The Bookkeeper Who Played Lawyer
A former insurance company clerk, accused of forgery, stunned the King County courtroom by ditching his defense counsel to argue his own case.
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.
Charles F. Repath, formerly a bookkeeper for the Mutual Life Insurance Company, was placed on trial for forgery yesterday before Judge Humes in the superior court. The accused stands charged with signing the name of P. L. Stinson, general manager of the company, to a $950 check. While the prosecution claims the act was a calculated theft, Repath—a man of sharp intellect and legal training—claims the signature was legitimate and that he is the victim of a business conspiracy. During the proceedings, Repath surprised the court by announcing he would act as his own attorney, handling his cross-examinations with such precision that he caught the eye of the courtroom observers. His wife sat by the rail, watching as he challenged the testimony of bank officials and former associates, insisting his departure from the city in February was not a flight from justice, but a routine matter.
“The reports that have gone out about his being a bright attorney were fully confirmed yesterday, for he handled his case to suit the taste of the most critical.”
Representing oneself in court, or 'pro se' litigation, remains a high-stakes gamble in the modern legal system. Repath’s performance reflects the 1890s ethos of the 'self-made man'—a trope that often masked the desperation of workers caught in the era's frequent economic panics.
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