The Case of the Tampered Transcript
A legal battle over a contested election takes a dark turn when unauthorized documents appear in the official court record.
The election contest between Moyer and A. T. Van de Vanter for the office of sheriff has taken a strange turn. Attorney W. R. Gay discovered that the official record filed with the clerk of the supreme court had been altered. Eight pages of typewritten matter—a copy of a newspaper article regarding a lower court decision—had been inserted into the transcript. This material had been explicitly stricken from the record by Judge Langley in the court below. County Clerk Gordon, upon examining the transcript, found the pages were not indexed, suggesting they were added surreptitiously after his certification. While the attorneys for the appellant deny knowledge of the insertion, the discovery has prompted a motion to strike the material and raised the possibility of a criminal prosecution.
“I found that everything was there that we had stipulated for, but in addition thereto were eight pages of typewritten matter, which at no time was a part of the record.”
This 1895 dispute over the integrity of a court record highlights the high stakes of local political power in early Seattle. Even today, the 'record' remains the primary battleground for civic legitimacy, whether in courtrooms or in the digital archives of public administration.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.