The Political Reputation of John H. McGraw
Veteran leader Beriah Brown defends a future governor against allegations of ties to gambling dens.
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.
For many years Beriah Brown was one of the most active politicians in Seattle. He was an uncompromising Democrat who fought the Republicans incessantly. 'Although I am a Democrat,' he said yesterday, 'I have twice voted for John H. McGraw, and I shall vote for him for governor. I never heard a reputable man in either party intimate that McGraw had ever broken his trust.' Brown addressed rumors about McGraw's purported links to local gambling houses, noting that in the old days, gambling was done openly in most saloons. He insisted that McGraw was an honorable man who had been thoroughly investigated during his time as sheriff and found to be untainted by corruption.
“I have fought McGraw as a Republican; I fought what the Democrats called the old courthouse ring; I was elected mayor almost on that platform.”
This piece highlights the intense mudslinging of early Washington politics, where claims of 'gambling interests' were the equivalent of today's accusations of corporate influence or hidden agendas. It serves as a reminder that the tension between a city's growth and its moral regulation has been a central civic conflict in Seattle since its founding.
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