The Legislative Prank That Backfired
A Washington Territory legislator’s attempt to play a humorous political trick on a colleague turns into a serious row over parliamentary decorum.
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.
At a session of the Washington Territorial House, a bill was introduced titled 'An Act for local purposes.' It was an attempt by some members to play a joke on a fellow member, Mr. Arrasmith. According to the rules, the name of one member was called, and in response, he was to name another. The clerk was extremely ambitious and placed a name on the roll as having voted for the Local Option bill, so that the individual might go down in history as having supported the measure. By reason of the initial letter of his name, Arrasmith was recorded as having voted for that bill, in defiance of his own wishes. At the reading of the bill, the larger part of the House was convulsed with laughter. Mr. Lewis, however, rose and asked that the bill be handed to him. Mr. Roberts rose to a point of order, but the bill was handed to Lewis, who said: 'I am in favor, Mr. Speaker, of a joke to a certain point, but when it makes a point of misregarding, I am opposed to it. This is a disgrace to the member it was introduced against, and an insult to this House that should be resented.' The motion carried, the clerk was reprimanded, and the bill was struck from the record.
“I am in favor, Mr. Speaker, of a joke to a certain point, but when it makes a point of misregarding, I am opposed to it.”
This 1886 incident highlights that the theatricality and pettiness of legislative maneuvering in Olympia are not new. Today's hyper-partisan climate often feels like a continuation of these 19th-century 'pranks' that mask deeper, more serious conflicts over civic representation.
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