The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-19

police judge of Spokane, and he is now
one CT the leading attorneys CT the city
The only incident for which any members
OF the bar have criticised him took pace
in the Police Court curing his early
struggles here. At that stage CT his ca
reer every case won counted. Saunders
said to the police judge in the course of
his plea:
Il know this client of nine l know that
for three months he performed the hard
est kind of manual labor The testimony
or the police that he will not work is quite
untrue"
1t was an unusual appeal. and the mag
lstrate said: 'Ycur testimony is suffici MT
to acquit him, and It is al that is in his
FAVOR BY the way, Mr.. Saunders, where
did you know hin?''
He was my cellInate in the Oregon PEN
itentiary your honor" replied Saunders.
The silence that followed the answer was
uncomfortable until the court aDologize1
Tor the question. Saunders answer was the
hrst intimation the general public of Spo-
kane had concerning his past. Shortly aft
er TINS saunders made public a review of
the case in which he was the defendant
and Notwithstanding the rivalry that al
ways exists in municipal elections, the
story of his life in Oregon was not reeerrs d
TO by his opponents when he was conduct
ing the campaign that made him police
Judge
testimony was introduced at the first Of
saunders Oregon trials to show that he
Killed a man in Texas. However that may
De- ne went TO Eastern Oregon when
young man and opened law office His
social gifts were highly appreciated by thu
Isolated community where he resided, ana
within short time he became an aspirlnt
for the hand Of the belle of the town. He
had a rival, and one morning III ssrval
was found dead in mountain path, where
IL was SAID Saunders had been seen W IT,
ing on the night previous. 1t was a plain
case of murder Circumstantial evidence
accumulated against Saunders almost as
rapidly as his friends deserted him With
IN lew hours he was under arrest, charg-
ed with the murder. AT the trial the
judge admitted testimony tending 10 show
that Saunders had killed a man in Texas
The jury found him guilty, and sentenced
him to the Oregon pententiary for life
saunders obtained new trial VI on the
ground that the testimony as to the Tex. n
homicide was undue influence upon the
jury. 1t was excluded at the second trial
but he was sentenced TO hang
During all this trouble the young woman
was so confident of his innocence that she
promised to remain true to him a. lifetime
If need be. Great pressure was brought
to bear upon the Governor to issue par
don, but the dead man had many influ-
entail friends, who presented counter-pe-
titlOLS. just what motive influenced GOV.
Pennoyer at the eleventh hour will prob
ably never be known, but there was great
rejoicing in the. bunchgrass town when the
telegram forbidding the sheriff to go on
with the execution was received. There
were also outcries that justice had been
thwarted, but sentiment has changed since
then and nearly everyone in that com
muuity, except the relatives of the muir
dered man, believes in Saunders limo
cence.
The young couple lost no time in chang
ing the preparations for a funeral into
arrangements for a marriage. Saunders
and his young wife Game to Spokane. AL
though they took no pains to conceal the
ordeal through which they had been, in
some way or other it did not become gen.
orally known When the story became
public it did not change the attitude of
the public toward the couple, and at this
time there is probably not a man in Spok-
ane who does not look upon Judge Writ
W. Saunders as one who came near being
a victim of circumstantial evidence. He
has amassed a competence through bis
legal practice and lucky mining deals.