The Vagabond Fortune-Teller: Seattle Arrests 'Madame Malla' for the Crime of Telling Futures
In May 1877, the city’s law enforcement decided that predicting the future was a crime against public order. They dragged 'Madame Malla' from her shop, citing vagrancy, despite her having done nothing but read palms.
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.
MADAME MALLA, THE FORTUNE-TELLER, WAS ARRESTED UNDER THE VAGRANT LAW YESTERDAY. THE ARREST WAS NOT A VERY CREDITABLE PIECE OF BUSINESS TO SAY THE LEAST, THE MADAME HAVING CONDUCTED HERSELF WITH CIRCUMSPECTION AND INTERFERED WITH NO ONE, OR DONE ANYTHING OUT OF THE WAY SO FAR AS WE HAVE LEARNED, UNLESS IT BE BY TELLING FORTUNES. THERE WAS NO REASON WHATSOEVER FOR HER ARREST.
This 1877 arrest highlights how marginalized women—particularly those operating outside traditional economic roles like fortune-telling or sex work—were routinely criminalized under broad 'vagrancy' statutes. It mirrors modern debates over the policing of informal economies and the use of vague laws to target gender nonconformity or perceived moral deviance in public spaces.
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