Jake Bird was convicted of killing two women in Tacoma in 1947--Mrs. Bertha Kludt, age 53, and her daughter, Beverly June Kludt, age 17. Not allowed to defend himself until after his sentence was read, Bird claimed that his confession was beaten out of him, and placed what was called the "Jake Bird Hex" on all of the people involved with bringing him to justice.

Sentenced to hang in January of 1948, Bird began confessing to a long string of murders, offering to produce evidence if given a stay of execution. Given a reprieve of 60 days in order for other states to conduct investigations, Bird began a campaign to "clear up" murders he claimed to be directly involved in, accomplice to, or just have enough information on to help solve.

In the end, he was positively linked to 11 murders. In his testimony, he also claimed to be a copycat killer to the Kingsbury Run Murders that took place in Cleveland during the 1930s. But was any of that simply a stall tactic? Some of the murders he claimed to have committed were linked to people he met while spending time in prison. After numerous failed attempts to overturn his sentence, Bird hanged on July 15, 1949.

Throughout the entire process, he always maintained his innocence where the Tacoma murders were concerned.  So what is the real story? Because his killing spree ended in Washington State, the Washington State Archives holds his records including the full transcript of his interview with authorities. Explore some of these primary source documents for yourself and see what you think! Read more about Jake Bird here.

The Washington State Archives are full of fascinating stories told through primary source documents.  Why not come in and see what you can uncover?

The Washington State Archives collaborated with the Pierce County Superior Court to digitize their complete collection of Superior Judge photographs from 1889 to present. Originally, the collection was displayed in frames at the courthouse. The Court removed them from their frames and the Archives' Puget Sound Regional Branch digitized them, rehoused them and they are now preserved in climate controlled conditions at the Archives.  The Superior Court was presented with prints made from the digital images which were framed and displayed again at the courthouse. Thanks to this collaborative effort, the originals are preserved, images are still available for public display in Pierce County, and the collection is online searchable here at the Digital Archives.

The State Archives is interested in similar partnerships to digitize their collections.  Contact us if you are interested!
 

Washington State is graced with a number of beautiful, unique bridges. The first week in July marked the 75th anniversary of two of our most (in)famous bridges, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the Lake Washington Floating Bridge.

The Washington State Archives holds many documents and images from these monumental bridge openings.

In addition, July 1 marks the centennial of the Sunset Highway, the state's first passable route through the Cascade Mountains at Snoqualmie Pass.

Celebrate all that makes Washington special this summer by starting with the ways in which we make our way around it.  Check out some of the great stuff in our collection on our Facebook page!