WESTERN LEGAL HISTORY THE JOURNAL OF THE NINTH JuDIcIAL CIRCUIT HISTORICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 12, NUMBER 2 SUMMER/FALL 1999 Western Legal History is published semiannually, in spring and fall, by the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, 125 S. Grand Avenue, Pasadena, California 91105, (626) 795-0266/fax (626) 229-7462. The journal explores, analyzes, and presents the history of law, the legal profession, and the courts- particularly the federal courts-in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Western Legal History is sent to members of the NJCHS as well as members of affiliated legal historical societies in the Ninth Circuit. Membership is open to all. 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Because Western Legal History publishes articles that present the historical record as accurately as possible, it occasionally publishes quotations containing such language. The publication of such is not to be construed as representing the attitudes of either the authors or Western Legal History. Communication with the editor is encouraged before submission of any manuscript. At that time, other guidelines for the preparation and publication of an article may be discussed. Consultation upon punctuation, grammar, style, and the like is made with the author, although the editor and the Editorial Board are the final arbiters of the article's acceptance and appearance. Articles published in this journal are abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life; Historical Abstracts; the Index to Legal Periodicals;and the Legal Resources Index. NmwrH JUDIcIAL CIRcUIr HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS HON. JAMES R. BROWNING HON. EUGENE LYNCH Chairman Ross San Francisco EDWARD J. MCANIFF, ESQ. CHRISTINE W.S. BYRD, ESQ. Los Angeles President MICHAEL E. MCNICHOLS, ESQ. Los Angeles Lewiston FORREST A. PLANT, ESQ. HON. MARGARET M, MORROW Vice President Los Angeles Sacramento RONALD L. OLSON, ESQ. GERSHAM GOLDSTEIN, ESQ. Los Angeles Treasurer HON. DIARMUID F. O'SCANNLAIN Portland Portland CHET ORLOFF HON. MANUEL L. REAL Secretary Los Angeles Portland CHARLES B. RENFREW, ESQ. JAMES P. KLEINBERG, ESQ. San Francisco Immediate Past President HON. PAUL G. ROSENBLATT Palo Alto Phoenix H. JESSE ARNELLE, ESQ. GUY ROUNSAVILLE, JR., ESQ. San Francisco San Francisco LEROY J. BARKER, ESQ. HON. MARY M. SCHROEDER Anchorage Phoenix JEROME I. BRAUN, ESQ. MARC M. SELTZER, ESQ. San Francisco Los Angeles HON. JAMES M. BURNS DONALD C. SMALTZ, ESQ. Portland Los Angeles DAVID A. CATHCART, ESQ. GERALD K. SMITH, ESQ. Los Angeles Phoenix BARBARA A. CAULFIELD, ESQ. HON. JOSEPH T. SNEED San Francisco San Francisco RICHARD R. CLIFTON, ESQ. HON. CHRISTINA A. SNYDER Honolulu Los Angeles JOHN L. COOPER, ESQ. WILLIAM E. TRAUTMAN, ESQ. San Francisco San Francisco GEORGE C. DALTHORP, ESQ. D. BURR UDALL, ESQ. Billings Tucson JEROME B. FALK, JR., ESQ. ROBERT S. WARREN, ESQ. San Francisco Los Angeles HON. ALFRED T. GOODWIN MICHAEL A. WHITE, ESQ. Pasadena Saipan HON. RONALD M. GOULD Seattle BOARD MEMBERS EMERITI HON. PROCTER HUG, JR. Reno JOSEPH A. BALL, ESQ. J. STERLING HUTCHESON, ESQ. Long Beach San Diego SHIRLEY M. HUFSTEDLER, ESQ. HON. SUSAN Y. ILLSTON Los Angeles San Francisco ELWOOD S. KENDRICK, ESQ. CURTIS A. JENNINGS, ESQ. Los Angeles Phoenix HON. SAMUEL P. KING MICHAEL A. KAHN, ESQ. Honolulu San Francisco SHARP WHITMORE, ESQ. FREDERICK K. KUNZEL, ESQ. Fallbrook San Diego SHERMAN V. LOHN, ESQ. BRADLEY B. WILLIAMS Missoula Director WESTERN LEGAL HISTORY BRADLEY B. WILLIAMS, EDITOR JUDITH FORMAN, COPY/PRODUCTION EDITOR EDITORIAL BOARD JUDITH AUSTIN MARI MATSUDA Idaho State Historical Society Law School Center, GORDON MORRIS BAKKEN Georgetown University California State University, R. JAMES MOONEY Fullerton University of Oregon Law MICHAL BELKNAP School California Western School of CLAUS-M. NASKE Law University of Alaska, HON. JAMES R. BROWNING Fairbanks Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of KENNETH O'REILLY Appeals for the Ninth Circuit University of Alaska, ELIZABETH J. CABRASER, ESQ. Anchorage San Francisco PAULA PETRIK ERIC A. CHIAPPINELLI University of Maine School of Law, Seattle PETER L. REICH University Whittier Law School LAWRENCE M. FRIEDMAN JOHN PHILLIP REID Stanford Law School New York University CHRISTIAN G. FRITZ School of Law University New Mexico HARRY N. SCHEIBER, PH.D. School of Law Boalt Hall, University of HON. ALFRED T. GOODWIN California Senior Circuit Judge, U.S. Court MOLLY SELVIN, PH.D. of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Santa Monica ROBERT W. GORDON CHARLES H. SHELDON Yale Law School Washington State University MICHAEL GRIFFITH CAROLINE STOEL Archivist, U.S. District Court, Portland State University Northern District of California STEPHEN L. WASBY JAMES W. HULSE State University of New York, University of Nevada, Reno Albany LOUISE LAMOTHE, ESQ. JOHN R. WUNDER Los Angeles University of Nebraska DAVID J. LANGUM Cumberland School of Law, Samford University WESTERN LEGAL HiSTORY VOLUME 12, NUMBER 2 SUMMER/FALL 1999 CONTENTS Judge Webster: "There Is Something Sacred about the Work of the Court" James G. Newbill 155_ How Wild Was Arizona? An Examination of Pima County's Criminal Court, 1882-1909 Paul T Hietter 100 Sarah Herring Sorin: Arizona's First Woman Lawyer Jacquelyn Gayle Kasper 1 A Cauldron of Anger: The Spreckels Family and Reform of California Community Property Law Charlotte K. Goldberg 1 Book Reviews 281 Articles of Related Interest 289 Memberships, Contributions, and Grants 293 Cover Photograph:Sarah Herring Sorin sits in her law office surrounded by the extensive law library built by her father, William Herring. (Courtesy of Arizona Historical Society, Tucson, #29361) JUDGE WEBSTER: "THERE IS SOMETHING SACRED ABOUT THE WORK OF THE COURT" JAMES G. NEWBILL I he tired eyes, sagging face, and mufflered figure of retiring Judge John Stanley Webster bore only a faint resem- blance to the young man he had been when he began his legal career forty years earlier. In an early photograph, his clear, youthful gaze and well-formed mouth, his neatly parted, thick hair, impeccable new suit, and starched white collar stand in sharp contrast to the obviously tired and physically weakened sixty-two-year-old judge who was retiring from the federal bench. Even the briefest sketch of his life gives more than a hint as to the reasons for his appearance at his retirement. Webster's personal and professional lives had both been emotionally intense, especially in the first half of his career, when he was a prosecutor and then a congressman. It was his experience on the bench that he seemed to enjoy most and that gave him the most satisfaction.] James G. Newbill is an adjunct instructor of history at Yakima Valley Community College in Yakima, Washington, and at Central Washington University in Ellenburg. 'A quick caveat is necessary in this introduction. The original sources relating to Webster are scattered and often frustratingly thin. Except for one federal case, he would not be classified as a nationally prominent figure. But there is enough material, and his career was so varied, that one can discern personal facets of an interesting life and, perhaps of greater importance, how those facets reflect several vital regional and national issues of his day. As Thomas Babington Macaulay advised, the best history is based on those carefully selected facts that reveal the whole picture. I hope that the following detail reveals, without distortion, aspects of the man and some of the history of his time. Lack of sources will not be a significant problem in the case of the more re- cent judges of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington, since the Eastern District of the Washington Historical Society is gathering detailed inter- views with all the living