From the desk of Marlys Rudeen – Former Deputy State Librarian

The scandal surrounding Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and the death of Virginia Rappe played into many of the anxieties of the general public in the early 1920’s.  Changing morals, the role of alcohol in American life, the growth of the movie industry and its effect on modern youth were all hot buttons that were pushed in the various inquiries and trials engendered by Miss Rappe’s death.  A movie actor beloved by all became one of the most excoriated men in America.  While many were genuinely scandalized by the glimpses of high life in the movie colony, they were also titillated by reading the sordid details, and enjoyed doing so in a proper morally indignant manner.  The Seattle Star joined in the circus with great enthusiasm. 

You can follow the story yourself at the Chronicling America web site at the Library of Congress.  Use the drop-down to choose 1921 or 1922 and then choose the issue using the calendar display.  I’ve tried to find citations to illustrate the growth of the story and have identified the issue dates and page numbers below.

Sept. 10, 1921

1. p.14 “Movie Actress Dies Suddenly in Hotel!” The basic story is reported, and despite the exclamation point in the title, the tone is very civil, almost dry.  Arbuckle’s remarks are quoted straightforwardly, “At no time was I alone with Miss Rappe.  There were half a dozen people in the room all the time.”

Sept. 12, 1921

p. 1 By the 12^th, the story has moved to the front page, as Arbuckle is charged with murder. A witness is named and we begin to see the common trappings of journalistic scandal as the witness, Mrs. Bambina Maude Delmont, collapses in court after swearing to the complaint.

Sept. 13, 1921

p.1 By the 13^th, the case rates the main headline complete with a photo montage of Miss Rappe and Arbuckle captioned “Died after Wild Party”. The story reports the results of the inquest where the prosecutor refused to indict Arbuckle due to inconsistencies in witness testimony.

p. 14 Moral disapproval of movie people in general begins to come into the story as the article continues on the back page, with the news that “new evidence will be coming from Los Angeles where the public morals commission is said to be investigating alleged orgies in the motion picture community.”

Sept. 14, 1921

p.1 The 14^th is a day of mixed messages. One the one hand the paper reports that Arbuckle is likely to be tried on the lesser charge of manslaughter though no firm decision has been reached.  On the other hand the paper can express its shock and dismay at the attention the case is getting and indulge in the rampant sentimentality of the time, “Women Pray, Drop Flowers by Coffin of Girl who dies in Orgy.”  It’s the traditional joining of titillation with finger wagging, and continues on p. 16 where it is reported, “The fact that two doctors were scheduled to give testimony of a nature which may be unprintable had not deterred probably a score of women and girls from taking seats among the spectators.”

Sept. 15, 1921

p. 16 “Women will aid prosecution” – In a puzzling move, the “San Francisco women’s vigilance committee has appointed a committee of 13 prominent club women to assist the district attorney in prosecuting Arbuckle.” The district attorney’s response is not reported.

Sept. 16, 1921

p.1 By the 16^th the headline screams “Fatty Facing Murder Trial” and traces the steps in the legal process. Another article consists of an interview with his stepmother who remembers him as a lazy, irresponsible child who has never wanted any further contact with his family after leaving home. In yet another article, the comedian’s wife is described as speeding to his side to support him in proving his innocence.

p. 18 Articles begin to appear on the efforts to “clean up” Hollywood by refusing to employee actors who behave badly.

p.6 Also on the 16^th, a popular feature writef, Fred Boalt weighs in with an opinion piece, mourning the fact that whatever happens to Arbuckle, he will never laugh at one of his pictures again – “It is much better that we – and the theatres – should consider Fatty Arbuckle actually and permanently dead.”

Sept. 17, 1921

p. 1 “Fatty’s Film Burned by Mob!” The Sept. 17^th headline calls forth visions of mobs rampaging through Times Square perhaps. Actually a mob of “hundreds of persons” did attack a movie theatre and burn one of Arbuckle’s films – in Thermopolis, Wyoming.  No other mobs are reported.  There is also a photo montage of the “Women Witnesses in Arbuckle Case”, all looking mysterious and fashionable. 

The coverage continues on a daily basis with everyone putting forth a theory on Arbuckle’s actions:

Sept. 17, 1921

p. 14 “Liquor is to blame for it all.” Says comedian Charles Murphy.

Sept. 19, 1921

p. 1 “Arbuckle was poisoned by Freudian theory.” Theorizes Winona Wilcox (author of “Confessions of a War Bride”.)

Sept. 20, 1921

p. 5 “He’s just an overgrown boy,” from Minta Durfee, Arbuckle’s estranged wife who has rushed to his side in support.

The Arbuckle stories are bumped out of headlines for several days by the equally famous (in Seattle) Mahoney murder trial.  But they carry on reporting on the preliminary hearing.

Sept. 23, 1921

p.1 The committee of club women bent on assisting the district attorney have front-row seats reserved for them.

Sept. 27, 1921

p.1 Headlines are back on the 27^th “Showgirl Hurls Charges at Arbuckle” as “pretty show girl,” Zey Pyvron accuses Fatty of torturing Miss Rappe with a piece of ice, saying “That will make her come to.”

Nov. 28, 1921

Arbuckle’s actual murder trial begins in Nov. 1921, and Arbuckle’s testimony is reported extensively.

Dec. 2, 1921

p. 1 “Arbuckle soon to hear fate!” The crowds continue to attend and the final arguments and one of the defense witnesses is poisoned by a middle-aged man thought to be a crank.

Dec. 5, 1921

p.1 The trial ends with a hung jury and charges of attempted jury intimidation will be investigated.

Roscoe Arbuckle will go through two more trials as a result of Miss Rappe’s death.  The second trial runs from Jan. 11 to Feb. 3, 1922 and again ends in a hung jury.  Coverage is fairly perfunctory.

Jan. 27, 1922

p.7 The defense has rested their case without calling Arbuckle to the stand, evidently feeling they had a strong case.

Feb. 3, 1922

p.1 But again the trial ends with a hung jury, with 10 jurors arguing for conviction.

The third trial runs from Mar. 13 through April 12, 1922 and it’s difficult to find much coverage at all.  There are mostly small articles on p. 7 or 8.

Mar. 22, 1922

p. 8 A brief article notes that Arbuckle’s attorney have adopted a much more aggressive stance in the courtroom.

Apr. 13, 1922

p. 7 The third trial ends in a definitive acquittal – “Edward Brown, foreman of the jury, issued a statement asserting that a great injustice had been done Arbuckle, and wishing him success.” Unfortunately the vindication comes much too late to salvage his film career.

Given that Seattle is an urban environment, I was curious to see if a rural community would demonstrate the same level of interest in the case.  I searched mightily thru the Pullman Herald for any comparable coverage – nothing.  Other than movie ads printed prior to the scandal, the only mention of Arbuckle was the reprinting of a small editorial from the Moscow Star-Mirror on Dec. 29, 1922 after Arbuckle’s acquittal in his third trial.  It basically took the stance that he might have been acquitted, but no one wanted him around anymore, and that his screen persona was too far removed from his personal life to be attractive to audiences. (Pullman herald., December 29, 1922, Page 6)

The Seattle Star was digitized through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities under the National Digital Newspaper Program.  The Star and many other American newspapers can be found online at Chronicling America at the Library of Congress.

Additional newspapers for Washington can be found at Historic Newspapers at the Washington State Library’s web site.  The State Library is a Division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

If you are like many of us here at the State Library, you are waiting in breathless anticipation for the debut of Season 6 of Downton Abbey.   While the wait is almost over (January 3^rd) it got me thinking about why we love it so much.  I’m not sure about the rest of you but for me the costumes are a large part of the enjoyment.  As the show has taken place over several decades we’ve seen those fashions change from season to season.  Have you ever wondered about how closely Washington fashions paralleled those of England?  Well wonder no more.  We thought it would be fun to have a timeline of fashion featuring images from Washington newspapers hosted on the Chronicling America Website.

Chronicling America newspapers are a great way to learn about early America history from a primary source.  For example, fellow Downton Abbey fans are familiar with the character of Cora, the American heiress Lord Grantham married to bolster the family fortunes.  Did you know that this was such a “thing” that these privileged young brides were given a name, “Dollar Princesses?”  “These Gilded Age heiresses married more than a third of the titles represented in the House of Lords, and announcements of these transatlantic marriages were pervasive in the newspapers of the day”

Meanwhile to help you countdown the final days leading up to Season 6 we hope you’ll have fun clicking your way through three decades of fashion in Washington.

From the desk of Shawn Schollmeyer:

The Seattle star., July 26, 1919 http://1.usa.gov/1GnIPuP

With the wrap of the 2015 U.S. Open on Father’s Day on Washington’s very own Chambers Bay golf course, Jordan Spieth walked away with the championship as the youngest player since Bobby Jones in 1923.  Golf tends to be a quieter, unassuming game and not quite the loud, cheering spectator sport that you’d see at a Mariners game, but there were thousands of viewers attending in person and millions via televisions across the globe. It has been one of the biggest sports events we have ever hosted in the great Pacific Northwest and it’s legacy stretches more than 110 years.

Considering that much of western settlement began with the homesteaders in the late 1880s-90s, golf was already popular recreation in Washington less than 20 years later. The Tacoma golf course had already been open since 1894. One hundred years before this years’ U.S. Open, the Tacoma Times was reporting on the 15^th annual Pacific Northwestern Golf Association tournament on June 21^st, 1915.

And is it a coincidence that there seems to be a “tie” in to the popularity of the sport and the fact that Father’s Day was first officially declared in Washington State in 1910, right around the same time as this popular golf tournament? However, the sport was not exclusive to men; women too were enjoying their own competitions on the Tacoma course, the same year as

The Tacoma times., June 21, 1915 http://1.usa.gov/1QOuS3v

finalizing their right to vote.

The same year Spokane was also taking the the sport seriously and watching with fascination if American heroes Walter Travis and J.D.Travers would beat the Brits who had dominated the games up to that point.

Eyes then were on the new American course just opening up in Long Island. Spokane Country Club later became the first course to hold the Women’s U.S. Open in 1946. Spokane also loves it’s baseball and in the June 11  “Night Pink Edition” of the Spokane Press that they devoted to baseball scores, they kept the stats and international happenings of golf tournaments and famous players on the front page.

The Spokane press., June 11, 1910 http://1.usa.gov/1Cretpz

From the desk of Marlys Rudeen

The year is 1889 and Washington Territory is on its way to becoming Washington State. There’s a great deal of enthusiasm for the process, and a great deal of regional competition as a constitutional convention is held along with fierce debate about which city should be the capital of the new state. While all this is going on the residents of Yakima are also devouring news from back East, local comings and goings and, judging from the ads, a lively commercial sector.

I’ve skipped through several issues and found some entertaining stories. To browse through the issues of the Yakima Herald on your own go to and select issues from the list of dates on the left or from the calendar display on the right.

 Feb. 9, 1889

p. 2 Evidently looking forward to the prospect of Statehood, the citizens of North Yakima had offered to host a constitutional convention is their fair city at no cost to the Territory. The editors of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had objected strenuously to the proposal, though whether they truly felt it was premature, or were irritated that the convention might be held someplace other that Seattle is left to the reader to determine. The Yakima Herald editor is pretty sure he knows the reason and has some fun quoting the PI’s contradictions and spoofing what he sees as their pomposity. See “Constitutional Convention at North Yakima” and “Communication”.

p. 3 In the “Personal” column comings and going are noted carefully including some the principals might prefer not be mentioned. “Mrs. Frank Riggle has gone to Island City to remain. Matrimonial infelicity is said to be the cause of her departure.” Under “Backing his Opinion” a viticulturalist buys a shipment of grape cuttings and predicts that the Yakima Valley will rival California as wine and grape country.

p. 4 In a list of text ads – “A nasal injector free with each bottle of Shiloh’s Catarrh Remedy…” (Erg!)

p. 5 A new serial novel begins – “The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.” (These novels were quite popular during this time, printed in sections over several weeks or months.)

 March 7, 1889

p. 2 “The Pacific Northwest” Charles Skeels, a Spokane saloonkeeper, is fatally shot by his wife who objected to his attentions to two “variety actresses”. “Mrs. Skeels bears a bad reputation, being known in the Coeur d’Alene country as ‘Bunko Liz’.”

 p. 3 “Surprise Party” Capt. J. H. Thomas and family were guests of honor at a surprise party which was truly a surprise “for the Captain was in bed and asleep.”

p. 4 Ads – “If you have lost any money lately, Redfield will return it by selling you goods so remarkably cheap that you will forget your misfortune.” And “Shiloh’s Vitalizer is what you need for constipation…”

Apr. 4, 1889

p. 2 Ads – “For weak and delicate women nothing builds up the entire system more thoroughly and effectually than Oregon Kidney Tea.”

p. 3 “A Terrible encounter” Harry Hampton’s battle with a 12-pound trout is reported. Worried that the trout would take off with his new split-bamboo rod, he threw himself into the creek after it. “The encounter was terrific. Sometimes the fish had Hampton down and then the positions were reversed, but finally Hampton conquered, and pale and panting, he at last landed his prey.”

“Personal”

“John G. Boyle is back from Washington. He looks happy, but it is not known what office he was promised.”

 Apr. 19, 1889

p. 5 A new serial novel begins – “Colonel Quaritch, V.C. by H. Rider Haggard.”

 May 16, 1889

p. 1 “Are Times Degenerate? – Bishop Potter says Yes.” In the report of sermon in NY, the Bishop warns of the dangers of “mistaking bigness for greatness and sadly confounding gain and godliness.”

 May 30, 1889

p. 3 “Local Brevities” “Ellensburgh is thronged with rough characters and a special force of police is required to maintain order.” (A persistent rivalry with Ellensburgh is noted throughout the issues.)

 June 6, 1889

p. 1 The question of where the new state’s capital should be is of great interest. Candidates vying for the position: Pasco, Centralia, Ellensburgh, Walla Walla, Spokane Falls, etc.

p. 3 “She wasn’t Mrs. Gillum” – recounts the interesting history of an fashionable couple who spent several weeks in Yakima. A Mr. Gillum, a life insurance salesman who made “a very gentlemanly appearance,” and his wife, “a well-rounded blonde” who was fond of whist and maybe a bit of poker – just with friends, of course. Amazingly, though “she disclaimed more than a very slight knowledge of the game she was always remarkably lucky.” The gentlemen of Yakima enjoyed her company but the ladies never took to her. After they left and set up in Spokane Falls, Gillum’s divorced wife showed up claiming that the young child with them was hers and that Mr. Gillum had never married his blonde companion. The miscreants escape down the back stairs.

“Local Brevities” “Colonel Prosser has a telegram announcing the loss in the terrible Johnstown flood of his step-mother, two half-sisters and a number of other relatives.”

 Aug. 15, 1889

p. 2 “Yakima the Capital” The editor makes his case that Yakima is really the only reasonable place to locate the new state capital. “Even the Olympia people believe this, when they are honest with themselves…”

 Oct. 10, 1889

p. 1 “How a state is made” The new state constitution has been adopted and a federal act is now required to become a state. The process is discussed in a question and answer session with Supreme Justice-elect, John P. Hoyt.

p. 2 “Falsehood Pure and Simple” Evidently, North Yakima has lost its bid to become the new capital, and blames its opponents for misrepresenting it as “a Northern Pacific town, and that the company was aiding us by its influence and money.”

 Nov. 14, 1889

p. 2   “We are now a state… The emancipation from territorial vassalage was received in some giddy cities with the burning of powder, patriotic speeches and champagne for the rich – whiskey and beer for the poor. Here in dignified Yakima we smiled a smile of satisfaction and moved along the even tenor of our way, building three-story brick business blocks, handsome residences and projecting new and greater enterprises for the coming year.”

p. 3 “The city has been on its bad behavior this week. Nine ‘drunk and disorderlies’ occupy the municipal jail. Five men were arrested today for fighting.” One of the jail’s residents moaned, “’What is getting into this town of Yakima?’ Other have asked the same question. The marshal says the prisoners shall work on the streets under ball and chain.”

 Additional newspapers for Washington can be found at Historic Newspapers at the Washington State Library’s web site. The State Library is a Division of the Office of the Secretary of State.

More Washington newspaper titles have been digitized through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities under the National Digital Newspaper Program. These and many other American newspapers can be found online at Chronicling America at the Library of Congress.

From the desk of Judy Pitchford

The Puget Sound Dispatch, published in Seattle from 1871 to 1880, has been added to the Washington State Library’s Historic Washington Newspapers Online.

Published Weekly from 1871 to 1880, the newspaper was launched by Beriah Brown and Charles H. Larrabee in December 1871. Brown, who also served for one term as mayor of Seattle in 1878, was known to be a strongly opinionated editorialist. So much so, that it is sometimes hard to distinguish between his editorials and the articles he wrote about everyday local occurrences. Since the newspaper was published during what is sometimes called the “railroad period” in the Pacific Northwest, he had much to say about the railroads and their officials, a truly hot button issue of the day.  But, as noted by an essay at Historylink.org, he also had strong words for a group of white parents complaining about “colored” children taking classes at the university. Brown wrote in the January 29, 1874 Puget Sound Dispatch that “Every child of African descent born in this country has the same right of access to our public schools as the children of the most privileged of Caucassian [sic] blood. No teacher or school officer has any more legal right to exclude one than the other”. He was opinionated and ahead of his time. Brown was also noted for composing his articles as he set them in type, rather than first writing them down on paper. Financial difficulties forced Brown to sell the paper and it was merged with the Daily Intelligencer, which later became the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The Historic Washington Newspapers Online  project was purposely designed for students, genealogists, and historians to easily access historical information. It provides viewers with the ability to search by keywords, dates, subjects, and personal names. To view the newspapers, please visit www.sos.wa.gov/history/newspapers.aspx.

Washington State Library releases never-before-microfilmed newspapers from the Snoqualmie Valley!

Washington State Library microfilms Washington newspapers to preserve and provide access to Washington’s history.  Lent by Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum, the newspapers include issues from 1913 through 1925. These newspapers provide a fascinating look at life in Snoqualmie Valley communities almost 100 years ago.

To see what papers and what time periods are covered, visit http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/SnoqualmieValleyMicrofilm.aspx

More information about newspapers on microfilm at Washington State Library including how to purchase copies.

Information about Newspapers at Washington State Library.

Suggest Tax for All the Unmarried. Tacoma Times, September 30, 1910, Second Section, Page 9

From the pages of the Tacoma Times, Sept. 30, 1910.

In September of 1910, officials from the Finance Ministry in Paris were scrambling to come up with ways to pay for the French Old Age Pensions bill, a compulsary insurance plan similar to social security.  The Minister of Finance, M. Cochery, asked clerks to come up with ideas and was bombarded with suggestions, some ideas were “decidedly original” and some that were “highly impracticle.”

Among the proposed subjects of taxation: “Bachelors and old maids; all unmarried people over 30, unless they can prove that they have twice proposed marriage and been refused, to pay annual tax until they marry; pianos; first class railway tickets; bath rooms in private houses; original paintings; toys; plays which have had more than 50 performances, and books after their first editions.”

Search the Tacoma Times and other historic newspapers issues from around the US for free at chroniclingamerica.loc.gov. Washington newspapers provided by the Washington State Library, funded by the National Endowment for Humanaties and supported by the Library of Congress.

ps – Wonder which tax suggestions were actually put forward to pay for France’s Old Age Pensions bill? Read this article in the New York Times archives, Oct. 2, 1910

From the desk of Judy Pitchford

Volume 5, # 2 –  November 2010

Historical Newspapers in Washington

The Puget Sound Argus of Port Townsend (1882-1883) has been added to Washington State Library’s Online Historic Newspapers, available at http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/newspapers_detail.aspx?t=44. The collection now includes approximately nine years of Port Townsend newspapers, ranging from 1875 to 1883. The collection also contains newspapers from ten other Washington cities.

Additional newspapers will be added as soon as indexing is completed. Our volunteer indexers are currently hard at work on the Walla Walla Statesman (1873-1884) and Seattle’s Puget Sound Dispatch (1871-1880). To see our entire Online Historic Newspaper collection, go to http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/newspapers.aspx.

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