Legislative Crackdown on 'Bar-Check' Fraud
A new proposal in the state house seeks to hold saloon-keepers accountable for cashing checks for intoxicated patrons, a practice contributing to high forgery rates.
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.
Olympia, Feb. 19.—Bartenders who induce drunken men to draw checks will lose their graft if a bill introduced in the house by Representative Sayre of Pierce County becomes law. Incidentally, the proposed law will probably keep down the penitentiary population by about one-tenth, not to speak of the good it will do in saving the disgrace of convict stripes to many a poor unfortunate victim of drink. Walter McCallum, state clerk at the penitentiary, is the father of the bill and he has compiled data from the prison records to show that the law is absolutely needed. Investigation shows that in a majority of cases of forgery, the defendant was drunk when he passed the paper, that he had it cashed in a saloon, and spent the proceeds over the bar. Sayre’s bill provides that no check can be cashed by any saloon-keeper in any saloon. The penalty runs up to a maximum fine of $500 and six months' imprisonment. The last report of the penitentiary shows 92 forgers sent to the Walla Walla prison in the past two years.
“The proposed law will probably keep down the penitentiary population about one-tenth.”
This 1909 legislative attempt to regulate predatory behavior in saloons highlights the early 20th-century preoccupation with the link between alcohol and crime, a recurring theme in Washington’s path toward Prohibition just seven years later.
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