The Political Immolation of C.G. Heifner
When an out-of-town appointee snatched a local land office position, a Seattle official was burned in effigy by angry crowds in Skagit County.
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 wrath of the Democratic workers over the appointment of Capt. W.D. O'Toole of Skagit County to be register of the Seattle land office remains unabated. The people of Mount Vernon held a demonstration, and Capt. O'Toole’s critics were treated with open hostility. C.G. Heifner, secretary of the Seattle Board of Public Works, had denounced O'Toole, leading the crowd in Mount Vernon to burn him in effigy. A life-size dummy labeled 'Heifner, the Iscariot' and 'Heifner, the traducer' was hoisted over a bonfire. Heifner remained defiant, stating that every Democrat who supported a non-King County man for the office was a traitor to his party.
“A life-size dummy labeled 'Heifner, the Iscariot' and 'Heifner, the traducer' was hoisted over the big bonfire and devoured by the angry flames.”
This display of intense regional resentment over federal appointments highlights the historic friction between Seattle’s growing civic identity and the influence of outlying counties. It echoes modern frustrations when local political control feels secondary to state or federal patronage.
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