The Jury's Boozy Banquet
A Pierce County jury demands a lavish spread of food and a gallon of Scotch while deliberating a verdict.
The following is a true copy of an order given by the petit jury in the case of Chas. Wren, while deliberating on their verdict, last Friday night. We do not know that this jury was composed of very large men, but we are rather inclined to think that they were just then blessed with large appetites. As will be seen, liberal provision was made for liquids, we presume with a view of helping their digestion. You will please send to the honorable Petit Jury of Pierce County the following articles: One ham; Twelve dozen of eggs; Two lbs. of butter; Six loaves of bread; 3 lbs. of sugar; 3 do. peas; 3 do. peaches; 1 Gallon of whisky (Scotch); 5 do. of Lager.
“We do not know that this jury was composed of very large men, but we are rather inclined to think that they were just then blessed with large appetites.”
This 1859 account of a jury ordering a gallon of whiskey to the deliberation room highlights the much looser, often rowdy, standards of frontier justice in early Washington Territory. Today, such an act would result in an immediate mistrial and likely professional ruin for the attorneys involved.
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