Joseph Walsh

Joseph Baidsen Wall (January 23, 1847 – 1911 or December 21, 1912) was a Florida lawyer, state legislator, and criminal court judge who also served as a state’s attorney during the late nineteenth century. He was born into a prominent Tampa-area family as the son of Judge Perry Wall and his second wife, Barbara Baisden (who died on May 30, 1883). Raised in an environment closely connected to the legal profession and public affairs, Wall’s early life was shaped by his father’s judicial career and the social standing of the Wall family in Florida during the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction eras.

Wall pursued higher education at the University of Virginia, one of the leading institutions in the South for legal and classical studies in the nineteenth century. His studies there prepared him for entry into the legal profession at a time when formal legal education was becoming increasingly important for aspiring attorneys. After completing his education, he returned to Florida, where he established himself as a practicing lawyer and quickly became involved in local and state politics.

In his personal life, Joseph Baidsen Wall married Precious Ederington of Brooksville, Florida, thereby linking two established families in the region. His marriage and family connections further reinforced his position within Florida’s legal and political circles. Wall’s reputation, however, was marked by both influence and controversy. He reportedly attacked James T. Magbee, a newspaper editor and political figure, in response to Magbee’s published coverage of one of Wall’s family members, an incident that reflected the often-personal nature of political and press disputes in that era.

Wall’s legal and political career advanced as he took on roles of increasing responsibility. He served as a state’s attorney, representing the interests of the state in criminal prosecutions, and later became a criminal court judge, presiding over cases in a period when Florida’s judicial system was still developing in the decades after the Civil War. His work in these positions placed him at the center of the administration of justice in his region, and he became a recognized figure in Florida’s legal community.

In 1889, Wall was elected to the Florida Senate, where he served as a state legislator and rose to the position of president of the Senate. As Senate president, he occupied one of the most influential posts in the state’s legislative branch, overseeing deliberations and playing a key role in the passage of laws during a formative period in Florida’s political history. A photograph taken by noted Tallahassee photographer Alvan S. Harper shows Wall with his fellow state senators on the steps of the state capitol, visually documenting his leadership role in the legislature.

Despite his prominence, Wall’s career was marred by a serious allegation that led to professional sanction. He was disbarred from practice in Federal court for allegedly tying a hangman’s knot in March 1882 that was used to lynch an itinerant sailor in front of the courthouse in Tampa. This episode, which connected a member of the legal profession to extrajudicial violence, underscored the tensions and lawlessness that could accompany frontier and post-Reconstruction justice in parts of the South, and it cast a lasting shadow over his otherwise influential legal and political life.

Joseph Baidsen Wall continued to be remembered in Florida for his complex legacy as a powerful attorney, judge, and legislative leader whose career intersected with both the formal institutions of law and politics and the rougher edges of local justice and partisan conflict. Sources differ on the exact date of his death, with records indicating either 1911 or December 21, 1912, but by the time of his passing he had left a distinct imprint on the legal and political history of Florida.