Joseph Francis Quinn (1857–1929) was the first Irish American to become a judge in Massachusetts for any significant period of time.
He served on the bench of the Essex County Superior Court after being appointed by Governor Eugene Foss in 1911 until his death in 1929.
Judge Quinn presided over many prominent cases including the trial of Joseph Ettor and other leaders of the storied "Bread & Roses" Lawrence textile strike in 1912 which became a national cause célèbre and resulted in the defendants' acquittal.
[5][6][7][8] While his handling of this historic case was praised, there were many within the radical labor milieu supporting the defendants who believed he, like many in positions of authority at the time, harbored a deep seated conservative bias against them.
[9][10][11] The next year Joseph Quinn was the judge in the widely publicized trial of William Dorr of Stockton, California, who was convicted and sentenced to death for having traveled all the way back East to Lynn, Massachusetts in order to murder millionaire George Marsh as part of a scheme to inherit his money through an unwitting California niece.