The Dynamite War on Allyn's Only Saloon
A quiet town's Prohibition crusade turns violent as an explosion tears through a local watering hole.
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.
Ailyn, Oct. 29. — W. Eberhardt’s saloon at Allyn was partially destroyed by dynamite early this morning. Although Eberhardt was sleeping in the building at the time, he was not injured. One side of the building was blown out, according to reports received here by the mail boat this evening. It is believed that some persons who have been working with the Prohibitionists to have this saloon, the only one at Allyn, removed, attempted to blow it to pieces and Eberhardt into eternity with dynamite. An investigation is being made.
“It is believed that some persons who have been working with the Prohibitionists to have this saloon, the only one at Allyn, removed, attempted to blow it to pieces and Eberhardt into eternity with dynamite.”
This violent struggle over Allyn's only saloon reflects the intense local battle over the regulation of vice that defined Washington in the decades before statewide Prohibition in 1916. The use of dynamite to settle a civic dispute is a sobering reminder that today's arguments over land use and social morality have long historical roots in radical direct action.
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