The Trial of Ursula Unfug
The woman accused of murdering Olympia editor Thomas Henderson Boyd is bound over for trial in a scene of somber gravity.
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.
Ursula Juanita Unfug, who calls herself Mrs. Boyd, waived an examination yesterday at the county jail on the charge of murdering Thomas Henderson Boyd, the Olympia editor, and was bound over to the superior court without bonds. Justice Humphrey held the hearing in the jailer's office. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Melvin G. Winstock represented the state. Mrs. Unfug, who appeared despite recent illness, was described as strikingly handsome, dressed in black with a crepe veil. Her mother was present, overcome with emotion. Her attorneys, William Martin and S. H. Piles, waived an examination, and the justice committed her to the superior court without bail. She was then returned to the woman's department of the county jail.
“There was no one in the room who did not gaze on her face. The scene was short but impressive.”
Public fascination with the private lives of murder defendants was a staple of 1890s journalism, much like the modern media fixation on true-crime narratives. While the reporting focuses on her appearance and demeanor, the legal outcome moved swiftly toward the superior court, a precursor to the high-stakes criminal trials that would dominate 20th-century Seattle news.
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