100 years ago in Spokane: A defense attorney’s dramatic pandering nonetheless moved jurors in the new Maurice Codd trial

Attorney Fred Robertson, speaking in his own defense in the Maurice Codd subornation of perjury trial, read from the Bible and “likened situations in the time of Christ to incidents he said were parallel to the case.”

It may have been melodramatic, but it apparently worked. “Tears came to the eyes of the jury members,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported.

After reading from the Bible, Robertson turned to his main theme, which was that all of the charges stemmed from “enmity” in the prosecutor’s office, originating with a brutal election campaign.

From the weather beat: 1922 was shaping up as the second-driest year on record for Spokane. Only 11.1 inches of precipitation had fallen as of the last week of the year.

The only drier year was 1918, which had only 9.9 inches.

Spokane had been hit with big snowstorms in December, but it was not enough to make up for a drier year overall. It would take at least 7 more inches of snow to move 1922 to third or fourth place

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1905: Former governor Frank Steunenberg is assassinated near his home in Caldwell, Idaho.

1922: Creation of the USSR formally proclaimed in Moscow from the Bolshoi Theatre.

1924: Astronomer Edwin Hubble formally announces existence of other galactic systems at meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

1972: President Richard Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam and announces peace talks.