January 21 – January 30, 1891
The $500 Vote: How a Spokane Judge’s Bribery Plot Exposed Seattle’s Political Rot
Reports dated 1891 describe a 1903 Olympia bribery scandal and Rep. Metcalfe’s sting.
3 reports in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 21 – January 30, 1891.
The story
Three Seattle Post-Intelligencer items dated Jan. 21, 25, and 30, 1891, describe a Washington legislature bribery scandal that the first item places in the winter of 1903. One report says Rep. Metcalfe revealed he had been paid to vote for Judge Calkins, leading to an investigation of Olympia’s political elite; later reports describe Metcalfe as taking a bribe to expose senatorial corruption and turning it into evidence. The reports differ in emphasis, and the first gives a date inconsistent with the archive dates; they do not provide a fuller sequence of events.
Told from the 3 reports below. The reports are the record.
The archive grouped these reports automatically, by date, place and subject.
The reports 3
- The Seattle Post-IntelligencerThe $500 Vote: How a Spokane Judge’s Bribery Plot Exposed Seattle’s Political Rot
In the winter of 1903, Washington’s legislature was paralyzed by a scandal involving bribed senators and a desperate governor. When Representative Metcalfe revealed he was paid to vote for Judge Calkins, the resulting investigation tore through Olympia’s elite, revealing a web of corruption that threatened to define the state’s young democracy.
- The Seattle Post-IntelligencerThe Man Who Took the Bribe to Expose It
Representative Metcalfe’s daring sting operation against Senatorial corruption has turned him into a hero for reformers and a target for powerful enemies.
- The Seattle Post-IntelligencerThe Man Who Exposed the Bribe: Metcalfe’s Stand Against Olympia’s ‘Boodle’ Gang
In a rare display of moral courage in Washington's early political history, Representative Metcalfe turned a bribe into evidence, sparking a war with corruptionists that the paper defends as necessary for good government.
From the pages
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer · Jan 21, 1891
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer · Jan 25, 1891
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer · Jan 30, 1891
Library of Congress, Chronicling America. Public domain.