The Ousting of Captain Sims
A police captain claims he was purged from the department as a sacrificial lamb to appease the city's gambling interests.
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.
Captain F. E. Sims, recently deposed from the Seattle police force, met with reporters to detail the political warfare that led to his firing. Sims stated he was forced out of office by a man who was the beneficiary of a plot to decapitate an honorable man. He claims he was accused of being in consultation with ex-Chief of Police Bolton Rogers and was seen as a power behind the scenes when local gambling games were closed. Sims maintains he was an officer and nothing more, never dictating to Chief Jackson. He asserts the police commissioners, led by Acting Mayor Leander Miller, acted with predetermined bias to remove him, shielding his accusers and denying him an investigation. Sims plans to apply for admission to the bar tomorrow to pursue a career in law.
“The commissioners hoped I would resign. I could not do so conscientiously. My record is clear; I stand before the public as an honest man.”
This story highlights a classic Seattle struggle: the tension between political reformers, the city's vice economy, and the police department. The suspicion that a public servant was purged to 'appease' outside interests echoes the cyclical debates over police reform and municipal accountability that remain central to the city's civic discourse today.
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