An Honor Vindicated in Spokane
After being falsely accused of a highway robbery, a Walla Walla man clears his name by hiring his own investigator to prove a perfect alibi.
The case against Edward Slater of this city, charged with having held up Ole Olson, a miner in Spokane last April and robbing him of $40, has been dismissed in the Spokane County Superior Court. Olson admitted to the prosecuting attorney that he was mistaken in his identification and that the Spokane police had unduly influenced him in arriving at the decision that Slater was the man. The blunder made by the police placed the young man in an extremely embarrassing position, besides resulting in considerable financial loss to him and his father. The senior Slater went about establishing his son's innocence in a business-like way, employing a special detective to unravel the mystery that the police had woven. A perfect alibi was proven, and on this evidence, Olson personally hunted up the prosecuting attorney and asked that the case be dismissed. Mr. Slater said this morning that he was sorry for the unpleasantness resulting from Olson's mistake, but that now his name had been cleared, he bore no animosity toward the man, though he thought the Spokane police had been a trifle too zealous.
“The blunder made by the police placed the young man in an extremely embarrassing position, besides resulting in considerable pecuniary loss to himself and father.”
This 1903 case highlights the long-standing tension between local citizens and aggressive police practices. The use of a private investigator to counter police pressure remains a classic, albeit expensive, recourse for those caught in the gears of the justice system.
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