A Candy-Shop Front, a Church Shadow, and a Vice Conviction in Downtown Seattle
Rose Zetler was found guilty of running a disorderly house near Third and University, with testimony tying her husband to a tar-and-feathering in Winnipeg.
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 trial of Rose Zetler, who was arrested recently for practicing prostitution at the northwest corner of Third and University streets—in the shadow of Plymouth Church—under the guise of a fruit and candy shop, was a complete victory for the police yesterday afternoon in the municipal court. The testimony was direct to the point and not only showed what the woman had been doing, but one witness testified that her husband, who runs a second-hand store on Third near where his wife did business, had been tarred and feathered at Winnipeg for being a pimp and had served nine months in jail for the same offense. The defense tried to show that Mrs. Zetler's was a quiet, orderly place and was in fact what the signs outside would indicate. The jury brought in a verdict of guilty in less than half an hour.
“The jury brought in a verdict of guilty in less than half an hour.”
In 1890s Seattle, vice cases were argued with street addresses and the proximity of a church as moral evidence. The corner of Third Avenue and University Street is now part of downtown’s office core, but the city still argues over how to police sex work and who bears the punishment.
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