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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 20 |
| 1892 | 11 |
31 stories matching murphi
- Murphy Forever: A Rival Editor Skewers Olympia's Perpetual Councilman
Days before the First Ward election, the Tribune turns its sarcasm on Councilman John Miller Murphy — newspaper editor, theater proprietor, professed temperance man, and, by this account, a fixture in the council chamber and at the bar he once voted to close.
- The Temperance Revival Sweeps Olympia
Francis Murphy, the famed temperance orator, packs the Methodist Church as residents line up to sign the pledge.
- The Newspaper Owner Who Disavowed His Own Editorial
Francis Murphy reads L.S.J. Hunt’s letter to a Seattle crowd, disowning the Post-Intelligencer’s anti-temperance editorial and sending $200 for the cause.
- The Paper War That Split Thurston County
A rival weekly, a political machine, and a defiant editor: Olympia’s Tribune accuses the Owings-Murphy ring of spending thousands to “down” it.
- John L. Sullivan Comes to Olympia, and the City Council Adjourns for the Show
The heavyweight champion and the Pacific Coast’s great theatrical manager packed the Olympia Theater, traded jokes about brick opera houses, and drew the mayor and nearly every councilman into the audience.
- Liquor Dealers Organize to Capture City Council
A slim meeting at Columbia Hall reveals a saloon-backed push to elect Murphy and Grainger, as the liquor interests try to regain control after last year's defeat.
- The council met in secret to dig itself out of the hole it dug
A closed-door caucus of Olympia's aldermen wrestles with the bond debt their own street work created — then adjourns for drinks, with the press locked out.
- The People’s Ticket: Olympia’s 1891 Caucus Revolt
A printed slate handed out at the door, a mayor booed as 'defeated,' and a second-ward protest meeting: the fight over who would control Olympia's city nominations.
- The Boss and the Franklin Street Fix
Olympia’s public-works fight spills into council: a contractor says the job is done, Boss Sickles says otherwise, and the city engineer is caught in the middle.
- Thirty Olympia Men Take the 'Gold Cure' for Drink
A reprint from the Shelton Journal reports that an enthusiastic Bichloride of Gold club has taken root in Olympia, with roughly thirty men said to have been 'turned out cured' of the drink habit by the Keeley system — and a suggestion that the town is ripe for a full Keeley Institute.
- The Saloon Men's Secret Caucus: Liquor Money Picks a City Ticket
On the eve of Olympia's municipal election, the liquor dealers meet behind closed doors at Columbia Hall and settle on their candidates for council — and the Tribune names names.
- The Candidate Who Wanted Cheap Labor
As Tacoma debated the anti-Chinese movement, a political rival accused Democratic mayoral candidate Alexander Parker of opposing it for a very practical reason: he wanted cheap labor.
- Olympia’s Streetcar Franchise Fight Heads for the Courthouse
A requested extension for the Westside railway sparks a council move to forfeit the Savage Main Street franchise, with a two-year court threat hanging over the city.
- The Editor Who Fled to Seattle: An Olympia Newspaper War Turns Personal
The Tribune accuses Col. Thomas Henderson Boyd and a 'political combination' of running a second-hand press to purge anybody — Republican or Democrat — who won't think their way, and gleefully reprints the Skagit Valley insult that called him a cowslip in trousers.
- Olympia Votes Out the Old Council — and Inherits a Financial Mess
A day after the city election, the Tribune calls on the lame-duck mayor and council to resign so the city can untangle a debt larger than the law allows — and demands streetcars, street work and honest handling of the public's money.
- The Mayor's Chair Is No Bed of Roses
Olympia's old city officers resign to clear a ballot-printing challenge, the new mayor takes the oath—and both incoming and outgoing officials warn that public service brings more abuse than thanks.
- Olympia's Ward Caucus Turns on Who Counts as a Citizen
A Second Ward meeting nominates C. H. Springer for council, but a delegate's citizenship and a sitting councilman's legal status throw the city ticket into question before the convention at Columbia Hall.
- A City on the Brink: Olympia’s 1891 Debt Crisis and the Fight Over Jobs
Facing a constitutional debt limit, Olympia’s city council considers firing the deputy clerk, assistant city attorney, and city engineer—while a motion to revoke the street railway franchise fails by a tie.
- Olympia's Election Scramble: A Mayor Bows Out, a Boss Bides His Time
With municipal elections set for December, Mayor Horr declines a second term while Councilman Sickels and other local figures jockey for influence—and talk of a west-side ward and Tumwater consolidation simmers.
- The Engineer Who Says Olympia Stiffed Him for Sewer Plans
A civil engineer hired to draft Olympia’s sewers says the city accepted his $700 bid, starved him of data, then canceled his contract and paid another man $1,500 for plans he calls a public nuisance.
- Olympia's Whole City Government Quit Rather Than Face the Voters Again
After a botched bond election sank the city in debt, the mayor and councilmen resigned en masse — and the Tribune says the incoming administration must come clean about the finances before asking for another dollar.
- Two Red Boxes on Wheels: Olympia's Sorry Excuse for a Streetcar Line
The street railway's president has told the council he can keep the city tied up in court for two years. The Tribune suggests the new council simply take his franchise away.
- Resign Now: The Tribune's Plan to Get Olympia Out of Debt Thirty Days Sooner
With the city paying $1,500 a month — $50 a day — in interest on its outstanding warrants, the editor demands that the outgoing mayor and three councilmen step down early so the incoming council can start refinancing immediately instead of waiting for January 12, 1892.
- Two Small Boys Run Away to Live in the Woods—With Muskets but No Ammunition
A pair of Olympia schoolboys declared independence and set up camp up the bay, but their lack of provisions and a father’s search brought them home.
- 'As Cold as a Barn': The Olympia Theater Fight That Spilled Into Print
When the Tribune panned the Olympia Theater, the rival Standard accused it of kicking without reason. The rebuttal names icy dressing rooms, one-dollar seats and a manager in over his head.