The Chehalis Police Department has a long and storied history, with brave characters full of valor and courage. But it turns out, we might not have realized just exactly how long law enforcement history went back in the City of Chehalis.
And even at that, I believe more remains to be found.
While I was researching and referencing information for my columns on the history of the Chehails Municipal Building, I was also cross-referencing historical information about the Chehalis Police Department. I noticed on the City of Chehalis’ website that their historical timeline of the department was limited.
According to Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer, in 2011, retired WSP Trooper Ervin Murphy prepared an “insignia history” for the department, which was combined with the city’s information from what was available at the Lewis County Historical Museum and some of Chief Schaffer’s own bits of historical information as well.
Since the time when that report was compiled, we now have the ability to use “optical character recognition” (OCR) software on old Chehalis Bee-Nugget and Chronicle archive pages. That’s just the technical way of saying that computers now have the ability to recognize keywords on old news pages.
Many of the historical columns I’ve written for The Chronicle were exclusively due to this technology. It takes some skill to use effectively, but it’s an incredible tool that’s bringing all sorts of cool historical information to light.
The current historical record indicates the first Chehalis town marshal was recorded in 1908. But using OCR technology, I was able to find old city directories as early as 1900 in the Chehalis Bee-Nugget archives listing several additional town marshalls than it appears were previously known about.
Obviously, we know that policing, as a job, has evolved greatly since 1900. The first Chehalis town marshalls often had also served as city attorney — such as L. Lawrence and Charles Michaelis — or doubled as the city health officer, as is the case with leader S.F. Townsend, who it now appears was actually town marshal twice.
As of right now, I’ve identified what I believe are five earlier town marshals — six if you count Townsend’s additional term — than were previously recorded with the city.
As I verified chiefs through the early 1900s, some years in the archives had little mention of town marshals or law enforcement, while other years revealed some incredible historical tidbits.
When Police Chief Walter Doyle was leading the department in 1911-1912, the Chehalis Bee-Nugget reported with amusement that patrons of the jail referred to it as the “Doyle Hotel” or “Hotel Doyle.” This was a time in history where you could be jailed just for swearing on the street. Frequent flyers, well-known rabble rousers and boozers were not uncommon.
Some police chiefs came and went, leaving for the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office as elected sheriff or as a deputy. Other chiefs had more storied careers.
Former Chehalis Police Chief Joseph Knizek was a World War I veteran, having seen active service with the 91st Division (from “Camp Lewis, Washington”) in France over a period of a couple of years. He was appointed police chief by the city council in 1919 after he returned from the war.
By all appearances from the archives, he was a well-liked and well-respected law enforcement professional. Though a respected figure, his health plagued him. The Bee-Nugget notes in late 1920: “Mr. Knizek, who was with his wife’s father in the heavy artillery in France during the war, was gassed while there, and since that time whenever he takes cold his bronchial tubes and lungs swell and stop up.”
After an unsuccessful bid for sheriff, Knizek was later appointed as a U.S. deputy marshal in 1921 and headquartered in Seattle.
Previously, it had been unknown if a town marshal office or police headquarters existed before 1925. As I was reading articles surrounding the construction of the municipal building from 1925, I found a single line mention: “present jail and police headquarters at Park and Railroad.”
The city built a “new” city jail in 1921 that was specifically noted has having concrete sides designed to be expandable, and had mentioned office space. It stands to reason that headquarters existed at least since 1921.
But I dug a little deeper using keywords and discovered another interesting mention. It doesn’t tell us much, but in 1900, there is mention in the Bee-Nugget telling citizens to vote at the local polling place at the city jail on Cascade Avenue. Archives detail several escape attempts and successful escapes from the city jail in the early 1900s — even with a night watchman on duty.
Next week, I’ll detail some of the more interesting jail history that surfaced during the ongoing search.
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Brittany Voie is a columnist for The Chronicle. She lives south of Chehalis with her husband and two young sons. She welcomes correspondence from the community at voiedevelopment@comcast.net.
