The Sleeping Fireman and the Rat-Trap Defense
Two city firemen faced an investigation after one was caught sleeping on duty and the other admitted to abandoning his post to hunt rodents.
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.
Fire Commissioners Jones and Masel, the committee appointed to investigate the charges against A. R. Kisley and Charles Spinharney, met at fire headquarters last night and listened to the stories of the accused. Kisley admitted that he was asleep on duty, but offered no other excuse than that he was too sleepy to keep awake. Spinharney allowed that he was away when the alarm came in, but stated that he had gone after meat to bait a rat trap. The committee will report next Friday night. It is understood that the previous good record of each fireman will be considered in his favor.
“Spinharney allowed that he was away when the alarm came in, but stated that he had gone after meat to bait a rat trap.”
Public sector accountability remains a perennial civic debate in Seattle, though today’s disciplinary hearings are rarely as whimsical as the 'rat-trap' defense of 1893. While the city has professionalized significantly, the tension between employee conduct and administrative leniency echoes the debates happening in modern City Hall.
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