A Night of Political Chaos in Ballard
A routine city council meeting in Ballard spirals into personal attacks, accusations of corruption, and a public name-calling match between council members.
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 meeting of the city council of Ballard on Tuesday night was a session of perpetual squalls and storms, continuing from 7:30 until midnight. The room was crowded with interested spectators, who eagerly listened to the charges and countercharges which were exchanged among the councilmen. The consideration of Charles Hadfield's report of the books of account of the city occupied the greater part of the evening. After hours of wrangling over treasurer's commissions and shortages, the tension peaked when Councilman Keane remarked that reflections of a serious nature had been made against his character. Keane said, 'I will try to be parliamentary by giving you a paraphrase of Bobby Burns' Auld Horner: The devil in his love for wigs / Took something to make a swindler / That was Auld Horner. / To cause the people sorrow / Wily he changed his plan / He made it something like a man / And called it V. F. Morrow.' Morrow, who was present, rose and yelled out, 'I charge John Keane with being a public swindler.' Keane retorted: 'Never mind, sir, I would not demean myself by holding a personal altercation with you.'
“I charge John Keane with being a public swindler.”
Ballard was an independent city before its annexation to Seattle in 1907. This report captures the raw, often unvarnished nature of municipal politics during the frontier era, where grievances were aired in public with colorful insults rather than professional decorum.
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