Seattle Gripped by Presidential Fever
When word arrived that Benjamin Harrison had been nominated, a massive crowd mobbed the downtown bulletin boards, culminating in a raucous political speech on the steps of the Postal Telegraph office.
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.
News from the Minneapolis convention was eagerly sought for in Seattle yesterday. Men were gathered about all the bulletin boards, discussing the situation and hotly cheering for their favorite candidates. In front of the Post-Intelligencer building, the Pacific Postal and the Western Union wires were displayed on the boards; there was a crowd all day, and when the balloting began in the afternoon the throng filled the whole street and blocked the sidewalks, so that a policeman had some difficulty in keeping a way open. The telegraph companies supplied the news with surprising rapidity, and the figures showed that when dispatches were filed not more than fifteen minutes on an average were occupied in bringing the news across half the continent. When the bulletin was put out, 'Harrison was nominated on the first ballot,' there was a call for Colonel Patrick Henry Winston, of Spokane, who was standing on the steps of the Postal telegraph office. In response to the shout of the crowd, Colonel Winston made a rousing speech, followed by rousing cheers for the ticket. The colonel said: 'A Republican convention, representing the heart of the American people, has nominated the President. This result is a triumph of the administration of justice. It was brought about by the common sense of the nation. It means victory. It is a guarantee to the nation of the supremacy of enlightened patriotism and progressive civilization.'
“When the bulletin was put out, 'Harrison was nominated on the first ballot,' there was a call for Colonel Patrick Henry Winston, of Spokane, who was standing on the steps of the Postal telegraph office.”
In 1892, citizens relied on physical bulletin boards and telegrams to receive breaking election news, creating a centralized, collective urban experience. Today, while we consume the same political news on our private devices, the downtown intersection of 1st and Cherry—once the site of this frenzied gathering—remains a center of civic life, though the 'telegraph office' and physical bulletin boards have long since vanished.
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