Two Men Flee After Illegal Liquor Bust in Dusty
Following a public dance in Dusty that excluded townspeople, an investigation into illegal liquor sales triggered a sudden exodus of the proprietors.
Christmas night the Woodmen gave a dance in the hall here. Advertised to be a public ball, yet some of the town people were refused admittance. This caused general ructions. Two days later Wm. Boyer, proprietor of the alleged temperance hall, got wind of arrest for illegal selling of liquor and skipped the country. Don Downs, also implicated, left ditto. Saturday night Bert Coon was arrested as an accomplice; most of the people here feel charitable toward Coon, he put up cash bonds and will stand trial.
“This is the public facts of the affair; but who can estimate the private heartaches caused by that night's work, and still indifference enchains influence of right, reason and justice.”
This event captures the volatile atmosphere of local moral regulation in Washington, years before the statewide Prohibition movement succeeded. The exclusion of neighbors from a 'public' dance highlights the social fracturing that often accompanied such community disputes.
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