[5] Later in 1906 he had moved to Jerome, where he was appointed city attorney, a position he held for the next fifteen years.

He was a large shareholder of and served as a director on the board of the Lloyd Consolidated Copper Company, which had extensive workings near Camp Verde.

In 1907 a new townsite was set up near their mining operations, including a post office, and was named Rutherford, Arizona, after him.

This time he won the Democrat nomination for one of the two senate seats, coming in high man in the primary over Morris Goldwater and Nathan Shutz.

[18] He, along with fellow Democrat, Howard Cornick, won the primary in September, and then went on to win the general election in November.

[30] He came up with the idea after reading an article about a man who lost an eye while traveling on a streetcar and getting poked with a woman's hat pin.

He incorporated the National Hat Fastener Co., with its headquarters in Phoenix, and contracted with a factory in Leominster, Massachusetts to manufacture the device.

[33] He traveled the country aboard the "trophy train", giving speeches in support of buying the bonds.

[2] Rutherford was a major in the United States Army Reserve, as a member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG).

[41] One of his major responsibilities was overseeing the military training of civilians at Camp Stephen D. Little near Nogales.

[48] In February 1949, Rutherford was disbarred by the Arizona Supreme Court in a unanimous 5-0 decision.

The case involved Rutherford soliciting clients to seek settlements with the state industrial commission.