The Mayor's Embarrassing Debt
Mayor Ronald finds himself in a legal and ethical bind after borrowing $1,500 from the city's disgraced, defaulting treasurer.
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 mayor of Seattle is in a dilemma. He borrowed $1,500 of Adolph Krug, the defaulting city treasurer, and now he finds himself beset with the puzzling question whether to pay the amount of the note to the city or to Krug's brother-in-law. Like the forty pieces of silver which Judas acquired, it burns his fingers. Mayor Ronald seems to be well-nigh crazy lest Krug escape from the St. Paul authorities and be not returned. Why this unusual anxiety? Does the mayor want to pay back the $1,500 he borrowed from Krug, or is he anxious to double the loan?
“Like the forty pieces of silver which Judas acquired, it burns his fingers.”
Personal financial entanglements between public officials and city coffers are a perennial scandal. This story highlights the intense, localized political infighting that defined Seattle's late 19th-century governance.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.