{{Short description|American attorney}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = | image_size = | name = Arthur D. Hill | birth_date = June 25, 1869 | birth_place = Paris | death_date = November 29, 1947 (aged 78) | death_place = Port Chester, New York | resting_place = | website = | occupation = Attorney | party = Republican<br>Progressive Party (1912-1915) | spouse = | alma_mater = Harvard College<br>Harvard Law School | title = District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts | term_start = February 24, 1909 | term_end = November 13, 1909 | predecessor = John B. Moran | successor = Joseph C. Pelletier | title2 = Corporation Counsel for the City of Boston | term_start2 = 1919 | term_end2 = 1922 | predecessor2 = Alexander Whiteside | successor2 = E. Mark Sullivan }}
'''Arthur Dehon Hill''' (June 25, 1869 – November 29, 1947) was an American lawyer who served as District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and was a defense counsel for Sacco and Vanzetti.
==Early life== Hill was born on June 25, 1869, in Paris while his parents, Adams Sherman Hill and Caroline Inches (Dehon) Hill were on vacation.<ref name=Court /> He grew up in Boston and attended Browne & Nichols School, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School. He began practicing law following his graduation in 1894.<ref name=Orator>{{cite news|title=Arthur D. Hill As Orator|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=February 4, 1908}}</ref> In 1895 he married Henrietta Post McLean, the daughter of General Nathaniel McLean.<ref name=Assistant /> They had three children.<ref name=Court />
==Early legal career== Hill was a partner of the firm Hill, Barlow, Bangs & Homans.<ref name=Fight /> In November 1904 he represented the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the "Tech riots".<ref name=Orator /> In 1908 he was appointed receiver for the American Insurance Company.<ref name=Nominated>{{cite news|title=Hill Nominated|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=February 18, 1909}}</ref> Hill was also an active member of the bar association and specialized in disbarment proceedings against lawyers in Suffolk County.<ref name=Fight />
==Political career== During the 1906 gubernatorial campaign, Hill frequently spoke against the Democratic nominee John B. Moran's record as district attorney.<ref name=Fight>{{cite news|title=Richardson to Get Into Fight|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=March 31, 1907}}</ref> He was the favorite for the Republican nomination for district attorney in 1907, but chose not to enter the race.<ref>{{cite news|title=Trusty Pen His Weapon|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=April 2, 1907}}</ref> Moran died in 1909 and Governor Eben Sumner Draper appointed Hill to fill the vacancy.<ref>{{cite news|title=To Name Hill for Moran's Place|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=February 10, 1909}}</ref> He took office on February 24, 1909.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dist Atty Hill Takes Office|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=February 25, 1909}}</ref> During his tenure as DA, Hill secured the convictions of a former president of the Boston Common Council (Leo F. McCullough), a former Boston Alderman (George H. Battis) and the former head of the city's supply department (Michael J. Mitchell).<ref>{{cite news|title=Battis Three Years, Two for McCullough|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=June 4, 1909}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Resigned to Their Fate|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=July 11, 1909}}</ref> He was defeated in the 1909 election by Democrat Joseph C. Pelletier.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pelletier Not Over-Elated|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=November 3, 1909}}</ref> Pelletier kept Hill on as a special counsel on the "Steel Cases", which involved alleged collusive bidding between the city's structural steel corporations.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hill to Finish Steel Cases|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=November 13, 1909}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Steel Trial Begins Sept 20|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=July 16, 1909}}</ref> The trial ended with an acquittal.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Boston Steel Fabricators Acquitted of Conspiracy|work=The Iron Age|date=December 16, 1909|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dxlKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1839|accessdate=April 13, 2019}}</ref> After leaving office, Hill served as a professor at Harvard Law School.<ref name=Court />
In the 1912 United States presidential election, Hill backed Theodore Roosevelt over William Howard Taft.<ref>{{cite news|title=Harvard Men See Roosevelt|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=January 27, 1912}}</ref> He joined the Progressive Party and spoke frequently for its 1913 gubernatorial candidate, Charles Sumner Bird. Hill returned to the Republican party in 1915 to stump for gubernatorial nominee Samuel W. McCall.<ref>{{cite news|title=Boston Lustily Greets McCall|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=October 29, 1915}}</ref> In 1917, Hill was a candidate for at-large delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional convention, but lost to Charles F. Choate Jr. after a recount.<ref>{{cite news|title=Choate Wins; Hill Loses by Recount|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=May 17, 1917}}</ref>
During World War I, Hill served as a judge advocate general in the United States Army. He was commissioned as a major in December 1917 and served in France from January 1918 to June 1919, during which time he handled property damage claims made by French citizens against the U.S. Army.<ref name=Court /> He mustered out with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.<ref name=Orator /> From 1919 to 1922, Hill was corporation counsel for the City of Boston.<ref name=Replace>{{cite news|title=Lieut Col Hill to Replace Whiteside|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=July 23, 1919}}</ref><ref name=Court />
On June 1, 1923, Hill returned to the district attorney's office, this time as an assistant to Thomas C. O'Brien.<ref name=Assistant>{{cite news|title=O'Brien Names Hill Assistant|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=June 1, 1923}}</ref> He was assigned a number of notable cases, including the blackmail case against William J. Corcoran and the banking law violation case against John H. H. McNamee of the Prudential Trust Company.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hill to Handle Noted Cases|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=June 2, 1923}}</ref> Hill never intended to be a permanent member of O'Brien's staff and left in 1924.<ref>{{cite news|title=Five Resign From Dist Atty O'Brien's Staff|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=June 2, 1924}}</ref>
==Sacco and Vanzetti== In 1923, Hill served as counsel for Sacco and Vanzetti during their petitions for a new trial.<ref>{{cite news|title=Clears Judge Thayer in Sacco Trial Delay|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=March 31, 1923}}</ref><ref name=Court /> He successfully got Sacco declared insane and committed to Bridgewater State Hospital.<ref>{{cite news|author=Sibley, Frank P.|title=Sacco Committed to Bridgewater|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=April 21, 1923}}</ref>
In 1927, Hill returned to the case as chief defense counsel, replacing William G. Thompson and Herbert B. Ehrmann.<ref name=Court>{{cite news|title=Supreme Court May Get Sacco-Vanzetti Case|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=August 5, 1927}}</ref> The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected all of the defense's pleas and efforts to have the case heard in federal court were unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite news|title=State High Court Denies All Sacco-Vanzetti Pleas|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=August 20, 1927}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Seven-Year Battle in Courts Failure|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=August 23, 1927}}</ref>
==Later life== Hill spent his later years as a partner with the firm Hill, Barlow, Goodale, and Wiswall. He died on November 29, 1947, while visiting his daughter in Port Chester, New York.<ref>{{cite news|title=Arthur D. Hill: Prominent Lawyer and Ex-Harvard Professor|work=The Boston Daily Globe|date=November 30, 1947}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Arthur Hill Dies; Lawyer in Boston|work=The New York Times|date=November 30, 1947}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Arthur D.}} Category:1869 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Corporation counsels of Boston Category:District attorneys in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Harvard Law School faculty Category:Judge advocates general of the United States Army Category:Massachusetts Progressives (1912) Category:Massachusetts Republicans Category:Politicians from Boston Category:Sacco and Vanzetti