The Door-Casing Defense

William Thurman, better known about town as “Sailor Bill” and “Thug Thurman,” a disreputable character who had been in police court many times on different charges of lawlessness, lay in the county jail, unable to secure bail, awaiting trial for his latest breach of the peace. On Saturday he filled up with whisky and, finding no one else on whom to expend his wrath, went home and beat his wife, using chairs, tables and other small pieces of household furniture as weapons. He blackened her eyes and inflicted other injuries on her head and body. A complaint was sworn out, and City Marshal Pearson arrested him and lodged him in jail. On Tuesday he was taken before Justice Arnold on a charge of assault with intent to do bodily injury and was bound over to the superior court; his bonds were set at $300, which he could not secure. Mrs. Thurman, with swollen eyes and bruises about the head, was brought into court to testify and, to the surprise of the attorneys, swore that her injuries were caused by accidentally falling against the door casing and that her husband had not inflicted them as alleged.