The Sheriff's Plot to Jail His Rivals Before the Convention
Seattle Republicans gathered at the Armory in 1894 amid rumors that Sheriff Woolery and John Considine planned to have First Ward leaders arrested before the county convention could organize.
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.
Commencing was the order of the day yesterday among the Republican delegates to the county convention, which begins at Armory Hall at 11 o'clock this morning, and was carried on in a most cordial and amicable spirit. It was generally remarked that the party in King County never before appeared to be so harmonious and enthusiastic. Will H. White had gained perceptibly in his contest for prosecuting attorney. There seemed to be no reasonable doubt that one ballot would suffice for the nomination respectively of Gordon for county clerk, Vande Venter for sheriff and Mitten for treasurer. Last evening the lobbies of the Occidental, the Butler and the Diller were crowded with delegates, the three hotels being headquarters respectively of Vande Venter, McKenzie and Bothell, candidates for sheriff.
The convention, made up of delegates, will be called to order at the Armory at 11 o'clock this morning by John Arthur, chairman of the county central committee.
As an outcome of the recent defeat of Sheriff Woolery and John Considine in their attempt to control Republican politics in the First Ward, rumors had been in circulation that they would try to recover lost ground by having all the Republican leaders in the First Ward arrested this morning when the convention opened, and thus leave the delegation in doubt as to what should be done. It was claimed that eight warrants had been sworn out by Harry Rogers, who also swore out the warrants for the judges of the primaries, based upon complaints prepared by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney McBride. Both the justice and Mr. McBride, however, denied in positive terms that the warrants had been issued or that complaints had been filed.
Justice Carson said: "I had heard the rumor about the warrants myself this morning and took the trouble to see Mr. McBride. He stated that it was his wish that I should not issue any warrant of a political nature unless the prosecuting attorney's office was consulted in the matter. I have not issued the warrants you speak about, and shall not, unless instructed to do so by the proper authorities."
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney McBride said: "No, and I do not intend to, at least until after the convention. The rumors that have been flying around about these warrants being out for the purpose of taking the First Ward Republicans out of the convention and depriving others of their liberty are without foundation. I would not lend myself to such a proceeding."
Notwithstanding that the report about the warrants being out turned out false, there was a belief that Sheriff Woolery and Considine had planned to carry the scheme into execution, but were scared out by the rumpus their actions on Saturday created. It was said in many quarters that the sheriff openly made a boast that he would take Pete Burns out of the convention, and that if the Martin Creek delegation did not vote right he would do the same by it.
“I would not lend myself to such a proceeding.”
The 1894 fight over who controlled Seattle's First Ward delegation turned on warrants, muscle and claims of party discipline—familiar machinery in any era when a faction tries to use the courts or police to decide an internal election. The alleged plan was never carried out, but the episode shows how thin the line could be between law enforcement and partisan advantage.
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