The Blue Law Brawl: Saloon Keepers vs. The Temperance Crusade
In North Yakima, the Women's Christian Temperance Union declares war on Sunday commerce, arresting boxers and threatening every saloon owner in 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.
NORTH YAKIMA, Jan. 21. (Special.)—North Yakima, which has always been lively, though orderly, is to have a touch of the blue laws. The Women's Christian Temperance Union is on the rampage, and proposes to revolutionize the present state of affairs. Tonight Allen and O'Farrell were arrested while sparring at the opera house, with eight-ounce gloves, and tomorrow the proprietors of every saloon doing business on Sunday will be arrested under the state law. There is much feeling on the subject, and the saloon men propose to fight back vigorously. The sentiment of the majority of the citizens is strongly against the strait-laced policy inaugurated.
This 1891 clash in North Yakima (now part of Yakima) highlights the intense cultural battles over public morality and enforcement that defined the frontier era. It mirrors modern debates over 'blue laws,' Sunday alcohol sales, and the tension between moral reform movements and local business interests—a conflict that continues to resonate in Washington State's ongoing legislative fights over alcohol regulation.
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