John Ellis Martineau (2 December 1873–6 March 1937) was the Democratic Governor of Arkansas, USA, from 1927 to 1928.

John Ellis Martineau was born in Clay County, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1896 and obtained his law degree there in 1899. After graduation he served as a school administrator.

From 1902 to 1905 he served as a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives. He was appointed chancellor of the First Chancery Court in 1907 and served in that capacity until 1927.

While serving in that court he issued a writ of habeas corpus for defendants in the criminal prosecutions arising out of the Elaine Race Riot. Although the Arkansas Supreme Court later vacated that order, it allowed the defendants enough time to avoid execution and to seek habeas corpus relief in federal court. Their guilty verdicts were eventually reversed by the United States Supreme Court in its groundbreaking decision in Moore v. Dempsey.

Martineau was elected Governor of Arkansas in the 1926 election. The Martineau administration established a Confederate pensions board and authorized state aid to cities for highway construction through the Martineau Road Plan. In 1927, Martineau was forced to deal with a major crisis when the Mississippi River broke free of its banks and covered 13% of the state during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. Martineau was named president of the Tri-State Flood Commission. In the May of 1927, Martineau called out the National Guard in response to the lynching of an African-American prisoner by a mob of 2,000 to 5,000 people in Little Rock. The crime gained national notoriety.

Martineau resigned from office on 2 March 1928 to accept an appointment to the Federal District Court of Eastern Arkansas, where he served until his death.

Martineau is buried at the Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Little Rock.

See also

• Moore v. Dempsey

Further reading

• Cortner, Richard, A Mob Intent On Death, ISBN 0819551619