The Whisky Trial That Ended With an Empty Chair
Charles Burns was on trial in Port Townsend for selling liquor to Indians. When the evidence tied his whisky to a Native man's suicide, Burns skipped bail and vanished.
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.
Port Townsend, Sept. 8.—[Special.] The trial of Charles Burns, of North Bend, on the charge of selling whisky to Indians, after occupying parts of two days, terminated last evening without a verdict from the jury. The evidence was all in and an adjournment was ordered until after supper. At 7:30, when court was called, the defendant did not put in an appearance. Being out on bail, he concluded it to be the better part of valor to skip out. The evidence plainly showed that Burns had sold the whisky to the Indians which was the direct cause of the suicide of a Native man named Adams on the night of the 3d. Gen. Metcalfe, of Seattle, was the attorney on the part of the state, and Judge Rutherford for the defense.
“Being out on bail, he concluded it to be the better part of valor to skip out.”
The case shows how liquor laws were used to police Native communities—and how a death could end with a defendant simply walking away. Jurisdiction over crimes involving tribal members and alcohol remains a complex legal landscape in Washington today.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.