A Child’s Testimony Ends a Rape Case
A young boy accused of an assault near Lake Union is exonerated after the judge personally interviews the girl involved.
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.
Benjamin Schumacher, the boy who was indicted by the grand jury for attempting to rape little Mamie O'Leary on October 12, under an old barn on the hill west of Lake Union, was purged of that charge yesterday afternoon by Judge Humes. The case did not even come to the point of calling witnesses to be sworn, for the judge simply called the little girl to his side and, after asking her about the case, discharged the defendant, dismissed the jury and exonerated the defendant's bondsmen.
“The judge simply called the little girl to his side and, after asking her about the case, discharged the defendant.”
This reflects the often arbitrary and paternalistic nature of late 19th-century judicial proceedings, where judges held absolute discretion over criminal cases involving minors. The lack of formal testimony or rigorous fact-finding in such sensitive matters contrasts sharply with modern child-protective legal standards.
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