The Detective Paid to Spy on Palouse Saloons
A taxpayer injunction hits the Palouse city council after they authorized public funds to hire a private investigator to catch local saloon keepers breaking the law.
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.
M. Mecklem, a Palouse druggist, has secured an injunction against the city treasurer to prevent the payment of municipal warrants. The city council had issued these warrants to compensate a private detective hired by a coalition of church leaders and temperance advocates to gather evidence against local saloon keepers for selling liquor to minors. Following the detective's work, four out of five saloons in Palouse had their licenses revoked, only to be reinstated after the proprietors pleaded guilty to criminal charges and paid fines. The case, presided over by Judge Chadwick, highlights a volatile era in local governance where private moral crusades and municipal public finance collided.
“This action is the outgrowth of the saloon fight which caused such a sensation in Palouse recently.”
This is a quintessential Washington story of the early 1900s, reflecting the intense civic and moral battles between local temperance advocates and the saloon industry, a precursor to the statewide prohibition movement.
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