William Harvey Thompson (died August 3, 1927) was a
prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
enforcement agent in the
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
, unit of the Prohibition Bureau. Widely known as Kinky, because of his tight curly hair, Thompson's career illustrated one of the problems - unprofessional enforcement - that led to increasing opposition to National
Prohibition in the United States (1920–1933).
Thompson's first mention in the press occurred after he shot a
moonshine still-tender through the stomach during a raid.
Later Thompson reported that
bootleggers attacked him late one night as he was driving on a deserted country road. He claimed that, while a car was overtaking him, he was shot in the arm. However, police investigators found substantial evidence that Thompson had fabricated the whole story.
Thompson used a
blackjack on a man who had no reputation for violence. A jury hearing the resulting case denounced Thompson for his brutal beating of the defendant. The judge who presided at the trial later called Thompson's supervisor into his chamber and warned him about Thompson's behavior. Thompson later blackjacked a twelve-year-old boy, the boy's mother, and his one-legged father. He subsequently
pistol-whip
Pistol-whipping or buffaloing is the act of using a handgun as a blunt weapon, wielding it as an improvised club. Such a practice dates to the time of muzzle loaders, which were brandished in such fashion in close-quarters combat once the wea ...
ped a manacled prisoner in full view of a crowd of onlookers who were outraged at his behavior.
Thompson's "favorite tactic was to walk into a joint, grab a pitcher of beer, and pour the contents on the bar, then offer to reimburse the nearest drinker. If the man denied that the beer was his,
hompsonwould strike him over the head with a shot-filled blackjack, and then wring a confession by painfully twisting the victim's arm."
Bureau of Prohibition
The Bureau of Prohibition (or Prohibition Unit) was the United States federal law enforcement agency formed to enforce the National Prohibition Act of 1919, commonly known as the Volstead Act, which enforced the 18th Amendment to the United S ...
officials defended their agents' violence, arguing that they bravely had to consume alcohol as part of their undercover work and that it threatened their health and caused crazed behavior. However, a local newspaper asked why patrons who consumed the same beverages did not become similarly crazed with an uncontrollable desire to injure others and destroy property.
On July 27, 1927, Tacoma police were summoned to a drunken fight between a couple in a parked car. Officer William Nerbornne asked the driver to move on. At that point the driver became belligerent and reached for something in his coat but Nerbornne fired first, fatally wounding Thompson.
Thompson was eulogized as a martyr for the dry cause and his death was blamed on societal disrespect for law and order. Federal Prohibition officials later praised Thompson's "zeal" but never acknowledged that he had ever used
excessive force
Excessive Force is a musical side project started in 1991 by Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM and Buzz McCoy of My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult.
History
In 1991, Excessive Force released the single "Conquer Your House", followed by the album ''Co ...
.
See also
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McNeil Island
McNeil Island is an island in the northwest United States in south Puget Sound, located southwest of Tacoma, Washington. With a land area of , it lies just north of Anderson Island; Fox Island is to the north, across Carr Inlet, and to the ...
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Roy Olmstead
Roy Olmstead (September 18, 1886 – April 30, 1966) was one of the most successful and best-known bootleggers in the Pacific Northwest region during American Prohibition. A former lieutenant in the Seattle Police Department, he began smuggl ...
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Rum row
A rum row was a Prohibition-era term (1920–1933) referring to a line of ships loaded with liquor anchored beyond the maritime limit of the United States. These ships taunted the Eighteenth Amendment’s prohibition on the sale and consumption o ...
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, William Harvey
Prohibition in the United States
Police brutality in the United States
American police officers killed in the line of duty
Place of birth missing
People from Seattle
Year of birth missing
1927 deaths
Crimes in Washington (state)