100 years ago in Spokane: Murder suspects, the McDonald siblings, pose outside courthouse

Spokane Daily Chronicle readers got their first glimpses of the infamous McDonald siblings, as photographers snapped their photos outside the Superior Court.

The front page photo showed Fay McDonald Wilkinson, Jewell Marie McDonald and Ted McDonald, smiling outside the courthouse, accompanied by a female bailiff.

They were attending a preliminary hearing, in which the prosecutor disclosed that he was charging each of them as principals in the murder of W.H. McNutt, a Spokane real estate and mining man. McNutt disappeared following a business dispute with the sisters. His body was later found in a shallow grave near Newport. Another sibling, Will McDonald, was still at large, but he was also charged with murder.

The prosecutor said it made no difference who struck the fatal blow. “They are all guilty,” said the prosecutor. “It’s common law and common sense. I charge them all with being principals.”

The Chronicle reported that Fay and Ted “seemed very sure of themselves and gazed about with an air that seemed even a bit defiant.” However, they lost their air of confidence as the hearing proceeded. Jewell was described as “pale, drawn, nervous and unstrung.”

This was just the opening skirmish in the case. The full trial was scheduled for January.