John Donaldson Voelker (June 29, 1903 – March 18, 1991), also known by his pen name Robert Traver, was a noted lawyer, author and fly fisherman from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Born and raised in Ishpeming, he later attended the University of Michigan Law School. His early professional career was as an attorney and county prosecutor in Marquette County. Voelker was also appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Governor G. Mennen Williams in 1957. 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 of the same name—directed by Otto Preminger and starring James Stewart—released on 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 murder (and subsequent trial) that occurred in Big Bay 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. Other books by Voelker were based on other legal cases in the Upper Peninsula or his love of fly fishing for brook trout. He authored over 100 opinions during his short tenure on the Michigan Supreme Court, the most famous of which was in a case called People v. Hildabridle involving a naturist community near Battle Creek.

Early life and education

Voelker was born on June 29, 1903, in Ishpeming, Michigan, the youngest of six, to George His father, of German ancestry, was a bar owner in Ishpeming. His grandparents were German immigrants who came to the mining towns of Ontonagon and Negaunee in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to establish breweries. George Voelker was born in Ontonagon in 1860 and learned to speak the Ojibwe language before English. Young John, alongside his older brothers, learned from his father to fly fish for brook trout. After their marriage, he practiced law with the firm of Meyer, Austrian & Platt. They lived in Chicago for three years before he returned to Michigan.

He was defeated for re-election in 1950. Voelker noted of his defeat that it was inevitable. Ultimately, he said that a prosecutor in a small town will build a majority in the population to vote against him, but only after he had prosecuted them or their friends and relatives. Voelker also hated campaigning.

After defeat, Voelker re-entered private practice. In August and September 1952, he represented the defense in People v. Coleman Peterson. Peterson was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War who was stationed in Big Bay during the summer of 1952 and accused of murder in the shooting death of Maurice Chenoweth, a local bar owner. The case "made" his "reputation as a defense attorney". The trial lasted seven days with a total of 31 witnesses: 26 for the prosecution and five for the defense. The jury deliberated for four hours before pronouncing Peterson not guilty by reason of insanity. Voelker's only payment as the defense attorney was the murder weapon.

Voelker's business slowed after the Peterson trial, and by 1953 he closed his office and worked from home. In 1954, he ran for the United States Congress.

During his tenure on the court, Voelker wrote over 100 opinions, both majority opinions and dissents. In the dissent, Voelker proclaimed "the entire search-and-arrest process 'indecent—indeed the one big indecency we find in this whole case .... It seems that we are now prepared to burn down the house of constitutional safeguards in order to roast a few nudists. I will have none of it".

In 1959, after the success of his novel Anatomy of a Murder, Voelker retired from the court in order to write full-time and to fish at his beloved Frenchman's Pond. At the time, his court salary was $18,500/year (equivalent to $ in ) while he was earning royalties from Anatomy of a Murder of almost $100,000 (equivalent to $ in ). He delayed his resignation until 1960 so that Governor Williams would be free to appoint his successor, Theodore Souris. The novel was chosen as the January 1958 Book-of-the-Month Club main selection,

Otto Preminger purchased the movie rights to Anatomy of a Murder in April 1958. the director was convinced by his scouts to film the entire movie on location, the first time a movie was filmed entirely in that fashion. Voelker's home office was used as one of the filming locations, as was the Marquette County Courthouse. and the movie did as well, In addition to its on-location filming, Duke Ellington wrote part of the movie's score in Ishpeming. The movie premiered in Ishpeming and Marquette on June 29, 1959, followed by its world premier in Detroit on July 1. The movie was critically acclaimed. Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times said, "it is the best courtroom melodrama this old judge has ever seen," and the American Bar Association rated this as one of the 12 best trial films of all time.

Financially secure from his writing, Voelker resigned from the Michigan Supreme Court, telling Governor Williams, "other people can write my opinions, but none can write my books. I have learned that I can't do both so regretfully I must quit the court". Voelker continued to write about fishing or the courtroom through 1960s and 1970s. He authored a column called "The Traver Treatment" in the Detroit News Sunday Magazine in 1967–68. His last book was People Versus Kirk in 1981, and the last short story of his that was published was titled "Dangling Angling Genes" and appeared in the May–June 1990 issue of Rod & Reel magazine. Kuralt called him, "the nearest thing to a great man I've ever known" when informed of the author's death.

His widow donated his papers to Northern Michigan University in 1992. The collection is a part of the Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University Archives and includes unpublished manuscripts, case files from his days as a lawyer, some files related to his tenure on the Michigan Supreme Court and personal correspondence. Most of his Supreme Court-related files are in the State Archives in Lansing.

Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, founded in Lansing, Michigan, by a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice, names its various graduating classes after prominent Michigan jurists. In May 1997, the school graduated the "John D. Voelker Class". The school also awards the John D. Voelker Award to the senior associate editor of the Thomas Cooley Law Review "who made the most significant contributions to [its] publication".

The film Anatomy of a Murder has inspired a cottage industry in Ishpeming, Marquette, and Big Bay around the filming locations. The various landmarks associated with the original 1952 trial as well as the 1959 movie display newspaper clippings and movie memorabilia. The local visitors' association also offers pamphlets for a self-guided walking tour of Big Bay.

Bibliography

Novels

  • Danny and the Boys, Being Some Legends of Hungry Hollow (1951). Cleveland: World Publishing Co.
  • Anatomy of a Murder (1958). New York: St. Martin's Press.
  • Hornstein's Boy (1962). New York: St. Martin's Press.
  • Laughing Whitefish (1965). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • People Versus Kirk (1981). New York: St Martin's Press.

Non Fiction

  • Trouble-Shooter: The Story of a Northwoods Prosecutor (1943). New York: Viking Press. Memoir
  • Small Town D.A. (1954) New York: Dutton. Memoir
  • Trout Madness, Being a Dissertation on the Symptoms and Pathology of this Incurable Disease by One of Its Victims (1960). New York: St. Martin's Press
  • Anatomy of a Fisherman (1964). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • The Jealous Mistress (1967). Boston: Little, Brown. Memoir
  • Trout Magic (1974). New York: Crown.
  • Traver on Fishing: A Treasury of Robert Traver's Finest Stories and Essays About Fishing for Trout (2001). Lyons, Nick (ed.). Guilford, CT: Lyons Press. Published posthumously; anthology of essays and observations published in other anthologies and magazines plus two profiles by Norris McDowell and Rich Vander Veen & Fred Baker.

References

  • John D. Voelker Foundation
  • Voelker Collection at Northern Michigan University