The Drunkard’s Fortune: Tacoma Bank Takes Over $1,100 from an Inebriate
In a stark display of 19th-century temperance law, Officer Frank Cavanagh has declared wealthy Tacoma man Michael Murphy legally incompetent due to alcoholism, depositing his cash into the bank for 'safekeeping.'
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.
TACOMA NEWS.
A Week’s Work and Low Company.
Tacoma, Feb. 26. — Officer Frank Cavanagh appeared in probate court today and oath[ed] that Michael Murphy was an drunkard and not capable of taking care of himself. Murphy is quite a wealthy man, but drink has obtained such a hold upon him that his sprees last six months or more. When found last night in a [miserable] condition over $1100 was found on his person, and today was deposited in bank for safe[keeping].
The Bank of Tacoma was incorporated today with a capital stock of $250,000 by Anthony J. Hayward, of Tacoma and R. Heifer Passamane, of Milwaukee, Wis. The first trustees are to be the incorporators and L. B. Husted, also of Tacoma.
A petition was filed by Isaac W. Anderson today in probate court that Wm. D. Black be appointed guardian of Orvella I. Robertson, a minor, and now residing in the Hawaiian Islands, with bonds of $25,000. Mr. Wm. Robertson was well known in Tacoma, and at one time was bookkeeper in the Tacoma National Bank. On his death he left a valuable estate, part of which lies in this territory.
This 1893 account of 'involuntary commitment' for alcoholism highlights how the legal system once stripped individuals of their financial autonomy based on health status without modern due process protections. It resonates with today’s ongoing debates about civil rights, medical ethics, and the criminalization of addiction versus treatment.
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