The Political Brawl for Olympia
A sordid, public feud between federal officials in Washington Territory spills into the press as appointments turn personal and properties are seized.
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.
Another many-sided muss I will give you an account of, without wishing to take a hand in it. The present Surveyor-General of Washington Territory is Dr. Henry, an old-time Whig politician of Springfield, Illinois. About the same time, B. F. Kendall, formerly of Maine, was appointed Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory. Scarcely had these distinguished gentlemen got warm in their official nests, before it began to appear that the Territory was not large enough to hold them both. Kendall, without tact, commenced overhauling the Reservations, and giving what he deemed unnecessary or unauthorized employees their resignations. In the course of this ungracious task, he very unceremoniously ousted Father Wilbur from the position of teacher at the Yakima Reservation. The Church took up his cause against Kendall, and Henry joined hands with them. Finally, Kendall went to the wall, and a Mr. Hale was appointed as his successor. Kendall, having lost his official head, now desires to see Henry's roll in the same basket. He has been ventilating Henry's private and official life in the columns of the local press, in language and terms more strong than polite. A. M. Poe, of the Overland Press, has sold out his privilege as Public Printer to B. F. Kendall, and Poe was compelled to give up the press and material of the Overland Press establishment to Mr. James Lodge, the former proprietor. Mr. Lodge turned the material over to Gen. W. W. Miller, and Gen. Miller sold the establishment to B. F. Kendall, who will probably continue the publication. A personal collision is expected between Kendall and Dr. Henry; provided Kendall has the pluck to stand fire.
“It promises to become a second edition of a scrimmage at a Kentucky militia muster, so indiscriminate that one can't tell his friend from his foe.”
Internal federal friction and the struggle for local media influence are as old as the territory itself. This 1862 account of a bureaucratic mud-slinging contest mirrors the way partisan infighting in Olympia continues to dictate local news coverage and civic control.
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