Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-01-18

tllt very Whluut tuklEb'
Ii seemed that death had suddenly
stricken the writer in the act of signing
: his name, and the broken pen in the
Judges lfeless hand pointed almost
positively to the writer.
There was such man as Jason Bow
ers. He was not resident of b,
for some time past he had been an in
mate of the couHty jail-held there on
a charge of forgery. On the day prior
to the night of the Judges murder,
this man hal been acquitted by the
Jury selected to try him, and at the mo.
ment of the c mmlsSiOn of the crime,
he was freed man. He had never
been heard to say aught against the
Judge more than to remark that he
thought that in the charge to the jury
he (the judge had favored conviction.
At home, the young man had not borne
an irreproachable character, having
been engaged in affairs of questionable
honor; but the trial for forgery was
his first appearance before Criminal
Court.
Upon the evidence of the writing on
the paper, which was pronounced by
alto be in the late Judges chirography,
and beyond doubt the last work of his
life, the Sheriff resolved to take Jason
Bowers into custody if he was still in
town. The young man was not difficult
to find, as he was in the crowd below,
and on the charge of malicious murder
he was forthwith arrested and lodged
in jail
We now come to the most mysterious
part of our narrative.
At the Coroner's inquest but little
light was thrown upon the crime.
Jabez Throck, the janitor, said that
he found the outer door of the Court
House locked from the inside, and that
he had been obliged to enter through
the coal cellar, of which he alone car
ried the key. 1t was not an uncommon
thing for the deceased to remain in his
room till twelve at night during ses-
sion Of Court, and that upon such &C.
casions he locked the Court House
when he left for home. Upon the jan
itor's testimony, the theory that the
murderer had been concealed in the
building was started, but this was in
jured by the various county officers,
who swore that they had locked the
iron doors leading into their offices i'm
mediately after the adjournment of
Court, which gave the murderer no
place for concealment but the stone
corridors.
The Court House was on the second
street running parallel with the river,
and one of the town sewers connected
it with the stream. There was bare
possibility that small man might have
obtained ingress into the building by
the sewer, but an examination of its
mouth dissipated this theory. The
Court room was situated on the second
floor. The murderer, to reach the
Judges apartment, was compelled to
cross the Court room, which, when
wrapped in darkness, as it was when
the murder was committed, was no
easy task for one unacquainted with
the arrangement of the furniture, etc.
If the assassin had traversed the room
just described, he had failed to displace
a single chair, several having been left
in the aisles as the Sheriff testified;
and the mode and manner of his exit
were also left in the dark.
There was nothing to point to the
evil-doer save the piece of paper al
ready twice mentioned, and by the
major part of BIS inhabitantsit was
regarded conclusive. Jason Bowers
was abjured to confess, but to the sur
prise of all he protested his innocence,
and declared that at the proper time he
would prove an alibi.
A new Judge took Blakely's place,
and the session was resumed. A new
Grand Jury was summoned, which in
dicted Jason Bowers for willful MUIR
der, and after the disposal of several
grand larcenies the young man was Put
upon trial for his life.
The district attorney, and man who
had won many eulogiums for his rigor-
GUS prosecution of criminal cases, was
summoned to b to look after the
interests of the State. After an inves-
tigation eff the case, he declared that
the Jury would deliver verdict of
guilty" without leaving their boxes,
and the trial was commenced.
1t is called to-day "the great trial"
at B, though sixteen years have
passed away, and the old Court House
has given place to new one.
Jason Bowers exhibited no signs of
] quit Wnen placed on the prisoners
stand and confronted by the crowd in
, which his friends might have been
, numbered by pairs. It was known that
, he hoped to prove an alibi, though few
believed his ability to do so.
, If, gentlemen" said the District
| Attorney to the jury in opening the
case. Eve shall show that Immediately
after his acquittal of the charge of for
gerry, the prisoner made threats against
the deceased; that he was seen in the
: vestibule of the Court House at the
hour of 10 or thereabouts on the night
of the murder, if at the time aforesaid,
he, standing on the stone steps, adj
/ dressed one of the witnesses for the
: State in his own, undisguised voice, so
that the witness will swear positively
; concerning his identity, we Shall pre-
sent case that will demand convic-
ton.
But, if We shall further show, gen.
tlemeD, that the prisoner carried to his
washerwoman, at daylight on the morn
ing after the committal NJ tho or;,,o =