Mes racines / My roots

Henri Césaire Saint-Pierre

Mr. Justice St.Pierre died on Saturday morning from cancer.
Had Long and Notable Carrer at the Bar and on the Bench
Was in Celebrated Cases
Fought in American Civil War, Wounded and Left for Dead on the Battlefield

The Honourable Henri Cesaire St.Pierre, Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Montreal, died at his late residence, 2330 Park Avenue, at 7:50 on Saturday evening from cancer of the stomach. The deceased had been in failing health for some time, but continued his judicial duties until the end of November last. In December His Lordship was granted six months leave of absence. For some days it was known at the Court House that his condition was very serious, but the news of his death came as a shock.

Mr. Justice St.Pierre was one of the best known judges of the Province of Quebec. Before his elevation to the Bench he won renown as a criminal lawyer, and during his carreer at the Bar he defended among others no fewer than thirty-two prisoners who were held on charges of murder, including the notorious Shortis, who was the only one to be hanged after Mr. St.Pierre's defence. In the other cases, the sentences were either commuted or the accused were acquitted. Other famous clients in criminal cases were Caza, Dellima and Cerely.

In another sphere of his work at the Bar, the late Mr. St.Pierre was chief Counsel for the Hon. J. Israel Tarte in the Grenier libel case in 1887. He was appointed Queen's Counsel by the Earl of Aberdeen in 1889, and in June 1902, was named a puisne judge of the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec, being transferred to Montreal in 1902. On the Bench he presided over many trials by jury, and among other cases he heard was the one in which former sub-chief Lapointe had pleaded right to the Privy Council, his claim to a pension from the Montreal Police Benevolent Association after leaving the city force and prior to his joining the provincial detective force. Justice St.Pierre gave judgment, following the retrial of the cause as ordered by the Privy Council, granting Mr. Lapointe his pension from the benevolent fund.

His Lordship's most recent cause-celebre was that of Dame Annie Macdonald vs. The Bar of the Province of Quebec, in which the plaintiff sought to be admitted to practice at the Bar of the Province. The judge maintained the refusal of the Bar to admit the petitioner on the ground that women are barred by law.

The late judge was born at Ste. Madeleine, Que, on September 13, 1844, son of the late Joseph Berrier and Domitilde (Denis) St.Pierre. He was educated at Montreal college. After leaving college he joined the Northern Army and took part in the civil war of the United States. He served with the 76th New York Volunteers, and was wounded at the Battle of Mine Run, Virginia, in November 1863. He was picked up by the Southern cavalry and carted off as prisoner until the end of the war.

Returning to Montreal, Mr. St.Pierre studied law under Cartier and Sir J.J.C. Abott, being admitted to The Bar, in July, 1870. In 1874 he married Marie Albitha Lesieur, daughter of the late Adolphe Lesieur, merchant, Montreal. She predeceased him on December 19, 1908. There are three sons and two daughters of the marriage: Henry A. St.Pierre, protonotary of the counties of Pontiac and Bryson; Georges St.Pierre, civil engineer; and Guillaume St.Pierre, advocate, of the firm of Delenier, Wilson and St.Pierre; Annette, wife of Mr. L. Belanger, accountant, of Montreal; and Juliette, wife of Mr. Alexandre Prud'homme, advocate, of Loranger and Prud'homme.

Once the late Mr. St.Pierre sought provincial Parlementary honours. That was in 1878, when he unsuccessfully contested the seat for Jacques Cartier in the Liberal interests. One of his most noteworthy sayings will live after him. It was: "Be English, be Scotch, be French, be Irish, if you will, but above all and before all, let us be Canadians." He was honourary Commandant of the Canadian Veterans Association, and in 1902 he received the Cross of the Crown of Italy.

The funeral will take place at nine o'clock on Thuesday morning at the Church of St. George, corner of Bernard and St. Dominique street, the cortege leaving the late residence of the deceased at half past eight o'clock.

Article from The Montreal Gazette
Montreal, January 10,1916
page 5.