The Seattle Election Telegrams: When Political Operatives Ran the Show
Leaked ciphers from 1892 reveal a scheme where out-of-town 'detectives' and thugs were imported to manipulate local elections and manufacture scandals.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The alliance between local political factions and outside agents made by the Post-Intelligencer yesterday carried consternation into the camp of candidate J. T. Ronald and his heelers. Efforts were made to deny the truth of these statements, but they were weak. Prior to the convention, M. Sullivan and J. C. Martin, his chief lieutenant, were in Seattle. Just before the convention, Sullivan returned to Portland, leaving Martin here to strike a deal. On February 22, Martin telegraphed Sullivan in a regular agency cipher: 'Will remain here until after convention tomorrow unless further work is obtained. Then I go to Tacoma.' On February 23, immediately after the convention, Martin telegraphed: 'Ronald nominated. Can't see him until tonight. Send funds tonight sure.' By February 25, Martin telegraphed that Ronald was 'favorable' to employing men, and they began arranging for 'thugs' to be sent up from Portland to stir the pot, specifically to create false reports of 'hobo' voters carrying fraudulent registration certificates to sway public opinion against political opponents. The Democratic orators had been telling the people that registration certificates had been found on hobos in Portland and Tacoma, but the telegrams prove these crises were manufactured in the Griffith Hotel to provide Ronald with campaign talking points. The voters of Seattle are now left to decide if they will permit these outside operatives to dictate the politics of their city.
“It is altogether probable that Mr. Ronald will now urge his friend to remain away until after the election. In the mean time the voters of Seattle will decide whether they will permit Sullivan and his thugs to boast that they control the politics of Seattle.”
This 1892 report on political 'dark arts' and the manufacturing of voter fraud narratives feels eerily familiar to modern headlines about coordinated disinformation campaigns. The struggle to keep local elections free from the influence of outside 'political entrepreneurs' and manufactured panic remains a central tension in Seattle civic life.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.