John D. Voelker
Encyclopedia
John D. Voelker better known by his pen name
Robert Traver, was an attorney
, judge
, and writer. He is best known as the author of the novel
, Anatomy of a Murder published in 1958. The best-selling novel was turned into an Academy Award nominated film
-- directed by Otto Preminger
and starring Jimmy Stewart
-- that was released July 1, 1959. Duke Ellington
wrote the music for the movie. It is critically acclaimed as one of the best trial movies
of all time.
Anatomy of a Murder is based on a real homicide
and subsequent trial
that occurred in Big Bay
, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
in the early morning of July 31, 1952. Coleman A. Peterson, a lieutenant
in the Army
, was charged with murdering Maurice Chenoweth. The alleged motive was revenge for the rape
of Peterson's wife by Chenoweth. Voelker successfully defended Peterson who was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
and spent most of his life there. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School
in 1928 and practiced law
for a time in Chicago, Illinois before tiring of city life and returning to Ishpeming to enter private practice. Later, he was elected to the office of Marquette County
prosecutor
. In 1957, he was appointed the 74th justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
, and was subsequently reelected to that position. After the success of his novel, Anatomy of a Murder, Voelker retired from the court in 1959 in order to write full-time and to fish at his beloved Frenchman's Pond.
Thomas M. Cooley Law School, one of the largest law schools in the United States founded in Lansing, Michigan by a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice, names its various graduating classes after prominent Michigan jurists. In May 1997, Thomas M. Cooley Law School graduated the "John D. Voelker Class."
Under the pen name Robert Traver, Voelker published a number of novels and short stories
with legal themes, all with the small-town Upper Peninsula Michigan setting he was most familiar with. He chose to write under a different pen name in order to assure others that his agenda as a writer and a prosecutor were completely separate. He also published three books on fishing
which are regarded as classics of the genre. The Escanaba River
was the setting for many of his fishing stories.
Voelker was profiled as a subject of an On the Road segment with Charles Kuralt
on the CBS Evening News
and was regarded by Kuralt as one of the most interesting subjects that the correspondent interviewed in his career.
In 1964, John Voelker wrote Testament of a Fisherman, under the nom de plume Robert Traver. Using a minimum of prose, to a vast number of trout anglers, Voelker’s piece best exemplifies the love of this sport.
Testament of a Fisherman
I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful and I hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience; because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don't want to waste the trip; because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters; because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there; because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant - and not nearly so much fun.
(From Anatomy of a Fisherman by Robert Traver)
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Robert Traver, was an attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, and writer. He is best known as the author of the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, Anatomy of a Murder published in 1958. The best-selling novel was turned into an Academy Award nominated film
Anatomy of a Murder
Anatomy of a Murder is a 1959 American courtroom crime drama film. It was directed by Otto Preminger and adapted by Wendell Mayes from the best-selling novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Voelker under the pen name Robert Traver...
-- directed by Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
and starring Jimmy Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
-- that was released July 1, 1959. Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
wrote the music for the movie. It is critically acclaimed as one of the best trial movies
Trial movies
Trial movies is a film genre, also commonly referred to as courtroom drama.-The American Bar Association's list:In 1989, the American Bar Association rated the twelve best trial films of all time, and provided a detailed and reasoned legal evaluation for its choices. Ten of them are in English; M...
of all time.
Anatomy of a Murder is based on a real homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
and subsequent trial
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
that occurred in Big Bay
Big Bay, Michigan
Big Bay is an unincorporated community in Marquette County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a census-designated place for statistical purposes and does not have any legal status as an incorporated municipality. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 265...
, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
in the early morning of July 31, 1952. Coleman A. Peterson, a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, was charged with murdering Maurice Chenoweth. The alleged motive was revenge for the rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
of Peterson's wife by Chenoweth. Voelker successfully defended Peterson who was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Life and work
Voelker was born in Ishpeming, MichiganIshpeming, Michigan
Ishpeming is a city in Marquette County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,686 at the 2000 census. This is down from a higher population in the 1950s and 1960s when the economically supportive iron ore mines had a much higher employment level...
and spent most of his life there. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School
University of Michigan Law School
The University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Founded in 1859, the school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, most of whom are seeking Juris Doctor or Master of Laws degrees, although the school also offers a Doctor of Juridical...
in 1928 and practiced law
Practice of law
In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professional services of a lawyer or attorney at law, barrister,...
for a time in Chicago, Illinois before tiring of city life and returning to Ishpeming to enter private practice. Later, he was elected to the office of Marquette County
Marquette County, Michigan
-National protected areas:* Hiawatha National Forest * Huron National Wildlife Refuge* Ottawa National Forest -University:Northern Michigan University is a four-year university, established in 1899, located in Marquette, Michigan, on Michigan's Upper Peninsula...
prosecutor
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
. In 1957, he was appointed the 74th justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
Michigan Supreme Court
The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is known as Michigan's "court of last resort" and consists of seven justices who are elected to eight-year terms. Candidates are nominated by political parties and are elected on a nonpartisan ballot...
, and was subsequently reelected to that position. After the success of his novel, Anatomy of a Murder, Voelker retired from the court in 1959 in order to write full-time and to fish at his beloved Frenchman's Pond.
Thomas M. Cooley Law School, one of the largest law schools in the United States founded in Lansing, Michigan by a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice, names its various graduating classes after prominent Michigan jurists. In May 1997, Thomas M. Cooley Law School graduated the "John D. Voelker Class."
Under the pen name Robert Traver, Voelker published a number of novels and short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
with legal themes, all with the small-town Upper Peninsula Michigan setting he was most familiar with. He chose to write under a different pen name in order to assure others that his agenda as a writer and a prosecutor were completely separate. He also published three books on fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
which are regarded as classics of the genre. The Escanaba River
Escanaba River
The Escanaba River is a river in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan.In his poem The Song of Hiawatha, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow describes how Hiawatha "crossed the rushing Esconaba". It is a wide river that cuts into limestone beds...
was the setting for many of his fishing stories.
Voelker was profiled as a subject of an On the Road segment with Charles Kuralt
Charles Kuralt
Charles Kuralt was an American journalist. He was most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and later as the first anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning, a position he held for fifteen years.Kuralt's "On the Road"...
on the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
and was regarded by Kuralt as one of the most interesting subjects that the correspondent interviewed in his career.
In 1964, John Voelker wrote Testament of a Fisherman, under the nom de plume Robert Traver. Using a minimum of prose, to a vast number of trout anglers, Voelker’s piece best exemplifies the love of this sport.
Testament of a Fisherman
I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful and I hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience; because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don't want to waste the trip; because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters; because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there; because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant - and not nearly so much fun.
(From Anatomy of a Fisherman by Robert Traver)
Further reading
- Baker, Frederick M., Jr. and Vander Veen III, Rich, “Michigan Lawyers in History -- John D. Voelker: Michigan’s Literary Justice”, Michigan Bar Journal, May 2000.
- Bergman, Shirley J., “The Real Trial”, Michigan History, November/December 2001.
- 50th Anniversary. September 14, 2008 at Detroit Free PressDetroit Free PressThe Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
. - John D. Voelker Foundation.
- Kirvan, Tom, "Alive and Well, Supreme Court official keeps book in spotlight", Legal News.
- Michigan Archive, Michigan History Arts and Letters, John D. Voelker.
- Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society, John D. Voelker Biography and bust.
- 50th Anniversary Celebration at Northern Michigan UniversityNorthern Michigan UniversityNorthern Michigan University is a four-year college public university established in 1899 located in Marquette, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. With a population of nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, Northern Michigan University is the Upper Peninsula's largest...
- Shaul, Richard D., “Anatomy of a Murder”, Michigan History, November/December 2001.
- Shaul, Richard D., “Backwoods Barrister”, Michigan History, November/December 2001.
- Two trailers for Anatomy of a Murder at IMDB.com, which includes film of John D. Voelker.
Other resources
- McCullough, James, and Wargin, Ed, Voelker's Pond: a Robert Traver Legacy, (MI: Huron River Press, 2003). ISBN 9781932399004; ISBN 1932399003.
- John D. Voelker Collected Papers, -- at the Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University Archives collection.