A Candlelit Verdict in the Murphy Homicide Trial
Electric lights failed in the King County courthouse during instructions, casting a long shadow over the trial of James Murphy.
The story, cleaned up
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.
At 10 o'clock last evening, after seven hours of deliberation, the jury brought in a verdict of murder in the second degree against James Murphy, the slayer of Phil Dawe. Upon the opening of court, Mayor Ronald, for the defense, contrasted the character of Murphy—a peaceable, law-abiding citizen—with that of Dawe, described as a vicious, quarrelsome man. During the evening, as the judge instructed the jury, the electric lights suddenly went out. Court officers scrambled to find a dingy lantern and a student's oil lamp to finish the proceedings. Just as the jury was escorted out, the lights flashed brilliantly for a moment and then died away again. Murphy, appearing nervous for the first time by drumming his fingers, was found guilty and now faces up to twenty years in the Walla Walla penitentiary.
“There was a murmur of something like alarm all over the court room, but the judge did not stop speaking.”
This trial highlights the early era of electrical infrastructure in Seattle, where even the courthouse was prone to the 'flickering' outages that modern residents still experience during storms. It also reflects a common 19th-century defense strategy—character assassination of the victim—which remains a contentious feature in criminal litigation today.
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