Henry Schell Hagert

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Henry Schell Hagert
Born(1826-05-02)May 2, 1826
DiedDecember 18, 1885(1885-12-18) (aged 59)
Resting placeLaurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation(s)Lawyer, district attorney

Henry Schell Hagert /ˈhɡərt/; (May 2, 1826 – December 18, 1885) was an American lawyer who served as district attorney of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 12 years over four terms between 1856 and 1881.

Biography[edit]

Hagert was born on May 2, 1826, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Central High School in 1842 and studied law under Charles Gilpin.[1]

He was admitted to the bar on May 8, 1847, and worked as solicitor for the Board of Guardians of the Poor of Philadelphia.[1] His work caught the attention of Philadelphia district attorney William Bradford Reed[2] and after the consolidation of the city in 1854, he was appointed assistant city solicitor.[3] He served as prosecuting attorney in the trial of Frank Kelly for the murder of Octavius Catto in which the jury acquitted Kelly.[4]

Hagert served as district attorney in 1856–1857, 1868–1871, 1875–1878, and 1878–1881.[5] He was especially distinguished as a nisi prius lawyer.[3]

He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1875.[6]

He died of Bright's Disease in Philadelphia on December 18, 1885[7] and was interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery.

Legacy[edit]

As a young man he contributed prose and poetry to literary journals.[8] After his death, a volume of his poems, with a memoir by Charles Augustus Lagen, was published.[5]

Schell Street and Hagert Street in Philadelphia were named in his honor.[9]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b Hagert & Lagen 1886, p. 5.
  2. ^ Hagert & Lagen 1886, p. 6.
  3. ^ a b Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John (1887). Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 25. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  4. ^ Kelly, Frank; Griffin, H. H. The trial of Frank Kelly for the assassination (!) & murder of Octavius V. Catto, on October 10, 1871 . Wellesley College Library. Philadelphia, Daily tribune co.
  5. ^ a b Herringshaw, Thomas William (1914). Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography. Chicago: American Publishers' Association. p. 6. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  6. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  7. ^ Hagert & Lagen 1886, p. 16.
  8. ^ Hagert & Lagen 1886, p. 23.
  9. ^ Russ, Valerie. "Thornton 'Tony' Hagert, musician, musicologist, dies at 87". www.inquirer.com. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 17 February 2022.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]