The Devil's Ledger: A Local Poet Exposes the Hypocrisy of Pullman’s Elite
In a rare moment of social commentary for Whitman County, an anonymous writer publishes a scathing series of rhetorical questions challenging the moral double standards of wealth, gender, and justice in 1889.
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.
"DEVIL" INQUIRIES.
Can you tell why four-fifths of the young ladies prefer a brainless fool to a man with brains? Can you tell why men who cannot pay small bills can always find money to buy liquor and treat when among friends? Can you tell why it is that some mothers are always ready to sew for the heathen, when their own children are ragged and dirty? Can you tell how men live and support their families, who have no income and no work, when others who are industrious are half starved? Can you tell why it is that when a man of wealth shoots down another in cold blood, the jury always brings in a verdict of not guilty of murder in the first degree? Can any one tell how young men who are always behind with their landlady or landlords, can play billiards all night, and be always ready for a game of cards when money is at stake? Can any one tell why it is that women of wealth can violate the law of decency and morality, and still be sought after, courted and honored by the nabobs of society; while a poor but honest girl who deviates ever so little from the path of virtue, is shunned and abhorred by the same nabobs? Can any one tell why it is that nine out of every ten of the criminals that die on the gallows, no matter how damnable the deed for which they are executed, go straight to heaven, according to their spiritual advisers; while some of these same spiritual advisors would have us believe that even an infant, dying without baptism, is doomed to everlasting torment?
This anonymous column, titled "Devil Inquiries," offers a striking glimpse into the class tensions and gender double standards of late-19th-century Pullman. The text explicitly contrasts the impunity of wealthy men (who could afford liquor and legal defense for murder) with the moral condemnation of poor women who deviated from strict Victorian norms. It mirrors modern discussions about economic disparity, the justice system's bias toward wealth, and the policing of female morality.
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