The 'Free Love' Riot of Port Angeles
When a local newspaper dared to suggest that marriage should be a voluntary contract, the citizens of Port Angeles formed a mob to drive the editors out of town.
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.
For the past few weeks, trouble has been brewing at Port Angeles, growing out of the publication by the Commonwealth of an Associated Press dispatch describing a tragedy in Arkansas. The Commonwealth editors held that the community did wrong in permitting a husband, Wilkins, to escape justice after he committed a murder, and suggested the pair might have been justified in eloping. Dr. Lewis, one of the editors, further wrote: 'The marriage laws of all countries are but a monument to the selfishness of the male portion of society... Marriage is no longer held to belong solely to the domain of theology and is a fit subject for state investigation. We have no doubt but that where properly studied it will be found that the greatest good lies in the direction of increased liberty.' This outraged the feelings of the people, and two men fanned the flame by going from house to house. On May 2, a notice was posted calling a public meeting to denounce 'free love' doctrines. At the appointed hour, a crowd of thirty to forty persons gathered. Justice of the Peace L. T. Haynes called the meeting to order. Dr. Lewis was present and defended his editorials, stating he was an American citizen who understood his rights, and that if it was necessary for him to die for the cause of a free press, he was willing to do it then and there. At this, the chairman shouted: 'You see the kind of a man you have to deal with, gentlemen!' The crowd passed resolutions declaring the paper’s doctrines 'repugnant to the moral sense' and recommended the publishers migrate to Utah without delay, as the town's prosperity and the morals of the children were at stake.
“Marriage is no longer held to belong solely to the domain of theology and is a fit subject for state investigation.”
This 1889 confrontation over 'free love' and marriage contracts echoes the ongoing tension in Washington over how local communities react to progressive social shifts. Much like today's digital polarization, the Port Angeles community used the threat of exclusion and 'migrating elsewhere' to enforce social conformity against a dissident media voice.
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