The Trial of Carrie Goldsmith
A police court judge hears a test case against a 'disorderly woman' that could determine the fate of dozens of others facing arrest.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The case of the city vs. Carrie Goldsmith, a disorderly woman, took up the whole of the day yesterday before Judge Rivers in the police court. It being the first and a test case, the conviction or acquittal of the sixty or more women now under arrest on a similar charge depending largely on the verdict, many spectators were attracted. Carrie Goldsmith was accompanied by half a dozen of her sisters in shame. The officers arrested her in the house of Lou Graham. She was defended by Attorneys Ronald and Gilmour, and was prosecuted by Attorneys Wallace and Lyon. Ronald, in his argument, likened the chief of police and the police commissioners to the Pharisees who brought an unfortunate woman to Jesus and asked that she be condemned. He reminded the jury of Christ’s answer to them—'He that is without sin among you let him cast the first stone.' Closing, the attorney asked that the jury return a verdict like that of Christ’s—tell the defendant to 'go, and sin no more.' At 5:30 o'clock the judge gave his charge, the jury retired to a private room and half an hour later returned a sealed verdict, which will be opened in court today at noon.
“He that is without sin among you let him cast the first stone.”
This story captures a moment in the era's 'morals' policing, where the legal system was used to target specific women under the guise of civic order. The lawyer's attempt to humanize the defendant using scripture highlights the stark contrast between the religious framing of the time and the punitive reality of municipal law enforcement.
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