The Woman Who Refused the Judge
A Seattle woman stands her ground in municipal court, calling out a judge's election fraud and choosing jail over a fine.
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.
In the municipal court on Tuesday, Miss Kate, who was brought before the court to pay a fine for an unspecified minor charge, decided to take a stand. When the judge ordered her to pay, she refused, and in a tone of cold defiance, she looked around the room. With a rapid and vicious jerk, she pulled her shawl tight and stood erect. The judge, clearly annoyed, ordered Kate taken to the prisoner's dock and fined her for contempt. Kate broke out into a perfect torrent of abuse, calling the judge a man and saying she would rather go to jail than pay the fine; that the county jail was a far more respectable place than the municipal court room with his bailiff in it; and that his recent election was accomplished through bribery and fraud. To this, Judge Mallory simply replied: 'Remove the creature out of this court.' Miss Kate struggled all the way down to the office below, and when asked again if she would pay, she replied: 'No, I will rot in jail first.' Application was made for her release under a writ of habeas corpus, but the judge delayed, so she will occupy a cell in the jail tonight. The trouble grew out of the fact that the judge appointed a masculine attorney to defend a burglar, after the State’s attorney had informed the court that Kate had consulted with the prisoner about the case.
“I will rot in jail first.”
This 1885 account of a woman standing up to a corrupt municipal judge is a startling look at the power dynamics of early Seattle. Her specific critique of 'bribery and fraud' in a city election resonates through the city's long history of civic reform movements and the ongoing struggle for equitable treatment in our justice system.
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