The First Mixed Jury in King County
A trial involving an allegation of child abuse marks a progressive, albeit controversial, first for the local court system.
The case of the Territory vs. J. and wife, charged with assault and battery upon the person of a child, the daughter of Mrs. Alice Mackay, was called in Justice Vrooman's court yesterday afternoon. This case is of special interest as being the first one in King county for the trial of which a mixed jury was drawn. The members of the jury were Mrs. I. M. Hall, Mrs. Carrie K. Jones, Mrs. Dr. Weed, Gardner Kellogg, Dr. Wright and M. J. Wright. The defendants in the case had about a year ago adopted the child from the Sisters' hospital, and as alleged by the mother, who had previously departed it, had ill-treated and abused it.
“This case is of special interest as being the first one in King county for the trial of which a mixed jury was drawn.”
While juries are a fundamental civic right today, the 1884 inclusion of women on a jury in King County reflects the unique era of Washington Territory, which had granted women the right to vote in 1883. This shift—which was often challenged in court by those wanting to keep women out of civic roles—preceded the national movement for gender-integrated juries by decades.
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