The Sad Case of Fred Bokien
A father is arrested for taking his two young daughters on a late-night drinking spree through downtown saloons.
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.
Dragging behind him his two little daughters, 3 and 4 years old respectively, Fred Bokien, hopelessly under the influence of liquor, was arrested in a downtown saloon late last night and locked up in the city jail. Bokien is 28 years old. He visited one saloon after another with the little tots straggling after him. After a severe lecture the man was released this morning on bail and promised to appear in court this afternoon. He appeared to be mortified at his conduct of the night before. The two little girls cried incessantly during the night for their mother.
“Dragging behind him his two little daughters, 3 and 4 years old respectively, Fred Bokien, hopelessly under the influence of liquor, was arrested in a downtown saloon.”
This brief account highlights the era's grim intersection of extreme poverty, alcoholism, and the limited social safety net for children in early 20th-century Tacoma. Today, the incident reads as a tragic failure of parenting exacerbated by lack of support, though the punitive, public shaming approach of the courts remains a historical hallmark of the period.
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