Liquor Dealers Organize to Capture City Council

The saloon men will not figure so prominently in tomorrow's election as of yore. They feel their power waning and in order to fortify themselves some of them propose to form a liquor dealers' association for their mutual protection, and for the purpose of working as a unit in the accomplishment of any one object they have in view. This, at any rate, was the intention on Saturday, when each person who held a license for the sale of spirituous or malt liquors was served with the following notice:

TO LIQUOR DEALERS: A meeting of the liquor dealers will be held at T. N. Ford's office, Columbia Hall, at 8 o'clock p.m. Saturday, December 5th. Important business is on hand and all are requested to be present. THE COMMITTEE.

But some of them were more discreet than others, and profited immensely by the result of their interference last year. At that time, with but one or two exceptions, they turned out in a body to defeat O'Brien for mayor, and worked teeth and toenail for Horr. In their zeal, however, they forgot about the city council, and paid but little attention to who was elected to that body, feeling confident enough that their interests would be guarded by their old stand-by, John Miller Murphy. Murphy, by the way, was for O'Brien, his colleague in the old council. And strange enough too, every member of the new council was an O'Brien man. Even Sickles, then a seemingly harmless, quiet, unassuming individual, had supported O'Brien. About all he did for the first month or two in council was to vote yes or no, taking the opinion of the majority as a guide. But he is changed now, as we all know.

To return to the subject. O'Brien's defeat was attributed to the united efforts of the saloon men, and the new council were not unmindful of it. They were in for reform and a good clean city government. There were Root, Ford, Sickels, Ward, Shannon and Murphy. Shannon was absent on that memorable first evening, when Root introduced his resolution for the strict enforcement of the Sunday law and the closing of all gambling dens. Murphy fell in line, turned his back on those who had elected him and voted for the resolution. That was the only thing which surprised the people, and was the first time in Olympia's history that Murphy was known to go back on the saloons. But they took him to task for it the next day, or, putting it in a more expressive phrase, "they jumped on him with both feet." At the next meeting, in the hopes of healing the strained relations with his brethren, he moved, in a tone that would have touched the heart of a sparrow, to reconsider the resolution, stating that it had been sprung upon the council on the impulse of the moment, and that he acted a little hastily. His tale of woe would not work, and since then he has been endeavoring to convince the saloon men that he is their friend. Some of them soured on him, however, and have continued sour since.

It was this condition of affairs that was accountable for the slim attendance at T. N. Ford's office on Saturday evening, only H. Hadlan, R. M. Tozier, Charles Colton, Phillip Hiltz, E. T. Young, Fritz Arnold, X. Hosneider, Pat Dolan, Joe Sanford and Robert Foran being present. The others had determined to have nothing to do with it. One gentleman, who was among the absentees, said: "If those fellows know when they are well off, they'll keep out of this. They are divided against themselves anyhow, and ought to profit by last year. We have no such power now as under the old system of voting. Why, it used to be that we could control from forty-five to fifty votes whenever they were needed. For instance, on Friday, 125 loggers came to the city. Under the present system, they can't vote, because they are not registered; but I have seen the time when I could run half of them in." The speaker continued to denounce his brethren in rather emphatic terms.

Several of those who attended the meeting refused to divulge any of the business, but one of the number was more talkative. He said: "Some of the saloon men thought we were going to meet in Mr. Ford's office for political purposes, but I tried to convince them that that was not so; our one object being to combine for our mutual benefit. We attempted to elect officers for the evening, but each man declined, and so we went into a general discussion on politics. This year we will let the mayor take care of himself and will look more closely to the council. We want Grainger for councilman-at-large and Murphy from the First ward. These two we endorsed at the meeting and will work for them with all our might. Then, with Sickels and Phipps, that will give us four men, which is a majority, and our interests will be protected in the council.

"Before we came together we decided to have nothing to do whatever with the fight for city treasurer. Of course, between the three men, we would prefer to see Glover, but we don't care so much about who gets it, as we do about defeating Chilberg. In fact, we prefer to have Glover out of it altogether, as he will only cut up the vote with Henderson so that Chilberg will be elected. It is just as Phil Hiltz said at the meeting: 'What we want is the town board.' We've nothing to do with the treasurer except to defeat Chilberg."

Hiltz acted as chairman of the meeting, although he protested that he was no longer in the business. After a general discussion he said: "Now we want Murphy and Grainger. All what favors dem, say yes, and what's agin dem, say no." There was a unanimous response in the affirmative, and adjournment followed.