Murder
Fort William was the site of the first public trial by European Americans in Oregon. In 1835, the post’s gunsmith, Thomas J. Hubbard, attacked and killed the fort’s tailor in an argument over a young Native girl. The naturalist John Kirk Townsend was appointed magistrate, although he was a friend of Hubbard's. The jury acquitted Hubbard when they ruled the death was justifiable homicide. This verdict was likely the result of evidence that the tailor had alcohol-induced rages.
Read more about this topic: Fort William (Oregon)
Famous quotes containing the word murder:
“The horror of Gandhi’s murder lies not in the political motives behind it or in its consequences for Indian policy or for the future of non-violence; the horror lies simply in the fact that any man could look into the face of this extraordinary person and deliberately pull a trigger.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“Arrive in the afternoon, the late light slanting
In diluted gold bars across the boulevard brag
Of proud, seamed faces with mercy and murder hinting
here, there, interrupting, all deep and debonair,
The pink paint on the innocence of fear;
Walk in a gingerly manner up the hall.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“Television has brought back murder into the home—where it belongs.”
—Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980)