The Failed 'Colony' Scheme to Rig the Ninth Ward
Local political operatives attempted to pack the Ninth Ward with manufactured voters by dangling sewer-digging jobs and boarding house deals, but the plan collapsed under the weight of its own incompetence.
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.
A pretty little scheme of Wrecker Wolfe and Kid Lane to colonize Fremont, with a view to carrying the Ninth ward for Alderman Stocks and the kid ticket, has fallen through. The plan was to get a number of men to move to Fremont and register there, the inducements offered being that they would be given work on the sewers in North Seattle and could get credit for their board at the Shorey house at Fremont. When men arrived, they found the prices for board were higher than standard, and the promise of work seemed like a trap. Shorey, the boarding house owner, became desperate as his rooms remained empty, even going downtown to drum up recruits. His over-eagerness tipped off the public, and the scheme became the talk of the city. Several men who had moved to Fremont lost their jobs and their housing, while the political organizers were left to figure out how to salvage their majority. They were forced to pivot to a small, reluctant group of men in Latona who were promised sewer work in exchange for their votes.
“Shorey began to grow anxious as the day wore on and boarders did not come in as rapidly as he had expected.”
Electioneering schemes involving the 'colonization' of neighborhoods to swing local council seats have a long history in Seattle. While today's battles focus on zoning and district identity, the core tension remains the same: the struggle between organized political machines and the residents they try to manipulate for temporary gain.
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