The Judge, the Railroad and the Case That Fell Apart
Prosecutors in Spokane can barely get evidence before the jury as M. J. Gordon, a former Washington chief justice, stands accused of embezzling $9,200 in railroad settlement money.
SPOKANE—Turned back in every direction by adverse decisions of the court on the admissibility of proffered evidence in the trial on the charge of larceny by embezzlement of M. J. Gordon, ex-Chief Justice of Washington and former attorney for the Great Northern Railroad, Prosecuting Attorney Fred C. Pugh and his assistants fought to get before the jury the facts held by them to be material in the case, only to be baffled in the end, and to bring their case almost to an end with only a skeleton of proof in support of the allegations in the information.
Judge Gordon is accused of having embezzled $9,200 given to him as attorney for the Northern Railway to settle a judgment secured by James S. Sparrow.
Attorney Gordon appeared in court looking materially older than he appeared a year ago, and while he recognized and frequently engaged in conversation with friends and acquaintances, he appears to have lost somewhat the air of easy confidence which was formerly one of his conspicuous characteristics.
“Judge Gordon is accused of having embezzled $9,200 given to him as attorney for the Northern Railway to settle a judgment secured by James S. Sparrow.”
A former chief justice accused of skimming railroad settlement money is a reminder that legal and political elites have long shaped who gets investigated and who walks. Modern debates over public corruption, campaign money and prosecutorial discretion still turn on the same questions of evidence and power.
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