Will P. Brady

Will P. Brady
Brady in 1906
Travis County School Superintendent
In office December 1, 1900 – November 30, 1904
Preceded by	John E. Shelton
Succeeded by	Carl Hartman
District Attorney for Texas's 70th Judicial District
In office February 3, 1909 – c. 1914
Nominated by	Thomas Mitchell Campbell
Judge for El Paso County Court at Law
In office June 22, 1917 – October 3, 1919
Nominated by	James E. Ferguson
Succeeded by	James M. Deaver
Personal details
Born	(1876-02-12)February 12, 1876 Austin, Texas, U.S.
Died	February 27, 1943(1943-02-27) (aged 67) San Luis Obispo, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Mabel Rarey ​ (m. 1911)​
Education	University of Texas (LLB)
Signature

William Paul Brady (February 12, 1876 – February 27, 1943) was an American lawyer. From 1909 to around 1914, he served as the first district attorney for Texas' 70th judicial district, and from 1917 to 1919 he was the judge for the newly created El Paso County Court at Law. Brady prosecuted several high-profile murder cases as a district attorney, including of Agnes Orner, and in a death-penalty case that has since been termed a "legal lynching" of a Mexican boy charged with killing a white woman.^[1]

Brady was born to a pioneering Austin family and grew up there. An older brother, John W. Brady, also became a Texas lawyer and judge; a niece, Caroline Brady, would go on to become a philologist. Will Brady spent three years after graduation as a county school teacher, then ran for county superintendent. He won and ultimately served two terms, from 1900 to 1904. Brady thereafter obtained a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Texas and moved to Pecos, where after several years in private practice he was appointed district attorney by Texas Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell. Brady moved to El Paso in 1915 and resumed private practice, but was soon named judge, this time by Governor James E. Ferguson. Brady resigned in 1919 and moved to California to pursue interests in oil; he spent the remainder of his career as an oil attorney, and then with the National Farm Loan Association.

In Austin, Pecos, El Paso, and San Luis Obispo, Brady remained deeply involved in the social, political, and business milieu. The El Paso Herald described him as "one of the best known public men in west Texas".^[2] A Democrat, Brady spoke at and organized numerous gatherings and attended county and statewide conventions. A Catholic, he was involved in innumerable social functions, and at one point served as the state president of the Catholic Knights of America in Texas. Likewise, "for many years among the front ranks of our business men", as the Pecos Times put it,^[3] Brady incorporated both the Cruces Oil Corporation and the Pecos Valley Southern Railway.