Sumner Mayor Faces Impeachment Over Stray Cattle
A local political feud in the town of Sumner lands before a grand jury as citizens debate the enforcement of ordinances and the limits of mayoral power.
Numerous political troubles of the little town of Sumner are being aired before the grand jury today, and fully fifteen citizens of the town were called before the inquisitorial body. One of the principal questions that is to be left for the jury to decide is whether Mayor R. R. White of Sumner should be impeached for not enforcing the estray ordinance. Another question concerns the ordinance referring water rights, and has to do with the right of the city administration to shut off a person's water if monthly payments are not kept up. 'It's just a question of political nastiness,' said one of the witnesses. 'There is a certain faction up in our town that is dead set against Mayor White; and so they have brought out these petty charges in the hope that they can get the grand jury to impeach him.'
“It is just a question of political nastiness.”
Local political skirmishes in small towns like Sumner often involve seemingly minor issues—like stray animals or water bills—that serve as proxies for deeper factional power struggles. This illustrates the intense, localized civic engagement that shaped early Washington municipalities.
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