100 years ago in Spokane: Testimony concluded in the closely watched Maurice Codd perjury trial

Testimony in the long-running Maurice Codd subornation of perjury trial was finally, mercifully, over. Only the closing arguments remained.

Judge W. D. Askren told the jurors that they needed to answer two crucial questions:

Did any of the 13 defendants know that Beatrice Sant’s testimony in the Codd murder trial was false?

And did they “intentionally and corruptly” procure her to testify falsely?

The outcome was anyone’s guess, because virtually every piece of testimony on either side had been flatly contradicted by testimony from the other side.

The case had captured Spokane’s attention for weeks, and especially the attention of Spokane’s legal community. Several of the defendants were Spokane lawyers.

On the day of closing arguments, the gallery was jammed and people were admitted on a standing-room-only basis.

“Many attorneys interested in the case perched themselves on the newspaper press table and the steps leading to the judge’s bench,” said the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

From the accident beat: Ralph W. Beale, 20, employee at the “Foster-Russell flying field” on Apple Way, made a fatal mistake.

He was checking the gasoline levels in Nick Mamer’s plane. The plane was in idle and the propeller was spinning. After finishing the measurement, Beale stepped backward – a little too far backward.

The propeller knocked him down and killed him instantly.

“It all happened so quickly that we were unaware that an accident had really happened until we saw the body lying on the ground,” said Mamer.