The Hop-Picker’s Trial
A jury acquits a young laborer following a violent camp dispute that exposed the raw realities of life in the hop fields.
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 usually prosaic superior court afternoon was filled with a motley group of hop pickers when the trial of Pat Slade, an Indian hop picker, came up for hearing. Slade was charged with assault with intent to murder an old Indian known as 'Doctor' Peter at the White River camp in September. The state alleged that Slade, having become intoxicated on cider, threw a whisky bottle at the old man, then proceeded to kick and stamp him into insensibility. The defense, however, countered with testimony from several young Indians who insisted the witnesses for the prosecution were perjurers and that the identity of the assailant was unclear in the dark melee. After deliberating for only a few minutes, the jury acquitted Slade.
“They all declared that in the melee which followed the throwing of the bottle by Slade, no one could tell who jumped on the old man.”
This trial highlights the volatile conditions within the labor camps of the 1890s, where seasonal workforces were often left to manage their own social order. The mention of 'hop fields' links directly to the agricultural identity of the White River Valley, a region that would later undergo massive transformation into the suburban landscapes of today.
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