Drunken Brawl in Walla Walla
When a rowdy group of cattle herders spent their gold with 'prodigal hand' at local saloons, they turned the street into a chaotic scene that tested the resolve of city officials.
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.
A disgraceful affair occurred on Main street Saturday afternoon, which provoked much comment and demonstrated that this town could be easily 'run' by drunken roughs were it not for the efforts of two or three determined citizens. Saturday, Hank Vaughn and several of his herders came into the city from the reservation with a sack of $20 gold pieces, amounting to $2,000, which they were slinging around among the various saloons with a prodigal hand. By 8 o'clock the party was in a state of reckless inebriety, and with swearing, shouting and running horses through the streets, soon attracted a crowd and blocked the street. Officer Ames endeavored to keep the party within bounds with admonitions to be quiet, but one of the men, who afterwards gave his name as McIlraith, applied a vile epithet to the officer and defied him to do his worst. Mr. Ames attempted to make the arrest but was hindered in every way by the 'cowboys,' who caught hold of McIlraith and kept him in his saddle in spite of the efforts of Ames to unseat him. Mayor McAuliff came to the rescue of the fearless officer, who was persevering in defiance of the threats of Vaughn and his gang, and finally the arrest was made, and Vaughn deposited money for the appearance of his tough young protege. Before Justice Whitman the trial was held, early in the evening, and McIlraith fined $10 and costs for disturbing the peace and dignity of the city. This fine in the opinion of all is inadequate to the grave offense. Vaughn also should have been arrested for disturbing the peace, and both should have come up on the charge of resisting an officer in the discharge of his duty. There must be no half-way policy with regard to such characters if the good name of Walla Walla is to be taken into consideration.
“There must be no half-way policy with regard to such characters if the good name of Walla Walla is to be taken into consideration.”
Public disorder sparked by revelry and the clashing of established law enforcement against disruptive, moneyed interests is a timeless urban tension. While the setting is 19th-century Walla Walla, the 'law and order' discourse surrounding public drunkenness and the demand for stricter penalties for street brawlers feels like a direct ancestor to modern debates about civic conduct in downtown cores.
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