Items of Interest December 5, 2011 Issue

From bootlegger to healer

Bill Scott

“Prohibition’s Roy Olmstead: The man who no longer exists” blogcritics.org. October 4, 2011.

Did you catch the PBS series on Prohibition? As the “King of the Puget Sound Bootleggers,” Seattle’s legendary Roy Olmstead made an appearance in the second episode of this three-part series. But there was more to his story after he was arrested and convicted of bootlegging.

When Olmstead was sent to prison in 1928, he used his time in confinement to improve himself. According to Philip Metcalfe, author of Whispering Wires: The tragic Tale of an American Bootlegger, “The man who arrived in 1928 was not the man who departed three years later.”

Metcalfe further writes, “Olmstead first sought relief in books on psychology and philosophy, but was not satisfied until a cellmate lent him a copy of Science and Health [with Key to the Scriptures] by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. . . . Slowly, over time, he became a devout Christian Scientist, customarily rising every morning at 5:00 to read and reflect.”

Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.

Send a comment to the editors
NEXT IN THIS ISSUE
Items of Interest
2011 ‘National Back to Church’ Sunday draws record number of visitors
December 5, 2011
Contents

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit