On the nation's first Armistice Day, November 11, 1919, violence erupted in Centralia arising from the community's volatile relations with the resident members of the radical labor organization, the Industrial Workers of the World (aka The Wobblies). The resulting six deaths, including one lynching, of several recently returned servicemen sent shock waves around the world. One prominent gathering place for the Wobblies during this period was the Olympic Club (its proprietors supported their cause and welcomed their patronage). This rare image shows the memorial procession through Centralia on November 14, honoring the veterans killed three days earlier.

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Saloon man extraordinaire, Jack Scuitto, stand behind the bar of his newly, and extravagantly, remodeled Olympic Club, 1913.

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The reason for the Olympic Club's grand 1913 remodel was the appearance earlier in that year of this man and his lavishly appointed New Tourist Bar immediately next door. In this 1913 photo, A. J. Forgues stands in front of his newly opened venture, which occupied the south storefront of the just completed hotel, today's Olympic Club Hotel.

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What has captured their attention? Well-dressed men assemble outside the Olympic Club, circa 1914. Are they waiting for a parade or horse race? The Hotel Crawford next door is today's Olympic Club Hotel. The New Tourist Bar still occupies its southern storefront.

4

A. J. Forgues, whose New Tourist Bar had earlier occupied the southern storefront of this hotel, took over management of the hotel around 1916. He converted the bar, closed by state Prohibition, into the hotel's lobby. Forgues' young son can be seen in the open, second-story window.

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A. J. Forgues, proprietor of the New Tourist Bar, sits in his buggy outside his business, circa 1915. Within months, Washington State's ban of alcohol forced the closure of Forgue's business. He rebounded by taking over management of the hotel.

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This 1916 article was the first of many headlines chronicling the bootlegging activities of the Olympic Club during the Dry Years.

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This 1916 arrest warrant was likely the first served upon Jack Scuitto and his Olympic Club for suspected bootlegging activity, but definitely not the last.

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John L. "Jack" Sciutto knew the ropes. He had been a barman in British Columbia during the Klondike gold rush and ran a brisk, rough-and-ready saloon business in the coal-mining town of Rosalia, Washington, before coming to Centralia in 1907. His success allowed him admittance into Centralia's elite, however, his loyalties, not to mention his bread-and-butter, remained with his blue-collar customers.

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