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
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