planted, and water must be brought by camel train to keep them alive. They also have a condensary there, from which fresh water is condensed from sea water. In early days Aden was the chief seaport for the trade between Asia and Europe. The Romans captured the city before the birth of Christ. They called it Arabia Felix. It is still an important shipping point. They export coffee, hides opium and other products. The old town is built in the crater of an extinct volcano. I hired a horse and carriage and visited this old crater. This old town is over two thousand five hundred years old. I had the good fortune to view the sunset from behind the jagged pinnacles of the crater. The Red sea, taking the reflection of red clouds, looked like a sea of blood. It was like a scene from Dante's Inferno. "'After leaving Aden I slept all night on the deck while passing through the Red sea. Moonlight on the sea was a thing of beauty. When we reached Suez we were not allowed to land, because of the quarantine for bubonic plague. While passing through the canal you see the ships in the canal, which look as if they had wandered off into the desert. You can also see large trains of camels, carrying the product of the country to the seaport. "'At Port Said I caught a train for Cairo. My first view of the Pyramids was just at dusk. They were silhouetted against the evening sky. Right then and there I realized the ambition of a lifetime. Next day, from the top of Cheops, I could see a brown, winding ribbon -— the historic Nile -— and also Cairo, and the other pyramids. With three companions, I made a trip on camel- back to the site of ancient Memphis. It would take me an hour to tell you what I saw during the few days I was in Cairo. "'From Cairo we went to Malta, in the Mediterranean, between Africa and Europe. Malta is on an island about eight by seventeen miles in size. If ever there was a place of historic interest it is Malta. There are some remarkable megalithic monuments there. Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Moors and Christians, and pretty nearly everybody else, have been mixed up in the history of Malta. The father of Hannibal was governor-general of Sicily at the time Hannibal was born, at Malta. From Malta we went to Gibraltar and from there to Newport News and thence to Washington, D. C. So I saw the wonders of the Old World as I had planned when a boy, and I saw them without expense. “'I had but little opportunity of going to school when I was a boy on our farm back in Kansas. I was born at Hedrick, Iowa, December 20, 1877. There were seven children in our family. When I was a few months old father loaded his wife and children and his household effects into a prairie schooner and drove from Iowa to Kansas. When I was thirteen years old I could hardly read or write. My brother John got work herding sheep. He learned to read while herding sheep. My sister Mary got a chance to go to school at Hays, Kansas. John, who had saved his wages as a sheep herder, went to Hays, where he rented a house, and John, my brother Edward, now an attorney at Bend, my sister Mary and I lived in Hays and attended school, Mary doing the housekeeping. "'J. H. Reeder, an attorney at Hays, upon the death of his wife had his mother and sister come to his home to live with him. He offered me my board and lodging if I would milk the cow, cut the wood, tend to the fires and do the work around the house and sweep his office and make the fire there each morning. I accepted this position with great joy. In the first place, my sister and my two brothers could get along with less food if I was not there, and, secondly, Judge Reeder had a fine library. Part of our bargain was that I could read his books. During the summer vacation I worked in the hay field or in the harvest field, to get money with which to buy my school books and to buy clothes. To my great delight, I found in Judge Reeder's library a lot of books belonging to his stepson, among them histories of Napoleon, Alexander the Great and Hannibal. Hannibal was my hero. I remember we had a debate in school, the question being, "Resolved, that Hannibal was a greater general than Napoleon." I was on the affirmative and won the debate. I also ran across a copy of "Robinson Crusoe," a copy of Josephus and a condensed American history. After I had read for an hour or two of an evening, Judge Reeder would say, "Now, Fred, I want you to tell me what you have read." I didn't know it at the time, but this was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It made my memory retentive, it enabled me to express myself, and it gave me a taste for good literature. I stayed at the home of Judge Reeder for six years. I graduated from high school when I was twenty. After doing the work around the house in the morning I would go down to his office and build the fire and wait there till about a quarter of nine, when I would go to school. This meant that I usually spent about an hour in his office. To occupy my time I read Blackstone. To this day I can repeat long passages of Blackstone that I learned at that time. "'After I had been staying with Judge Reeder for a year or two, he said, "There will never be any shortage of men to work in the hay field. Why don't you learn shorthand. You can make more money at that, for there are comparatively few shorthand reporters and you will always be able to find work." I bought a copy of "Dement's Pitmanic Shorthand." I put in my spare time that winter studying so that I knew the word signs. Judge Reeder had me come to court and report the cases. Within a few months I could take notes almost as well as a court reporter. Dement, author of this book of shorthand, was the champion shorthand writer of the world. I have never ceased to be grateful that I learned shorthand, for here on the bench I make notes on the cases, and I have constant occasion to use shorthand. That settled my working in the hay field. I began getting all the work I could handle, writing briefs for the lawyers. I put in my evenings reading law with Judge Reeder. "'Judge Osborn, of Salina, Kansas, for whom I had done some work, was elected to the Kansas Legislature the fall after I graduated. He wrote me a letter in which he said, "I am enclosing a pass to Topeka. I will see that you get a job in the Legislature if you come here." Judge Osborn was elected speaker and I became his stenographer. At the close of the session the clerk in charge of the compilation of the laws gave me three months’ work copying the laws. The register and receiver of the land office at Wakeeney had become familiar with my work during the Legislature, so he wrote and told me that he would give me three months' work in the 1and office as soon as I had finished my work copying the laws. After putting in three months in the land office the superintendent of the Union Pacific railroad at Ellis, Kansas wired me to come there and take a place as his stenographer. I was stenographer in the superintendent's office for two years. I decided to go to Kansas City, so the superintendent gave me a pass and I went to Kansas City. I went to the Remington Typewriter Company. They gave me a rather stiff examination and next day I was sent to the Armour Packing Company. "'My hobby since I was a boy has been ancient history. Today most of my reading is along the line of ancient history or geology. I was particularly interested in the history of Egypt, and I resolved that sometime, somehow, I would visit Egypt and see the Pyramids. Because of my experience in the railroad and because I had studied rates, the commercial agent of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf railroad offered me a position, which I accepted. While working there I took the civil service examination for the government service, after which I received the appointment to Angel island. My services, journeys and experiences after that I have already recounted.’" On January 29, 1910, Mr. Stadter came to Portland, Oregon, and entered the office of W. P. La Roche who was appointed city attorney in July, 1913, and Mr. Stadter became assistant city attorney, serving throughout the incumbency of Mr. La Roche and later under City Attorney Grant until March 20, 1925, when he was appointed to the bench of the municipal court, in which position he has served to the present time. His record in the city attorney's office has been one of hard and tireless work in the interest of the city, in which he evinced a thorough knowledge of the law and it’s application, while as municipal judge he has served with great credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of those who have been familiar with his record. In September, 1910, Judge Stadter was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Grant, of San Francisco, California, and they are the parents of a daughter, Freda, born October 16, 1911, now a senior in high school. Judge Stadter is a Mason having taken the degrees in the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Knight Templar at Hays, Kansas, and he also became a Shriner in Isis Temple, at Salina, Kansas. He belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks, the Woodmen of the World, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Artisans, the Neighbors of Woodcraft, the Grange, the Mazamas, of which he is president, the Anglers Club, the Ad Club, the City Club, the Progressive Business Men's Club and other local organizations. He is a republican in his political views and is an adherent of the Methodist Episcopal church. He takes a deep interest in boys' work, being a merit badge examiner for the Boy Scouts, and a member of the camp committee, contributing in every possible way to their welfare and proper development. He is a lover of outdoor sports and recreation and has been particularly active in the Mt. Hood winter sports, serving as chairman of the Ad Club committee on that affair, which has attained well merited popularity. The Judge is a man of courteous and unaffected manner, though cordial and friendly in his social relations, and throughout this community, where he enjoys a wide acquaintance, he is held in the highest measure of respect and esteem. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 633-636 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/stadter634gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 15.9 Kb