The Democratic Party's Rowdy King County Convention
A tumultuous, day-long convention in Seattle reveals a fractured party struggling for control over the gubernatorial nomination of James Hamilton Lewis.
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 Democratic county central committee set yesterday for its county convention. In pursuance of the call, 186 Democrats, a number of them unknown outside of their own wards and towns, gathered at Rallke’s hall at 10 o’clock in the morning. After half a day of tumult and disorder, running at times into riot, a ticket was nominated. Before the primaries, the friends of James Hamilton Lewis announced that not a man opposed to him for governor should be allowed in the convention. While this effort was partially successful, it was unfortunate that Lewis could find so few of the leading men of the party willing to wear his collar. If those assembled were the flower of his constituency, Mr. Lewis has no reason to be proud of the rank and file of his Falstaffian regiment. Daniel Kelleher, the chairman, struggled desperately for twelve mortal hours to quell the turbulent mob. At 4:10 this morning, the delegates are trying to choose a central committee; most of the country delegations have gone home, and the city delegates are having the swing.
“After half a day of tumult and disorder, running at times into riot, the ticket was nominated.”
Internal party power struggles over the 'electability' of candidates—and the tension between local activists and party bosses—remain a constant feature of Seattle’s political landscape. This 1892 convention report highlights the fragility of party unity when machine politics meet grassroots friction.
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