The Great Sweep: Jefferson County Goes Republican for the First Time
In a historic political shift for Washington Territory, the newly elected county officers in Port Townsend take office, marking the first time Jefferson County has been governed exclusively by Republicans.
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.
PORT TOWNSEND, Feb. 28.—Next Monday the newly elected county officers will enter on their respective duties, and for the first time in the history of Washington Territory, Jefferson county will be served exclusively by Republicans, that ticket having made a clean sweep last November.
The retiring officers are John P. Sheehan, who served three terms as sheriff; Charles Dyer, auditor; Wm. Dodd, treasurer; Wm. H. Whittlesey, probate judge, and N.J.H. Fortman, surveyor. Following is a list of the new officers, together with the amount of their bonds and the bondsmen:
Auditor, James Searey, bonds $3000; sureties, Henry Landes and Frank A. Bartlett. Treasurer, W. H. H. Learned; bonds $25,000; sureties F. Albert Bartlett, L.B. Hastings, I. Katz, W.M. Harried, H.K. Morgan and John Fitzpatrick. Sheriff, Richard Delanty; bonds [amount obscured]; sureties, Cyrus F. Clapp, Geo.W. Downs and H.L. Burkett. Assessor, Richard Delanty; bonds $1500; sureties, L.E. Hastings and Henry Landes. Deputy tax collector, Richard Delanty bonds, $1000; sureties, J.N. Lauback and J.J. Hunt. Superintendent of schools, Robert Ryan; bonds $1000; sureties, William Delanty and Samuel Hadlock. Probate judge, Oliver Wood; bonds $5000; sureties, Cyrus F. Clapp and Alfred A. Plummer. Coroner, J.S. Wykoff; bonds $1000; sureties, James Delgardno and H.C. Willson. Surveyor, Thomas M. Hammond, Jr.; bonds $1000; sureties, J.S. Latimer and D.M. Littlefield.
Mr. Ryan, school superintendent, and Mr. Wykoff, coroner, succeed themselves.
Owing to greatly increased real estate activity the auditor's office is rather fat with patronage, as it gives employment at present to five deputies. No doubt necessity will exist for double that number before the end of the year. Mr. Searey has not yet selected his deputies, or if he has they have not yet been publicly announced.
Treasurer-elect Learned has chosen his son, W.F. Learned, as deputy treasurer. Sheriff-elect Delanty has appointed W.J. Jones, the well known newspaper correspondent, as his deputy.
This report captures a pivotal moment in Washington's political maturation just before statehood (1889), where local power dynamics were shifting rapidly alongside the booming real estate market. The mention of 'greatly increased real estate activity' driving government hiring foreshadows the modern tension between civic bureaucracy and property development that still defines Puget Sound politics today.
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