A Counterfeiter's Dramatic Courtroom Scandal
Dr. J. B. Methvin, on trial for counterfeiting, faced high drama in court as his current 'wife'—who had left her husband and children in Texas to elope with him—flew into a rage at the testimony.
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 latest developments in the case of Dr. J. B. Methvin, the counterfeiter, indicate that he eloped from Carthage, Texas, last December with the wife of Pink Ritter. Ritter, a Texas resident, had contacted the Washington Detective Agency to find his wife and three children. Methvin and Mrs. Ritter were located in South Park, near Seattle. When Methvin was brought to trial for counterfeiting, the woman claiming to be his wife attended the proceedings. During the testimony of George Murphy, a witness who described being approached by Methvin for a partnership in the counterfeit business, the woman became hysterical in the courtroom. She whispered loudly to the Deputy Marshal that the witness was a liar and had to be removed from the courtroom to prevent her from causing a disturbance. Methvin was remanded to jail in default of $5,000 bond.
“Oh, what a liar that man is! I feel like getting right up and talking myself.”
This story captures the sensationalism of 19th-century crime reporting, which often conflated criminal trials with messy, private domestic scandals. It serves as a reminder of how personal lives were frequently dragged into public view in the local press of the time.
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