Hallowe'en Pranks and Portents in 1893 Seattle
Young revelers mark All Hallows' Eve by moving gates, tricking streetcar drivers, and testing their romantic fates.
The ghosts walked last night, for it was Hallowe'en. They lured curious damsels out into the graveyards with mirrors, in which the moonlight showed them the faces of their true loves. But the merriest part of the Hallowe'en observances was found in social gatherings indoors. The boys near the Western mill stuffed a dummy man and laid him across the track of the Fremont car line soon after dark. Car No. 8, run by Mike Conway, ran over him, and when Conway heard his imaginary bones crunched under the wheels, he stopped the car and jumped off in a great state of agitation to carry him gently to the patrol wagon. When he found no gore on the corpse, he changed his mind and said mean things about the fairies. The boys also greased the track on the hill at Fremont and danced a ghost dance when the cars would not run. A large number of mischievous boys who were celebrating Hallowe'en in the orthodox manner were given a good scare by Officer Sheehan. About forty of them had captured a butcher's cart and were hauling it up Pike street when the officer made a descent upon them.
“When he found no gore on the corpse, he changed his mind and said mean things about the fairies.”
Seattle’s tradition of Hallowe'en mischief—often involving property damage or public nuisance—predates the modern sanitized version of the holiday. The struggle between youth seeking thrills and city authorities (like Officer Sheehan) is a timeless Seattle civic cycle.
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