S. P. DALTON 1927 - 1928, 1931

HISTORY OF THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

S. P. DALTON
1927 - 1928, 1931 - 1934

S. P. Dalton, thirteenth prosecuting attorney, was born in Vernon County, Missouri, on November 16, 1892, graduated from Nevada High School in 1909, Westminster College in Fulton in 1913, and received his law degree in 1918 from the University of Missouri. He was a member of the Order of the Coif. In 1919 he began practicing law in Cape Girardeau. He served three terms as prosecuting attorney during a time of "lawlessness and lack of respect for the law" and used the grand jury system to curb the "tendency toward crime." In 1939 he was appointed commissioner of the Missouri Supreme Court and in 1950 was appointed Missouri Supreme Court Judge, serving for fifteen years until his death on April 26, 1965. He was Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court from 1956 to 1958 and was the brother of Missouri Governor John M. Dalton.