The Midnight Raid on Seattle's Gambling Halls
A surprise police sweep through Seattle's gaming dens sends hundreds of players scrambling into the rainy streets, leaving gambling tools and jail cells in their wake.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The police last evening raided the gambling rooms of the city and made sixteen arrests. The proprietors of the games—five in number—were first arrested, and then Chief Rogers detailed several squads of police to visit the gambling houses a second time to arrest the dealers and seize the tools. All those arrested gave bail in the sum of $75 each. The raid was entirely unexpected and made very suddenly. In the M. and N. rooms on Washington Street, between South Second and Commercial, about 200 men were present, including spectators and players. As soon as the alarm was given, every one made a rush for the door, but Officer Steppler barred the way. The patrol wagon was sent for, and $150 worth of tools were seized. While the games were being closed, the street in front of the house was filled by an excited crowd. The patrol wagon was next sent to the Horseshoe and the Beede gaming houses. In the Beede house were nearly 150 players, kept in the rooms while dealers packed up their chips. The biggest crowd of all was in the Horseshoe, where at least 300 players were packed almost to suffocation. Instantly the players swarmed out like bees from a hive as the officers withdrew, anxious to make their escape while there was an opportunity.
“Instantly the players swarmed out like bees from a hive; they were not sure but that the officers had made a mistake and still intended to arrest them.”
This 1892 raid captures a perennial cycle in Seattle history: the tension between a growing city’s 'wide-open' vices and the periodic attempts at moral policing. Today, the location described—around the intersection of Washington and Second in Pioneer Square—is the site of historic preservation, a stark contrast to the chaotic gambling dens of the late 19th century.
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