The Unlucky Clerk of Ballard
A city clerk-elect struggles to secure his required $5,000 bond after his sureties back out, reportedly due to his stance on the location of a new railway hub.
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.
City Clerk-elect Marsh, of Ballard, is having trouble in securing a bond that the city council will accept. At the regular meeting of the council Tuesday night, he submitted two bonds and neither was approved. He is required to furnish sureties in the sum of $5,000. His first bond had the names of Henry McCurry, Walter Manny, J. F. Piggs, H. B. Pederson, P. F. Morrow, K. F. Beck and Thomas Winsor, and filed January 17. Mr. Marsh and his attorney immediately after the rejection handed in a new bond with T. D. Hinckley, of Seattle, Messrs. Crawford, of Ross, and Murphy, Connor, Hesser, Piggs, Pederson and Thomas Winsor, of Ballard, as sureties. After the reading of the bond, a communication was read from Messrs. Murphy, Connor and Hesser withdrawing their names as bondsmen. No reason was assigned, but it is generally understood they withdrew on account of the position Mr. Marsh took in regard to the location of the Great Northern railway car shops. The bond was returned with a request for more sureties.
“No reason was assigned, but it is generally understood they withdrew on account of the position Mr. Marsh took in regard to the location of the Great Northern railway car shops.”
Local political fallout over transit infrastructure and development is a classic Seattle trope that continues to define our municipal landscape over 130 years later. Ballard's growing pains in 1893—from railway placement to basic city services—reflect the same civic friction seen in today's neighborhood upzoning and transit expansion debates.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.