The Fire Department Pay-to-Play Scandal
Mayor J. T. Ronald suspends a fire commissioner over allegations of accepting bribes from a stoker seeking job security and appointment.
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 mayor and city council on one side and the board of fire commissioners on the other took an unexpected turn with the mayor’s suspension of Commissioner James Foster on the charge of accepting a bribe from Oswald Vitzthum for an appointment as stoker and assistant engineer. The mayor convened a joint session of the council for Friday night to try Foster. Vitzthum, a German-born engineer, alleged that Foster and Fire Chief Gardner Kellogg demanded money in exchange for employment in the department, describing a series of payments and loans totaling over $250. Commissioner Foster strongly denied the allegations, characterizing them as a setup by a 'Democratic gang' and threatening to sue for blackmail.
“The man does not live that dare tell me that I have on several occasions loaned Mr. Foster money and he has always paid me as he promised.”
This 1892 scandal mirrors the ongoing civic anxiety in Seattle regarding the 'who you know' nature of public appointments and the misuse of municipal influence. The tension between the mayor and the fire commissioners illustrates a foundational struggle in Seattle history: the fight to strip patronage and graft from public safety departments.
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