The Paper War: How Seattle’s ‘Public Thieves’ Exposed a Corrupt Ring

The Public Thieves.

The organ of the plunderers make a lame and impotent attempt at reply to our exposition of last week showing how the tax-payers were robbed for the benefit of that paper and the officials who are in collusion with it. It first endorses Mr. Bryan, one of its pals, 'as an upright man as ever there was in Seattle,' and then brings him forward with a certificate traversing our veracity in a matter in no way affecting the main issue, but simply showing that the fellow is as destitute of truth as of moral honesty, and which we can dispose of in brief.

He says: 'Beriah Brown states that he called on me to pay the Special School Tax, which I deny, and say that I called on him, when he paid the tax on the property assessed to him for 1872...'

The truth is, that we never saw this man in or about our premises, and never exchanged a word with him until we called upon him in the drug store of M. A. Kelly, in company with Major Warren, and offered to pay the taxes on block 14, in Edes Knight’s addition, and distinctly told him that the property belonged to Jean McHugh Brown. He received the taxes and gave us a receipt in our own name for the money, when we again told him that it was not our property; to which he replied that it made no difference, as the receipt covered the taxes on that property.

The only explanation which the Intelligencer offers for these swindling charges is as follows: 'We state that the rate of charges for such advertisements appears on our first page...'

Now every printer knows that this advertisement, set in nonpareil, the ordinary advertising type, would not have made over forty squares in that paper, which, according to the advertised rates, would have amounted to $160 for three publications; but the Intelligencer ordinarily charges, and we never charge, but one half these rates... whereas, the tax-payers are compelled to pay in the aggregate $525 for three weeks—a difference in amount sufficient to pay the first cost of every type used in the publication of that paper.

But this is only a smaller portion of the swindle. We understand that the Sheriff’s advertisement of sale for delinquent taxes, amounting to considerably more than this, was charged at the same rate... The aggregate amount charged for these two tax sales is certainly not less than $1,200, and the overcharge is at least $1,000, which is more than the value of the press and all the material used in the publication of that paper, all of which is a forced contribution from the pockets of the tax-payers by the connivance of corrupt officials, for the support of an unscrupulous paper in the interest of the ring.

Again, he says—'We would like very much to have Beriah... designate the men—and while doing so, give some evidence... which would tend in the least to affect the good standing, or official integrity of any official in King County.'

This is precisely our uniform practice. We have never assailed any man or set of men without distinctly specifying the men and showing the actual acts with which we charged them.

A certain man went down to Jericho and fell among thieves.' He has returned, somewhat demoralized and mortified by the contact, but not utterly degraded... Our readers who are acquainted with the circumstances need not be told that we allude to our respected fellow-townsman, W. W. Theobalds, Esq., who for some months past has been employed at Olympia in editing the organ of the Federal 'ring.'