A native of New York state, he earned a law degree at Georgetown University.

He graduated from Georgetown University in the class of 1886 with a law degree,[1][a] Kane then went west to Wichita and to Harper, Kansas, before joining the Land Run of 1889 in Indian Territory.

Kane became a delegate to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, shortly before the granting of statehood.

A brief summary of Justice Kane's life on the Oklahoma Supreme Court indicate that he established important precedents for the state in his arguments concerning taxation and the descent and distribution of Indian lands.

[1] Kane married Miss Kathleen Reagan (1883–1968) of St. Paul County, Kansas on June 9, 1908.