Olympia Editor's Fatal Shooting Goes to Trial
A high-stakes murder trial begins in Seattle as the prosecution argues a jilted lover's cold-blooded premeditation against the defense's plea of emotional insanity.
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.
The trial of Mrs. Boyd for the murder of Thomas Henderson Boyd is underway in Judge Humes' court. The prosecution alleges that Boyd, a newspaper man and proprietor of an Olympia daily, was killed in the couple's shared apartment at 310 James Street on the night of December 23rd. The state contends that Mrs. Boyd tracked her partner across the city, finding him at the Occidental Hotel, and returned with him to their home, where they quarreled. Following a cry of 'I will see you in hell first' from Boyd, four pistol shots were fired. Chief of Police Andrew Jackson testified to finding the defendant distraught, holding the body of her partner. The defense, led by Attorney Piles, is building a case around emotional insanity, a strategy that drew a crowd of spectators, including many women, to the courtroom.
“I will see you in hell first.”
This trial highlights the volatile intersection of intimate partner violence and the legal system in 1890s Seattle. The 'emotional insanity' defense used here serves as a grim reminder of how differently domestic violence and women's agency were perceived and processed in the public square during the late Victorian era.
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