The Soap-Making Distillery Bust of South Seattle
A federal raid on a modest South Seattle property reveals an enterprising soap-maker operating without a permit, leading to the seizure of his entire livelihood.
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.
By virtue of the internal revenue laws of the United States, I, Gwin Hicks, Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue for the 1st district of Oregon, did on the 16th day of July, 1885, upon the premises of one Richard Brown, on lots numbered 10, 11, and 12 of block numbered 24, of John J. Moss's plat of South Seattle, seize and take into my possession the following described personal property, goods and chattels, to wit: 1 wheelbarrow, 30 cases tallow, 7 cases soft soap, 1600 pounds soap, 11 boxes soap, 1 pair scales, iron vats with furnace, 5 boxes axle grease, 1 soap press, 1 horse, wagon and harness, 7 hogs, lot of tools of various kinds, 1 cook stove and lot of household furniture, and 10 chickens. The cause of said seizure being that a certain building upon said premises was used as a distillery, and a certain still and distilling apparatus was there set up; and one Richard Brown did then and there carry on the business of a distiller without having given a bond to the United States as required by law. Any person claiming said personal property must appear before me at my office in the city of Tacoma within thirty days from the 16th day of July, 1885.
“The cause of said seizure being that a certain building upon said premises was used as a distillery... without having given a bond to the United States.”
This 1885 raid highlights the era's aggressive federal regulation of small-scale manufacturing. Today, 'makerspaces' and home-based businesses face different, yet similarly restrictive, zoning and licensing battles in an increasingly expensive Seattle real estate market.
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