100 years ago in Spokane: Defendant in Maurice Codd perjury trial faints during heated testimony

The long-running drama known as the Maurice Codd subornation of perjury trial reached new heights when Ruth Fryett, 26, one of the defendants, fainted.

She was not on the stand, but in the “smoking room” off of the gallery. She had been standing in the doorway, listening to the contentious cross-examination of “Grandma” Green, a state witness and friend of the Codd family. A defense attorney had been badgering Green. Green shot back that the attorney’s questions were “not material,” prompting another defense attorney to say sarcastically, that “it appears a new attorney has entered the case.”

But the effects of the cross-examination took a toll on Grandma Green, and she had to be helped from the courtroom. It was at this moment that “tears fell and sobs were heard,” followed by the sound of someone hitting the floor in the smoking room. Fryett had walked across the room and collapsed.

“When gaining consciousness, Miss Fryett became so hysterical and cried so loudly that she could be heard in the courtroom,” said the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

Her parents and the judge came to her side as she recovered. The judge allowed her to stay in his chambers on a couch while the trial resumed.

“The cause for Miss Fryett’s fainting is not known, but a belief was expressed that the physical and mental strain brought upon her by the extreme length of the trial in which she is a defendant caused her to collapse today,” said the Chronicle.

Fryett and her mother, Nellie, were both charged with various forms of witness tampering. Earlier in the day, another witnessed testified that Nellie Fryett admitted to him that Codd had been guilty of murder, but was “wise enough and would get out of it.”