Tacoma’s 1892 Election Was a Republican Rout—and a Democratic Feud

Herbert S. Huston was elected mayor of Tacoma yesterday. The rest of the Republican city ticket was elected, except Heilig for Comptroller. The council ticket is safely Republican. The Republicans made by far the best nominations on the city ticket, and a majority of the people sustained them, notwithstanding the fact that the cry of “ring,” “monopoly,” “corporation,” “high taxes,” etc., was rung on the ticket. The Democrats, it is conceded, made a great mistake in nominating Parker for mayor. “A little man, with elbows half akimbo, a red face, small eyes that unconsciously size up your financial condition whenever they rest upon you, gray chin whiskers ornamented with a rich brown trimming that meanders down from the corners of a puckered mouth which, when at rest, naturally assumes the position used in articulating the word ‘too,’ or ‘two’—per cent possibly—a plug hat of the style affected by the Bowery toughs, a voice which, when not saying ‘two per cent,’ is saying, ‘You press the button, I’ll do the rest. See?’”

The people pressed the button and Mr. Parker will take a rest from the exciting scenes of the last few days, so foreign to his nature. Tacoma is the leading Republican city of the state, and Pierce county can always be depended upon to roll up a good sized majority for the party of progress. The victory of yesterday was a severer blow to the democracy of that county than is generally known. Not long since Stephen O’Brien, a young lawyer not yet 27 years of age, who has been in Tacoma scarcely three years, and is a member of the state central Democratic committee from Pierce county, president of the central Democratic club of the county and chairman of the Democratic city committee, obtained possession of the machinery of his party and along with the Democratic organ of Tacoma—the News—began to play dulcet tunes for Steve and his wing of the party. In fact Steve’s wing turned down old Democratic stagers like Henry Drum, M. M. Taylor, Grattan H. Wheeler, George O. Kelly, Charles Catlin, George W. Van Fossen, W. D. E. Anderson, John A. Parker, B. Bertleson and others. At the last moment Steve and his heelers had arranged a programme to defeat Col. Chauncey Griggs as a delegate to the national convention and run the young and handsome Tammany editor of the News as a delegate to Chicago and also for congress in place of Tom Carroll. The most astonishing thing about this put-up job of the News wing of the party is the fact that O’Brien is not a citizen of the United States and cannot vote for president at the fall election. The precocious impudence of this young foreigner disgusted the better element of his party, and the Kilkenny cat fight across the Democratic clothes-line in Tacoma will grow hotter and hotter until fall, when there will be but little left of those political cats. In the meantime, the friends of the defeated candidate for mayor will doubtless tremble for his health. It is said that he was required to put up $1500 and that he bet $2600 on his election.

If this is true, it is quite probable that Mr. Parker’s nerves will be so unstrung that he will never be able to press another button. That is more money than he ever frittered away before in his life without getting 2 per cent a month on the investment, and it may be the means of undermining his strong constitution.

Tacoma is to be congratulated upon electing an able, young, progressive citizen at the head of its affairs and turning down a mossback who never drew a benevolent breath in his life.