Background
Alfred Samuel Trude was born on April 21, 1847 on shipboard in New York harbor. His parents, Samuel and Sallie (Downs) Trude, were immigrants from England, who shortly settled at Lockport, N. Y.
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Alfred Samuel Trude
Edit ProfileEducation
Alfred spent his boyhood, attending the public schools.
Shortly after his marriage, he enrolled in the Union College of Law (now the Northwestern University Law School) at Chicago, at the same time pursuing office study under A. B. Jenks.
Career
At seventeen he set out to seek his fortune in Chicago, which was his home thereafter. Admitted to the bar in 1871, he soon attracted the attention of Joseph Medill, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Tribune and mayor of the city, who in 1872 appointed the young man city prosecutor. After their official relation had ceased, Trude long remained the Tribune's attorney. His success in that connection brought him another valuable client in Wilbur F. Storey of the Chicago Times, whose attorney he became in 1876, when he prevented, on the ground that Storey was not a fugitive from justice, the latter's extradition to Wisconsin on the charge of libeling Milwaukee's chief of police. In one decade, it is said, Trude appeared for Storey and the Times in about five hundred cases, and the wide publicity given to the first of these led to retainers in many other extradition cases, notably the "Newburg Poker Case, " in which he prevented the discharge on habeas corpus of two gamblers who had taken $150, 000 from a client.
Another early case which enhanced his reputation was the divorce suit of Linden vs. Linden, in which the plaintiff, the daughter of a wealthy packer, had married a coachman in the belief that he was a British peer. Trude appeared for the defendant, and a decree was denied. After successfully prosecuting actions against various railway companies, Trude was retained by such important corporations as the Chicago & Alton Railroad and the Chicago City Railway Company.
He also appeared in famous testamentary litigation, such as contests of the wills of Wilbur F. Storey and Henrietta Snell. Although his success in civil practice was phenomenal, it was his frequent appearance in criminal causes which brought his name into the headlines of the daily newspapers.
Almost a half century before his death, he had already appeared in thirty-four murder cases and had been successful in all but three.
Among his successful defenses was that of the Reno brothers who, however, were lynched after their acquittal. In some famous cases he was the prosecutor--notably in State vs. Prendergast, in which the defendant was convicted and hanged for murdering Mayor Carter Henry Harrison on the last night of the World's Columbian Exposition (1893).
Before the age of excessive specialism--Trude was a product of the jury system and his forte lay in resourcefulness, adroitness, and persuasive address rather than in profound legal learning. In the latter, nevertheless, he was by no means deficient and his wide range of practice gave him a technical knowledge of many diverse branches of the law.
During the last eight years of the century, he was a member of the Chicago School Board.
His last years were spent in retirement. He died on December 12, 1933.
Achievements
Politics
In the midst of his professional activities, he found time for public and party service. For a long period he was active in local politics, and in 1896 and again in 1900 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention.
Connections
On April 7, 1868, he married Algenia Pearson of Lockport, by whom he had three sons and two daughters.
References
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Born
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Died
February 12, 1933 (aged 85) -
Nationality
American