One of the Greatest: Charles J. Beise (1909-1983), 0617 COBJ, Vol. 46 No. 6 Pg. 17

• Author: Charlton Carpenter, J.

46 Colo.Law. 17

One of the Greatest: Charles J. Beise (1909-1983)

Vol. 46, No. 6 [Page 17]

The Colorado Lawyer

June, 2017

Profiles in Success

Charlton Carpenter, J.

One of the Greatest: Charles J. Beise (1909–1983)

The Colorado Lawyer’s “Profiles in Success” column celebrates those individuals, living and deceased, whose contributions to the practice of law lend themselves to inspiring narratives. This article is part of the “Six of the Greatest” series honoring Charles J. Beise, Daniel S. Hoffman, Howard Jenkins, David Johnson Clarke, Bryant O’Donnell, and former Colorado Chief Justice William Erickson. To suggest an article, contact Jessica A. Volz, PhD, at jvolz@cobar.org.

Charles J. Beise was born on February 10, 1909 in Mapleton, Minnesota. At an early age, he moved to Boulder, where he later attended the University of Colorado and served as its student body president. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he graduated with a law degree from CU in 1932.

In the Beginning

In 1934, when the Depression ruled Colorado and Prohibition was winding down, Chuck Beise arrived in Durango and was sworn in by U.S. Federal Judge J. Foster Symes, who had not held court in Durango for five years. The courtroom was packed. Durango hadn’t seen the admission of a new attorney for many years. Beise was immediately appointed to defend an alleged bootlegger. Several Prohibition agents testified against his client, who admitted to the sale of one bottle of whiskey. The court ruled in favor of the prosecuting attorney on an evidentiary matter. Beise then rested. The jury was instructed and retired to deliberate. Twenty minutes later, they returned with a “not guilty” verdict. The prosecuting attorney demanded that the jury be held in contempt. The judge gave the jury a strong tongue lashing. Nobody could figure out what had just happened.

Beise met the jury foreman on the way out of the courthouse. The foreman said that all of the jury members had attended Beise’s swearing-in ceremony, which was the only one to take place in Durango in the last 12 years. When jury deliberations began, it was unanimous that “the kid” wasn’t going to lose his first case in Durango.^[1] And so it began, with Beise losing very few cases in his entire career.

After seven years of practicing law in Southwest Colorado that were later memorialized in his two paperback books, San Juan’s Silver Tongue and San Juan Revisited,^[2] it was time for Beise to move o n. He left Durango in June 1941. It would seem that he had taken his bartender friend’s advice that when the gamblers start playing solitaire, the ladies of the night do their own...