One Verdict Away From a Second Murder Charge

Unless the jury disagreed, William A. Wilcox would probably know his fate before another day. All the evidence was in, one of the state's arguments had been nearly finished, and the remaining arguments were to be made today. Should Wilcox be acquitted, he would immediately be rearrested and taken to Tacoma, where Pierce County authorities said they would prosecute him for the murder of James King.

The state's theory in the present case was that Wilcox and King had committed the "betting murder," and that afterward, when King demanded that Wilcox divide the old woman's gold with him, the prisoner put a bullet in him. The defense spent the day building an alibi. Witnesses placed Wilcox in Tacoma on Labor Day 1893: at the Cambria boarding house for dinner, at Levy's cigar store gambling through the afternoon and evening, and at the Boston lodging house until after 11 o'clock. Mrs. Solsbury and others testified that Mrs. Denny Moore gave up her position at the Cambria on that day, fixing the date. Wilcox himself testified for about two hours, denying Julius Sallinger's story about bloody clothes and denying that he had made damaging admissions to Detective Cudihee. He said he had bought chloroform for a private disease, not for King, and had thrown the bottle out a window at Frank Starling's suggestion. The state put in rebuttal evidence. Ex-Sheriff James Woolery, a material witness, failed to appear; Judge Humes issued a bench warrant, and word came from Walla Walla that Woolery was ill and would not be able to leave for Seattle until today.