William H. Fryer
Historical Summary
William Henry Fryer (1880–1963) was a prominent El Paso attorney born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at St. James schools before studying law in New York and later at the University of Texas, where he earned his LL.B. in 1908. After illness led him to Texas, he established his career in El Paso, serving as county attorney, assistant United States district attorney under President Woodrow Wilson, and later as a leading private practitioner.
Fryer became one of the Southwest’s best-known criminal and trial lawyers, practicing in several notable partnerships, including with Dan M. Jackson, S. J. Isaacks, Robert E. Cunningham, Coyne Milstead, and John B. Luscombe, Jr. His firm handled widely publicized cases, among them the Ku Klux Klan and Salvador Ateca matters, and he gained further renown through major criminal trials such as the Edna Meade, Irving Fink, Pearl Johnson, Mary Jean Parsons, Sgt. Jones, Captain Phillips, and Pereira and Brading cases. His jury summation in the Captain Phillips case was especially celebrated.
Deeply involved in civic, legal, and Catholic institutions, Fryer suggested the name “Liberty Hall” for El Paso’s County Court House Civic Auditorium in 1918, served as president of the El Paso Bar Association in 1948, and led the University of Texas Ex-Students Association in 1933. He helped bring the Christian Brothers to El Paso in 1925 to found Cathedral High School for Boys, aided French Christian Brothers who fled revolutionary violence in Mexico in 1910, and secured approval for the illuminated “C” on Mount Franklin associated with Cathedral High School. He was elected to the Cathedral Hall of Fame in 1960.
Fryer also took interest in dramatics, writing, family history, and the preservation of pioneer recollections. He married Mary Alice Kelleher in 1913, and they had six children. Their son Austin Edward Fryer was killed in World War II and buried in Belgium. Fryer died in El Paso on November 13, 1963, at age eighty-three.
Additional society notices record the engagement of Fryer’s daughter Margaret Fryer to Aviation Cadet Norman Henry Nagle during World War II, along with unrelated El Paso and border-region social events, including a dinner honoring Virginia Cross and Thomas H. Mays, Jr., a Woman’s Auxiliary reception for the College of Mines, and the announced marriage of Esther Ensenada Rico, daughter of General Juan Felipe Rico of Ensenada, to Lt. Col. Eduardo Castro Riddle.
Document Transcription
WILLIAM HENRY FRYER
William Henry Fryer was born at Brooklyn, New York, July 8, 1880, son of William Henry and Catherine Loretto (Flannagan) Fryer. Mr. Fryer was educated by the French Christian Brothers in St. James Parochial School and St. James High School in Brooklyn, graduating from high school in 1897. He attended New York Law School at night for two years. His first job was secretary to the president of the Southern Express Company in New York. In 1904, while en route to Yosemite National Park, he contracted typhoid fever in New Orleans and was taken off the train at El Paso, Texas, where he spent the following year convalescing. When he returned to New York he found that he could not stand the cold winter, so he returned to El Paso. He worked in the office of J. L. Campbell, Engineer of Maintenance of Way of the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad.
He enrolled in the Law Department of the University of Texas at Austin, securing his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1908, having worked his way through as secretary to the dean, Judge John C. Townes. He was admitted to the Texas State Bar in 1908 and he became associated with Patrick Henry Clarke in the practice of law in El Paso and also court reporter in the 34th District Court for Judge Dan M. Jackson. He was elected in his second bid in 1916 for the post of county attorney, but was defeated for re-election two years later. He was then appointed assistant United States District Attorney by President Woodrow Wilson. Declining to serve as Special Prosecutor and Assistant Attorney General of Texas, Mr. Fryer resumed the private practice of law in association with former District Judge Dan M. Jackson and S. J. Isaacks.
When Mr. Isaacks left the firm, followed later by Judge Jackson, who went to Washington as assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, Mr. Fryer formed a partnership with Robert E. Cunningham, later District Judge of the 65th Court at El Paso, and from 1922 to 1926, Walter Davis was a member of the firm. Mr. Fryer continued in partnership with Mr. Cunningham until 1933, and, during that time, the partners handled several sensational legal matters, including the widely publicized Ku Klux Klan and Salvador Ateca cases.
From 1933 to 1936, Mr. Fryer practiced independently and then took in Coyne Milstead as a partner. In 1952 John B. Luscombe, Jr., joined the firm with Mr. Fryer serving as senior partner of the law firm of Fryer, Milstead and Luscombe. Mr. Milstead died in 1961 and Mr. Fryer retired in November, 1962, and a year later the firm was dissolved. Mr. Fryer served as counsel then to the law firm of Peticolas and Stevens, which Mr. Luscombe had joined. Mr. Fryer, during his long and colorful career, achieved outstanding prominence as a criminal and trial lawyer and was considered one of the foremost in that legal category in the Southwest.
The cases in which he figured always attracted large crowds and much publicity and included the Edna Meade case, the Irving Fink case, the Pearl Johnson case, the Mary Jean Parsons case, the Sgt. Jones case, the Captain Phillips case, and the Pereira and Brading (the Love Birds) case. Mr. Fryer's summation to the jury in the Captain Phillips case was considered one of the greatest arguments ever heard in a courtroom.
He was interested in the growth and development of El Paso and it was he who suggested in 1918 that the new County Court House Civic Auditorium be called "Liberty Hall," which it is still called. In 1948 he was President of the El Paso Bar Association and he was also a member of the El Paso County Bar Association, the Texas Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.
His fraternity was Delta Chi. He was a Roman Catholic and a member of the Fourth Degree Assembly, Knights of Columbus. In 1925 he was instrumental in bringing the Christian Brothers to El Paso where that order started Cathedral High School for Boys.
During the Mexican Revolution of 1910 a community of Christian Brothers was arrested at Zacatecas, Mexico. The Brother Director and Brother Subdirector were executed and buried in unmarked graves. The remaining fourteen brothers, all natives of France, were sent to the border in a box car, and upon arrival at the border, they crossed into El Paso. Mr. Fryer, a former Brother's Boy, aided by Father C. M. Garde, cared for them until they could be taken to the Brothers' house in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mr. Fryer obtained civic approval for the letter "C" (for Cathedral High School) to be placed on Mount Franklin and it is lighted whenever Cathedral High School plays a football game.
In 1933 Mr. Fryer was President of the University of Texas Ex-Students Association.
Until 1957 he attended the reunions of the graduates of St. James-Bishop Loughlin School in Brooklyn, but in that year he was the only surviving member of the Class of 1897.
He enjoyed dramatics and appeared in many plays at the Catholic Community Center. He enjoyed writing also and was the author of a song, "The Cowboy Coon," and of several children's stories. He was interested in Southwest history and recorded the statements of early pioneers. He was also interested in the history of his own family. He enjoyed traveling and sports.
In 1960 he was elected to the Cathedral Hall of Fame in El Paso.
William Henry Fryer was married at Austin, Texas, July 16, 1913, to Mary Alice Kelleher, daughter of Daniel Francis and Mary Jane (Failey) Kelleher.
Mr. and Mrs. Fryer became the parents of six children:
Elecia Monica, who is Mrs. Parr Krumb of Homewood, IL.
Rosemary Therese, of El Paso.
Margaret Mary (Mrs. Jack Hart), of El Paso.
Helen Elizabeth (Mrs. James D. Chatfield), Oak Harbor, WA.
William Henry, Jr. (deceased).
5
Austin Edward Fryer was killed in World War II and buried in the American Cemetery, Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium.
Mr. Fryer died at El Paso, Texas, November 13, 1963, at the age of 83.
Margaret Fryer and Cadet Nagle
Important Wedding Will Be Held in Fall
Mr. and Mrs. William Henry Fryer, 1008 Prospect Avenue, are announcing the engagement of their daughter, Margaret, to Aviation Cadet Norman Henry Nagle of Lakehurst, N. J., son of Henry Nagle of Chicago.
The wedding will be an important event of the late autumn, after Cadet Nagle receives his wings in October.
The bride-to-be, one of a quartet of charming sisters, was born and reared in El Paso. She was graduated from Loretto College and attended College of Mines, where her sorority was Delta Delta Delta.
Mr. and Mrs. Fryer's other daughters are Mrs. Parr Krumb of Houston, the former Elecia Fryer; Miss Rosemary Fryer of Washington, D. C.; and Miss Helen Fryer, student at Mines and also a Tri Delta. Their brother is Cadet Austin Fryer, who is stationed at Santa Ana, Calif.
Mrs. Krumb will come to El Paso for the wedding.
Cadet Nagle was graduated from Mt. Carmel High School, Chicago, and Eastern Illinois State Teachers' College. He is a member of the dramatic fraternity Theta Kappa Epsilon.
He volunteered in the Air Corps in September, 1942, and has been in active service since December, 1942.
Mrs. Corzelius Fetes Miss Virginia Cross and Thomas H. Mays Jr. at Dinner Party
Mrs. Anne Yates Corzelius entertained with a dinner party in the Tivoli, Juarez, Saturday evening to compliment Miss Virginia Cross and her fiance, Thomas Henry Mays, Jr., who are being showered with honors prior to their wedding Oct. 12.
The central table ornament was unique and in keeping with Mr. Mays' connection with American Airlines. The theme featured a miniature bride and bridegroom “landing” from a parachute made of sweetheart roses arranged on a plaque of white gladioli and sweetheart roses. Lettered in Old English, a card was inscribed with “Happy Landing.”
Mrs. Corzelius' guests were the affianced couple, the bride-elect's parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Cross, Mrs. William Hall, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Wise, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Todd, Mr. and Mrs. Ed C. Heid, Dr. Charles Rennick, Miss Nellie Donohue, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Heid, Mrs. Fay Rabb, Dr. Julian Lombard, Mrs. Josephine Moore, Mrs. Margaret Schuster Marshall, Prof. W. R. Avrett, Mrs. Loraine Baldwin, Steve Mitchell, Bob Oliver, Mrs. O. P. Lansden, A. N. Pundt, Frank Luther of New Orleans, and Ivan Dmitri of New York.
Woman's Auxiliary to the College of Mines Will Hold Annual Tea in A. B. Poe Home
Mrs. J. E. Anderson, president of the Woman's Auxiliary to the College of Mines, announces that the annual membership tea and fall reception of the group will be held from 4 to 6 p. m. Friday in the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Poe, 711 Rim Road.
The large group of guests will be greeted on arrival by members of the reception committee, including Mrs. George Millar, chairman, and Mesdames C. H. Leavell, L. R. Hoard, Olga Pool Wilson, J. A. Pickett, Robert Oliver, John L. Kaster, J. Page Kemp, Tom Lea, Jr., Louise Poe Shelton, Dexter Mapel, Otis Coles, Dorrance Roderick, L. P. Walker, K. D. Lynch, Frank Coles, A. P. Coles, and Harvey N. Christman.
The receiving line will be composed of Mrs. Poe, Mrs. Anderson, Mrs. D. M. Wiggins, wife of Dr. Wiggins, the president of the College of Mines; Mrs. Innis P. Swift; and her social committee, composed of Mesdames Maury Kemp, John Mason, George Turner, J. L. Raspberry, N. H. Keller, Allen Bruce, Robert Price, J. L. Nayler, Hugo Meyer, E. F. Cameron, H. T. Bowie, Ralph Sanders, James Goggin, J. D. Mayfield, G. B. Jackson, E. B. Lovelace, W. L. Wulfjen, Flint McGregor, M. L. Parker, H. L. Graham, Harris Walthall, James Borders, W. S. Crombie, S. S. Marston, B. F. Maveety, Grace Piper, M. Bernard, V. L. Izard, and C. E. Graham.
Members in another group who will assist at the house party include Mesdames Sam Young, Robert E. Cunningham, O. J. Allen, Frank Lyons, W. E. Swearingen, E. M. Pratt, R. R. Deason, Goode Renfro, J. T. Sullivan, C. W. Gordy, G. E. Hartwell, W. S. Hicks, L. A. Burns, W. D. Howe, E. M. Pooley, Roy Carey, John Achterberg, Walter Stockwell, Jas. A. Dick, Jr., C. E. Kelly, W. F. Robinson, Terry Allen, Sam Rennick, C. M. Goodman, H. E. Quinn, Alfonso Martinez, H. A. Meisel, George Brunner, Sam Watkins, T. C. Gunning, and W. N. Fink.
General Rico's Daughter to Wed Colonel Riddle
Invitations have been received to the ceremony to be held in Ensenada Oct. 3 at high noon for Esther Ensenada Rico, daughter of Gen. and Mrs. Juan Felipe Rico of Ensenada, Mexico, to Lt. Col. Eduardo Castro Riddle.
General and Mrs. Rico made many friends in El Paso and Juarez during his station in Juarez.
