The Hanging Sentence of John Thompson
A condemned man stands in a crowded Seattle courtroom, maintaining his innocence while awaiting the gallows for a fatal brawl in Renton.
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.
The courtroom was densely crowded on Saturday afternoon, at which time it was announced that the death sentence would be passed upon John Thompson for the killing of Solomon Baxter, at Renton, on Monday night, the 10th inst. Thompson was brought into the court room about 2 o'clock, and appeared perfectly composed and manifested no apparent concern as to his fate. His attorney made a motion for a new trial. This was denied, whereupon they filed a bill of exceptions. A little before 3 o'clock he was ordered to stand up for sentence. He arose from his chair and stood quietly, with his eyes fixed upon the floor, while the main facts of the affray were recited to him, also the indictment of the Grand Jury and the verdict of the jury before whom he was tried. When asked if he had anything to say why the sentence of law should not be passed upon him, he suddenly lifted his head, folded his arms and stood erect, and, in a firm, clear, modulated tone of voice said he had done wrong in breaking the Sabbath, but he was led into this by bad company; had it not been for this he would not have been where he was that day. But, he added, 'I am innocent of the charge of murder, for I never spilt the blood of a fellow man maliciously, or willfully or intentionally.' He was told that his objections could not be considered, and he was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead, on the 30th day of March, A.D. 1877, between the hours of 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. in the prison yard of the City of Seattle.
“I am innocent of the charge of murder, for I never spilt the blood of a fellow man maliciously, or willfully or intentionally.”
This 1877 report captures a grim moment in early Seattle's judicial history. It serves as a reminder of the city's frontier-era justice system and the proximity of death penalties in a town that was, at the time, still building its foundational infrastructure.
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