The 'Stall-Fed Lawyer' and the City's Vice
A local newspaper calls out a deputy sheriff for failing to raid gambling joints while posturing as a reformer in the city council.
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.
Deputy Sheriff Jamieson and Councilman Jamieson are one and the same person. Jamieson is also sometimes termed the 'stall-fed lawyer' because of his long, though not particularly brilliant, service at the public crib. Jamieson, the deputy sheriff, is paid by the people to enforce the laws, yet in his hysterical crime report, read in the council the other night, he vividly describes law violations which he did nothing to stop. In his most sensational legal lore, Jamieson, the dual officer, tells of a gambling game operating on Pacific Avenue, yet he didn't make a raid on the joint. He didn't even arrest one of the players. Isn't his failure to act in this case a proper matter for the proposed grand jury to investigate? In language reeking with tenderloin filth, he portrays the unspeakable crimes committed in the Sandberg section, yet he says he made two visits to that district and returned both times empty-handed. As a deputy sheriff, paid to maintain the peace, he witnessed all of these crimes, but contented himself by making an emotional attack upon Mayor Linck, his political enemy. Jamieson was on the county payroll as a deputy prosecutor during the infamous open-town regime several years ago. He countenanced the lowest crimes ever committed in a city at that time. He saw gambling and skin games of every character run openly day and night, yet he was content to merely draw his salary. Now Jamieson comes forward with his slurs and insinuations merely because he thinks it is good politics. It is good politics now to be a reformer, but Jamieson doesn't know enough to realize that the people can understand his petty political motive.
“Jamieson was inactive then because it was good politics. Now Jamieson comes forward with his slurs and insinuations merely because he thinks it is good politics.”
This editorial exposes the perennial tension between performative political reform and actual law enforcement. The accusations against Jamieson reflect a classic Tacoma story: officials weaponizing moral panic to attack rivals while ignoring the systemic corruption they once profited from.
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