The Mayor Takes an Unplanned Swim
Mayor Byron Phelps learned the hard way that log-rolling is best left to professionals after a fishing trip to Maple Valley went awry.
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.
Mayor Phelps is a great fisherman, and last Saturday he went to Maple Valley to try his luck in the Cedar river. Standing on a vibrating log at the head of a swift current, the mayor's footing slipped as the log submerged. Seattle's chief executive was promptly dunked in a deep pool. He retreated to a nearby house to dry off, but could only find mismatched, ill-fitting clothes—trousers meant for a boy and a coat for a man twice his size. To his further embarrassment, he had to greet a young lady at the door in his absurd attire.
“The mayor has not said anything about his mishap, but the story reached the city just the same.”
In an era before 24-hour news cycles and social media, the 'misadventures of the mayor' were a staple of local reporting. It serves as a reminder of how the personal lives of civic leaders were often treated as public comedy.
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