Post-Election Wheelbarrow Rides and Wharf-Side Pranks
Seattle workers settle political debts with public spectacles and humiliating bets after the 1892 election.
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.
Although the betting was not very lively in Seattle, there have been several odd bets made. One of these was paid Thursday. John Tod, boilermaker, and B. M. Nicholson, pattern maker, both working for Moran Bros. & Co., made a wager that if Harrison were elected, Tod should wheel Nicholson from Moran's foundry to his residence at 610 Fourth Street; if Cleveland were elected, Nicholson was to wheel Tod to the Everett house. Nicholson yesterday put on his Harrison hat, and when the foundry closed at 5 o'clock, Tod took his seat in the barrow and Nicholson bravely trundled him home, accompanied by a highly amused crowd. C. D. Richards and James Ritchie, both working at the foot of Yesler Avenue in the Yesler lumber yard, made a bet that if Harrison was elected, Ritchie should sleep in a box all night, but if Cleveland was elected, then a like penalty should be paid by Richards. As the Democrats were on top, Richards made preparations to carry out his part of the bargain. He spiked a big box to the wharf and repaired to the place with a bundle of hay. He had scarcely got inside before the Democratic opposition came along, locked him in, and proceeded to cart the box around. Knowing he was in for it, Richards took his medicine until the boys began rolling him over on the wharf, at which point he begged them not to stand him on his head any oftener than was necessary.
“He spoke his little piece, with the proper quantity of blanks and dashes, and begged the fellows not to stand him on his head any oftener than was absolutely necessary.”
Election day rituals have shifted from public humiliations at the foundry to digital polarization, but the civic 'rejoicing' of 1892 highlights how deeply personal and physical political loyalties were in a burgeoning Seattle. These industrial workers viewed their vote as a tribal identity worth literal public exposure.
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