Wicked Seattle

Early Seattle enticed settlers with an abundance of natural resources, potential wealth, stunning beauty and versatile climate. It offered gainful employment for fishermen, loggers and miners, but those who rushed west quickly discovered that all that glitters is not gold. The rapidly expanding city lacked one precious resource: women. Bored men yearned for entertainment, while prostitution, gambling and illegal alcohol grew in popularity. Over the years, politicians, police officers and crime bosses accepted graft to keep vice profiting and the city growing, including bootlegger Roy Olmstead and a brothel owner known as Madame Damnable. Teresa Nordheim, author of Murder & Mayhem in Seattle, introduces the wicked side of the Emerald City’s history.