100 years ago in Spokane: Codd jurors seemed no closer to a verdict, and a ‘desire for notoriety’ spurred a young employee

The jury was deadlocked in the Maurice Codd subornation of perjury trial, and “the disagreement is generally widening” after 44 hours of deliberations.

No one knew what was happening behind those jury room doors, but evidence of a rift was unmistakable.

The first clue came when the jury asked the bailiff and judge if they were allowed to elect a new foreman. The judge told them it was up to them.

The jury apparently went ahead and elected a new foreman because an hour or so later a different juror had assumed the duties of spokesman and summoned the bailiff. The new foreman reported that “one juror refused to discuss the case” and asked if the judge could order that juror to deliberate and participate in the ballots. They judge replied that they all had their instructions and he expected them to “continue with their deliberations.”

The judge told reporters he planned to hold the jurors to their duties for at least two more days.

The suspense served only to whip up even more interest in this sensational saga. Phones in the courtroom – and at the newspaper office – were ringing constantly, with callers asking whether a verdict had been reached.

From the crime beat: Rose Merley, 17, was discovered tightly bound to a chair, with a gag in her mouth, in the Spokane home where she worked. She told police that a man entered the home, demanded money, then bound her to the chair and escaped.

This caused alarm among the neighbors on South Ash Street, who feared an evil-doer was on the loose.

The fear ratcheted even higher the next day when Rose was reported missing.

Fear gave way to skepticism when police arrived and found her hiding high on a limb of an apple tree.

She soon confessed that she had invented both incidents and had been inspired by a recent William “Bill” Hart movie she had just seen. Her motive was a “desire for notoriety.”