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1. Ballard's City Attorney Skipped Court—and the City Paid a Debt Twice

   A $1,046 judgment forced Ballard to pay the same debt twice, prompting the mayor to demand an investigation into City Attorney Edmund Peters' neglect.

   Feb 7, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · Scandal

2. The Wig and the Wire: How a Tacoma Newspaper Owner Tried to Destroy a Judge

   In the sensational Wickersham trial of 1889, prosecutor R.P. Radebaugh’s own past and his alleged conspiracy to frame Judge Wickersham for 'immorality' were laid bare in court.

   Feb 26, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyCity Hall · Scandal

3. The County Attorney Wrote His Own Case—and a Commissioner Objected

   Commissioner Peter Autzen accused two colleagues of signing a self-serving statement in a tax-fee dispute, exposing a conflict at the heart of Chehalis County government.

   Jul 27, 1893Aberdeen HeraldMontesano, Grays Harbor CountyCity Hall · Scandal

4. The Missing Will That Would Have Given Seattle a Library

   Henry Yesler's widow and two doctors are arrested, accused of burning a will that left the pioneer's fortune—and his mansion—to the city.

   Jan 27, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money · True Crime

5. A 'Close Combination' at the Courthouse: Surveyor Accuses King County's Ring of Self-Dealing

   King County's surveyor says commissioners paid the prosecuting attorney's rent to their own chairman's Union Block while refusing to cover his office — and he names the men he says run the courthouse for themselves.

   Sep 1, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

6. The Judge Who Was Both Defendant and Accused

   In a stunning legal double-header, Judge Wickersham is convicted of seduction in one court, then immediately indicted for perjury by the federal grand jury in the very same day.

   Feb 27, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · Scandal

7. A Newspaper Editor's Silence in Court: The Lugrin Libel Trial

   C. H. Lugrin, managing editor of the Seattle Telegraph, rested his defense without calling witnesses in a libel trial brought by Police Chief Rogers. The case now goes to the jury.

   Aug 10, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

8. A Judge Refuses to Wait: William Holmes Sentenced to Hang

   Convicted of murdering a fellow Newcastle miner, a Black defendant hears the death sentence after his lawyer's eleventh-hour challenge to the judge's authority is thrown out.

   Jul 26, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerNewcastle, King CountyTrue Crime

9. The Prosecutor's Record: 'Arrest on Suspicion, Investigate Afterwards'

   A Stevens County election fight turns on the county's criminal docket — who jailed innocent men, and who got his convictions.

   Oct 22, 1908The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-CurrentColville, Stevens CountyCity Hall

10. A Photograph Was Not a Crime: Newport Candidates Beat Back a Newspaper's Bid to Rule Them Off the Ballot

    When the Colville Statesman-Index declared two Newport men disqualified for running photo advertisements under the new direct primary law, Dr. G. W. Sutherland wrote the attorney general — and came back with a ruling that the law said no such thing.

    Aug 13, 1908The Newport Miner (Newport, WA) 1899-CurrentNewport, Pend Oreille CountyCity Hall

11. The Judge Who Gambled Away His Office: Soderberg’s Dramatic Resignation

    After the grand jury returned five indictments for extortion and malfeasance in office, District Attorney Joseph Soderberg walked into court, tendered his resignation, and declared he would repay every illegal fee to the county treasury.

    Jun 14, 1888The Seattle Post-IntelligencerKing County Courthouse, SeattleCity Hall · True Crime

12. The Secret Courthouse Bond Deal Benton County Tried to Ram Through

    Commissioners Clements and McNeill authorized $125,000 in bonds for a Prosser courthouse after a closed-door plan their own lawyer admitted was designed to keep taxpayers in the dark. A Kennewick lawsuit put the deal before Judge Grady.

    Dec 14, 1916The Kennewick Courier-ReporterBenton County Courthouse, ProsserCity Hall · Scandal

13. Tacoma's Bribery Probe Ends With a Censure, Not a Conviction

    A Tacoma City Council 'Lexow' committee cleared Councilman Thompson and City Clerk Smyth of bribery, then censured Smyth anyway for boasting he'd paid for a vote.

    Jun 23, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyCity Hall · Scandal

14. The Judge, the Revolver, and the Impeachment Petition

    A former judge tells Olympia that Judge W. W. Langhorne drinks on the bench, bullies lawyers, and has threatened to shoot him — and asks the House to remove him.

    Feb 20, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall · Scandal

15. A Mob Hanged Two Men at the Courthouse. Then the State Argued Over the Bill.

    After Hill and Parker were lynched in Colfax, Attorney General W. C. Jones ruled that the county need not pay for a coroner's inquest—and said the real hunt for the mob belonged to a grand jury.

    Jan 20, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerWhitman County Courthouse, ColfaxCity Hall

16. The Judge Who Was Drunk on the Bench and Threatened to Fill a Man with Lead

    A legislative committee in Olympia substantiates charges that Chehalis Judge W.W. Langhorne dismissed cases unread, threatened a man with a revolver, and traded court favors for political help.

    Mar 13, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerChehalis, Lewis CountyCity Hall · Scandal

17. The Judge Who Wanted to Join the Salvation Army

    Probate Judge Wickersham faces seduction charges in Tacoma; his defense seeks a venue change as he jokes about his future with the Salvation Army.

    Feb 19, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerDistrict Court, Tacoma, Pierce CountyCity Hall · Scandal

18. The Lawyer Who Spoke 'Jargon' to Save a Man from Prison

    In a Tacoma courtroom in the early days of Washington state, Attorney Frank Clark stunned federal prosecutors by abandoning legalese for Chinook Jargon, winning the acquittal of a poor logger accused of stealing timber.

    Mar 16, 1899The Seattle StarTacoma, Pierce CountyStrange But True

19. The City Attorney's 'Wretched' Tenure

    Voters of Seattle weigh in on a candidate accused of incompetence, corruption, and botching the city's legal affairs.

    Jul 7, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

20. The Puyallup Land Sale the Tribe Tried to Stop

    Hours before the reservation auction, attorney Charles Woodworth filed revocations for nearly half the lands, arguing the Indians—not the commission—controlled the sale.

    May 1, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPuyallup Reservation, Puyallup, Pierce CountyFollow the Money · Exclusion & Resistance

21. A Missing Lawyer, a $350 Deed, and the North Olympia Land Scheme

    With Attorney D. P. Ballard absent, Olympia lawyers are tracing suspicious transfers in a platted addition—land already sold to dozens of owners, now used as security for a $4,000 mortgage.

    Oct 24, 1891The Olympia TribuneNorth Olympia, Olympia, Thurston CountyFollow the Money · True Crime

22. City Attorney Fined for Contempt of Court

    A legal showdown over mayoral authority and the power to control city prosecutions leads to a judge fining the city attorney for refusing to act.

    Jul 14, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

23. The Attorney's Brawl: A Legal Dust-Up in Probate Court

    Two well-known Seattle attorneys settle a probate dispute with a flurry of fisticuffs in the courtroom.

    Jan 21, 1887Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerCity Hall, Seattle, King CountyScandal

24. The Case of the County's Vanishing Funds

    A local editor questions why county attorneys are pocketing tax collections while leaving the county treasury empty-handed.

    Jun 29, 1893Aberdeen HeraldMontesano, Grays Harbor CountyCity Hall

25. A Power Struggle at the Municipal Court

    A confrontation unfolds as the City Attorney refuses to prosecute a disorderly conduct case, sparking a standoff over judicial authority in Seattle.

    Jul 13, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMunicipal Court, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

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