Accidental Shooting of W.I. Price
A prosecutor declines to charge a local constable for a shooting deemed accidental.
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.
Prosecuting Attorney McBride, who returned to the city yesterday, has decided not to press charges against Constable W.B. Chatfield for the shooting of W.I. Price of Franklin, concluding that the event was accidental and a conviction impossible. Price, who was considered a dangerous man, struggled with the constable while allegedly holding a revolver, leading to the incident.
“The shooting was accidental, and a conviction, therefore, impossible.”
This reflects the early, often opaque, administration of justice in the Washington Territory, where the personal discretion of a single official could effectively grant immunity in officer-involved shootings—a theme that remains central to modern civic debate.
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