The Broadway Grade Grift
A contractor runs off without paying his workers, leaving the city in a bind over who gets the final payment.
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 City of Seattle finds itself in an awkward predicament with a sum of $2,000 due to a contractor named L. Liberman, and it went to the superior court yesterday to determine to whom the money should be paid. Liberman took the contract a year ago to grade Broadway and De Forrest streets, from Yesler Avenue to Oak street, and to build sidewalks on both sides. The price for the work was low, and Liberman failed to pay his laborers and material men, who thereupon filed liens upon the monies withheld by the city, which amount to $2,000. There are a large number of these claimants, and the complaint of the city says that the aggregate of their claims largely exceeds the amount due by the city to the contractor. Judge Langley is therefore asked to apportion this money among the claimants according to their respective rights.
“The price was low, and Liberman failed to pay his laborers and material men, who thereupon filed liens upon the monies withheld by the city.”
Public works projects in Seattle have long struggled with the precarious nature of labor payment. Even in 1893, workers were filing liens against city-held funds to recover wages from bankrupt or dishonest contractors, a persistent issue that mirrors the complex labor protections and wage theft battles in the city's modern construction industry.
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