St. Patrick’s Day in Olympia
From the desk of Mary Paynton Schaff
It seems that in Olympia Saint Patrick’s Day has always been a day to celebrate regardless of age, nationality, or the limits of personal living quarters. Three cases in point:
1) 1912: Miss Beatrice Kearney hosted her own St. Patrick’s Day affair for several of her young friends. She apparently did a wonderful job, since the party was reported in the Olympia Record. Pretty impressive considering that, according to census records, Miss Beatrice would have been about 9 years old at the time.
2) 1909: It may have been meant as a joke, but Senator Hans H. Fatland of Pierce County nevertheless went along with a resolution in his name declaring St. Patrick’s Day a legal holiday. His good humor is notable since he was Norwegian by birth.
3) 1922: Accused liquor seller, and possible “jointist,” Pat Kelly suggested to the court that he should get a more lenient sentence since he had spent his St. Patrick’s Day in jail and was unable to celebrate as befitted his Irish heritage. The court was seemingly not impressed with this argument, fining him $250 and sentencing him to 60 more days of jail.
In case you’re wondering, a “jointist” was a term used during Prohibition to describe a keeper of an illegal drinking saloon, or “joint.”
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