A Gunfighter Imported for a Seattle Primary
Sheriff Woolery and saloon-world fixer John Considine tried to seize a First Ward Republican primary—and brought a jailed gambler along to help.
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 opinion of Corporation Counsel Scott on the arrest of the election judges in the First ward—on which the mayor based his action in ordering Chief Rogers not to allow any other persons to take possession of the polling place—carries with it the conclusion that not only were no other persons authorized to act as judges, but that, even were the regularly appointed judges guilty of the charges on which they were arrested, their arrest while acting as such was illegal, and those who made the arrests are liable to punishment.
Mr. Scott based his opinion first on section 5, article 2, of the state constitution: “Voters shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at election, and in going and returning therefrom.”
The actions of Sheriff Woolery and John Considine, the Democratic ward heeler and dive keeper, in their unsuccessful attempt to capture the Republican primaries in the First ward were freely discussed yesterday. To most people it was a mystery how the sheriff could have acted in such a manner unless personal spite against Chief of Police Rogers caused him to lose his head entirely. Another unaccountable thing was that he should have joined hands with Considine and gone to the extremity of bringing Dave Black, the gambler, man-killer and bunko man, from the Tacoma jail to assist in the corruption of the election.
Few people know what Black is, but there is no question that Considine did. In 1885 Black killed a soldier at Kiowa, Kan., and lay in jail two years. He was also a member of “Hat” Masterson’s gun-fighting crowd with headquarters at Denver. It was Black who was arrested for robbing Jim Wilson’s faro bank at Colfax. The police have received information that leaves no doubt that this same Black is the man who tried to incapacitate Sergt. Willard by hitting him in the side with a heavy Colt’s revolver during the attack on the policemen Saturday afternoon at the South Third street voting booth. Black was out of sight yesterday, and will probably be gotten out of town by his friends as soon as possible.
Sheriff Woolery has said publicly that the charges against the judges of election will be pushed. Some think he is in earnest, while the majority think it is a joke. John Considine’s move against Chief Rogers and his policemen is spoken of as a Chicago politician’s trick.
“Another unaccountable thing was that he should have joined hands with John Considine and gone to the extremity of bringing Dave Black, the gambler, man-killer and bunko man, from the Tacoma jail to assist in the corruption of the election.”
In 1894 Seattle’s primaries were not quiet civic rituals but street-level power struggles, with saloon and gambling interests, county and city officers, and party factions all trying to control the polling place. The episode anticipates modern fights over election administration and who gets to certify a vote—though today the weapons are lawsuits and procedural challenges rather than a borrowed gunfighter.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.