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| Year | Stories |
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| 1859 | 1 |
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| 1892 | 4 |
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45 stories matching appointe
- State Commission Accused of Squandering Funds on Political Jobs
Legislative critics claim the Public Service Commission burned through an $80,000 budget without completing crucial utility valuation work.
- City Hall's Incompetent Board of Works
A critical letter exposes the lack of qualifications among the men overseeing Seattle's infrastructure, from water pipes to sewer systems.
- The Squatters of Port Angeles
A government land reservation intended for protection is caught in a web of bureaucratic delays, shifting administrations, and local political infighting.
- The Postmaster’s Patronage Problem: Civil Service Warns Port Townsend
Postmaster McNamara threatened to replace Port Townsend’s post office staff with loyal Democrats. The Civil Service Commission warned that patronage could cost him personally—and cited a Pennsylvania postmaster who paid $600 out of pocket.
- The Populist Takes the County Treasury
After a long bond fight, J. W. Maple finally took control of King County's money—and the temporary treasurer resigned rather than stand in the way.
- Pullman's President Came to Seattle With $18,000 Recovered
E. A. Bryan touted free tuition, new engineering courses and a faculty of fifteen—after the regents forced a former treasurer to hand over $17,000.
- The last of Lincoln's men in Olympia dies at eighty
Judge John G. Sparks — territorial auditor, justice of the peace, temperance worker and twenty-two-year Methodist — is carried to his grave by the bar and the Masons.
- The Mayor's Power to Fire: Seattle's Removed Police Commissioners Fight for Their Jobs
J. G. Niggle and E. G. Cheasty argue that Mayor Byron Phelps removed them without notice or hearing—and that the city charter requires cause, not whim.
- The Plot to Fire the Engineer Behind Seattle’s Sewer Tunnels
Democratic operatives wanted Reginald H. Thomson’s job for a patronage appointee. Mayor Ronald threatened to make them pay.
- The Warden Stole His Son’s Fiancée—Then Got Fired Over Eggs
A federal prison appointment at McNeil’s Island unearths a family romance gone wrong and an expense account full of phantom eggs.
- The Mugwump’s Ledger: How Seattle’s Territorial Secretary Gamed the Law Printing Contract
A fierce editorial exposes Secretary Owings for delaying the publication of territorial laws to favor a cronies’ printing bid, while padding the bill with 40 pages of his own party platform.
- The Judge Who Was Drunk on the Bench and Threatened to Fill a Man with Lead
A legislative committee in Olympia substantiates charges that Chehalis Judge W.W. Langhorne dismissed cases unread, threatened a man with a revolver, and traded court favors for political help.
- Newport's New Council Takes On Sunday Liquor—and the Saloon Back Door
At its first meeting, the council rejected a Union Street saloon license, ordered barroom windows stripped of frosted glass so police could see Sunday drinking, and barred interior doors that let patrons slip between saloon and building.
- ‘Rule or Ruin’: A Territorial Lawmaker Turns on Governor Stevens
Confined to his room with a cold, a member of the Washington Territorial Legislature answers his critics — defending his right to name the governor's unpopular appointees and accusing a ruling clique of trying to shut the rest of the territory up.
- The Rule That Told Workingmen to Keep Out of Politics
Everett's Labor Journal goes after Roosevelt's civil service order, arguing that machinists and mechanics in government shops are muzzled while partisan appointees run the machine — and quotes Grover Cleveland back at the administration to prove it.
- The Northern Pacific Offers Strikers a Last Chance—With Strings Attached
General Manager Kendrick says former employees can reapply after the Pullman strike, but only if they were not leaders or agitators—and they will rank behind the men hired to replace them.
- The Man Who Robbed Seattle's Fire Relief Fund Walked Out of Prison on Friday
Five years after the great fire of 1889 turned Seattle to ash, the secretary trusted to hand out relief money — an inspector who forged checks to invented men — finished his sentence and went free, his full take never known.
- Yakima Democrats Nominate Full Slate at 1892 County Convention
Party faithful gathered in North Yakima to pick candidates, adopt a platform, and vow to clean up state government.
- The Judge, the Revolver, and the Impeachment Petition
A former judge tells Olympia that Judge W. W. Langhorne drinks on the bench, bullies lawyers, and has threatened to shoot him — and asks the House to remove him.
- A Michigan Orator Packs the Armory and Rides Down the Populists
Roswell G. Horr brings the Republican gospel of protection and sound money to a standing-room crowd in Seattle — and turns the free-silver men in the hall into the evening's comedy act.