A Threat at the Newsroom
After the Press-Times demanded an investigation into those who profited from the city treasury scandal, one of the implicated businessmen stormed the office with a threat of violence.
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.
Fred E. Sander, one of the proprietors of the Telegraph, grew enraged by an editorial in the Press-Times demanding the prosecution of those who received embezzled city funds. Sander entered the business office of the paper in a state of excitement, threatening to shoot the editor, Erastus Brainerd, on sight. He told the clerk he would use a forty-four caliber gun and that he was a 'dead shot,' asserting that his dealings with the fugitive treasurer were merely standard banking deposits. The incident illustrates the volatility surrounding the investigation into the city's looted coffers.
“It won't be a twenty-two-caliber, but I'll use a forty-four, and I'm a dead shot, too, let me tell you!”
Threats against journalists for investigating corruption have a long, grim history in Seattle. This encounter highlights the high stakes of the 1893 scandal, where the line between business, local journalism, and criminal activity was paper-thin.
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