Robert M. Beatty - Silver Party, Elected


9th Nevada Attorney General

Term:  January 7, 1895 - December 10, 1896 [Died in Office]

Biography

Robert M. Beatty, born on March 4, 1850, at Mount Morris, Ogle County, Illinois, moved with his family to California in 1852.  In 1868, he came to Nevada, studied law in Virginia City, and gained admittance to the Nevada State Bar in White Pine County (Nevada) on July 19, 1871.[1]  In 1873, after moving to Eureka, Nevada, the voters elected him District Attorney, as a Democrat.

Regretfully, Beatty died while in office, and Nevada Governor Sadler appointed James R. Judge as Nevada’s tenth Attorney General.  Beatty was the first Attorney General to die in office.

Election of 1894

Elected as Nevada’s ninth Attorney General on November 6, 1894, Beatty (Silver Party) received 5,007 (49.4%) of the 10,136 votes cast, J. D. Torreyson (current office incumbent (Republican)) received 3,484 (34.4%) votes; G.S. Sawyer (Peoples Party) 1,144 (11.3%) received votes; and W.C. Grimes (Democrat) received 501(4.9%) votes.

Office Administration and Duties

Beatty had no deputies or other support staff according to the Nevada Attorney General’s budget for the 1895–1897 state biennial fiscal periods:

1895–1897 Budget

$6,000

 

$6,000

Attorney General’s Salary

 

 

Office expenses came from an appropriation “[f]or current expenses, telegraphic, postal, and contingent, of the state officers, Supreme Court, and State Library, for transportation of books and documents, and storage and transportation of state property, $5,000”

The 1895 Nevada State Legislature did not add any additional duties for the Attorney General to perform.


[1] Nevada Reports, Number 22, p. 10.

    • Robert M. Beatty - Nevada Historical Society