The Great City Treasury Looting
As Seattle officials scramble to extradite a disgraced city treasurer, a deeper web of corruption, secret loans, and grand jury investigations emerges.
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.
Suspicion that interested parties are planning to delay or thwart Adolph Krug’s return to Seattle, which seems to be shared by Mayor Ronald, has prompted extreme precautions. To prevent collusion, the finance committee is examining witnesses under oath. The most pathetic incident of the Krug defalcation was the testimony of pioneer D. T. Denny, who admitted to borrowing $10,000 of city money through Krug, believing it to be the treasurer’s private funds. Similar accounts emerged from others who treated the city treasury as a private bank. Meanwhile, Mayor Ronald is coordinating with St. Paul authorities to ensure Krug is held under strict legal guard, fearing that well-funded accomplices might attempt a habeas corpus intervention to facilitate his escape. A grand jury has been summoned to conduct a formal inquisition into the looting of the city’s coffers.
“The suspense is worse than the reality.”
This 1893 scandal echoes modern concerns about public corruption and the commingling of public funds with private interest. Seattle’s historical struggle to manage its treasury transparency and political accountability remains a persistent civic theme.
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