100 years ago in Spokane: Attorney for man accused of killing shop owner says his client is ‘simpleton’

From our archives, 100 years ago

Alfonzo Panziero, a sawmill worker, was on trial for the shocking murder of millinery store owner John Tobiason in his own downtown Spokane store.

According to testimony, Panziero, an Italian, was upset because he said Tobiason owed him hundreds of dollars. Panziero came to the Spokane store and argued with Tobiason on the sidewalk.

Witnesses described what happened next. The elderly Tobiason suddenly ran into the store and shouted, “Help me, he’s after me!” He slipped and fell. Panziero, standing in the doorway, raised a pistol and fired a shot. Then, with the wounded Tobiason still on the floor, Panziero fired another shot, this one into Tobiason’s neck.

Panziero’s attorney said that the Italian had “been a simpleton all of his life” and did not know what he was doing when he fired the shots. He indicated that insanity would be his defense.

From the trial beat: Mrs. Emma McCambridge was convicted for being an accomplice in the robbery and shooting of Louis Costello, a fruit stand owner. The jury found that she lured Costello to a remote spot near Indian Canyon, so that her boyfriend, Gilbert Childs, still at large, could rob him.

She was the wife of a soldier on duty in Arizona and she had a 3-year-old girl. She held the girl in her lap while she testified.

She could be sentenced up to five years in the penitentiary, but the jury recommended leniency.