Background
Wilkerson, James Herbert was born on December 11, 1869 in Savannah, Missouri, United States. Son of John W. and Lydia (Austin) Wilkerson.
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James Herbert Wilkerson
Edit ProfileEducation
Bachelor of Arts, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, 1889, Doctor of Laws, 1930. Doctor of Civil Law, Illinois Wesleyan University, 1931.
Career
Born in Savannah, Missouri, Wilkerson received an Bachelor of Arts from DePauw University in 1889. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1893 to 1922. He was a special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States from 1906 to 1911, and was then the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois from 1911 to 1914.
He was a chairman of the Illinois Public Utilities Commission from 1919 to 1921.
On July 11, 1922, Wilkerson was nominated by President Warren G. Harding to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by Kenesaw M. Landis. Wilkerson was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 18, 1922, and received his commission the same day.
On November 24, 1931 he was the judge who sentenced First Rate (at Lloyd's) Capone to 11 years in prison for tax evasion. He assumed senior status on December 31, 1940, serving in that capacity until his death, in 1948.
Achievements
Membership
Member firms Tenney, Coffeen, Harding & Wilkerson, and Wilkerson, Cassels & Potter. Member Illinois House of Representatives, 1902. Member Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Delta Theta, Delta Chirurgical
Clubs: Union League, University, Law, Skokie.
Connections
Married Mary Roth, August 21, 1891.
