The Jailer's Warning: A Courthouse Anecdote
A lawyer recounts his early, struggling days at the Seattle courthouse and the amusingly grim reality of defending clients who were clearly destined for Walla Walla.
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 other day in the corridor of the courthouse, after a group of men had congratulated Attorney Martin upon his skillful work in the bond forgery case, Mr. Martin said: 'I tell you, boys, I have not always been as successful as I have been in this case. When I first came here, I did not have very much to do, so I did considerable loafing around the courthouse, which was then the building now occupied by the city as the city hall. Judge Humes was then, as now, judge of the criminal department. He noticed that I was not very busy one morning; he appointed me to defend three prisoners who were charged with highway robbery. I conferred with my clients for a few minutes and promised to see them the next day at the jail. That night the jailer, Pat Farraher, caught all three attempting to escape. Pat said afterwards that they gave as a reason for trying to leave so unceremoniously that they had lost all hopes of acquittal since I had been appointed to defend them. Their fears were not unfounded, for they are now making gunny sacks at Walla Walla, and will continue to do so for some time to come. I assure you, gentlemen, that any of my clients who were so unfortunate as to fall into Pat's hands after that were well watched.'
“Pat said afterwards that they gave as a reason for trying to leave so unceremoniously that they had lost all hopes of acquittal since I had been appointed to defend them.”
While this anecdote highlights the darker humor of the legal profession, it also marks a time when the path to the state penitentiary in Walla Walla was the standard conclusion for criminal trials in Seattle—a connection between the two cities that remains a staple of Washington State's carceral history.
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