Seattle's Anti-Vice Crackdown
The city moves to prosecute the Clancy brothers after they publicly bragged about operating a gambling house.
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.
Prosecuting Attorney W. T. Scott has initiated legal proceedings against Charles F. Clancy, Frank W. Clancy, John E. Clancy, Thomas Carroll, and John Flood for operating a gambling establishment in Seattle. The arrests follow an investigation led by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Todd. Evidence against the men includes their own public admissions, printed in the newspapers, that they were running a gambling house. The Prosecutor stated that his objective is to cleanse the city of vice, noting that the Clancys' brazen public claims made them a priority.
“I have determined to clean the town of all gambling and gamblers.”
The tension between public vice and morality campaigns is a constant in Pacific Northwest history. The Clancys' decision to brag about their illegal operations highlights the bold, often lawless atmosphere of early 20th-century urban life.
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