The age-herald., 1901-08-24
Man Hanged in Seattle for a Murder Committed Nearly
 Ten Years Ago
FOUGHT THROUGHALLC
When All Hope Was Gone the Mur- derer Broke Down and Had To Be Held In Place When the
 Trap Was Sprung.

Seattle, Wash, August 23.-Charles W.
 Nordstrom was hanged this morning for
 the murder, November q, 1891, of Will liam Mason.
 From early morning the condemned
 man had seemed to fully realize his posi-
 ton, and while the ministers and mem
 bers of the Salvation Army prayed with
 him he wept continually.
 Shortly after s30 Nordstrom was brought into the execution room. It re- quired the assistance of four men to keep him on his feet
 When he was taken into the presence of the scaffold he broke down completely,
 crying and praying that his life be spared. He collapsed entirely and fell to the floor.
 Efforts to keep him on his feet were fruitless and at last Sheriff Cudihee or- dered that a board be brought To this Nordstrom was tied.
 The six men then with great effort suc- ceeded in getting him on to the trap There be was stood up right, four men standing on the four sides of the trap and holding him.
 In less than two seconds after the con- demned man was in place the trap was sprung and Nordstom had paid the pen atty of his crime.
 Nordstrom was pronounced dead III lS A Celebrated Case. The Nordstrom case is celebrated one' having been fought back and forth in the courts for nine years.
 During that time the condemned man has managed tosescape the gallows sew eral times for one reason or another Nordstrom worked during the fall of 1891 for Thomas Mason, a rancher, near Cedar Mountain, in this county. He had dis- pute about the amount of wages due him. On the night of the murder Mason was
 sitting at supper with his father. Some one fired shot from outside the window. Young Mason pitched forward and died in short time.
 Investigation showed the prints of the murderer's feet as he had stood beside the fence corner and rested his rife on the top. The officers at once took up the | chase. The murderer was tracked through a long stretch of country. Several days | later Nordstrom, with a Winchester rifle of the same caliber with which the vic | tim was murdered, was arrested on the | railroad track near Cedar Mountain. He | told conflicting stories. On trial he was | convicted. The case was appealed to the | Supreme Court of this State, which re- fused to grant a new trial. Col. James Hamilton Lewis became associate counsel 1! in the case. He fought the case in the | federal court on a writ of habeas corpus, which was denied.
 Carried to U. s. Supreme Court. He carried the matter to the Supreme Court of the United States and lost his case. He then went to the superior court of King county and asked for commis- sion of physicians to examine into the mental condition of Nordstrom. This was granted. The doctors pronounced the man sane. Lewis demanded jury trial as to Nordstrom's sanity. The SUI perior court denied this In the supreme court of this State Lewis appeal of this | question was overruled. Lewis carried the case to the Supreme Court of tht
 United States, and also applied to tht federal court for writ of habeas corpu. on the strength of insanity proceedings | The federal court refused the writ Levi. carried this to the Supreme Court of tht United States also. He was overrulet in both cases. Since then Lewis has ap piled to the federal and superior court for a stay of proceedings and been re fused The entire litigation has taker nine years Lewis last night, in spite
 of his announcement the other day thai | he had left the case. was out of the city looking for a writ of prohibition from the supreme court Justice. The Governor | has refused to interfere