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
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$6,000
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$6,000
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Attorney General’s Salary
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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”
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The 1895 Nevada State Legislature did not add any additional duties for
the Attorney General to perform.
[1] Nevada Reports, Number 22, p. 10.