The Boot That Didn't Fit: A Murder Trial at the Turn of the Century
In a dramatic courtroom scene, an accused man attempts to clear his name by proving his feet were simply too large for the evidence that supposedly convicted him.
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A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Nordstrom's trial continued through the day and late into the night. There was an almost dramatic scene when Attorney Soderberg had the defendant try on the boots which the prosecution claimed made the tracks found near the scene where Mason was killed. Judge Humes and the jury looked on as Nordstrom attempted to put them on. His foot was apparently too large; despite tugs and pushes, he failed to get it in. He walked in front of each juror and let them all examine the rubber boot. Nordstrom, age 42, testified that he had been in the country for twenty-five years, working on railroads and ranches. He denied threatening the Mason family, explaining that his alleged threat to 'do something else' was actually a promise to sue for his back wages in a court of law. He described his movements during the time of the shooting, claiming he had been drinking and had fallen asleep in the brush to avoid a dog, which accounted for his wandering and the loss of his hat. The prosecution remained skeptical, preparing to introduce rebuttal testimony, as the courtroom crowd watched the proceedings with rapt attention.
“There was an almost dramatic scene when Attorney Soderberg had the defendant try on the boots which, the prosecution has tried to prove, made the tracks found near the window where Mason was killed.”
This trial centers on the intersection of labor precarity—the struggle to get paid for clearing work—and the heavy weight of circumstantial evidence. Even 130 years later, the tension between a working man's testimony and the forensic narratives constructed by the state remains a recurring theme in Seattle’s justice system.
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