Denver S. Dickerson
Encyclopedia
Denver Sylvester Dickerson (January 24, 1872 – November 28, 1925) was an American
politician
. He was the 11th Governor of Nevada from 1908 to 1911. A member of the Silver
– Democratic
coalition party, he had previously held office as the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Nevada
from 1907 to 1908. During his governorship, Dickerson worked to reform the state prison system.
After leaving office, Dickerson became the Superintendent of Federal Prisons, predecessor to the present-day Federal Bureau of Prisons
. He was the warden of Nevada State Prison
until his death in 1925.
in Shasta County, California
, where he was raised as a Christian. His father was a mining pioneer in California
. Dickerson received a public school education and was later privately tutored. Dickerson pursued mining in California, Idaho
, and Montana
.
During the Spanish American War in 1898, Dickerson was deployed as Sergeant of Troop D of the 2nd U.S. Volunteer Cavalry. Upon returning from his tour of duty as First Sergeant in 1899, Dickerson moved to White Pine County, Nevada
.
. On April 23, 1904, Dickerson married Una Reilly of Hamilton, Nevada
. On November 24, 1904, Dickerson and Charles A. Walker acquired the White Pine News. By October 19, 1905, Dickerson was the editor and sole proprietor.
. While attending the Democratic State Convention
in Reno
as a young delegate, he discovered that no one was interested in running for the office. In May of that year, he handed over control of the White Pine News to Houlden Hudgins and sold it in the fall. On October 11, 1906, Dickerson founded the Ely Mining Expositor as a weekly paper representing the interests of the Silver
-Democratic
political coalition. Dickerson won the November election and took office in January 1907. The Ely Mining Expositor was helmed by various editors while Dickerson was in office and moved to daily publication by May 15, 1907.
When fellow Silver-Democrat and Governor John Sparks died in office on May 22, 1908, Dickerson became the acting governor
. The Dickersons became the first family to move into the Nevada Governor's Mansion
, recently completed at a cost of $22,700. On September 2, 1909, Una gave birth to June, the only child to be born in the mansion. During his gubernatorial tenure, Dickerson worked to restructure state mental hospital
s and reform the state prison system. He also found support to reorganize the state railroad commission.
In 1910, former undefeated boxing champion James J. Jeffries
sought to reclaim the heavyweight championship as the "great white hope" from African-American Jack Johnson
. Dickerson was impressed by Johnson's boxing skills and pledged to provide an opportunity for a match in Nevada without racial prejudice. Despite national pressure against staging the event, Dickerson allowed it to proceed in Reno. Promoter Tex Rickard received a demand from Dickerson that the fight not be fixed. On July 4, 1910, Johnson defeated Jeffries, causing a wave of unrest across the country. In November 1910, Dickerson was defeated in his bid for a second term and left office on January 2, 1911.
of the Nevada State Police
. In 1913, Dickerson was appointed the Warden of Nevada State Prison
in Carson City
to replace George W. Cowing, who had problems finding men willing to form a firing squad
to execute convicted murderer Andriza Mircovich
. The death sentence was eventually carried out by a custom-built shooting machine.
Dickerson took office as the Superintendent of Federal Prisons in January 1920 under U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
. In September 1920, Jack Johnson was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas
for incarceration while under Dickerson's administration. Dickerson worked to have Johnson parole
d against unsubstantiated charges. Dickerson resigned on April 2, 1921, when newly elected President Warren G. Harding
announced that he would appoint his brother-in-law Heber Herbert Votaw to the office.
In December 1923, Dickerson returned to Nevada State Prison. He supervised the execution of Gee Jon
in February 1924, the first to be carried out by gas chamber
in the United States
. Dickerson remained warden until his death in November 1925.
the governor's mansion.
The Dickersons had eight children: Harvey, Norinne, June, Donald, Denver, Belford, Barbara and George. Their sons Harvey, Denver, and George followed their father's footsteps into Nevada state politics. Harvey Dickerson became the Attorney General of Nevada
in 1955 and unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1958. The younger Denver Dickerson
would go on to become the Speaker of the Nevada Assembly
in 1943 and was appointed Secretary of Guam
in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy
. George M. Dickerson was elected District Attorney of Clark County, Nevada
in 1954 and President of the State Bar of Nevada in 1973.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was the 11th Governor of Nevada from 1908 to 1911. A member of the Silver
Silver Party
The Silver Party was a political party in the United States, most successful in Nevada, active from 1892-1911. The party supported a platform of bimetallism and "Free Silver."...
– Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
coalition party, he had previously held office as the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Nevada
Lieutenant Governor of Nevada
The Nevada Lieutenant Governor is an elected office in the U.S. state of Nevada. The Nevada Lieutenant Governor is based in Carson City, Nevada and elected for 4 year terms. The 33rd and current Lt. Governor for the 2007-2011 term is Brian Krolicki....
from 1907 to 1908. During his governorship, Dickerson worked to reform the state prison system.
After leaving office, Dickerson became the Superintendent of Federal Prisons, predecessor to the present-day Federal Bureau of Prisons
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
. He was the warden of Nevada State Prison
Nevada State Prison
Nevada State Prison is a penitentiary located in Carson City. The prison has been in continuous operation since it was established in 1862 and is managed by the Nevada Department of Corrections. It is one of the oldest prisons still operating in the United States. The high security facility housed...
until his death in 1925.
Biography
Dickerson was born on January 24, 1872 to Harvey and Catherine Dickerson in MillvilleMillville, California
Millville is a census-designated place in Shasta County, California, United States. The population was 727 at the 2010 census, up from 610 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Millville is located at ....
in Shasta County, California
Shasta County, California
Shasta County is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The county occupies the northern reaches of the Sacramento Valley, with portions extending into the southern reaches of the Cascade Range. As of the 2010 census, the population was 177,223, up from 163,256...
, where he was raised as a Christian. His father was a mining pioneer in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Dickerson received a public school education and was later privately tutored. Dickerson pursued mining in California, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, and Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
.
During the Spanish American War in 1898, Dickerson was deployed as Sergeant of Troop D of the 2nd U.S. Volunteer Cavalry. Upon returning from his tour of duty as First Sergeant in 1899, Dickerson moved to White Pine County, Nevada
White Pine County, Nevada
White Pine County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. Its population at the 2010 census was 10,030. Its county seat is Ely. It is the home of Great Basin National Park...
.
Settlement in Nevada
In 1902, Dickerson was elected to his first office, the clerk of White Pine County and later became county recorderRecorder of deeds
Recorder of deeds is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over that property.-Background:...
. On April 23, 1904, Dickerson married Una Reilly of Hamilton, Nevada
Hamilton, Nevada
Hamilton is an abandoned mining town located in the White Pine Range, in western White Pine County, Nevada, USA. The town boomed in 1868 and 1869 following the discovery of rich silver deposits nearby, but the ore deposits proved shallow and by 1870 the region was already in decline...
. On November 24, 1904, Dickerson and Charles A. Walker acquired the White Pine News. By October 19, 1905, Dickerson was the editor and sole proprietor.
State politics
In 1906, Dickerson decided to run for Lieutenant Governor of NevadaLieutenant Governor of Nevada
The Nevada Lieutenant Governor is an elected office in the U.S. state of Nevada. The Nevada Lieutenant Governor is based in Carson City, Nevada and elected for 4 year terms. The 33rd and current Lt. Governor for the 2007-2011 term is Brian Krolicki....
. While attending the Democratic State Convention
Nevada Democratic Party
The Nevada Democratic Party is the state affiliate of the United States Democratic Party in Nevada. Its chair is Roberta Lange, and its Executive Director is Zach Zaragoza .-History:...
in Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
as a young delegate, he discovered that no one was interested in running for the office. In May of that year, he handed over control of the White Pine News to Houlden Hudgins and sold it in the fall. On October 11, 1906, Dickerson founded the Ely Mining Expositor as a weekly paper representing the interests of the Silver
Free Silver
Free Silver was an important United States political policy issue in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Its advocates were in favor of an inflationary monetary policy using the "free coinage of silver" as opposed to the less inflationary Gold Standard; its supporters were called...
-Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
political coalition. Dickerson won the November election and took office in January 1907. The Ely Mining Expositor was helmed by various editors while Dickerson was in office and moved to daily publication by May 15, 1907.
When fellow Silver-Democrat and Governor John Sparks died in office on May 22, 1908, Dickerson became the acting governor
Acting governor
An acting governor is a constitutional position created in some U.S. states when the governor dies in office or resigns. In some states, the governor may also be declared to be incapacitated and unable to function for various reasons, including illness and absence from the state for more than a...
. The Dickersons became the first family to move into the Nevada Governor's Mansion
Nevada Governor's Mansion
The Nevada Governor's Mansion is the official residence of the Governor of Nevada and his family. Reno architect George A. Ferris designed this Classical Revival style mansion.- History :...
, recently completed at a cost of $22,700. On September 2, 1909, Una gave birth to June, the only child to be born in the mansion. During his gubernatorial tenure, Dickerson worked to restructure state mental hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
s and reform the state prison system. He also found support to reorganize the state railroad commission.
The "Fight of the Century"
James J. Jeffries
James Jackson Jeffries was a world heavyweight boxing champion.His greatest assets were his enormous strength and stamina. Using a technique taught to him by his trainer, former welterweight and middleweight champion Tommy Ryan, Jeffries fought out of a crouch with his left arm extended forward...
sought to reclaim the heavyweight championship as the "great white hope" from African-American Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (boxer)
John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...
. Dickerson was impressed by Johnson's boxing skills and pledged to provide an opportunity for a match in Nevada without racial prejudice. Despite national pressure against staging the event, Dickerson allowed it to proceed in Reno. Promoter Tex Rickard received a demand from Dickerson that the fight not be fixed. On July 4, 1910, Johnson defeated Jeffries, causing a wave of unrest across the country. In November 1910, Dickerson was defeated in his bid for a second term and left office on January 2, 1911.
Later work
After leaving the governor's office, Dickerson was appointed superintendentSuperintendent (police)
Superintendent , often shortened to "super", is a rank in British police services and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries the full version is superintendent of police...
of the Nevada State Police
Nevada Highway Patrol
Nevada Highway Patrol is a division of the Nevada Department of Public Safety that is responsible for law enforcement across the entire state of Nevada...
. In 1913, Dickerson was appointed the Warden of Nevada State Prison
Nevada State Prison
Nevada State Prison is a penitentiary located in Carson City. The prison has been in continuous operation since it was established in 1862 and is managed by the Nevada Department of Corrections. It is one of the oldest prisons still operating in the United States. The high security facility housed...
in Carson City
Carson City, Nevada
The Consolidated Municipality of Carson City is the capital of the state of Nevada. The words Consolidated Municipality refer to a series of changes in 1969 which abolished Ormsby County and merged all the settlements contained within its borders into Carson City. Since that time Carson City has...
to replace George W. Cowing, who had problems finding men willing to form a firing squad
Execution by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...
to execute convicted murderer Andriza Mircovich
Andriza Mircovich
Andriza Mircovich was an Austro-Hungarian national of Montenegrin descent. He was the first and only prisoner ever to be executed by shooting in the state of Nevada. He had been sentenced to death for the premeditated murder of John Gregovich in Tonopah, Nevada...
. The death sentence was eventually carried out by a custom-built shooting machine.
Dickerson took office as the Superintendent of Federal Prisons in January 1920 under U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
. In September 1920, Jack Johnson was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas
United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth
The United States Penitentiary , Leavenworth was the largest maximum security federal prison in the United States from 1903 until 2005. It became a medium security prison in 2005.It is located in Leavenworth, Kansas...
for incarceration while under Dickerson's administration. Dickerson worked to have Johnson parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
d against unsubstantiated charges. Dickerson resigned on April 2, 1921, when newly elected President Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
announced that he would appoint his brother-in-law Heber Herbert Votaw to the office.
In December 1923, Dickerson returned to Nevada State Prison. He supervised the execution of Gee Jon
Gee Jon
Gee Jon was a Chinese national who was the first person in the United States to be executed by lethal gas. A member of the Hip Sing Tong criminal society from San Francisco, California, Gee was sentenced to death for the murder of an elderly member from another gang in Nevada...
in February 1924, the first to be carried out by gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
in the United States
Capital punishment in the United States
Capital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...
. Dickerson remained warden until his death in November 1925.
Legacy
Dickerson was buried at Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City. Afterwards, his wife Una became a librarian at the Law Library in Reno, Nevada. She later retired in Reno and died on April 9, 1950. Una was buried next to her husband, but her ghost reportedly hauntsHaunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
the governor's mansion.
The Dickersons had eight children: Harvey, Norinne, June, Donald, Denver, Belford, Barbara and George. Their sons Harvey, Denver, and George followed their father's footsteps into Nevada state politics. Harvey Dickerson became the Attorney General of Nevada
Nevada Attorney General
The Nevada Attorney General is the top legal officer for the state of Nevada. The functions of the office are set forth in Nevada Revised Statutes, Chapter 228. The Attorney General represents the people of Nevada in civil and criminal matters before trial, appellate and the supreme courts of...
in 1955 and unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1958. The younger Denver Dickerson
Denver Dickerson
Denver Dickerson was Speaker of the Nevada Assembly in 1943 and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was appointed Secretary of Guam in 1963 by U.S. President John F. Kennedy...
would go on to become the Speaker of the Nevada Assembly
Nevada Assembly
The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member districts. Each Assembly district contained approximately 47,400 people as of the 2000 census, although...
in 1943 and was appointed Secretary of Guam
Secretary of Guam
The Secretary of Guam was the equivalent of the Lieutenant Governor of Guam when the Governorship was still appointed by the President of the United States...
in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. George M. Dickerson was elected District Attorney of Clark County, Nevada
Clark County, Nevada
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,375,765 people, 512,253 households, and 339,693 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 71.6% White , 9.1% Black, 5.7% Asian, 0.8% American Indian and 12.8% of other or mixed race. 22.0% were Hispanic of any race...
in 1954 and President of the State Bar of Nevada in 1973.
Other offices and affiliations
- 32nd degreeScottish RiteThe Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry , commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite, is one of several Rites of the worldwide fraternity known as Freemasonry...
FreemasonFreemasonryFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge... - Chairman of the Nevada Board of Education
- Nevada Board of Prison Commissioners and Insane Asylum
- President, Blaine Gold Mining and Milling Company
- President, Robinson Mining Company
- President, White Pine County Abstract and Guarantee Company
- Sagebrush Club (Carson City, Nevada)
- University Club (Ely, Nevada)
See also
- Capital punishment in Nevada
- List of United States political families (Dickersons of Nevada)
External links
- Denver Sylvester Dickerson at the National Governors AssociationNational Governors AssociationThe National Governors Association , founded in 1908 as the National Governors' Conference, is funded primarily by state dues, federal grants and contracts and private contributions. NGA represents the governors of the fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories The National Governors Association...
- Denver Sylvester Dickerson 1908-1910 at the Nevada State Library and Archives
- Nevada Governors' Biographical Information at the Nevada State Library and Archives