Guide to the Prohibition Era Photographs of Matt Starwich
ca. 1921-1927

Biographical Note

Matt Starwich was born in Austria in 1876 and immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve. Starwich worked as a union coal miner, then as a deputy sheriff in King County, Washington, for seventeen years. In 1920 Starwich won the election for King County sheriff as a Republican candidate. In 1922, when the term for the office of sheriff was extended from two to four years, Starwich easily won his bid for reelection. Washington law prevented a sheriff from serving more than two consecutive terms, so Starwich left office in January 1927. He again sought election as sheriff in 1930, but lost in the Republican primary. Starwich then campaigned for Democrat William Severyns and was rewarded with a position in Severyns’s office after he became sheriff. Starwich later worked for several years as superintendent of the King County Jail.

Scope and Content

The collection contains photographs of then King County sheriff Matt Starwich, Carl H. Jackson (chief of divisional prohibition agents), other law enforcement officials, and members of the public engaged in activities primarily related to enforcement of prohibition laws, ca. 1921-1927.

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open to the public.

Related Material

Matt Starwich scrapbooks. Microfilm. Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington, [1982?]. 1 microform reel ; 35 mm.

Processing Info

Processed by Richard Visick, 2004.

Inventory

Folder

Item

Date

1

1

Sheriff Matt Starwich in his office displaying still equipment obtained from a raid on a house in Seattle, Washington

Mar. 24, 1923

Image appeared in The Seattle Daily Times.

2

Sheriff Matt Starwich (left) and Carl H. Jackson, chief of divisional prohibition agents, inspect a seizure of wine and liquor

July 7, 1923

Image appeared in The Seattle Daily Times.

3

Sheriff Matt Starwich, Carl H. Jackson, and group of men inside an illegal distillery

undated

4

Sheriff Matt Starwich (center) and two men in a room with still and bootlegging materials

undated

5

Sheriff Matt Starwich and group of men with revealed stash of buried alcohol barrels

undated

6

Sheriff Matt Starwich and soldier with collection of materials from confiscated stills

undated

7

Sheriff Matt Starwich (left) and two men burning a still

undated

8

Man using an axe to destroy a vat of alcohol

undated

9

Sheriff Matt Starwich and group remove and destroy stockpiles of confiscated liquor and bootlegging materials from a truck at the Seattle city dump

ca. 1925

10

Sheriff Matt Starwich destroying bottles of confiscated alcohol

undated

11

Sheriff Matt Starwich and four women dressed in Scottish attire at a ceremony to destroy confiscated alcohol

undated

12

Sheriff Matt Starwich and two bloodhounds corner Seattle Union Record reporter Bob Bermann on a woodpile during a publicity stunt organized to test the effectiveness of the bloodhounds in tracking fugitives

Sept. 4, 1923

Subject Terms

Personal Names:

Starwich, Matt--Photographs.

Subjects:

Alcoholic beverages--Washington (State)--King County--Photographs.

Police--Washington (State)--King County--Photographs.

Prohibition--Washington (State)--King County--Photographs.

Sheriffs--Washington (State)--King County--Photographs.

Stills (Distilleries)--Washington (State)--King County--Photographs.

Vice control--Washington (State)--King County.