Tacoma Assessor Fires Deputy With a Yard-Long Wooden Knife
After Joe Egermeyer opposed his boss's nomination, County Assessor Doherty staged a mock execution with a butcher knife.
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.
Yesterday in the Democratic county convention Joe Egermeyer, a prominent Democrat and assistant county assessor, opposed the nomination of his superior, County Assessor Doherty. Today Doherty, with careful attention to dramatic details, summoned Egermeyer before him, and carefully brushing aside his long back whiskers, which are parted in the middle, he produced a wooden butcher knife a yard long, and drew it across his assistant's neck, announcing officially as he did so that Egermeyer was 'off' as assistant. Egermeyer was ousted from the assessor's office. He was formerly employed in the postoffice, and is a Tillicum.
“He produced a wooden butcher knife a yard long, and drew it across his assistant's neck, announcing officially as he did so that Egermeyer was 'off' as assistant.”
Political firings are rarely this theatrical, but the 1894 episode captures a timeless truth: when loyalty and patronage collide, the boss's grip on the office is personal. The wooden knife is a reminder that public employment was once a blood sport — minus the blood.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.