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James Riley v. Egbert H. Tucker

April 18, 1861 - May 18, 1808

Petitioned on October 1, 1863

Filed before the Second Judicial District Court for the Territory of Washington (Tacoma, Washington)

Case ID: hc.case.wa.0105

Case Summary

James Riley, the petitioner, filed a writ of Habeas Corpus after he was detained for assaulting John McCloud with intent to kill and for killing another man who is not named. Both men are described as indigenous and Snohomish. Riley allegedly assaulted John McCloud, one of the indigenous men, with intent to kill, caused "malicious mayhem," and killed the other man with a knife. According to the Bradleys, the owners of the residence where the assault and murder took place, these incidents all occurred in the same evening during correspondence between Riley and a group of at least 2-3 indigenous women and 2 indigenous men. Almost all of the witnesses in this case state that James Riley is a dangerous man and/or of bad character. Further, both Thomas Horn and Allen McLeod state that they were with the man killed by Riley moments before his death and that he had told them that Riley was his killer. Additonally, H. E. Bradley states that Riley told him that he had murdered the indigenous man who was found by Horn and McLeod.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

  • Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

  • Assault with intent to kill
  • Assault and battery
  • Malicious mayhem

Sites of significance

Outcome

Unknown

Fate of bound party

Unknown

Source material(s)

Case File

Case document transcriptions

Length of case file

Between 51 and 75 pages

State

  • Washington

Tag(s)

  • Native american
  • Indigenous
  • Murder

People

  • LeCarle, Frank E. (petitioner attorney)
  • Riley, James (petitioner)
  • Hewitt, C. C. (chief justice)
  • Wood, William H. (respondent attorney)

  • Additional parties

    Horn, Thomas (convicted with Riley)

    McCloud, John (victim of assault)

    West, M.J. (Justice of the Peace)

    McLeod, Alexander (witness)

    Corcoran, Dominick (witness)

    Bradley, Mrs. H. Esther (witness)

    Eustice, Michael (witness)

    Gonich, Carl (witness)

    Walmsley, John (witness)

    Bradley, Henry E. (witness)

    Eustice, Micheal (witness)

    White, Robert (witness)

    Jester, James E. D. (coroner)

    Carney, (coroner)

    Fitzgerald, Charles J. (coroner)

    Whitman, J. F. (coroner)

    Wethchouse, Joseph (coroner)

    Waterhouse, J. (coroner)

    Hogan, Thomas A. (coroner)

    Hilson, Joseph L. (clerk)

    Latham, John (clerk)

    Collins, Daniel (coroner)

Citation

Katrina Jagodinsky, Cory Young, Andrew Varsanyi, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, William Dewey, Erin Chambers, Greg Tunink. “James Riley v. Egbert H. Tucker.” Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Accessed November 27, 2024. https://petitioningforfreedom.unl.edu/cases/item/hc.case.wa.0105

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