Joseph Boone Moore Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1499-1500 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JOSEPH BOONE MOORE.—Standing out as one of the central figures in 
the legal history of South Dakota is Hon. Joseph Boone Moore, of Lead 
City, who was born October 13, 1862, in Nashville, Tennessee, and is the 
son of James G. and Mary (Hiter) Moore, the father for many years a 
prominent merchant and representative man of that city. The early 
educational training of the subject w as acquired in the schools of 
Nashville and sometime after finishing the high-school course he came to 
Dakota territory, locating, in September, 1880, at Lead City, where in 
due time he secured employment with the Homestake Mining Company, 
entering the service of that large concern as a common laborer. Later he 
resigned his place to become a brakeman on the Black Hills & Fort Pierre 
Railroad, subsequently rising by successive promotions to the positions 
of fireman and conductor, and it was while discharging his duty in the 
latter capacity that an accident occurred, which very materially changed 
his future course of life. On April 5, 1884, while attempting to board a 
moving train, he lost his footing and fell under the cars, the injury 
resulting in the loss of his left leg, just below the knee, also the 
four small toes of the right foot, from the effect of which painful, and 
what at the time was thought fatal, injuries he was a long time 
recuperating. When sufficiently recovered, he returned to his old home 
in Nashville, Tennessee, where he entered the law department of 
Vanderbilt University, becoming what is known as a "one-year man,"—that 
is, by hard study and attendance at both junior and senior lectures, 
finishing the full course in one-half the allotted time. He made a 
brilliant record as a student. and in 1885 was graduated with the honors 
of his class, being selected on the occasion as one of the moot court 
commencement orators on account of his rare power and eloquence as a 
public speaker. Shortly after his graduation Mr. Moore returned to South 
Dakota and, opening a law office in Lead City, soon built up a lucrative 
practice and gained recognition as one of the rising members of the 
Lawrence county bar. His success was immediate, his ability as a jury 
lawyer winning him worthy prestige, and for a m1mber of years he was 
connected either for the prosecution or defense in nearly every 
important case tried in the courts where he practiced. In 1889 he was 
elected city attorney of Lead and held the office with credit to himself 
and to the satisfaction of the public until May, 1892, on the first day 
of which month he was appointed state's attorney for Lawrence county. He 
held the latter position one year, his term closing in 1894, from which 
time until 1897 he devoted his attention solely to his private practice, 
which had greatly grown in magnitude and importance during the 
intervening years. 

	In 1897 Mr. Moore was elected judge of the eighth judicial circuit 
of South Dakota, for which high and responsible position he was well 
fitted and he occupied the bench until 1901, winning the meanwhile an 
enviable reputation as an able and popular jurist. His rulings were not 
only fair and impartial, but embodied a thorough knowledge of the points 
at issue, and his decisions were comprehensive and exhaustive, few of 
them suffering reversal at the hands of the supreme court. 

	In 1900 Judge Moore was nominated for congress on the fusion 
ticket, a union of Democrats and Populists, but by reason of the 
overwhelming strength of the opposition that year failed of election, 
although running several hundred votes ahead of his ticket. He was a 
South Dakota member of the national Populist convention, held in Sioux 
Falls in 1900, and took a leading part in its deliberations, securing 
the insertion of a resolution in the platform denouncing the 
incarceration of miners in the Coeur d' Alene Bull Pen, as an infamous 
outrage. The Judge was also a delegate to the Populist national 
convention which met in St. Louis in 1896, and had much to do in 
formulating the policy of the party and directing its operators in the 
campaigns of that and succeeding years. He has always had the interests 
of the laboring classes at heart, and, having been a toiler himself for 
many years, thoroughly appreciates their condition,-sympathizes with 
their aspirations and to the extent of his ability assists them in 
carrying out every laudable measure for their advancement. In the line 
of his profession he has demonstrated his interests in the poor and 
needy in many ways, frequently giving legal advice gratuitously, and 
never refusing to take a case for a man or woman on account of lack of 
fees. 

	When Troop A of Grigsby's Cow-Boy Regiment, Third United States 
Volunteer Cavalry, of South Dakota, perfected a permanent organization, 
Judge Moore was made an honorary member, being the only man accorded the 
honor, the list closing with his name. As an evidence of the high esteem 
in which he was held by the troop, they presented him with a button 
badge, which he has since worn on the lapel of his coat and which he 
proposes thus to wear as long as he lives. 

	The Judge's last official position was that of city attorney, to 
which he was appointed the second time in 1902, and the duties of which 
he has since discharged with his characteristic ability. He has always 
been a zealous bemocrat and an active party worker, and his influence as 
a politician is confined to no particular locality, being state-wide on 
account of his effectiveness as a campaigner and his ability in the 
hustings. In the campaign of 1900 he gained a national reputation by 
reason of his pronounced views and utterances in opposition to the 
Philippine war, his able discussion of this question and other issues of 
that year carrying conviction to the minds of the large and appreciative 
audiences that greeted him, wherever he appeared. Without invidious 
distinction, it is but fair to state that Judge Moore is today one of 
South Dakota's best known and most popular citizens, his career as a 
lawyer, judge and public-spirited man of affairs fully meeting the high 
expectations of his many friends and admirers, and reflecting credit 
upon the state. 

	On June 2, 1886, Judge Moore was united in marriage with Miss 
Susie B. Jordan, of Tennessee, who was born and reared near Franklin, in 
the county of Williamson. Her father at one time was one of the largest 
land proprietors in the middle part of that state, a man of great wealth 
and wide influence and before the war the owner of a large number of 
slaves. Three children have blessed the union of Judge and Mrs. Moore, 
their names being Rupert E., Mary Alice and Norma Elizabeth. 

	Judge Moore is an enthusiastic member of the Benevolent and 
Protective Order of Elks and now holds the title of past exalted ruler 
of Deadwood Lodge, No. 508. In 1902 he was a delegate from this lodge to 
the grand lodge, which met at Salt Lake City, and while attending that 
body took a prominent part in its deliberations and was influential in 
shaping the policy of the order not only in his own state, but 
throughout the entire country. In religion the Judge is liberal, not 
belonging to any church or inclining more favorably to one denomination 
than to another; nevertheless he is a firm believer in a supreme being. 
recognizes in Christianity a great moral and spiritual force, but 
accepts as his only creed the Golden Rule.