W. G. Lorigan: Urbano's Attorney

 In personal appearance Judge Lorigan is portly and dignified, with a smooth, open face,
 the prominent characteristics of which are intelligence, firmness and benevolence." 

Genealogists recommend looking beyond your family to "Friends And Neighbors".. "FAN" out to get a sense of the place and clues about the life and times in which your people lived.

Urbano Garcia was the first husband of our great aunt Mary Remunda Luera Maltos Garcia. In truth, Mary Remunda was half great aunt to us Search Sisters. Strictly speaking, Urbano is no relation to us.

I am definitely not related to W.G. Lorigan, Urbano's trial attorney.  Urbano's trial is fascinating.   The faces, the personalities, the predicaments, the places, the customs that our ancient aunts and uncles find themselves intrigues me. All this I can relate to. 

I wonder how Urbano found W.G. Lorigan? How would a saddle maker up for murder relate to this fellow, the man hired to defend him? How much did it cost Urbano?

Urbano's  lawyer, Lorigan, was a much younger man. He had passed the bar only a few years before Urbano's murder trial. Lorigan had not yet become an esteemed Superior Court Judge and a mover and shaker in the county of San Jose. The History of the Bench and Bar of California 1900s edition contains judge Lorigan's portrait and this description:  "In personal appearance Judge Lorigan is portly and dignified, with a smooth, open face, the prominent characteristics of which are intelligence, firmness and benevolence."  The Judge is an influential member of the Young Men's Institute of American Foresters and of the Elks.

Did the Elk and the saddlemaker speak the same language?  Lorigan spoke to the jury and apparently well enough to get Urbano freed from a charge of murder.


Source: History of the Bench and Bar of California: Being Biographies of Many Remarkable Men, a Store of Humorous and Pathetic Recollections, Accounts of Important Legislation and Extraordinary Cases, Comprehending the Judicial History of the State (Google eBook)