The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-03-09
Of BLOODY CRIME.
COERT EXHIBITS ~ OLD-TINE
CRIMINAL CASES DESTROYED.
AshRea's Cart Heaped With Gar
w meats staIaed With Hamaa Gore
Half Bushet Of Re~oivers-

Ar aShmane car. he8ped high WITH
Clothing smeared with the blood Of -aar-
dsred men relied cut of she back yard %
the county BAL yesterday.
The fous-ssneiling. motfS- eaten garments.
soaked fl disinfeefanss. composed only a
part az the vehicle = strange load TuTna}ed
IN with the clothing were q thousand and
erse yasusieSs arttgies pregnant Win as<oca-
atoms OF hloodshsd aEt. CRIME. There were
rusty reviewers broken and FUSED knives,
esldgsons. rude siuGsshots. bottles Of poi
son and dozens % other implements Of the
rnuraerers art. rhs accumulated resscs Of
King county criminal trials for many
years. all Consigned 70 the garbage heap al
last.
Every arsicle II ne assortment bad
history and each had al one time been used
mute evidence for or against prisoner
charged with crime. Carefully preserved
frcm loss or destruction as saerediy as the
court records themselves these EXHIBITS
had year by year accumulated at the coun-
- court house until al last ,fsy complete
- occupied the spare storage space IN one
Of the vaults Of the county clerks office.
In course Of time the articles Of clothing
in the vault. covered with nth and blood
tn many cases, became uIotn-eaEsn. foul
smelling and deeayed, and were a menace
10 the health Of The employees In the clerks
office. The health officer investigated ard
condemned the accumulation and on We'd
nesiay Judge Jacobs signed an order d.
reetlng the clerk Of the: court to remove
and destroy such OF the exhibits as were
no longer Of any value. The ashman yes
terday carried oft the clerks directions by
car;ing the stun away.
OF course. not all OF the exhibits ordered
destroyed had been used in murder cases.
but Il was strange 20 note how many half
forgotten h0micides were recalled by tas
isme~tained labels on the articles destroy
ed. Among these were Il biood-stainei
coat used agains, Albert Frieslrichs, now
serv.ng life sentence for a murder conn
mlitea in Seattle in issS. some of the gar
nlsnts worn by Mrs. Charlotte Fetring,
fouad fonlly murdered In South Seattle IN
September. is93; part OF the blood soaked
clothing of Mrs. Mary Mueller. for whose
murder. in 1894. Henry Craener Is now
serving a life sentence and number OF
other h!ood-smeared garments from which
the tags bad been lost.
one of the articles ordered destroyed was
the heavy lo-soot oar with which 4. Carey
beat his dusky mistress 10 death In 1895
bui relic hunter saved IL from the ash
heap and bore II away in triumph 10 add
10 his collection of eur!os.
The exhibits which the clerk was or
dered to preserve are az more or less
value. They COMPRISE a half bushel OF
cheap reyoivers. three or four knives and
an assortment of hammers, axes hatch
cts and other deadly weapons. One of the
knives ia the nine-inch hatcher knife with
which Joseph Carter. the deckhand killed
a Chinese tughoat cook four years ago
One Of the revolvers IS that alleged To have
been carried by Henry Craemer on the
night he killed Mrs Mueller. and one OF
the hammers. one with a piece cut from
the end of the handle, Is that with which
he Is supposed to have beaten out the
wouan's brains and murdered her little
child
The circumstance that there are no
valuable reYolvcrs IN the collection IS ex-
planned by the fact that any such weapon
is invariably Withdrawn By permission of
the court when the case in which IL has
been evidence is ended.
Among the exhibits preserved were
those in the Nortstrom murder case This
case Is not vet rega r1ed as finished al
though Nordstrom will soon be sentenced
Tor the fourth time 10 be hanged. Among
these exhibits are a pair OF rubber boots
used I'm proving 70 the jury the size OF
Nordatrorn's foot, an old white felt hat
and coat and other clothing. The state
also has kept as an exhibit the window
sash taken from the very window through
which Nordstrom fired the bullet from his
rife into the body Of Willie Mason AT
Cedar mountain nearly eight years ago.
Not all Of the preserved exh bits have
such grewsome associations For exam
pie. there r. the big gold" brick used as
evidence against the notorious Rebel
George Knowiion five years ago.
mighty bar of copper Vanished with gold
lacquer and bored with holes for the pur-
pase Of testing its quality.