The Mayor, the Commissioners and a City Hall Truce
Seattle's police board waits for Mayor Phelps to make his next move after a judge sides with Commissioners Cheasty and Niggle.
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.
There was a sort of truce yesterday in the police commission trouble, as Mayor Phelps attended the funeral services over the remains of his former friend, Levi F. Compton. Commissioners Cheasty and Niggle received congratulations from their friends over the outcome of the case in Judge Langley's court, but they are still waiting for the mayor to act, and the latter is expected to take further steps today or tomorrow.
"What are you going to do now?" asked a Post-Intelligencer reporter of Mr. Niggle.
"That depends on what the mayor does," was his reply.
"Will you resign if he asks you again?"
"I don't know about that."
"If the mayor files charges similar to those by which he tried to remove you, will you fight them in the investigation?"
"Most assuredly. Now I want to say here that I am a Republican and through this matter have said very little. I intend to remain in the Republican ranks, but if I am brought up on those charges I will fight them, because they do me a great injustice. Mr. Cheasty will do likewise."
Mr. Cheasty said he was not in a position where he could say that the mayor would be requested to call a meeting of the police commissioners. He was inclined to wait a short time to see what the mayor would do.
Mayor Phelps last night said he was not prepared to announce his course of action, but it is safe to say that he knows what he will do, and that the matter will come to a head within twenty-four hours. Some are under the impression that the Cheasty case will be appealed and that the charges will be filed against Commissioner Niggle. The mayor, however, has nothing to say on this point.
“"That depends on what the mayor does."”
The fight echoes modern Seattle arguments over who controls police oversight—mayors, independent commissioners, or the courts—and how easily a procedural truce can become the whole story. Then as now, the question was not just who held office but who got to set the rules.
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