The Changing of the Guard at the King County Courthouse

King County now has a straight-out Republican administration; the general change among county officers was arranged for at the several polling places last November, having taken place yesterday. The 'new' took out and the 'outs' went in so quietly that the change did not affect the transaction of current business in the least, and by the end of the week all the new officers will be thoroughly settled into their new positions. Ex-City Clerk W.R. Forrest found everything in apple-pie order in the auditor’s office when it was turned over to him at 11 o’clock yesterday. Auditor Wood and his deputies had been working day and night for the week previous to get the records entered, compared and indexed to date. During his administration, the business of the office has nearly trebled. From the first organization of the county to the time Mr. Wood became auditor, 41 books of deeds had been recorded. During the past two years, 31 large books have been filled with deeds. The papers of the commissioners' court during the past two years would stand 45 feet high if piled upon the floor; the documents filed by all the preceding boards would not occupy one-half this space. At the sheriff’s office, the pictures of Cleveland and Hendricks placed upon the walls by Bill Cochrane when he took possession of the office two years ago were turned face to the wall by Sheriff J.H. McGraw when he stepped into the office at 11 o'clock yesterday morning. The change in this office did not take long, and the retiring sheriff was not obliged to explain the manner of conducting the affairs of the office to his successor, who was also his predecessor.