A Victory for Press Freedom in Aberdeen
A jury vindicates a local editor who faced criminal charges for criticizing public spending.
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.
Much rejoicing was occasioned among the representative taxpayers and citizens of this city when the news was received this morning from Montesano that the jury in the case of the State of Washington vs. F. R. Wall had returned a verdict of 'not guilty.' This is the case wherein the directors of school district No. 5 (at that time consisting of A. D. Wood and Frank H. Owen) instituted criminal proceedings against F. R. Wall for publishing an article in the Herald—issue of June 2, 1892—wherein the attention of the taxpayers of this school district was called to the extravagant expenditure of their money.
“Much rejoicing was occasioned among the representative tax payers and citizens of this city when the news was received.”
This case highlights the long history of public scrutiny over school district budgets in the Harbor area. Today, local journalists and citizen advocates continue to wrestle with local governments over fiscal transparency and the use of the courts to suppress criticism.
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