Convicted in Five Days: The 1877 Murder Case That Shocked a Seattle Editor
After Solomon Baxter was killed, John Thompson went from arrest to a first-degree murder conviction in less than a week. The local paper called it a 'summary proceeding' with no parallel in American law.
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.
When the news spread, as on the wings of the wind, that Sol. Baxter, one of the most peaceable and amiable men in the community, had been killed by John Thompson, an outsider comparatively, popular excitement was intense and popular indignation was bounded by no consideration of the circumstances. Thompson, shocked and nearly paralyzed by fright and contrition, made no effort to escape, but moaned and protested that he did not mean to kill Sol., with whom he had no quarrel. He had a preliminary examination on the following day and was committed to await the action of the District Court. The Court was near the close of its session, the term being limited by law to that week, and the juries had been discharged. On motion of the Prosecuting Attorney the Court ordered the grand and petit juries re-summoned. An indictment was found for murder in the first degree and the prisoner, represented by Messrs. Hanford and Andrews, two of the youngest members of the bar, was ordered to plead on the following morning, a motion for continuance and a motion for further time to plead being overruled by the Court. The trial commenced on Thursday morning, and was closed on Friday evening by a verdict of guilty as charged in the indictment—just five days intervening between the commission of the homicide and the conviction of the prisoner, the entire time being taken up with exciting causes which left no time for cool reflection or unprejudiced testimony on the part of witnesses, the chief of whom was yet smarting from the conflict with his enemy, and the others with their blood yet stirred to avenge the death of their friend. Such a summary proceeding, involving the issue of life or death to a human being, we believe has no parallel in the history of civil jurisprudence in this country, and we earnestly pray that it may not serve as a precedent in our courts of criminal jurisdiction. In common with almost every man in this community, he believed that Executive clemency would be exercised to avert the extreme penalty of the law. The pardoning power is the nearest approach to an attribute of Deity that human government can invest in a public functionary.
“Such a summary proceeding, involving the issue of life or death to a human being, we believe has no parallel in the history of civil jurisprudence in this country.”
The editor's warning about trials conducted in the heat of public fury still resonates in an era of media-driven outrage and debates over capital punishment. Washington abolished the death penalty in 2018, but the tension between swift justice and fair process remains a live question in American courtrooms.
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