The Republican 'Love-Feast' of 1889
Seattle Republicans held a rowdy banquet at the Turn Verein Hall to rally for statehood, denounce a federal marshal, and debate the future of the territory.
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.
The Harrison Legion devoted last evening to business, patriotism, and considerable mirth, the occasion being its first campaign banquet. The members assembled at the hall in the Opera House block for the business session. After some routine business was transacted, the legion unanimously adopted a resolution to send charges to Washington against the U.S. Marshal for Washington Territory, claiming he had failed to pay a debt for a poor widow and had neglected a domestic servant. President Andrews then led the procession to the banquet at the Turn Verein Hall. Ninety covers were laid, and after sandwiches and coffee, speeches began. Hon. W.C. Squire praised the legion's role in the last campaign and the importance of Seattle as a rallying point. Colonel J.C. Haines spoke of his time in New York, contrasting the 'stars and stripes' with the 'red bandana of slavery,' to the wild applause of the room. The speakers urged the election of Republican delegates to the constitutional convention, ensuring that the new state would have a Republican constitution. The night concluded with three cheers for President Andrews as the legion toasted to the future of the state.
“There were 10,000 Republicans in line... it was the stars and stripes—not the red bandana of slavery, the badge that no true man respects and every virtuous woman abhors.”
This 1889 political rally shows Seattle as a high-stakes battleground for partisan control, long before it became a reliably blue city. The energy surrounding the 'constitutional convention' mirrors modern civic debates over the power of local ordinances and regional political identity.
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