E. J. Dawne

Edward J. Dawne ( – disappeared December 19, 1885), known as E. J. Dawne, was a Southern Methodist preacher who secured an appointment as Judge of the United States Territorial Court for the District of Alaska in 1885 before fleeing the country to escape forgery and embezzlement charges.

Career Dawne was born around 1844 in Virginia, and began preaching in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1869. By 1872, he had transferred to Dardanelle, Arkansas, and he was transferred to Salem, Oregon that year. In 1874, he was "tried, silenced and suspended" from the church at its annual state conference.

In 1874, he was the Democratic nominee for Superintendent of Public Instruction, a race which he lost by 40 votes. Upon moving to Salem, he had claimed to be a medical doctor, which was shown to be false at the end of the 1874 campaign. He had also been given a faculty seat in the medical department of Willamette University. He first claimed to hold a medical degree from the University of Louisiana, but his name was not found among its list of graduates, and then claimed to have graduated from the nonexistent Mountain Home University. During the campaign, he also claimed to have been a Lieutenant Colonel in the Confederate Army.

He married Jennie Miller, a graduate of Willamette University and daughter of Salem community leader William "Scotch" Miller, and they began operating St. Paul's Academy in 1874. Dawne had two sons, William S. Dawne and Raleigh M. Dawne. and he was admitted to the Oregon bar in 1880. He did not take a leading role in cases, instead using his position to draw up forged mortgage documents. Banker Asahel Bush, who had business dealings with Dawne, sent a letter to the White House detailing his misgivings with Dawne's appointment, including financial improprieties, his false claims regarding medical experience, and his inexperience as a lawyer. Dawne took office on August 20, 1885. While Cleveland initially defended Dawne's appointment, within a month, he had sent a letter reprimanding La Fayette Grover, the former Oregon senator and governor, who had recommended Dawne. With his application for the judgeship, Dawne had sent a list of 123 signatures of leading citizens and lawyers recommending him for the post. He also received letters of recommendation from Grover, ex-Senator and State Supreme Court Justice James K. Kelly, ex-Congressman Rufus Mallory, legislator and businessman William D. Fenton, ex-Congressman Lafayette Lane, State Treasurer Edward Hirsch, State Secretary of State Rockey Earhart, State Supreme Court Justice John Kelsay, Blaine elector and future Alaska territory judge Warren Truitt, ex-Senator and U.S. Attorney General George Henry Williams, and Governor Zenas Ferry Moody. Cleveland removed Dawne from office on September 23, 1885 and replaced him with Lafayette Dawson of Missouri.

Disappearance Dawne continued in an interim capacity and was set to open court in Wrangell on November 2, 1885, but on October 26, he departed Wrangell on a 150-mile canoe trip to Fort Tongass. He had told several different stories of why he was departing and instructed the marshal to adjourn the court until his return. Dawne sent letters to his wife admitting to crimes and indicating that he had fled to British Columbia. She informed Governor Alfred P. Swineford of the letters on November 16, and Swineford informed Attorney General Augustus Hill Garland of Dawne's disappearance the next day. Swineford stated that "while no judge at all is better than such a one as Dawne, his disappearance nevertheless completely blocks the wheels of justice in the Territory." He was tracked to a boarding house in Victoria, British Columbia, where he was last seen on December 19. Speculation following his disappearance focused on Dawne having perished or committed suicide.

Electoral history