The 'Grafter' of Seattle
A man’s admission of his profession in court highlights the early Seattle obsession with the city’s burgeoning reputation for civic corruption.
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.
C. McCormick, an alleged bunco man, was arraigned before Judge Cann yesterday afternoon on a charge of vagrancy under the state law. McCormick acknowledged himself to be a 'grafter,' and he was placed under a $100 bond to keep the peace for three months. He could not give the bonds and was taken to the county jail. Attorney Glass, who represents McCormick, intends to bring the case to trial in the superior court.
“McCormick acknowledged himself to be a 'grafter,' and he was placed under a $100 bond.”
The word 'grafter' in 1899 Seattle carried a specific weight, referring to the predatory bunco artists and corrupt fixers that defined the city’s early, lawless frontier phase. Today, that same anxiety about 'graft' has merely shifted from street-level swindlers to the systemic influence of developers and deep-pocketed interests in the halls of City Hall.
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