The Monkey, the Fireboat, and the Captain's Temper
A Seattle fireboat captain and a stoker face a city board investigation after a dispute involving an 'odious comparison' to a monkey.
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 fire department has a new trouble on its hands. A monkey, a pilot and a stoker combined to form one element of disturbance. On Chief Hunt's report, an investigation was ordered into the suspension of Connelly, a stoker on the fireboat, by Capt. McAllep for the use of abusive language to his superior officer. Connelly related that there was a monkey on the fireboat and McAllep said it was like Connelly's countrymen. He didn't quite understand it and McAllep repeated it, whereupon Connelly called McAllep a foul name. The stoker said he considered it an insult to himself and his countrymen. Mayor Ronald agreed it was improper and suggested 'settling the matter by killing the monkey.' The commissioners ordered the monkey 'entirely suspended.'
“The monkey will be running for chief next year, then.”
Workplace harassment and the casual use of ethnic slurs by management remain persistent themes in labor relations. While the commissioners' decision to 'suspend' the monkey is farcical, the underlying tension over how subordinates are treated by superiors on the public payroll mirrors modern debates about civic conduct in Seattle's government.
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