Judge Rebukes Police for Secret Dungeon Methods
A citizen is released after being held incommunicado for days, sparking a public outcry over lawless police tactics.
The story, cleaned up
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The police, having failed to capture the burglars working in the city, have brought into play the methods of the inquisition. This was made public by the release of Tom Gibbons on a writ of habeas corpus, after being illegally imprisoned in the city jail for three days. Four other men remained in the dungeon without registered names or formal charges. Judge Langley, in superior court, ordered Gibbons released, sharply rebuking Chief Jackson for 'star chamber' tactics. The Judge declared that the right of personal freedom is fundamental to American civilization and should not be dispensed with, stating it is better for ninety-nine guilty men to escape than for one innocent person to be punished. Chief Jackson, while failing to justify the breach of law, claimed such methods were necessary to secure convictions in a city plagued by a robbery epidemic.
“It is infinitely better that a criminal should escape now and then, than that police officers should be allowed to interfere with the liberties of the people.”
This 1893 clash highlights a persistent tension in Seattle between the demand for public safety during crime spikes and the constitutional mandate against arbitrary police power. The 'star chamber' tactics cited here prefigure over a century of subsequent debates regarding Seattle police accountability and the use of detention without due process.
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