Chippewa lawyer had the last laugh

Harold Stafford

Harold Stafford, Chippewa Falls attorney, pulled a fast one on his former colleagues at the Chippewa County Courthouse when this letter arrived 10 months after he had died with a postmark from the South Pole.

     Son of a former lawyer and Chippewa County judge, Harold Stafford carried to the grave and beyond not only a reputation as a flamboyant trial lawyer but one of a peerless practical joker when he died of lung cancer in 1960 at the age of 63.
     Many around Chippewa Falls remember Stafford most not for dramatic courtroom charges to juries nor his ability to learn something from cases he lost. Instead, they chuckle at his final summation delivered a full 10 months after he died.
     Thus in death, as in life, Harold Stafford again had the last laugh.
     Trial work was his forte, and he'd relish matching wits and expertise with any attorney, but favored duels with Francis Wilcox of Eau Claire, whose ability to navigate the courtroom rivaled Stafford's.
     "A lot of people didn't like Harold because he was forward and direct, but I like to think of him as being himself at all times," asserted Robert Pfiffner, now Chippewa circuit judge and Stafford's last law partner.
     "He was as tough a competitor as you could ask for but he never held a grudge after the jury delivered its verdict. He just had fun doing trial work and his name was legend. You would have to say he had a tremendous following," Pfiffner recalls.
     Death came to Harold Stafford Jan 19, 1960.
     Among mourners was Miss Ella Crooks, quiet and reserved register of probate who worked for five Chippewa County judges before retiring in the late 1960's. She had admired Stafford's courtroom heroics for years.
     On Nov. 14, 1960, almost 10 months to the day after Stafford died, Miss Crooks was thumbing through the morning mail when she froze at the sight of a familiar hand that seemed to have come from beyond the grave.
     "Miss Ella Crooks, Court House, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin" the envelope read in the days before zip code.
     The stationary, too, was familiar: "Stafford, Pfiffner and Stafford. Attorneys at Law, 111 1/2 N. Bridge St., Chippewa Falls, Wis."
     The postmark was overlooked as Miss Crooks tore open the envelope and began reading that bold, confident stroke:
     "Dear Ella: You may be surprised to hear from me here. You thought I was in a hotter place, but it is cold down here in Antarctica. If you don't believe I am down here take a look at the postmark on the envelope. Best Wishes. Harold E. Stafford."
     The envelope revealed the letter was mailed July 4, 1960 from the South Pole.
     This incident was the talk of the town that hot, summer day.
     Some agreed that Stafford should be writing his epilog from a hotter place, but it was learned finally that Stafford wrote the letter before he died and gave it probably to Hugh Bennett, a Chippewa Falls native who was among many scientist who gathered in Antarctica in 1960 for the first International Geophysical Year (IGY).
     Bennett was with the University of Wisconsin contingent on duty at the South Pole and apparently agreed to take Stafford's letter and mail it after he learned of the lawyer's death.
     "Some may think of it as a hell of a way to go, but it was Harold all the way," Judge Pfiffner confided.
     Thus in death, Stafford again had the last laugh.

Extracted from the Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Special Publication, Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond', published 1976
Used with permission.