The Ticking Gas-Pipe Scandal
A fearful day in the Burke building as an office worker discovers a 'bomb' left by a disgruntled typist.
Albert Cookingham, private secretary to the General Manager of the Oregon Improvement Company, was terrified when he found a package on his desk that ticked like a clockwork bomb. Two days prior, he had received a letter signed by 'Miss Alice Steel, secretary of the Typewriters’ Union,' warning him against teaching shorthand to a messenger boy because he was not a union member. Adorned with a skull and crossbones, the package appeared to be a deadly threat. After Superintendent Corey of the coal mines refused to touch the device, a 'reckless daredevil' finally pulled out the wooden plugs, revealing the pipe was filled with nothing but yellow tallow. The 'bomb' was a prank that had caused a panic on the third floor of the Burke building.
“He heaved such a deep sigh of relief that Judge Burke, on the next floor above, thought there had been an earthquake.”
This 1893 labor anxiety over 'scab' labor and the use of technology—shorthand in this case—captures a moment where the fear of organized labor sabotage was high enough that a prank could effectively stop an office. It serves as a reminder of how deep industrial tensions ran in the Seattle of the 1890s.
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