The Cabin Booby-Trap That Cost Newell Barr Ten Years
Sentenced for a gun trap rigged in his Whatcom cabin that killed John Erickson, Barr heads to Walla Walla as hopes for a pardon fade.
Whatcom, May 9. — Special. — Deputy Sheriff Brisbane and assistant left for Walla Walla today with Newell Barr, sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for killing John Erickson over a year ago by a gun trap set in Barr's cabin. An affirmance of the case came from the supreme court several days ago, but the commitment has been delayed in the hope that Barr might be pardoned by the governor.
“Newell Barr, sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for killing John Erickson over a year ago by a gun trap set in Barr's cabin.”
A lethal booby-trap rigged inside a private cabin reads like a modern stand-your-ground nightmare: how far may a property owner go to defend what is his? The 1895 courts drew a line — and put a decade's sentence behind it.
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