The Fevered Eve of the 1892 Election
Thousands crowd into Seattle’s armory for a final show of political might as Republicans and Democrats stage competing rallies on the eve of the presidential vote.
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 political stakes reached a fever pitch last night as the final efforts of a campaign, said by many to be the hottest in the history of Seattle, came to a close. Three such meetings were held last night. In fact, the Republican meeting at the Armory was so large it threw into the shade any gathering this city has on record. Fully 1,500 people assembled to hear the men who, not only in Seattle but the whole state, hold the hearts of the people. John L. McGraw was given a greeting which showed the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow townsmen. At the same time, smaller meetings were held by the Democrats in Pioneer Place and by the Populists in the second street triangle, but they were characterized by no such enthusiasm. Earlier in the evening, a group of about thirty University students, who had been marching the streets, attempted to march through the crowd at the Democratic platform. Some of the rougher element tried to close in on them and the crowd began to hit and brutally abuse them. A general struggle followed in which several men were knocked on the head and a number of the hats of the University boys were broken.
“The political stakes reached a fever pitch last night as the final efforts of a campaign, said by many to be the hottest in the history of Seattle, came to a close.”
This scene of partisan street brawls and massive, city-wide political rallies captures a Seattle undergoing rapid growth in 1892, just seven years after the anti-Chinese expulsion riots. The intensity of 1892 reminds us that Seattle has long been a city where civic arguments are settled in the streets as much as in the ballot box.
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