Fisticuffs and Rivalry: Fairhaven vs. Anacortes
A skirmish at the docks reveals the intense, sometimes violent, professional bitterness between neighboring boom towns competing for status.
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 Anacortes Progress contained a few days ago an article concerning Captain Bergman and Purser McClellan of the steamer Fairhaven, which was a disgrace to even that most reprehensible class of journalism. The paper mentioned spoke of those gentlemen as 'pirates,' and declared that they were engaged in hiring men to pass Anacortes for the purpose of taking them to 'a little town further down the sound called Fairhaven.' Yesterday morning, when the captain of the steamer Fairhaven had landed at Anacortes, a fellow of the place attempted to cut his bow-line with an axe and the captain gave him such a thrashing that the victim won't forget it until long after Anacortes is forgotten. The fellow's associates are angry about it and that is what's the matter with the back-action Progress.
“The idea of an affair like that being a rival of Fairhaven is just ridiculous enough to be hilariously funny.”
Inter-city rivalry remains a fixture of Washington life, though rarely does it manifest in bridge-side brawls today. The petty, defensive tone of the Fairhaven Herald offers a candid look at how fragile these 'boom' towns felt their reputation to be.
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