The 'Ram's Horn' Railroad Riot at Yesler Way
A morning of chaotic track-laying, derailed railcars, and a shouting match between the Mayor and a railroad giant over a contested franchise.
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 war between the city and the Oregon Improvement Company over the 'ram's horn' right-of-way broke out again yesterday. No blows were struck except at inanimate objects, but hard words were exchanged between Mayor Ronald and railroad officials. At 6:15 a.m., a gang of men under Assistant Superintendent McCabe started to extend the track along Railroad Avenue toward Yesler Way. They rushed the work, spiking rails directly to the planking. Mayor Ronald arrived, declared they lacked a city permit, and ordered them to stop. When the railroad company ran a passenger car over the new track, a crowd of 100 bystanders became hostile. Chief Jackson and police arrived, and the Mayor ordered the railroad crews to cease work. The standoff escalated when the company attempted to move an engine and three cars across the street. The city's street gang and the crowd intervened, derailing the rear car and tearing up the newly laid tracks. Superintendent Bush of the railroad eventually agreed to withdraw the train, but the incident ended with arrests and a vow from the company to test the city's authority in court.
“If such an action is permitted to go unpunished no man can be assured of his right to occupy his own property for his own personal use, if such use does not agree with the personal ideas and desires of the city officials.”
The 'ram's horn' dispute over railroad access to the waterfront mirrors contemporary tensions between the Port of Seattle, private rail interests, and the city's power to regulate transit infrastructure on public streets. The intersection of Yesler Way and Western Avenue, once the scene of this rail riot, remains a focal point for infrastructure and transit planning in the modern Pioneer Square district.
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