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56 Closing arguments in the trial heightened the public frenzy. Gone would be the tedious bickering between attorneys over legal points, and each side would simply sum up the testimony. Then the case would be in the hands of the jury. Would John Wormell’s death be avenged? Would a twelve-year-old be sentenced to life in prison? Sentenced to death? Put in a hospital for the mentally ill? Reporters from all the major wire services and newspapers took rooms at the Asotin Hotel and stood in line before the phone booth to call in stories to editors across the country. Their articles ran on both the East and West coasts, in the Great Lakes states, in New York and New England. The case became a symbol for the nation’s growing concern and intolerance for juvenile delinquency, which had seemed to run rampant alongside every other kind of lawlessness since Prohibition went into effect in 1920. The case even bumped Los Angeles “trunk slayer” Winnie Ruth Judd off the front pages. She had been a frequent feature after she murdered Chapter 7 Chapter 7 57 two friends, hid their body parts in a steamer trunk, and shipped the trunk from Phoenix, Arizona, to Los Angeles. She had been caught when she tried to claim the malodorous trunk at the railroad depot. The medical experts quoted in the press explained that her wide-set eyes were clues to her insanity. How could a woman of such a naturally delicate constitution carry off such a heinous deed? How could a cherub‑faced twelve-year-old kill a respected officer of the law? The social order of the nation was spinning. What could one count on? Not government. Not the banks. From the pulpit, preachers spoke of Armageddon. In the meantime, near the Asotin Superior Court, the Methodists had sold so many chicken dinners that they had exhausted the town’s supply of chicken and had to bring them in from Lewiston. • Junior turned his usual beam on the crowd when he took his seat. Never had so many people paid so much attention to him. He especially loved the reporters who took his picture and followed him and his attorneys around, scribbling down anything they had to say. Then they wrote their stories, and people all over the country read about him. He was famous. Almost like Pretty Boy Floyd. But his favorite among the reporters was Harold McGrath, because he was also a Scout master and talked to him about the Boy Scouts. While the Progressive Movement changed the image of children from being miniature adults to those needing special protection, the concept escaped prosecutor Halsey. He detailed every past offense, called the boy a cold-blooded murderer, and hammered down on facts surrounding the boy’s heredity: Bert Niccolls and Junior’s paternal great-grandmother were both in insane asylums. Junior simply has “bad heredity,” Halsey said. As he pontificated, occasionally twirling his thick mustache when he paused to think, the boy fell asleep and remained so throughout the morning. Halsey told the jury about how Junior went from the Children’s Home to live with a fine family in Shoshone, Idaho. He told them about the violin and cornet lessons they gave him and how they doted on him. How did he repay the family? He stole from them—jewelry and money— 58 and he habitually lied. Finally, these kind people returned him to the Children’s Home. Then he stole a car, broke into a safe, and even stole a tricycle. Junior was to be sent to the Industrial School at St. Anthony, Idaho, but his grandmother intervened. Then he was placed in her care and taken to Orofino. “Did Herbert reform under the loving care of his grandmother?” Halsey asked. He did not. He burglarized the post office. He stole another automobile . He stole from homes and stores. His grandmother attempted to give him a solid religious education but he stole from the collection plate and set fire to the church. He was again sent to the reform school. When he was paroled, he came to Asotin. During his few months in town, he burglarized the Asotin County Cooperative Store and stole a bicycle and then a gun. Halsey paused for dramatic effect. “He shot Mr. Wormell, and the pistol used was found with the hammer back, indicating he was ready to shoot again.” Then Halsey asked the jury to do the right thing, in...

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