The Judge

THE JUDGE

Although a century apart, both Jeremiah Casey and his great grand-nephew Peadar traced the same journey across the globe from West Cork, Ireland to San Francisco.

Leaving rural Ireland in 1873, Jeremiah Casey set out to make a new life in California. Arriving not long after the famed 49ers Gold Rush, Casey landed on American soil with nothing. Initially working as a shoe-shine and farm hand Casey, being the ambitious entrepreneur he was, proceeded to establish his own hotel, saloon and brewery in Port Costa, California. A well-known businessman, philanthropist, and self-taught student of law, he became a respected Judge.

“The best known & most popular Irishman on the Pacific Coast”

At the time, Port Costa was a bustling hub of commerce connected by a railroad ferry to the Trans-Continental Railroad and was the busiest wheat-shipping port in the country. By the 1880’s, the Ferry Exchange hotel was located next to the ferry terminal and owned by the capricious Judge Jeremiah Casey. His eccentricities and accompanying fame were spoken of throughout the state from San Diego to Eureka. The judge was known to render decisions from the balcony of his hotel and mete out lighter justice on the men who frequented his saloon.

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The quick wit of Judge Casey

When the judge fined a vagrant $10, the man said flippantly, ‘Oh, that’s easy! I’ve got that in my jeans.’ ‘Have you now!’ said Judge Casey, ‘Well, then 10 days in jail. Have you got that in your jeans?’

Judge Casey’s daughter’s speech to Contra Costa Historical Society - 1962

A few vagrants were up before Judge Casey and as each stood in front of the judge, he was given 10 days in the County Jail. The last man thinking he would get off easy said his name was Casey. ‘Is that so!’ said Judge Casey. ‘Well, you can take 30 days in jail for disgracing the name of Casey’.

A generous brewer and that’s no lie!

Every morning he would bring out two barrels of beer at his brewery. Everyone was welcome to pull the tap as long as the two barrels lasted! One day, he was sitting by a barrel when a vagrant came along and said ‘Judge Casey said I could come and get a cup of beer’. ‘Oh! he did, did he?’ said Casey, and he chased the liar off.

Casey would not ‘send such little fellows to jail.’

When Casey was the Justice of the Peace, four young boys were arrested for failing to pay their train fare. Their fathers all worked for the railroad and had insisted that the boys be taught a lesson. The boys appeared before Judge Casey, and he dismissed all four cases, saying he would not send ‘such little fellows to jail.’

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