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GEORGE K. CRICHTON. Among the youth and vigor of the bar of Williamson county one who is rapidly gaining prestige as an able trial lawyer and well fortified counselor is George K. Crichton, whose name forms the caption for this review. Mr. Crichton represents his profession in the city of Herrin, among whose numerous industries he partially grew up and in which community he has passed from the sphere of one who toils to the sphere of one who stands ready to plead the cause of him who seeks the courts to adjust a difference or to right a wrong.
Geo. K. Crichton is a native son of Illinois. He was born at Staunton, May 16, 1887, and is a son of Lawson Crichton, a mine manager in the employ of the Chicago & Carterville Coal Company at Herrin. Lawson Crichton was born at Kilmarnock, Scotland, in the year 1855. His father was a miner in Scotland and as a youth Mr. Crichton himself became interested in the mining of coal. He immigrated to the United States and first located at Litchfield, Illinois, where he was engaged in mining enterprises for a period of years, at the expiration of which he removed to Staunton. Remaining for some years in the latter place, he removed thence to Taylorville. He familiarized himself with every phase of his calling and, as time passed, prepared himself for the position of mine manager. On the 1st of October, 1906, he came to Herrin, where he entered upon his duties with the Chicago & Carterville Coal Company. Lawson Crichton was married in his native land to Miss Jane Kilpatrick and concerning their children the following brief data are here incorporated, - Lawson R. is a druggist in Denver, Colorado; Cecilia is
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the wife of B. E. Bulpitt, of Taylorville, Illinois; Isabella remains at home, as does also Geo. K., the immediate subject of this review.
To the excellent public schools of Taylorville, Illinois, Geo. K. Crichton is indebted for his preliminary educational training, and there he prepared himself for college. At the age of nineteen years he was matriculated as a student in Washington University, at St. Louis, and was graduated in that excellent institution as a member of the class of 1909, duly receiving his degree as Bachelor of Laws. He passed the bar examination for the state of Illinois at Chicago on the 23d of June of the same year and now has admission to practice in all the state and federal courts. While passing his vacations during his university career Mr. Crichton was employed in some capacity or other in the mines at Herrin. In addition to receiving a compensation for his employment he also secured first hand information about the life of a man who digs coal. He thoroughly acquainted himself with the actual relations existing between miner and operator and the responsibilities of each. In an industrial field like Williamson county an accurate knowledge of mining is an indispensable aid to a lawyer in cases involving action for damages or in defending a corporation from the unjust assaults of injured employes. In 1910 Mr. Crichton was appointed master-in-chancery of the city court of Herrin and he is serving with the utmost efficiency in that office at the present time, in 1911. On the 18th of April, 1911, he was honored by his fellow citizens with election to the office of city attorney of Herrin, a position for which he is eminently well fitted. Although young in the profession, Mr. Crichton is proving himself one of the most industrious and capable lawyers in Williamson county. He is a stalwart Republican in his political proclivities and his first vote was cast, in 1908, for President Taft. In fraternal connections he is a valued and appreciative member of the grand old Masonic order, with Which his father is likewise affiliated, and he also holds membership in the Improved Order of Red Men and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In religious matters he attends and gives his support to the Presbyterian church, in whose faith he was reared. He is a young attorney whose future is full of promise and as a citizen his loyalty and public spirit are of the most insistent order. He is unmarried.