The Almshouse Controversy
While the court upholds the county commissioners' right to build an almshouse, accusations of fraud and poor construction against the architect and contractor remain unresolved.
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 superior court has sustained the demurrer to the complaint filed against the county commissioners in the almshouse case. It is generally admitted that the county needs a new almshouse, and needs it badly, as the present building is entirely inadequate and unhealthful. However, it was charged that the building was not being built according to the plans and specifications, and further that there was fraudulent collusion between the architect and the contractor. There has been no evidence as yet to show any corrupt motives on the part of the county commissioners, nor to show that they in any way participated in the profits of the conspiracy. But the evidence of such a conspiracy was so strong that the county commissioners should not have remained satisfied with the report of the grand jury. They should have proceeded at once to file a criminal information against the architect and contractor, or to hold a public investigation themselves. If the commissioners have been imposed upon, the only proper thing to do is to bring the offenders to justice.
“It is difficult to conceive, moreover, how the architects and contractors themselves can be content to rest under the stigma that now attaches to them if in fact they have been guilty of no wrong.”
Public works projects in late 19th-century Seattle were frequently mired in accusations of corruption and 'shoddy' construction, echoing modern frustrations with municipal contracting and oversight. The desire for a 'public investigation' to clear the air remains a staple of civic governance.
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