The Sewer Tunnel Brawl
A physical confrontation between a city commissioner and a foreman reveals deep-seated tensions over patronage, naturalization, and the hiring of a Canadian family for city work.
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 fight in the city hall between Street Commissioner Tim Ryan and James McNamara, foreman of the sewer tunnel, and its causes were the subject of discussion yesterday. The cause seems to be a charge that McNamara, while holding a responsible position for the city, is disqualified through not being naturalized. Matt Brannegan openly makes these charges and claims McNamara has been allowed to violate the contract labor law by bringing thirteen other members of his family from Canada to help him dig the tunnel. Brannegan stated: 'McNamara wanted to lick me, not Ryan, because I said he was not a citizen. There are fourteen McNamaras in Seattle now, all relatives, who came from Canada to work in the sewer tunnels, and the only man besides them who has worked in the tunnels is Charles Hawkey, an American. R. H. Thompson, the city engineer, hired this man McNamara, though they knew he was not a citizen, and therefore could not legally be employed under the charter.'
“McNamara wanted to lick me, not Ryan, because I said he was not a citizen.”
This 1893 labor dispute highlights the enduring civic tension regarding who has the right to access public-sector jobs and the protective sentiment surrounding 'local' labor, a debate that remains a cornerstone of Seattle's political discourse.
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