From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Although the Washington Territorial/State Library was formed in 1853, making it the first library and indeed cultural institution in Washington to be supported by public funds, the distinction of becoming the very first community library belongs to Steilacoom.

In our Rare Vault, WSL has two copies of the Constitution, by-laws, and rules and orders of the Steilacoom Library Association, Washington Territory : organized in March, 1858, which was published in 1860. One of the copies has a news clipping attached to the back cover, dated 7 Feb. 1926, apparently from the Tacoma Daily Ledger:

 Steilacoom Library Has Rare Old Books

Movement Under Way to Prepare Fitting Home for Many Valuable Volumes of Historical Interest; First Library Organization Formed in 1857-58

Books, rare old volumes, representing the first library in the state of Washington, are contained in the Steilacoom library. It is but recently the men and women of Steilacoom have begun an active movement to restore the library and secure a home for the institution that will fit with the historical interest centering about this early library.

An article on the founding of the library was recently prepared by Mrs. William A. O’Donnell of Steilacoom and read by her sister, Mrs. Neil Henly, before the annual meeting of the library association January 12. It said, in part:

“During the fall and winter months of 1857-58 a group of citizens, trying to kill time in a corner grocery, in the then flourishing town of Steilacoom conceived the idea of trying to improve their spare time by organizing a library association and at the same time have a place to meet for social intercourse.”

“A call was sent out and the first meeting was held in the grocery store of Philip Keach, on the corner of main and Commercial streets. Meetings were held from time to time. Then a committee was sent to the State Legislature in January 1858, headed by Secretary W.H. Wood of the library.”

 “The result of this was that the first library of the state was formed and known as the Steilacoom Library association. This was agreeable to the act of the Legislature passed February 3, 1858. The object of the association, it was agreed, would be the diffusion of useful knowledge and sound morality. A reading room was to be established, procuring public lectures and debates.”

“Among the signers of the first record very few are alive, but the names familiar now are E.R. Rogers, John Sarltar, E.A. Light, Ezra and John Meeker, Stephen and Paul Judson and Charles Prosch.”

“Money was collected and E.A. Light went to San Francisco to buy books. Some of the first 600 volumes are in the present library.”

“The first home of the library was in the brick store of McCaw & Rogers, with Mr. Rogers as librarian. The years passed and members scattered, until the association was almost forgotten. In 1892 a few interested citizens took the matter up and a reorganization was effected. A.L. Bell was elected librarian. As many of the books as possible were rebound, but this was not much of a success. In 1900 W.L. Bair had the books moved from the old brick store to his drug store and then to the Iron Springs hotel safe, as he realized the old books would become valuable.”

 “In 1914 the Women’s Commercial club solicited books from each member, until a number of new books were secured. This club disbanded and a few remaining members took over the books and formed a library association under the old constitution and bylaws of the Steilacoom library. When the Iron Springs hotel was sold the library was again without a home.”

“Then the new and old library consolidated and since that time those interested have been working hard to keep a roof over the books by social gatherings and other means and hope to secure a permanent home for the oldest library in the state.”

 “At present Mrs. T.A. St. Clair is president of the association; Mrs. F.H. Chelius, vice president; Mrs. William J. Bradley, secretary, and Mrs. E.D. Annis, treasurer.”

 Like the Washington State Library, Steilacoom’s library has had an eventful and perilous history, but has survived and continues to serve citizens to this day.

Other pre-November 1889 territorial library efforts:

1860, January: Seattle Library Association formed, according to Thomas Prosch, followed by several reorganizations for the next couple decades. Actual books were not acquired until 1866. In 1881 the collection was donated to the University of Washington.

1860, November: Lyceum and Library Association, Olympia. A series of lectures failed to excite the interest of the public in funding a new library.

1862: University of Washington. The UW Library did not have a book budget until 1880, existing purely on donated material up to that point. In 1867 the University was missing so many books that an edict limiting circulation to students and teachers was issued.

1864: Walla Walla Library Association began organization in 1864 and incorporated in 1865. Eventually Walla Walla’s library shifted from a subscriber-based foundation and in 1878 actually built and opened what was possibly the first free public library in Washington with a full-time librarian. The experiment came to an end in 1888 due to costs.

1865: Holy Angels College Library, Vancouver. This collection of over 300 volumes was supplied by the Vancouver Catholic Library Association during the College’s quarter century or so existence.

1869, August: Tacoma Lodge of the Good Templars (Olympia). Capt. D.B. Finch, who skippered a mail steamer, donated a building to Olympia for the express purpose of establishing a free public library. By 1878, due to lack of funds, the library had to charge a subscription fee, but that failed to keep the institution alive. The collection was given to the Washington State Library in the 1890s. For a couple years in the 1870s the Territorial Library was housed in the same building.

1873: The Tacoma Reading Room. This short-lived venture began in a tent, which also served as a church on Sundays.

1875: Mrs. Maynard’s Reading Room, Seattle. Catherine Maynard, Doc’s widow, established a free reading room in her downtown Seattle home. In 1876 the collection was moved to the YMCA. Trivia: Mrs. Maynard may have been the person responsible for introducing the dandelion to the Puget Sound area.

1876: Dayton began as a free public library, but was forced to move to a subscription-based model after a year.

1878: The Vancouver Library Association worked in cooperation with the local Odd Fellows to create a free public reading room. In 1891 the collection was given to the newly formed Vancouver Public Library.

1880: The Spokane Library was free to the public and started out with 41 volumes. After a few fits and starts it eventually morphed into Spokane Public Library.

1882: Whitman College makes the first purchases of books for a library.

1882: The city of Colfax worked in cooperation with the Colfax Academy to form a subscription library.

1886: The Mercantile Library of Tacoma began as a reading room in the home of Mrs. Grace R. Moore. Within a few years it was moved downtown and became Tacoma Public Library.

1887: Mr. Bonney’s Book Collection, owned by W.W. Bonney in Ellensburg, was opened to the public. The Ladies Municipal Improvement Society took control of it for several years before the library was presented to the city.

1887, September: Gonzaga University opens and even employs a librarian in the first year.

1888, June: The Ladies Library Association in Seattle started a process of creating a new library, which finally happened after Seattle’s great 1889 fire.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The fun part about murky plots and conspiracies is that they are just that– murky, leaving a mystery for historians to argue about for decades. Even at the time the daring plan of Confederate agents in Victoria B.C. to capture a Port Townsend-based Revenue Cutter was exposed, rival newspapers could not agree on the facts of the case.

The following article was found in the March 7, 1863 Washington Statesman, a Walla Walla newspaper. John T. Jeffreys was apparently remembered in that city as “Sensation John,” from his exploits in the area serving as a lieutenant with the Oregon Volunteers during the Native American conflict of 1855-56.

The Plot to Seize the Shubrick

“John T. Jeffreys– ‘sensation John,’ and now, secession John– comes out in an article in the British Colonist, and acknowledges that the reported plot to seize the U.S. Steamer Shubrick and convert her into a privateer was an actuality. John’s article is characteristic, and were it not for the fact his statements are corroborated through other sources, we should be inclined to believe the whole thing a humbug. He pitches into the editor of the Colonist, for exposing the scheme, in this wise:”

“‘I admit freely that there was a Confederate Commodore here, and that he had a commission in his pocket. I admit that a crew was picked and that the object was to injure Federal commerce in these waters. In short, I admit everything that you have stated, except that the expedition was a piratical one, and that the design was to burn the mail steamer. That would never have been done, except in case of necessity, which, I think is safe to say, would never have arisen.'”

 “‘I make this statement boldly, not because I wish to render myself notorious, but because you have meanly– with a meaness which your friends never supposed you capable of– violated a confidence reposed in you, and made an affair public which you should have kept locked within your own breast. True, the thing had fallen through. True, the Commodore had left and the scheme had been abandoned; but, sir, by what right, or by whose permission, did you feel 

warranted in exposing the enterprise, without first consulting its leaders, or the parties who furnished you the information? I do not know who your informant was, and I do not care now, (time was when I might have cared, though) but this I will say, that he has betrayed a sacred confidence reposed in him, which he 

should have rather lost his life than to have done.'”

“Pity that this betrayer of ‘sacred confidence’ did not have the power to do it in such a manner as to have had the plotters ‘left dangling at a rope’s end.'”

Identified by some as an Alabaman, John Thomas Jeffreys was actually born in Independence, Missouri April 7, 1830. John, along with his parents and siblings, went overland by wagon train to northwest Oregon in 1845. After the 1849 death of their father Thomas Jeffreys, the family moved The Dalles.

John was in the cattle trade and along with his brother Oliver found an excellent market in British Columbia. According to F.W. Laing in the Oct. 1942 British Columbia Historical Quarterly, the brothers Jeffreys first show up in BC documents as early as 1860. Benjamin F. Gilbert in the July-Oct. 1954 issue of the same periodical has a long essay on the details of Jeffreys’ involvement in the Shubrick case.

The newspaperman who Jeffreys felt betrayed him was actually with the Victoria Daily Chronicle. His name was David Williams Higgins and he later wrote a memoir suggesting the plot was really exposed by Union intelligence rather than by journalists. According to Scott McArthur in The Enemy Never Came, the American Consul Mr. Francis informed the Shubrick’s pro-Union second in command, Lt. James M. Selden, of the plot. Apparently the skipper and other sailors were in on the plan. So when the Shubrick visited Victoria “while the ship’s captain and most of the crew were ashore, Selden and six members of the crew cast off and returned to Port Townsend.”

The rival Victoria newspaper, The Daily British Colonist, was openly critical of the Chronicle for being sensationalist and a scandal sheet. The publisher was none other than that steak-juggling eccentric, Amor de Cosmos, who we met in an earlier post.   De Cosmos had been Higgins’ mentor and employer before the two had a falling out in 1862.

Shortly after the Shubrick incident Jeffreys returned to Oregon, where he was arrested. He died in The Dalles Feb. 24, 1867, aged 36.

The Shubrick continued life as a government ship until 1886, when it was sold in Astoria, Oregon and scrapped.

Maryland native Lt. James M. Selden was promoted to Captain in the U.S. Revenue Marine Service in 1867. He died March 16, 1888, aged about 57, as the result of sunstroke while on duty.

The Washington Statesman is available in online form thanks to the efforts of our Digital and Historical Collections team. It provides a window into Washington Territory’s contemporary view of the Civil War.

WSL also holds copies of the Daily British Colonist on microfilm.

David Williams Higgins (1834-1917) merged his own newspaper with the Colonist in 1866 to form The Daily British Colonist and Victoria Chronicle which he used as a springboard for political office.

Capt. H.W. Johnson of the Invincible

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Last week we asked if any Between the Lines readers could help us in identifying the first of two ships that brought the Territorial Library collection from New York to San Francisco in 1853. The story of the second ship, the Tarquinia, which delivered the books in the final leg of the journey is well known, but the first ship has been a mystery to us.

Until now.

Rich Edwards, a retired WSL Program Manager for Technical Services and now serving as the Historian for the South Thurston County Historical Society, dove into the mystery and surfaced with the identity of the ship, the Invincible! Considering the history of WSL, that’s a very fitting name for the clipper that carried the embryonic library around the Horn.

The ship left New York on May 21, 1853 and arrived in San Francisco 110 days later.

According to Rich:

“I have undertaken this research and believe I have found an answer for you. Happy Birthday!

Daily Alta California, 26 September 1853, Page 2, column 5, Consignee Notices:

Consignees of the following goods, per ship Invincible, from New York, are hereby notified that if not called for on or before Monday, the 26th inst, sufficient of the same will be sold to pay freight and charges.

 Thirty-two cases books, marked Gen. J. J. Stevens, Olympia, Washington Territory, shipped by C.B. Norton, consigned to Major R.P. Hammond.

 Alsop & Co.

The same entry appears in the 24-25 September 1853 newspaper.

In the 12 September 1853 newspaper, there is this announcement:

Ship Invincible, from New York will commence discharging this day, Saturday, Sept 10th at Cunningham’s wharf. Consignees are requested to call at our office, pay freight, and receive orders or their goods. All merchandise left on the wharf after 5 o’clock P M, will be stored at the expense and risk of the owners thereof. Alsop & Co.

The same entry appears in the 23 September 1853 newspaper.

The Maritime Heritage Virtual Archives has an entry:

Invincible

 1853 May 21 – September 9

 Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 110 days.

The Daily Alta California for September 10, 1853, page 2, column 5, section “Shipping Intelligence”:

Sept 9-Clipper ship Invincible, Johnson, 110 days fm New York, mdse to Alsop & Co; 4 pass.

 This confirms the ship left New York May 21st.

There is also a notice in the Daily Alta California on 17 August 1853, page 2, column 4, section “Spoken”:

June 1, lat 29 13, long 39 56, ship Invincible, from New York, (May 21).

 And here is a brief history: The Invincible was designed by William H. Webb (1816-1899) and built in his prolific New York shipyard in 1851. The 221 ft. clipper was owned by J. W. Phillips, and others, of New York and commanded by Captain H.W. Johnson for several years. Built for speed she was an ideal vessel for trade conducted with China at that time. She was lost by fire in New York Harbor in 1867. (Arthur Hamilton Clark The Clipper Ship Era: An Epitome of Famous American and British Clipper Ships, Their Owners, Builders, Commanders, and Crews, 1843-1869, New York and London 1910).”

Thank you, Rich! Looks like our 160 celebration is off to a great start!

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The term “yegg” really has some power to it and was used frequently by reporters in the course of telling the story of Blackie Carroll and Irish Slim. Melisa Sevall, a Public Services librarian who had worked in the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center Library before the WSL Central Library staff, pointed me to the reference work, Language of the Underworld / by David W. Maurer (1981). A “Yegg” can be a desperate sort of criminal and burglar, but more specifically (and certainly in our case study) a safecracker.

Our customers are frequently surprised to learn that in addition to having Washington newspapers on thousands of reels of microfilm, we also include a few out-of-state newspapers culturally tied to our history. We have several newspapers from Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Alaska. The following piece from The Morning Oregonian of Sept. 12, 1921 demonstrates how their news beat went across state lines:

  ESCAPED OUTLAWS ARE YET AT LARGE

 Carroll, ex-Convict, Once Tried to Go “Straight.”

 RECORD HERE IS STORMY

 Jimmie Costigan, Who Convinced Victim of Wrong Identification, Is Well Educated.

 “The jailbreak at Montesano of James (‘Blackie’) Carroll, expert safecracker and ex-convict, who openly boasted a few months ago that he would have Portland overrun this winter with yeggs and highwaymen, recalls the record of the outlaw in Portland. Police posters containing his picture and offers of reward for his capture were received at police headquarters yesterday.”

“With Carroll in his escape from the Montesano jail was Jimmie Costigan, alias ‘Irish Slim,’ reputed to be one of the nerviest highwaymen now operating along the Pacific slope. Both were awaiting sentence of life imprisonment as habitual criminals.”

 Chief Accepts Defi

 “‘Blackie’ Carroll ostensibly had decided to go ‘straight.’ He opened up a soft-drink establishment in the north end about a year ago. But the only thing soft about the place was the ‘pickings,’ as his dive soon became known as one of the worst bootlegging hangouts in the north end.”

“Carroll was repeatedly arrested and convicted of bootlegging. Finally he sent word to Chief of Police Jenkins that if he were not allowed to sell liquor openly at his establishment he would see that Portland became infested with yeggs and crooks. The chief accepted the defi and compelled ‘Blackie’ to close up shop.”

“After Carroll had been released from jail the last time here he disappeared. A few weeks later he was arrested at Montesano with ‘Irish Slim’ while in the art of blowing a safe. Their conviction as habitual criminals followed.”

 Costigan Four-Time Loser.

 “Jimmie Costigan is a four-time loser, having served two terms each in the penitentiaries at Folsom and San Quentin, Cal. His last escapade locally, which was called to the attention of the police, occurred about eight months ago, when he held up and robbed a local cider manufacturer of about $30.”

“This man picked out ‘Slim’ in the north end the next day and had the police take him into custody. The identification was positive, it was said at the time of the arrest.”

“When the case came before Municipal Judge Rossman on preliminary hearing, ‘Irish Slim” put up such a good front that his victim wavered in his identification. Judge Rossman declined to hold the suspect unless the complaining witness was certain of his identity.”

 Victim Is Convinced.

 “Finally it was agreed that the complaintant and ‘Irish Slim’ would retire to a secluded room and there discuss the case. A few minutes later the cider manufacturer returned to court and asked that the prisoner be discharged.”

“It was not until several weeks later that the police learned how ‘Irish Slim’ had convinced his victim that a mistake had occurred. During the four terms he served in the California prisons time naturally hung heavy for the convict. He took up a correspondence school education and by the time he had finished his last ‘bit’ had won a few correspondence school degrees.”

Complaintant Offers Apology.

 “When he faced his hold-up victim in the ante-room off the municipal courtroom, ‘Irish Slim’ put his correspondence school education to good use. With the choicest English, he told the hold-up victim he was a college professor on his ‘uppers,’ and horrid things like highway robbery were farthest from his mind. So suave was he in his talk that he convinced the other he could not have been the highwayman, and the latter was more than eager to set him free. He even offered a public apology in police court for having caused ‘Irish Slim’ such embarrassment.”

“Although ‘Blackie’ Carroll has promised Portland a carnival of crime this winter, it is believed he will not be so bold as to return here to attempt to direct any of the work. His face is too familiar with practically every member of the police bureau for him to chance arrest by returning to Portland.”

Earlier in his life Blackie had been the leader of a crime syndicate known as the Bozee Boys, who rode the rails and went from town to town blowing up safes with nitroglycerin. Born around 1877-1878, Blackie was a career criminal who had previously served prison terms in Salem, Oregon and in San Quentin where he was released in July 1919. He was also known as Tom Carey. Carroll did indeed operate a “soft drink” place at 241 1/2 Couch St. in Portland for a few months before selling it in 1921.

James “Irish Slim” Costigan claimed he was a San Francisco based sailor originally from Plymouth, England. He was also known as James H. Ward, James Grant, James Brophy, James Dwyer, James Murray, and John Keating. A professional burglar and bold robber, Irish Slim had spent two prison terms in Folsom and two in  San Quentin, a total of 11 years.

By poking around the Hoquiam’s newspaper, Grays Harbor Daily Washingtonian, and also the Montesano Vidette, I was able to piece together a bit more of the story.

In May, 1921, Blackie and Irish Slim formed a gang with forger Fred Morgan (aka Cecil Hill, released from prison in Salem in 1919) in Centralia, Washington. Blackie was wanted for a warehouse robbery in Astoria, Oregon at the time. The trio rode the rails to Hoquiam and decided to blow the safe in a steam laundry.

In the wee hours of May 4, 1921, the yeggs broke into the laundry, set two charges of nitro, and piled clothes over the safe to muffle the noise of the explosion. The charge was a bit too strong, blowing the safe door into the safe itself. They were quickly captured, and within two months were convicted. But as we saw, the Grays Harbor County jail could not hold Blackie and Irish Slim for too long. They broke the bars of their cell and vanished into thin air.

Did Blackie return to Portland to make good on his promise to deliver a “carnival of crime”? On the Christmas after his escape from Montesano, a night watchman identified the two yeggs who tied him up and then blew the safe of a cardroom (netting $1500) as Blackie Carroll and “Jingling” Johnson.

Although I found no record of the fate of Irish Slim, Blackie made his way to Missouri, where he was convicted of burglary in 1923 under the name James Ryan, and sentenced to the state prison. The last record I can find for him was in 1925, when he was returned to Montesano to serve out the rest of his term in the  Grays Harbor County jail.  He was 44 years old, probably making him one of the senior yeggs in the business.

Governor Isaac Stevens

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

160 years! And our flame continues to illuminate the world around us.

The Washington State Library is celebrating its 160th birthday in 2013. Why is this an important number? First, no other public cultural or educational institution in Washington can make this claim. And second, not only are we are still here but WSL staff continue to provide excellent access to the information needs of the people and libraries of The Evergreen State. And third, our story is the story of Washington Territory and State. We were here from the very start and have evolved with the times, consistently reflecting the history taking place around us.

So as we kick off a series of blogposts covering this event let us go back to the Organic Act of 1853, which created Washington Territory and included:

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended, by and under the direction of the Governor of Washington, in the purchase of a library, to be kept at the seat of government for the use of the Governor, legislative assembly, Judges of the Supreme Court, secretary, marshal, and Attorney of said Territory, and such other persons, and under such regulations, as shall be prescribed by law.

Millard FIllmore

The name of President Millard Fillmore usually evokes a snicker, but he was actually an important figure in our history since it was his signature that created Washington Territory. And yet, from what I can find, not one single political or geographic area is named in his honor here in Washington.

When Isaac Stevens was appointed the first territorial governor, among the many tasks he was charged with included the selection of the library. As our webpage states: “… Stevens purchased books from H. Bailliere of London and C.B. Norton and Co. of New York City; collected archival documents from all the states of the union; acquired the still unpublished Wilkes Expedition charts, having them printed by George F. Lewis of Philadelphia; and made arrangements for the casing and portage of these materials through vendors in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. The first 2,000 books travelled by an unknown steamer.”

There’s more, but I’ll stop at the “unknown steamer” mention in order to present the first of many historical mysteries in the WSL story as we enlist the help of you readers and historians out there to participate in enriching our narrative.

The couple thousand or so volumes of the original Territorial Collection were loaded on the East Coast and made the journey around the tip of South America to San Francisco, where they changed ships. The brig Tarquinia, with the literary cargo, left the Bay Area and arrived in Olympia in October 23, 1853, a month before Stevens himself arrived via an overland route.

William Robertson

WSL librarian Hazel Mills back in the 1950s was the first to really start digging into the identity of the first ship, but the name of the craft has continually eluded researchers. We do have data on the second ship, the Tarquinia. It was built in Perth Amboy, NJ in 1844, a 90 ft. long two mast square-rigger and at the time of the library transfer was skippered by William Robertson (1809-1888), a native of Norfolk, Virginia, who later became the first lighthouse keeper on Whidbey Island. I find it fitting that the ship’s captain who delivered the first library collection to Washington later became someone who provided illumination for safe passage.

The Tarquinia was under consideration, as it turned out needlessly, by Olympia residents as a place of refuge during the conflicts with the Native Americans in 1856. Later that same year the ship went down in the Sea of Okhotsk while stuck in ice.

WSL still holds 400 titles (800 volumes) of the original Territorial Collection, as well as two globes that made the journey in 1853. Other additional Territorial volumes followed the State Law Library when they split from WSL a little over a century ago. So, hopefully I have presented a worthy research challenge to you marine historians out there. Anyone who can provide evidence of the name of the first ship would be giving WSL a great 160th birthday present!

This year marks the 160^th anniversary of the Washington State Library, the first U.S. library north of the Columbia River. But this is only the beginning of the story of people and their libraries in Washington.

State Library staff will be blogging, tweeting, and posting on Facebook to remember the past and celebrate the present, but they also want to hear from all the libraries in Washington about their beginnings. Please consider sharing some part of your history with us and we’ll make it part of the statewide celebration:

• Do you have pictures of the first library in your community?
• How about pictures or anecdotes about early local librarians?
• Can you share some stories from the past about your library and its place in your community?
• How did your library cope with disasters and hard time?
• What celebrations did the library host or promote?

Want to participate? Here’s how:

• Send any anecdotes, pictures, or librariana to Steve Willis, [email protected] or Marlys Rudeen, [email protected];Note:  By sending anecdotes, pictures, or librariana you are giving us permission to share and re-post the materials via open public access on the web and are indicating that the materials are not restricted from public use.
• If you don’t have the ability to scan documents or pictures, send a good photocopy with some explanatory text to:

Marlys Rudeen
Washington State Library
PO Box 42460
Olympia, WA 98504-2460

• Blog or post on your own site and ask WSL to repost.

We know that libraries are an integral part of the fabric of our communities. Help us promote and celebrate Washington’s people and their libraries during this special year.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

I stumbled across a legal case in Washington State history that deserves to be revisited. The following news nugget was found at random in the Morning Olympian for May 5, 1916:

  DEFAMER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON GUILTY

 JURY RETURNS WITH VERDICT AFTER 90 MINUTES

 “TACOMA, May 4.–Paul R. Haffer was found guilty of libel and defamation of character when he said that George Washington drank more liquor than was good for him and used occasional profanity. A jury in the superior court so decided last night after deliberating an hour and 30 minutes.”

“Col. A.E. Joab brought the charge against Haffer after the latter had written a letter to a newspaper on Washington’s birthday, setting forth the alleged delinquencies of the father of his country. In his own defense, Haffer said that he had read much of Washington’s life, and wrote the charges because he was opposed to hero worship, and he thought the people were making too much of Washington’s memory. He is a socialist and employed as a car repairer. The maximum penalty for the offense is a year in jail and $1,000 fine. An appeal will be taken.”

“Col. Joab thanked each juror as they filed from the box for being ‘a real American.'”

OK, probably not a good idea to be an iconoclast in a state named after George at a time when America was nervous about socialists and the possibility of entering the Great War, which was already underway in Europe. Also, Prohibition was  the law of the land in Washington State by 1916, and comments about drunkenness were not taken lightly. But the Haffer case was not one of the most shining moments in the legal history of The Evergreen State.

Haffer was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan ca. 1895. His family moved to the Tacoma area when he was about 9. He was apparently a strong socialist throughout his entire life.

The exact content of his letter to the editor of the Tacoma Tribune for the issue in question remains murky. It was published on Feb. 18, 1916, but that issue is mysteriously missing from our microfilm reel for that time slot, even though every issue around that date is intact. If anyone out there has the full contents of Mr. Haffer’s letter, I’d appreciate seeing it.

However, other newspapers quoted parts of it. The Tacoma Times: Haffer said Washington was a “slaveholder, a profane and blasphemous man and an inveterate drinker.” The first accusation was certainly true, but the next three are very open to debate and definition.

Haffer’s reply to the press was that he wrote the letter “to check the unthinking idolatry of heroes held up by demigods before the public.”

The day following publication of his letter to the editor, he was charged with criminal libel by Col. Albert E. Joab (1857-1930), a self-appointed guardian of “patriotic values” and considered as something of a “picturesque” character by the local press. It is interesting Col. Joab went after the writer rather than the newspaper that published the piece.

The Tacoma Tribune had no comment on the case, but the rival Tacoma Times exalted in it. They quoted Col. Joab as calling Haffer a “Damnable blackguard, infamous anarchist, Red socialist!” Also these choice quotes: “I’ve been raised all my life to respect men such as Washington and I don’t propose to stand for a red anarchist to desecrate his memory. Thank God I’ve got some red blood in my system to stick up for Washington, if nobody else will. I don’t know who the man is who wrote the article, but he undoubtedly is a socialist. You can tell a rabbit by his track. He is a —- blackguard. Let this man prove in open court what he says of Washington, if he can. I can produce articles by Thomas Jefferson, whom we all learned to love through Woodrow Wilson, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and others, showing Washington was an upright man, noted for his sobriety. Why, he was even a communicant of the Episcopal church and a Master Mason. Look in any standard dictionary and you will see Washington’s picture in his Masonic apron.”

Haffer was convicted in Pierce County Superior Court and the decision was upheld, incredibly, after an appeal to the Washington State Supreme Court. Haffer was fined and sentenced to several months imprisonment, but after a month of serving his time he was pardoned by Gov. Lister.

But Haffer and the legal system still had another issue to sort out. Like many other socialists, Paul was opposed to the U.S. entry into the Great War in 1917, and according to Albert F. Gunns in Civil Liberties in Crisis : the Pacific Northwest 1917-1940 Haffer was forced into the Army after serving 10 months in jail for refusing to register for the draft. He served his time in uniform at Camp Lewis and was honorably discharged in 1919 having never been overseas.

In spite of all the contemporary publicity over his radical views, Haffer might be better remembered today as the one-time husband of the innovative and acclaimed photographer Virna Haffer (1899-1974). Paul and Virna had a son, Jean Paul, in 1924 before they divorced a few years later.

In the 1930s and 1940s Haffer remarried, started a second family, had another son and obtained work as a shipfitter. He ran for State Representative in 1934 as a member of the Socialist Party and placed 6 out of 6 in the primary with 0.99% of the vote. None of the slings and arrows hurled at him in earlier years had distracted him from his original vision.

When Haffer died on June 15, 1949 at age 54, his obituary mentioned he “gained brief notoriety when he was convicted in a Tacoma court of libeling George Washington on charges brought by the late Col. Albert Joab.”

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Three mysteries emerge from an episode back when Spokane was known as Spokane Falls, one of them concerns a ghost, another is geographic, and the last is bibliographic. No, I’m not talking about a spirit scouring the online catalog– that is called BOOlean searching (heh-heh, get it?). This series of questions emerge from the following article in the Spokane Falls Review, March 21, 1885:

SPOOKS

Spokane Falls Enjoys the Luxury of a Haunted House.

“Among the other many attractions in and about Spokane Falls, there has recently been added that of a haunted house, wherein the cheerful disembodied spirit holds high carnival, and the spectral inhabitants of the silent and bewitching midnight meet together to join in ghostly orgies, talk politics and frighten the timid denizens of this mundane sphere out of their seven senses. Belated pedestrians, with a tendency to scare easily, shun the side of street upon which is located the trysting place of the jovial spooks, while the more courageous have marched up to the premises, but, if not really frightened, have had no hesitancy in moving off at a speed above that of ordinary promenading when having their ears saluted with uncanny sounds.”

“The building that has been taken without the formality of lease, by these airy nocturnal roysters, is the old Phoenix beer hall that was the scene of a sad chapter in the city’s history; that of the unprovoked murder of a young man last summer, and which has been unoccupied for several months. We have heard vague rumors of the presence of a ghost, but have, so far, been unable to see anyone who will admit of having seen anything of a supernatural agency. Although the belief is so strong that the unexplainable exists that it is not every one you meet who will volunteer to take his blankets and camp in the room overnight.”

“It is said that on a certain occasion, recently, a man passing had his attention attracted by a strange noise that seemed to proceed from the room, and, going carefully up the alley, he peered into a window. He didn’t remain rooted to the spot. His legs refused to allow his body to remain in the neighborhood and he don’t remember just how he soon did get to bed, but it was only a small fraction of time after taking one gaze, when he had his head buried under the blankets.”

“He touches the subject tenderly and has kept much more rational hours ever since. What he saw could not have grown out of the character of the fluid he had been drinking, as he had religiously stuck to water that evening. To a limited few, he claims that when he reached the window he saw the shadowy outlines of a man that shone out with a phosphorous light. The shadowy tenant was walking with his back to the window and was giving vent to a noise sounding as though he was in a good deal of pain or was growling over the chilliness of the night. When the apparition turned about and headed for the window, one glance was sufficient for the individual. Considering that the specter would consider it an indelicate intrusion, the witness adjourned without apology. He calculates that, with ordinary luck, he will be able to outlive the sensation he experienced in fifty or one hundred years.”

“Making all due allowance for a vivid imagination and a bristly fright, there is still left a margin for the belief that the visitor from the other world is not a party that the average man would choose for a boon companion.”

“Since then, and perhaps before (although we have no data for going behind the returns) attention has been attracted to the spot by divers unpleasant sounds, as if a whole colony of the defunct were occasionally congregated for a jubilee. No thorough investigation has, so far, been made, as the initiated have perhaps felt a slight delicacy in forcing their presence in company where they were not invited. We suppose that in time, when the thing becomes shorn of the glamour of freshness, some one will want to deprive the public of the benefit of such an important tributary to the popularity of the Falls, and try to clear up the mystery.”

“We cannot say when the boss spook holds his receptions, but if any one is curious he can hang around o’ nights and find out for himself. We are not paid for keeping a reporter on the spot.”

Mystery # 1: What the heck is it? In all my perusing through territorial newspapers, this is the most detailed and open account I have found describing public “ghostly” happenings.

Mystery # 2: The exact location of the Phoenix Beer Hall, which was designated as the HQ for these ghosts, is not easy to find. Apparently closed by 1885, it doesn’t show up on directories or Sanborn maps of the era. I’d be curious to know if that location has experienced other “supernatural” events in the 20th-21st centuries. But where was/is it?

Mystery # 3: In an attempt to find an account of the “sad chapter in the city’s history,” it was discovered the incident was the September 27, 1884 shooting of a quiet carpenter named Henry R. Roblin by John “Jack” Connerry, “a notorious rustler.” Apparently Roblin accidentally bumped into Connerry on a Saturday near midnight at the Phoenix Beer Hall, and that alone sparked the shooting. Connerry was captured the next morning but was moved from Spokane Falls city jail to Cheney as he was in very real danger of being lynched by an angry mob. It seems Connerry escaped jail in Cheney a short time later.

But here’s the mystery. In an effort to find a local article about this shooting, every single newspaper run we have in the Spokane area is missing the issue that would have covered this news. It’s like we have a nice complete set– except for this one period. Every one of them! What’s the deal here? I had to go to newspapers in California and Montana to get the details. Was the episode so shameful no one wanted to preserve the newspapers, or instead did they keep it as a souvenir? In any case, it is quite odd.

The Spokane Falls Review is one the historical newspapers digitized by the Washington State Library. The above article, and many other lively stories about Spokane can be viewed online on the WSL website.

Written by guest blogger, Adrienne Doman Calkins, CE/Training Intern, Washington State Library, Library Development

Library staff have questions too. Lots of them. Like: How can I best implement eReader training at my library? What are the current trends in library programming? How can I improve our website? What training materials already exist to help me train my new staff? How can I best help my community with digital literacy skills? I want to brush up on my communication skills, but how can I from a remote area with few training opportunities. How can I learn about project management with my busy schedule?

Most importantly, library staff want to know how to keep their skills current to best serve their evolving communities.

The Washington State Library sponsors online learning for library staff across all 71,000+ square miles of the state through a statewide membership to WebJunction, an online learning community designed specifically for library staff. Washington is one of 18 states partnering with WebJunction to offer sponsored access to online courses and webinars for library staff. While WebJunction has a national presence, it is also a local organization based in Seattle, Washington, since 2003. Washington library staff benefit from WebJunction’s connections to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the parent company to WebJunction, OCLC.

If you’ve used WebJunction in years past, look again. The newly redesigned WebJunction website is easier to navigate and offers more resources.

Library staff across Washington are getting value out of the WSL partnership with WebJunction:

• 700 courses were taken in 2012
• 527 registered users attended 24 different live webinars in 2012
• Library staff from 30 different libraries registered for courses in 2012
• 561 Washington library staff are currently registered as WebJunction Washington members.
• With current membership, courses cost WSL about $22 each. That price gets lower the more members join and take courses. The current contract pays for over 3,600 library staff to join WebJunction.
• WebJunction content is available 24/7 to library staff wherever they have an internet connection, making it a great resource for rural library staff, who may not be able to attend offsite trainings as easily, or any staff who need to be as efficient as possible with their time.
• New content is constantly being added to WebJunction. Upcoming webinars can be found on www.webjunction.org, or look on the Washington Partner page to see these and links to WSL’s First Tuesday webinars. Can’t make the date? Past webinars are accessible as archives, as well. New courses will soon be available in video format when WebJunction adds Lynda.com trainings to their course catalog, increasing the software, business and creative offerings sponsored by WSL. Note: access to Lynda.com trainings will be limited, so registered staff should look for the invitation via email soon.
• Washington library staff can create a free account on the WebJunction site. Sponsored access will be approved by WSL and WebJunction within 48 hours.

Some WebJunction users are really taking advantage of the resources. One power-user, Keyla Gonzalez, a Circulation Clerk 2 from Bellingham Public Library, took 25 courses in 2012. She has built an impressive list of skills using WebJunction: “I have learned cultural communication styles, how to reach out to our non-English speaking patrons and how to better equip myself to be more helpful when answering patron’s requests.” What does Keyla appreciation about the WSL sponsored access to WebJunction? “I love that I can use my own time and finish my course load at my own pace. If there’s a course that is strenuous I know I can go back and re-do it however many times I want. Mostly I love that it is accessible at any time and it is free!”
Another important role in online learning is the WebJunction champion—that person who encourages staff to take courses and attend webinars. Some champions are peers, others are trainers, administrators, managers or supervisors. All of them know access to online learning is only part of the solution to help staff keep their skills sharp. The other part is creating a culture that prioritizes learning and gives staff the time, space and resources to participate in online training opportunities.

One such champion is Patricia Chupa, Circulation Supervisor at the Shelton Timberland Library. Pat, as her staff know her, has built just such a culture in her department. She incorporates online learning into the goals her staff make during annual performance evaluations and goes on to make a contract with her staff: if they “partner with one another to get the materials handling work done in a timely fashion,” then they are guaranteed “protected time to do their courses” and staff help cover for each other by negotiating the best time for trainings. Has the effort paid off? Pat is proud to report “the professional approach to their customer service has improved across the team, and that has readily been demonstrated in the level of satisfaction we see and hear from our patrons.”

The WebJunction Washington partner resources are managed by the Washington State Library, with input from a state-wide WebJunction Washington Advisory Team made up of members from public, academic, and special libraries across the state. It’s the sponsored learners, though, that make WebJunction resources come alive as library staff interact with library patrons with skills learned through this state-sponsored resource.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

When the Washington Irrigation Company attempted to perform a little social engineering in the community of Zillah in an effort to close the saloon, the cause of alcohol found an unlikely champion. The story is told in the Feb. 20, 1903 issue of the Yakima Republic:

IS A DEFENDER OF BOOZE

 A Zillah Minister Who Stands Up For Good Whisky, But Not For Bad

“A minister at Zillah last Sunday night created something of a sensation in his pulpit, according to a resident of that little town who was here this week, when he declared that he occasionally took a drink himself, and that inasmuch as men would get whisky anyway if they wanted it, there wasn’t much harm in giving them facilities for getting good whisky.”

“The Washington Irrigation company has offered to set apart $1400 worth of its justly celebrated Sunnyside land for the endowment of a library at Zillah if the people of that place will cut out the saloon which has been in operation there and which has been a bone of contention among the inhabitants each year.”

“Commenting upon this proposition, the minister referred to is said to have taken a stand in favor of the saloon as against the library; and to have asserted that if he wanted to he took a drink of whisky, and preferred good whisky.”

“This unexpected deliverance by a minister of the gospel has furnished a valuable topic of conversation at Zillah this week.”

“The Zillah man who mentioned the matter to the Republic stated that it is as yet undetermined whether the people down there will favor licensing the saloon for another year. Recently the proprietor, Correll, hurt himself quite severely, and his bad luck has created some sympathy for him.”

The Washington Irrigation Company’s place in the history of the area can be found in The Victory of National Irrigation in the Yakima Valley, 1902-1906.

It appears Zillah did not get a library until Prohibition took effect. Meanwhile, in recent history another church in the town has made the news. In order to  publicize the name, the Church of God – Zillah constructed a wire sculpture of the famous Japanese movie monster outside the building.