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4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL SEPTEMBER 27, 2017 O PINION Offbeat Oregon History: Unwritten law and murder PHOTO COURTESY UO LIBRARIES This panoramic lithograph shows the city of Portland as it appeared around the time of John W. Murray’s shotgun murder of his brother-in-law. constituted a very low bar; a fellow might be a he late 1880s in Or- wife-beater and/or a philanderer without worry- By Finn JD John egon, and around the ing too much about ruining his chance of being For The Sentinel country, saw a substantial acquitted after murdering his wife’s boyfriend. rise in the number of mur- But he did have to make sure that the man he derers who tried to invoke the “Unwritten Law” murdered was not his brother-in-law. And also, to justify their crimes. it was pretty important that he not be a bigamist The “Unwritten Law” is the idea that if a man who had abandoned a wife and several children (yes, man; the “law” didn’t apply to women) truly back east to slink away to the West Coast and start believed that another fellow was trying to “break a new family. up his happy home” by getting intimate with his In early 1884, John W. Murray failed to clear wife, or was trying to “ruin” a young female rel- both these bars, and in consequence, on Feb. 13, ative by seducing her, he was not only justifi ed in roughly a year later, he found himself standing on murdering the “home-wrecker” but morally obli- the gallows scaffold ready to answer for his crime. gated to do so. The trouble started on Jan. 5, 1884, at the For- The belief was that “no jury in the land” would esters’ Ball, held at the Masonic Center in Port- sentence a man to hang for having “defended land. Murray, dressed to the nines, arrived and his home” or avenged the honor of his daughter, spotted his estranged wife, Annie, there with her niece, sister, etc., because although the written brother, Alfred Yenke. law said murder was always wrong, an unwrit- John and Annie had been married for four ten moral code demanded it. And for a time this years, and had a three-year-old daughter. But the worked in court, as you’ll know if you’re a long- marriage had been stormy, and three weeks ear- time reader of this column; we’ve discussed sev- lier — just before Christmas — Annie had taken eral high-profi le Unwritten Law cases in Offbeat the baby and moved back in with her parents. A Oregon History articles past. divorce, on the grounds of excessive cruelty, was The Unwritten Law didn’t come out of no- probably in the offi ng. where. Although the widespread enthusiasm for John seemed to be in the mood to smooth things them wouldn’t appear until the mid-1890s, it was over now. He approached Annie and pleasantly being used to justify homicide throughout the asked if she’d like to dance. 1800s and even before — with a disturbing de- She turned him down. “I do not think we should gree of success. be seen together,” she told him. “I would prefer But in order to successfully claim the protection not to associate with you any longer.” of the Unwritten Law, there were some require- John was instantly furious. “I’m going to watch ments that a man had to meet. Those requirements you,” he raged. “If you go home with anyone I’ll T have you both arrested.” Annie turned her back on him, leaving him still further incensed. They didn’t speak again that night; and at around midnight, when John re- turned to the boardinghouse where he now lived alone, he was still simmering. He had probably had a lot to drink as well. His landlady was still up, and had also been at the dance. John got out his shotgun and threw it down on the table. “Here is the old gun,” he raged. “I am going to shoot any damned man that goes home with Annie, and then I am going to shoot her.” The landlady pleaded with him not to do it — for his daughter’s sake. “Why do you want to kill her away from your beautiful little girl?” she said. John seemed chagrined by this thought, and seemed to agree. But when he left the building a few minutes later, he took the shotgun with him. Some time later, John spotted Annie. She was visiting with one of the other couples outside the dance. Then a man joined them, and the cou- ple left going one way while Annie and the man strolled down the street toward Annie’s parents’ home. They made it about two blocks before John caught up with them. “Now I’ve got you!” he shouted. The man turned — and caught the full charge from both barrels square in the chest. The blasts knocked him off the plank sidewalk and into the mud of the street. That seems to have been the point at which John realized he’d just murdered his brother-in- law. It was Alfred Yenke who was lying there in the mud looking up at him with fast-glazing eyes. At the murder trial, John’s attorney tried very hard to demonstrate that he was crazy — that, having already had some insanity in the family, the prospect of having his home broken up had driven him over the edge and out of his right mind. Granted, a terrible mistake had been made in thinking his wife’s brother was a marauding Lothario, but that mistake had led to temporary madness which should not be punished with death. Against that, the prosecution brought forward some credible evidence that John might have actually intended to murder his brother-in-law all along, and that all that posturing and fuming about Anna “going home with someone” was intended to give him cover for the deed. He had asked his landlady’s daughter to keep his dog in- doors that night, something he had never done before; the implication was that he feared the dog would run to greet Anna and Alfred and alert them to his presence, at which point they might see the shotgun in time to escape. There were also a couple witnesses to whom John apparently spoke too freely at the dance, one of whom remembered John pointing out Alfred and saying, “I’ll get even with the [expletive re- dacted from original newspaper article] tonight. I’ll show him how the work is done.” The verdict, when it came in, was guilty of fi rst-degree murder. John’s attorney appealed to the state Supreme Court, resulting in a nearly year-long delay of the execution. During this time, word fi ltered back from Amsterdam, New York, that John was a big- amist. “He was known there as Amsterdam Jack, and he fl ed that part of the country about eight years ago, leaving a wife and two children,” the Port- land Evening Telegram reported. “She is working for the support of herself and children in one of the knitting mills at that place.” Although the news arrived too late to affect the outcome of the trial, it may have had some impact on the decisions of the appellate courts and the Supreme Court. Eventually the Supreme Court denied the motion for a new trial; the judge re-sentenced John Murray to be hanged; and on Feb. 13, it was done. As a side note, the gallows used to hang John W. Murray was equipped with an electrically-con- trolled trap door, which was sprung open with the push of a button. It was the fi rst use of electricity in an execution in Oregon history, and possibly in American history as well. Dr. Fuhrman: Children's diet and their school performance T he standard American diet, full of soda and other sugary drinks, fast For The Sentinel foods, and other low-nutrient foods, can have a major impact on the health and lives of our children. Rising rates of childhood obesity driven by this way of eating have received much attention; however, low-nu- trient foods are still having negative effects on the physical and mental health of children who are not overweight. Children are not immune to the damaging health effects of the standard American diet, which can set them up for a lifetime of poor health, ranging from heart disease to behavior problems and lower cognitive per- formance. On average, U.S. children and teens consume over 200 calories a day from soda and other sugary drinks, and it is estimated that about 14 percent of their calories come from fast food. As a re- sult of the poor diets of American children, more than one-third of By Joel Furhman, MD C ottage G rove S entinel (541) 942-3325 Administration James Rand, Regional Publisher Gary Manly, General Manager ................................................. Ext. 207 gmanly@cgsentinel.com normal-weight teenagers (and about half of overweight teenagers) have at least one diet-related risk factor for heart disease.These di- etary patterns have the potential to dramatically affect not only pub- lic health but the productivity of our future adult population; stud- ies have implicated poor diet in limiting intelligence and academic performance, and also has drawn parallels between consumption of sweets during childhood and violence in adulthood. A study on soda consumption found an increase in behavior and attention problems in fi ve-year-old children (as assessed by their mothers) with increasing daily consumption of soda. Forty-three percent of the fi ve-year-olds in the study drank soda at least once a day. The authors adjusted their results for potential confounding factors that might affect behavior, such as hours of television and a stressful home environment, and still found a signifi cant asso- ciation between soda consumption and aggression, withdrawn behavior and poor attention. They proposed that caffeine and/or fl uctuations in blood sugar might be responsible for the associa- tion between soda and behavior problems.6 Blood glucose levels do affect the workings of the brain, and habitual high sugar intake has been shown to impair cognitive function. Several previous stud- ies on high school students have also associated soda consumption with aggressive behavior, as well as depression and self-harm.Plus, higher sugar sweetened beverage consumption is linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancers. In addition to soda, higher fast food consumption in fi fth grade (four or more times per week) has been associated with poorer ac- ademic progress in math, reading and science between fi fth grade and eighth grade. Children who ate fast food one to three times per week—a common level of intake—compared to those who ate no fast food had lower scores in math. These results suggest that chil- dren eating fast food frequently could slow their academic progress. The food habits children develop in their early years have a substantial impact on their physical health and mental well-being throughout the rest of our lives. Parents need to know this informa- tion, so that they can help their children to live healthfully, maintain a positive mindset, and reach their full cognitive potential. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Two cents on petition Idealistic reformers are dangerous because their idealism has no roots in love, but is simply a hysterical and unbalanced rage for order amidst their own chaos. William Irwin Thompson If we could truly see into the soul of those that we'd like to punish we would fi nd enough grief and suffering to make us stop wishing any more harm to them.Source Unknown On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points. Sylvia Plath We have just religion enough to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. Jonathan Swift Life is just a short walk from the cradle to the grave - and it sure behooves us to be kind to one another along the way. Alice Chil- dress Intolerance is the fi rst sign of an inadequate education. An ill-ed- ucated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly pro- found education breeds humility. Alexander Solzhenitsyn Let the one without sin cast the fi rst stone. Jesus Remember Him? Stephen Swiftfox Cottage Grove Aaron Ames, Marketing Specialist ........................................... Ext. 216 aames@cgsentinel.com Tammy Sayre, Marketing Specialist ......................................... Ext. 213 tsayre@cgsentinel.com Editorial Caitlyn May, Editor. ................................................................. Ext. 212 cmay@cgsentinel.com Zach Silva, Sport Editor ............................................................ Ext. 204 zsilva@cgsentinel.com Customer Service Carla Williams, Offi ce Manager .............................................. Ext. 200 Legals, Classifi eds .......................................... Ext. 200 cwilliams@cgsentinel.com Production Ron Annis, Production Supervisor ............................................. 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