The Political Brawl in Yakima
A fiery editorial exchange exposes the political posturing of John L. Wilson and the partisan tensions of the era.
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 Ellensburg Register, a paper published by one Gulling—who is a most miserable scrub without respect at home or standing abroad—launches into a violent grade of abuse aimed at Hon. J.M. Adams and the editor of The Herald. The cause of this outbreak seems to be a recent editorial in this paper which showed up the inconsistencies of John L. Wilson, who is now indignantly posing as a rock-rimmed, copper-bottomed, yard-wide republican. The Register, in language which is as coarse as it is crude, proclaims that The Herald article contained false charges against Wilson. It does not state in what particular those assertions were made, and in the only instance when it does particularize, it says: 'We find that E. T. Wilson, present state senator from this county, circulated a petition among the members of the territorial legislature of 1888 asking that John L. Wilson be not re-appointed receiver of the Spokane land office and that he received a large number of signatures to the paper.' Now, why should E.T. Wilson (a republican) circulate a petition asking Grover Cleveland (a democrat) not to re-appoint John L. Wilson (now posing as an all-fired republican from way-back) receiver of the Spokane land office? Because E.T. Wilson knew, and knows now, as does every other republican and democrat that kept himself fairly posted, that John L. Wilson was hob-nobbing with the democrats; that he was in their councils; that he largely controlled local appointments through Delegate Voorhees, also a democrat; that he was an active supplicant for reappointment at the hands of the democratic president. The truth is the republican party and the state of Washington have sent a very small-calibered man to the national capital. Wilson is active enough and will answer to secure small mail routes, remove lone women from petty positions given them by Cleveland, or to hold and make a crowd laugh by his grimaces and dyspeptic gestures, but he never will represent the great state of Washington with that ability and dignity which commands respect.
“The truth is the republican party and the state of Washington have sent a very small-calibered man to the national capital.”
Political mudslinging and accusations of 'inconsistency' remain a fixture of Washington state politics. The specific fight over federal appointments shows how local influence was wielded long before Yakima became the modern hub it is today.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.