Page 31 - Pierce County Lawyer - May June 2024

some point he became a lawyer in the area around Buffalo, New York. He came west to Tacoma and was here for about five years. He was active in the African American community and represented John Conna, an African American, in a discrimination suit.9 He represented Picani both at trial and on appeal.
On May 9, 1892, an appeal was filed in the Supreme Court, but the sheriff was going ahead with his invitation-only hanging. The Supreme Court issued a writ to prevent the hanging to let the appeal proceed. Some funds were gathered for the appeal but not enough to pay for the Statement of Facts.10 When the Statement was not delivered in time, the court determined not to hear the appeal11
By now, there was considerable sentiment that Salvatore was innocent and that Moresi, who, as you may recall had left town after Picani was convicted, was the guilty party. A legislator from Tacoma introduced a bill that would allow the appeal to proceed. The governor said he would veto the bill, but would commute Picani’s sentence. The Supreme Court decided that the circumstances justified allowing the appeal to be heard.12 On the merits they reversed the conviction. They reviewed all of the evidence and stated
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The only theory upon which the verdict of the jury can
be accounted for is that there was at the time great excitement growing out of the atrocity of the murder, together with the fact that the accused was a foreigner, and by the jury to some extent no doubt believed to be of an inferior and vindictive race.
And so Salvatore (or Salvador) Picani (or Pagano) escaped the hangman. Father Hylebos remained as pastor at St. Leo’s until 1911 and gave the benediction at the groundbreaking of the Alaska Pacific Exposition in 1911. He resigned his pastorate
in 1911 apparently after a dispute with the Bishop of Seattle. He died in the Influenza Epidemic of 1919. Marshall Snell continued to practice law until his death in 1939. Orra Hughes returned east shortly after the trial and died in New York in 1901.
And so a Belgian Priest, an Iowa orphan, and an African American together saved the life of an Italian immigrant in 1890s Tacoma.
John Weaver is a retired professor of law from Seattle University School of Law. He began teaching at UPS School of Law in 1972. He is
a resident of Tacoma and serves as the Law School Liaison to the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association. He is an honorary life-time member of the TPCBA.
Both John Conna and the suit are for another article
Basically, an agreed-to statement of the facts which with the transcript was the
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basis of the appeal. See Laws of Washington 1891 p. 347., 11 State v. Picani, 5 Wash. 343, 31 P. 878 (1892)
12 State v. Pagano, 7 Wash. 549 , 35 P. 387 (1893) it is not clear why the name was changed on the appeal.
Fraser Robinson Speir Attorney Outsource
www.frslegal.com bonnie@frslegal.com l 253.564.3669
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Providing legal research and briefing support at all administrative and judicial levels to the Pierce County Bar for over 25 years
May/Junel 2024 | PIERCE COUNTY LAWYER 31