A Saloon Brawl and the Logic of 'Reddy' Long
After wrecking a lunch counter and brandishing brass knuckles, a man offers the court a grim critique of Seattle's drinking culture.
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.
John Long, commonly known as 'Reddy,' was fined by Judge Glasgow in the municipal court yesterday for disorderly conduct in the Mug saloon. Reddy's offense consisted in sweeping the entire list of articles from the lunch counter and exhibiting an intention of doing the counter attendant bodily harm. When the judge asked him if he had anything to say, he replied that any man who would be found in the Mug saloon ought to get six months twice a year. When Long was arrested by Captain Hogle he had a set of steel knuckles in his pocket.
“Any man who would be found in the Mug saloon ought to get six months twice a year.”
Long’s cynical defense of his behavior serves as a glimpse into the rowdy, often dangerous 'vice' culture of 1890s Seattle saloons. His blunt assessment of his own situation underscores the tension between civic order and the unregulated nightlife of the era.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.