Booze Still Flowing at the County Seat
Two Marcus men were hauled to Colville for violating local option, one fined $20 — but detectives shadowing Colville saloons couldn't make a single prosecution stick, and liquor was said to be as easy to find as ever.
The enforcement of the local option law seems to be encountering some difficulty on the other side of the county. Two Marcus men were arrested by a government inspector and taken to Colville for trial. One was found guilty and paid a fine of $20 and costs. Several Colville men have been hauled up before court and others are said to be shadowed by detectives, but no successful prosecutions have yet been made, although it is said booze is still procurable at the county seat.
“Several Colville men have been hauled up before court and others are said to be shadowed by detectives, but no successful prosecutions have yet been made, although it is said booze is still procurable at the county seat.”
Washington's local-option fights were the dress rehearsal for statewide Prohibition in 1916 — and the pattern is familiar: small offenders fined, bigger operations untouched, enforcement uneven by geography. The same arguments about which communities get policed and which get a pass echo in today's debates over vice enforcement.
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