Charles P. McCarthy papers

Collection

Identifier: MS 0009

Staff Only

Summary

Includes two college notebooks dealing with property law (1901-1902); notes, pamphlets, financial papers and day books (1905-1909); correspondence including letters from W.E. Borah, D. Worth Clark, and C.C. Cavanah; legal papers (1909-1911) relating to Boise Cold Storage vs. O.S.R.R. Co., Boise City vs. Ada County (regarding road poll tax), and a grand jury investigation of the meat trust.

Dates

Creation: 1892 - 1912

Biographical Note

Charles P. McCarthy was born in Boston in 1881 and educated in public schools in Massachussetts. He graduated from Harvard University (1902) and Harvard Law School (1904) before arriving to Idaho in 1905. That same year he was admitted to the Idaho bar and opened a law office adjacent to William E. Borah's law firm. McCarthy occasional worked for or with BOrah on small cases, and was involved in the Haywood Trial.

He was elected to the Supreme Court in 1920 (four-year term), after serving as assistant city attorney of Boise (1907-1908), Ada county prosecutor (1908-1912), and Third District Judge (1912-1919). For elected offices, McCarthy ran on the Republican ticket.

After completing his term on the supreme court, he returned to private practice and in 1929, he moved to California. He died in 1950.

McCarthy was married to Ethel C. Stewart, a daughter of Justice George H. Stewart of the Idaho Supreme Court. They had two daughters, Marion and Elizabeth.