The Councilman and the Telephone Promoter
A City Council member swears he was offered a massive bribe, but the accused parties are laughing it off—now the council must decide who is telling the truth.
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.
Somebody twisted the truth around backside foremost so that an untruth is plainly visible. Councilman Conrad not only says that he was offered a $12,500 bribe by Mortimer, the telephone promoter, but he swears to it. Mortimer says that he will swear back that Conrad wasn't offered a bribe of any kind. Conrad informed The Times that Hoenig and Wright had also admitted to him that they had been approached, the former with an offer by a go-between of two town lots and $250 cash and the latter, by Mortimer, with a stock present. And Hoenig and Wright, with voices pitched in a high, sarcastic key, declare to The Times that Conrad was dreaming things when he made such allegations. It will be the duty of the council investigating committee tonight to pluck half-strangled and suffocated truth out from under the garbage pile of mis-statements where it has been imprisoned by its assailants.
“It will be the duty of the council investigating committee tonight to pluck half-strangled and suffocated truth out from under the garbage pile of mis-statements.”
Local government corruption regarding public utility franchises was a constant theme in early 20th-century Tacoma. Today, concerns over municipal influence-peddling remain a core focus of civic watchdogs, albeit with more sophisticated lobbying and less public bribery-swearing.
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