The Pioneer Defense of John McGraw
Prominent Seattle figures and old neighbors rally to defend gubernatorial candidate John McGraw against smear campaigns claiming he once ran a gambling house.
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 attacks made on John H. McGraw by malicious enemies have stirred up the old pioneers and those who knew him in his earlier life. Henry L. Yesler, the 'father of Seattle,' was asked about rumors that Mr. McGraw once kept a gambling den in Seattle. 'Oh, fiddlesticks,' said the old gentleman. 'I owned the American House; I knew every room in it; I was in there almost daily. It is utterly impossible that there could have been a gambling room in that house without my knowing it.' Arthur A. Denny, the pioneer, also vouched for McGraw's character, as did Amos Brown, who noted that the stories were being circulated by a 'tin horn' gambler named Thorndike who lost a race to McGraw for chief of police years ago. Other pioneers shared stories of McGraw's childhood poverty and his integrity, including Edmond S. Meany, who recounted how McGraw once befriended him when he was a fatherless boy in need of help.
“It is a lie, a lie. I owned the house; I knew every room in it; I was in there almost daily. I say it is utterly impossible that there could have been a gambling room in that house without my knowing it.”
Political character assassination and the weaponizing of rumors about a candidate’s past are hallmarks of Seattle politics that have persisted for over a century. Just as early pioneers defended McGraw’s reputation in 1892, modern Seattle discourse remains hyper-focused on the personal histories and private character of those seeking civic office.
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