Sunday Amusements Legalized in Washington
A new state criminal code moves to modernize public life, allowing theaters, baseball, and billiards on Sundays.
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.
Washington will have a brand new set of criminal laws as soon as Governor Hay affixes his signature to the criminal code passed by the legislature. The code is interesting only to lawyers and to those who fall without the law. The punishment for various offenses has been changed and as a general rule made more severe for the intentional transgressor of the law. There are likewise new offenses; deeds that heretofore have passed unpunished because no one had the forethought to have a law on the subject have been specifically made misdemeanors. In comparison with the conduct of the people, the new laws governing the general public are liberal, but far from easy. The most radical change, perhaps, deals with the observance of Sunday. The blue law features have been stricken, and activities and recreations which, by common consent, are innocent on week days, retain their innocency on Sunday, provided they are not noisy enough to interfere with nearby church services. Henceforth the theater may run on Sunday without any apprehension of a sporadic opposition on the part of any ministerial association, and baseball may be played without chance of police interference. Billiard halls may be operated as all amusements that are not essentially disorderly. Prize fights are still under the ban, and the statutes governing gambling are specifically strict. The code will go into effect June 11.
“The blue law features have been stricken, and activities and recreations which, by common consent, are innocent on week days, retain their innocency on Sunday.”
This 1909 shift captures the era when Washington began shedding its restrictive 'blue law' moral framework. While today we struggle with different types of social regulation, this moment marks the beginning of the legal recognition of the secular weekend as a place for leisure rather than mandated piety.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.