The Jailhouse Serenade: Seattle’s Most Popular Prisoner Refuses Bail

Mr. Val Wildman, one of the proprietors of the late 'Vanity Fair' or Centennial Lottery in this city, is now confined in the County Jail, there serving out a fine of $150 and costs, amounting probably to $100 more imposed upon him by the Judge of the District Court at its last session here.

Not paying this fine, either because he did not have the means, or for some other reason better understood to himself, he was committed to jail. It was no sooner known that he was there than many of his friends sought to secure his release by payment of the fine, some offering to pay it individually, and others offering to subscribe smaller amounts, ranging from $25 to $50 towards it.

These generous offers he has inflexibly refused to accept, much to the surprise of the liberal donors. Much sympathy has been expressed for him in his unfortunate condition, and public interest in the matter has been on the increase, and late on Saturday evening last, a company of about thirty, composed of a number of our influential business men, accompanied by two or three musicians, visited the jail and drew up before Mr. Wildman's window, and, after serenading him with an air or two, endeavored to persuade him to accept their generous offers, and leave his place of confinement, representing that many would pay the fine individually, or if it would be more acceptable they would raise the money then and there, collectively.

To this he replied: 'Yet if he had the money in his pocket he would not pay a cent; that he had told many of them before, either personally or by proxy, that, though he appreciated their friendship, he must refuse to accept their kindly offer, as he was acting according to his convictions of right and justice; that the course he had taken was a matter of principle with him, and not of necessity, and that he had the moral courage to act according to his conviction of right and justice.'

He further said that the fine imposed upon him by the judge of the District Court, he considered illegal, and in open violation to every principle of justice; that he was there for conducting a business which was legalized by an act of the Legislature, and carried on under a license given by the County Commissioners. That if the business had been proven illegal, and in violation to public law, or if he had been requested by any leading citizens, backed by the moral sentiment of the community, for which he had great respect, he would have abandoned it entirely, but that the opposition against him was malicious, and came from no such source.

Whatever may be said against the business in which he was engaged, Mr. Wildman has always conducted himself here as a gentleman, and is generally respected among the business portion of the city, by whom he is known to be a man of honesty and good breeding, and consequently he has made many friends during his stay here. In his imprisonment, which has resulted from the outrageous proceeding against him, which can nowhere find a parallel in the judicial history of our Government, he has the sympathy of the community.

It is generally supposed that the business in which he has been engaged was followed rather as a matter of necessity than of choice, as he is a cripple and consequently disqualified for many other more useful pursuits; and that, as he had recently met with reverses in business, losing nearly all of a small fortune, he had chosen this means to 'make a strike' and regain his losses.