A Convicted Killer's Second Chance: New Trial Granted After Juror Admits Prejudice

The celebrated Fetting murder case is again called to mind through a decision of the state Supreme Court yesterday, reversing the judgment of the superior court in refusing Wilcox a new trial. The reversal is made on the ground that one juryman, whose name was Kellogg, was influenced in his decision through prejudice arising from reading newspaper accounts of the crime. Wilcox was tried for murder in the first degree, but the jury brought in a verdict of manslaughter, and he was sentenced to seventeen years. The murder of Charlotte Fetting was one of the most brutal in the history of this state. She lived in a shack near S.V. Junction with her son Ernst, and when he and her son-in-law, George King, returned home late one night they found her dead and about $100 stolen from a trunk. After some time young Fetting offered a reward for the capture of the murderer, and a short time later King was murdered in Tacoma. Suspicion pointed to Wilcox and led to a strong case being made against him for the Fetting murder by Detectives Cudlihee and P. O. Smith, though the evidence was purely circumstantial. The new trial will surely be sensational. Wilcox relies on his alibi, but Detective Cudlihee, who is once more in the city, will undoubtedly be on hand with new evidence that will be a surprise for everyone.