The Rainier-Grand Hotel Swindle
A fugitive gambler arrested in Denver brings to light a high-stakes legal battle over Seattle's gambling dens.
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.
Telegraphic news from Denver states that William Fazon, jointly indicted by the King County grand jury last winter with Horace B. Dunbar and Mark Huff on charges of conducting swindling gambling games at the Rainier-Grand Hotel, has been arrested in that city at the instance of Deputy Sheriff Nelson. Fazon has been sought since his indictment. The indictment against Dunbar was recently quashed by Judge Bell on the grounds that the statute under which he was charged had been repealed by a newer anti-gambling law. However, the prosecutor has since drawn up a new information charging grand larceny. The defense claims Fazon will testify that Dunbar knew nothing of any crooked games.
“The defense claims that Fazon will testify that Dunbar knew nothing of any crooked gambling game in the Rainier-Grand hotel, for the reason that no such game was ever run in the rooms conducted by them.”
This story highlights the perennial tension between gambling regulation and enforcement in Washington's urban centers. It also showcases how defense attorneys exploited technical loopholes in legislative repeals—a common legal tactic seen in contemporary criminal justice cases.
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