The 'Strong-Arm' Sentencing of Patrick J. Murphy
A Seattle judge delivers a 15-year sentence for a robbery, signaling a crackdown on street violence and the dangers of the 'strong-arm' hold-up.
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.
Patrick J. Murphy, convicted of robbery in the criminal department of the superior court, was sentenced by Judge Bell to serve fifteen years in the penitentiary at Walla Walla. In passing sentence, Judge Bell stated: 'The testimony brought out at the trial of this man shows that he, in company with two others, went around the town drinking with a man and when that man was fully intoxicated they took him into an alley, and after beating him into unconsciousness, robbed him. I do not know whether severe sentences will relieve the community of the highwaymen that have been terrorizing the people but I do intend to try the experiment. This defendant did not use or have in his possession any dangerous weapons at the time he committed this robbery. He is guilty of what is known as a strong arm hold-up.' Murphy, along with John and James Kelly, was accused of robbing Henry Anderson of $20 in an alley between Yesler Way and Washington Street.
“I do not know whether severe sentences will relieve the community of the highwaymen that have been terrorizing the people but I do intend to try the experiment.”
The transition from 'highwaymen' to 'strong-arm robbery' reflects the evolution of urban policing in early 20th-century Washington. Today, the debate over mandatory minimums and judicial discretion in sentencing continues to echo the tensions displayed by Judge Bell in this 1903 courtroom drama.
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