Find of the Month

Each month we highlight interesting, important, and odd items from our collection, along with the stories they tell.

Most recent Find of the Month

December 2024 - Legalizing horoscopes

William F. Devin served as Seattle mayor from 1942 to 1952, and after leaving office went back to practicing law. In a 1964 letter to the chair of City Council’s License Committee, he raised a client’s concerns with a city ordinance that outlawed the casting of horoscopes. Along with "a number of other reputable astrologers in our city," his client was distressed to have astrology lumped together with gambling, fortune telling, and palm reading. Devin wrote, "It is the contention of astrologers that astrology is a science and is definitely not a bunko game and it should never have been included in the ordinance... We may not agree with their theories but that is quite a different thing from being fraudulent."

Devin shared statements from the City Comptroller and the Police Chief, who both said that astrologers had caused no problems they were aware of. Devin related that Police Chief Ramon had no objections to removing the horoscope language from the law; that "he did not know it was in there, he did not ask that it be put in there and did not know how it got there. He stated that he simply wanted the ordinance to conform with the state law which prohibits fortune telling, palmistry or clairvoyance but says nothing about horoscopes or astrology."

Asked by City Council to comment on Devin’s letter, Chief Ramon agreed that the gist was “quite correct,” although with the caveat that "we would be opposed to commercial horoscope parlors opening in Seattle, but would be able to prevent this under other ordinances... The police problem in the area of fortunetelling has not been with astrologers, but with people who use these means for fraudulent schemes." He enclosed three horoscope books he had apparently purchased to serve as examples of the public’s interest in the topic.

As there seemed to be no objections to removing the language, an amended ordinance was passed in November 1964.

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