A Killer, a Gold-Brick Swindler, and a Widow's Missing Coat
James Murphy waits to learn whether he'll be shipped to Walla Walla for killing Phil Doe in the Copper Chief saloon — while a con man's loyal wife scours Front Street for the coat a dead man wore.
At the instance of Prosecuting Attorney Hastie, a commitment was issued Saturday in the superior court for James Murphy, who is under sentence of fifteen years for killing Phil Doe in the Copper Chief saloon, on Washington street, on the afternoon of July 15, 1892.
No appeal has been taken from the second trial, and as matters now stand Murphy may be sent to the penitentiary within the next few days. Sheriff Van de Vanter said he had not decided when he would take the next batch of prisoners to Walla Walla, and it is probable that if an appeal is filed in Murphy's case this week he will not be taken from the county jail.
Ex-Mayor Ronald, when asked about his intentions, said that if Murphy was taken to the "pen" it would only put so much more expense on the county, as he would file his appeal next Thursday and this would necessitate the return of the prisoner to the county jail. He said he had told Mr. Hastie that he would file the appeal no later than the end of the week, just as soon as the statement of facts was signed. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Wiltshire said that on the first appeal in the case the defense waited until the very last day allowed by law, but now, through the issuance of the commitment, action must be taken or the prisoner will go to the penitentiary.
Among the prisoners who will go over the road with the next batch are R. H. Ford, the "Famous" burglar; Harvey W. Knowlton, alias Rebel George, the gold-brick swindler; and Peter Benman. Mrs. Harvey W. Knowlton, the ever-constant wife of the gold-brick man who will go to the penitentiary in a few days for two years, was in a peck of trouble last Saturday afternoon over the coat that Thomas Blanck wore when he was killed. Blanck had on Knowlton's coat, and when Mrs. Knowlton saw it in Hyams, Fauson Co.'s window she immediately recognized it and came to the conclusion that she would have it. She went to police headquarters and learned that nothing was known about the matter there; then she went to Coroner Askam, who sent her to Mr. Redelsheimer, manager of Hyams, Fauson & Co.'s store, who said he would also like to know where the coat had gone. It is said that Mrs. Knowlton was quite angry when she walked down Front street without the coat.
“It is said that Mrs. Knowlton was quite angry when she walked down Front street without the coat.”
A single jailhouse docket here knots together a saloon killing, an appeal that keeps a prisoner circling between county jail and state penitentiary, and a wife chasing a dead man's coat through the storefronts of Front Street. The same tension — who waits in jail, who gets shipped off, and who can afford to appeal — still defines how justice moves through King County.
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