The Judge, the Leaky Courthouse, and the County That Wouldn't Pay
Lewis County commissioners told Judge Hunter they would neither fund nor permit his order to find better court quarters in Chehalis—leaving the old courthouse and a legal fight in their place.
Judge Hunter will have to hold court in the old ramshackle court house in Chehalis, Lewis county, or else adjourn to the head of a barrel on the outside. The county commissioners have authorized the prosecuting attorney to take any and all necessary steps to restrain and enjoin the carrying out of the judge's orders to the sheriff to procure other court quarters. They have also given official, legal notice to all parties concerned that they will not pay or allow to be paid out of county funds any indebtedness caused by the carrying out of Hunter's orders.
“Judge Hunter will have to hold court in the old ramshackle court house in Chehalis ... or else adjourn to the head of a barrel on the outside.”
The fight is a familiar one: who pays for the physical machinery of justice, and who decides where court is held. In 1891 the answer turned on county commissioners' control of the purse; today similar fights over courthouse conditions, budgets, and judicial authority still land in court.
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