The Minister and the Saloonkeepers
A traveling revivalist successfully riles up the town of Renton, resulting in the first Sunday-closing arrests in three years.
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.
Harold Evans, L.P. Lewis, W. Priestly, and George Manifold, all residents of Renton, were arraigned before Judge Humes yesterday on charges of selling liquor on Sunday. The case is peculiar from the fact that it is the first time in three years arrests have been made in King County under this law. The first three pleaded guilty and the last not guilty. The date of the offense is laid upon Sunday, February 19, and it appears that a young minister named Ulysses Murphy went to Renton to hold revival services. He requested the saloonkeepers to close their saloons on that day, and a number of citizens joined in the request. As they did not close, evidence was obtained against them and warrants were sworn out under the Sunday closing law.
“The case is peculiar from the fact that it is the first time in three years arrests have been made in King County under this law.”
Renton in 1893 was a tough coal-mining town grappling with the influence of the temperance movement, which would eventually lead to statewide Prohibition in 1916. The clash between 'revivalist' moral codes and the reality of working-class leisure remains a rhythmic tension in Washington’s civic life.
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