Oscar Raymond Holcomb
{{Short description|American judge (1869–1948)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = The Honorable
|name = Oscar Raymond Holcomb
|honorific-suffix =
|image =
|imagesize =
|smallimage =
|caption =
|order =
|office = Justice of the Washington Supreme Court
|nominator =
|appointer =
|term_start = {{Start date|1915|01|1}}
|term_end = {{End date|1927|01|01}}
|president =
|succeeding =
|predecessor = Herman D. Crow
|successor = Walter M. French
|office1 = Justice of the Washington Supreme Court
|nominator1 =
|appointer1 = Governor Roland H. Hartley
|term_start1 = {{Start date|1927|03|1}}
|term_end1 = {{End date|1939|01|01}}
|president1 =
|succeeding1 =
|predecessor1 = Jesse B. Bridges
|successor1 = Clyde G. Jeffers
|office2 = Commissioner of Arid Lands of the State of Washington
|nominator2 =
|appointer2 = Governor John R. Rogers
|term_start2 = {{Start date|1897|03|1}}
|term_end2 = {{End date|1901|01|01}}
|president2 =
|succeeding2 =
|predecessor2 =
|successor2 =
|birth_date = {{birth date|1869|12|31}}
|birth_place = Gibson County, Indiana, U.S.
|death_date ={{death date and age|1948|9|14|1869|12|31}}
|death_place =Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
|restingplace =
|restingplacecoordinates =
|birthname =
|nationality = American
|party =
|spouse =Eva Staser
|relations =
|children = 4
|residence = Ritzville, Washington
|alma_mater =Southwestern Indiana Normal School (BA)
Chicago College of Law (LLB)
|occupation = Lawyer, judge
|profession =
|cabinet =
|committees =
|portfolio =
|religion =
|awards =
|signature =
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
Oscar Raymond Holcomb (December 31, 1869 – September 14, 1948) was an American lawyer, and justice of the Washington Supreme Court from 1915 to 1927, and again from 1927 to 1939. Defeated in a bid for reelection in 1926, Holcomb's term expired early in 1927. Within several months, he was appointed to the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Jesse B. Bridges. Holcomb served as chief justice of the Court from 1919 to 1921.
Early life and education
Holcomb was born in Gibson County, Indiana, to Mary Ann Hopkins (1840–1917) and Silas Mercer Holcomb (1838–1906), an attorney.{{cite book|editor1-last=Downs|editor1-first=Winfield Scott|title=Encyclopedia of American Biography: New Series, Volume 9|date=1934|publisher=American Historical Society|location=Washington, D.C.|page=427|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qYEbAQAAMAAJ&q=Oscar+Raymond+Holcomb&pg=PA427|accessdate=May 25, 2017}} Holcomb attended the public schools in Fort Branch, Indiana, and enrolled in Southwestern Indiana Normal School, at Princeton, Indiana. After graduation, he attended the Chicago College of Law and received his LL.B. degree in 1892.
Legal and judicial career
Following law school, Holcomb engaged in private practice in Evansville, Indiana, before moving to Tacoma, Washington, in March 1894, and then in April 1894 to Ritzville, where he lived for the next for 15 years. He held a series of public offices. He was Prosecuting Attorney for Adams County from March 1895 to 1898, and then served as Commissioner for Arid Lands for the State Washington, 1898–1901.{{cite book|last1=Durham|first1=Nelson Wayne|title=History of the City of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington, Volume 2|date=1912|publisher=S.J. Clarke Publishing Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/historycityspok02durhgoog/page/n706 696]|url=https://archive.org/details/historycityspok02durhgoog|quote=Oscar Raymond Holcomb.|accessdate=May 25, 2017}} He was a City Councilman of Ritzville, Washington, for several terms;{{cite news|title=Ritzville City Official|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87093056/1904-10-19/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1894&index=4&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Holcomb+Oscar+R&proxdistance=5&date2=1924&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Oscar+R.+Holcomb&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|accessdate=May 25, 2017|work=Adams County news (Ritzville, WA)|page=4|publisher=Library of Congress Historic Newspapers|date=October 19, 1904}} and was a member of the school board and the county electrical utility. In 1902, he unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Progressive Democrat. In 1908, he was elected judge of the state Superior Court for Adams, Franklin and Benton Counties, taking office in 1909, and was re-elected in 1912.{{cite book|title=Herringshaw's American Blue Book of Biography|date=1915|publisher=American Publishers' Association|page=637|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0CZRAQAAMAAJ&q=Oscar+Raymond+Holcomb&pg=PA637|accessdate=May 25, 2017}} From 1915 to 1939, Holcomb was a justice of the Washington state Supreme Court, with a short break in 1927.{{cite book|last1=Sheldon|first1=Charles H.|title=A Century of Judging|date=1988|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle, WA|isbn=0295803290|page=[https://archive.org/details/centuryofjudging00shel/page/89 89]|url=https://archive.org/details/centuryofjudging00shel|url-access=registration|quote=Oscar Raymond Holcomb.|accessdate=May 25, 2017}} He served a two-year term as chief justice from 1919 to 1921.
In the 1914 election for the Supreme Court, the state Trades Council endorsed Holcomb.{{cite news|title=Judge Holcomb|accessdate=May 25, 2017|work=The Labor Journal (Everett, WA)|publisher=Library of Congress Historic Newspapers|date=October 2, 1914|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085620/1914-10-02/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1894&index=0&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Holcomb+Oscar+R&proxdistance=5&date2=1924&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Oscar+R.+Holcomb&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1}} On the bench, he had a sympathetic ear for labor issues. In the case of St. Germain v. Bakery and Confectionery Workers' Union of Seattle (1917),{{cite book|last1=97 Wash. 282|title=The Pacific Reporter, Volume 166|date=1917|publisher=West Publishing Company|location=Eagen, MN|page=665|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugcLAAAAYAAJ&q=St.+Germain+v.+Bakery+and+Confectionery+Workers%27+Union+of+Seattle&pg=PA665|accessdate=May 25, 2017}} the Supreme Court upheld in an 8–1 opinion an anti-picketing law, with Holcomb as the sole hold out.{{cite news|title=Stop, Read and Reason|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085187/1918-01-21/ed-1/seq-4/#date1=1894&index=5&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=Holcomb+Oscar+R&proxdistance=5&date2=1924&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=Oscar+R.+Holcomb&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|accessdate=May 25, 2017|work=The Tacoma Times|publisher=Library of Congress Historic Newspapers|date=January 21, 1918}}
Personal life
On June 12, 1894, he married Eva Staser (1871–1934), and had four children. He died on September 14, 1948, and was buried at Tacoma Cemetery in Tacoma, Washington.
References
{{reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
|title=Justice of the Washington Supreme Court
|before=Herman D. Crow
Jesse B. Bridges
|after=Walter M. French
Clyde G. Jeffers
|years=1915–1939}}
{{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holcomb, Oscar Raymond}}
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:20th-century American judges
Category:People from Ritzville, Washington
Category:Justices of the Washington Supreme Court
Category:Chief justices of the Washington Supreme Court
Category:Washington (state) Democrats
Category:Chicago-Kent College of Law alumni