The Supreme Court Says Willie Holmes Must Hang

Willie Holmes must hang for the murder of William Russell. Such is the decision of the supreme court on the appeal raised from the judgment of the superior court for this county. The opinion was handed down and the judgment of the court below affirmed, cutting off the colored prisoner's last hope.

The Holmes case was argued in the supreme court June 10, and the decision is one of the quickest ever made by that tribunal in a capital case. The argument was made for the state by Prosecuting Attorney Hastie upon a brief drafted by himself, while the condemned man was represented by Melvin Winstock. In passing upon the points raised in the appeal the court said:

"This is a hard case, and had the supreme court sat as jurors under the testimony shown, it is questionable if they had felt justified in returning a verdict of murder in the first degree. But a reversal is asked for on technical errors which the court is not able to support.

"The first error assigned is want of jurisdiction in the trial judge, J. Z. Moore, of Spokane county, and the contention is made that as he is not one of the judges elected from King county, the error is fatal; but as the defendant, knowing this ineligibility of the judge who tried his case and yet submitted himself to the jurisdiction and was ready to avail himself of the action of the court if the verdict should be in his favor, he should not be permitted to object when eventually the verdict is against him.

"The next assignment of error is that the law was not observed in passing upon the jury. The supreme court thinks, however, the law in this case was complied with; also that while the jury was deliberating, three members resisted the verdict of murder in the first degree until told by another juror that it was in the power of the trial court to sentence the defendant upon conviction of murder in the first degree to life imprisonment instead of death; consequently the doubtful jurors consented to the verdict. The court holds that the jurors were not interested in the penalty which could be imposed by the court.

"Several other minor errors are also urged, but they are not of sufficient weight to justify a reversal of judgment."

In affirming the judgment, the court stated that the question of whether Holmes should have been found guilty of murder in the first degree has given more trouble than all the technical errors assigned in the case. The killing occurred at Franklin, January 1894, which was pay day at the mines. The men, who were room-mates, were both colored, and had been drinking at the company's saloon. Russell, a larger man than Holmes, and, it was brought out at the trial, disposed to be a bully, claimed that the latter had his revolver and insisted on a search. Holmes went out of the room, gave the weapon to a friend, and coming back consented to the search. The men then stepped out of the saloon and the quarrel was continued, Russell assaulting the boy, slapping him on either side of the face, and using abusive language. He gloried in being a bully, saying he did not care for death and that he calculated to have a "nigger" before the day was over. Holmes picked up a large stone, but was prevented from using it by friends who interfered. Holmes finally left, and in ten or fifteen minutes returned, threatening on his way back to kill Russell. As he approached the saloon he came upon his victim standing outside, his face turned away. Holmes fired, but the bullet went wild and lodged in the roof. Russell thereupon turned around, and, according to one account, sprang at Holmes, but he was not quick enough, for the second bullet struck him in the forehead and produced instant death.

To support the contention that the court had no jurisdiction of the case, counsel for Holmes urged that Judge Moore had not been requested by a majority of the judges of this county to sit, and further, that there was no record showing that anyone had so requested him. The second point was based upon the fact that the clerk of the court, through an oversight, had failed to enter the order made by Judge Humes covering the request to Judge Moore.

Holmes, who was in the north tank in the county jail, joined with Tom Black in the great rush for liberty at the time Jerry Sherry was held up at the point of the desperado's wooden revolver. Instead of joining fortunes with his liberator, who went south, Holmes took the railroad track for Snohomish. He reached that place, in company with several lesser criminals almost famished, was nearly captured. His identity was established by a lame foot. He made no resistance.

Directly connected with the Holmes decision by the supreme court is the case of the state vs. Krug, which has been taken under advisement for the consideration of substantially the same jurisdictional grounds. The Krug case was argued on the same day, June 10, and it is thought a decision soon will be reached. The case of the state vs. Henry Giesmer, convicted of murder in the first degree in having most brutally slain Mrs. Philippina Meier, which occurred last August, was argued before the supreme court June 6.