La Plata County court records from 1905 show expediency, for better or for worse
La Plata County records dating back to the mid-1800s are kept in a room in the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)
Unlike Nettie McTaggart, residents of La Plata County in 2024 probably won’t have to worry about ending up before a justice of the peace (the office was abolished in 1965) and facing bigamy, or marrying someone during an existing marriage.
But in 1906, that was reality. McTaggart and a man, presumably her husband, were accused of adultery in a lawsuit filed by James McTaggart, presumably her other husband. Both were found guilty in October 1905 and fined $20—about $700 today.
“Attempting to marry someone else when you are already married is illegal – it is a second-class misdemeanor,” said Sean Murray, district attorney for the 6th Judicial District.
Although the law is still in effect, Murray says he is not sure a police officer today would ever bring charges on that basis.
Records of criminal trials that took place in La Plata County around the turn of the century are kept in broad, leather-bound volumes labeled “Criminal Records” and “Civil Records.” They are part of a collection of early La Plata County records now housed in a former evidence room at the county jail under the direction of Clerk of Court and Recorder Tiffany Lee.
The handwritten notes contained the story of what appeared to be a fairly speedy trial, Murray said.
This month The Durango Herald takes readers on a journey through time through the lens of La Plata County government archives. The documents provide insight into the concerns of the county’s residents, their lives and deaths, and the political landscape over a period from the mid-1880s to the 1930s.
The series will air every Sunday for four weeks: August 4, August 11, August 18, and August 25.
“Today, in the criminal justice system and in the courts in general, there is what I would call an avalanche of motions, trials and appeals,” the prosecutor said. “There is no real institutional check on this flood of paperwork.”
That’s both good and bad, Murray says. Judges can be overburdened when tackling mountains of litigation, although he acknowledges there is also a greater interest in defending defendants today.
The question of whether suspected murderers should be detained without bail is as relevant today as it was 120 years ago.
Rosa May Vanderlip was charged with the murder of her husband Charles (his real name was Clarence Gray) in May 1906 and held without bail pending trial. According to The Rocky Mountain News According to reports at the time, Rosa May Vanderlip ran a brothel in Durango’s red-light district and was set to inherit valuable mining land near Silverton. She was convicted of manslaughter on December 5.
A page from the file of Justice of the Peace B.F. Houx in La Plata County describes the indictment of Rosa May Vanderlip, who was accused and later convicted of murdering her husband in 1906. (Reuben M. Schafir/Durango Herald)
But while she awaited trial for five months, she was held without bail.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in June that even defendants in first-degree murder trials are entitled to bail, prompting judges across the state to set astronomically high bail in some cases. Two such defendants in La Plata County were held on bail of $2 million and $5 million, respectively.
“She was held without bail, and that’s actually on the ballot in November,” Murray said. “We’re going to have a referendum on whether people charged with the same crime, premeditated murder, premeditated first-degree murder, should be eligible for bail.”
State lawmakers have proposed a constitutional amendment that would remove the right to bail in situations where a judge finds the evidence was clear or there is a strong presumption that the suspect committed the crime. A majority of at least 55% is needed for the referendum to pass.
