A Cold Night at City Hall

Both houses of the Seattle city council met last evening, but the rooms were as cold as a barn and only a short session was held. In the board of aldermen every member but Compton wore an overcoat and still shivered. The council had met in special session on Saturday and cut off the man who kept the furnace going, so there was no heat. Alderman Daulton introduced a resolution, adopted, instructing the board of public works to see that the city hall was kept warm.

In the house of delegates the principal business was the filing of charges against J. H. Swyney, nominee for plumbing inspector. It was alleged that he was dishonest and had stolen material from a building. E. H. Fisher, architect, protested the appointment, claiming Swyney was not a proper person to hold so important an office and that he had stolen material and rendered false bills on the Boyd building; W. P. Boyd, proprietor of the building, was said to bear him out. Fisher also alleged similar conduct on a building in North Seattle. Delegate Hurd moved to lay the confirmation over for a week, saying he was surprised that a man accused of such a crime should be allowed at large when six courts were in operation every day. The confirmation was laid over for one week so the committee on sewers and drainage could investigate.

Morgan A. Baker, named last week by Mayor Phelps as fire commissioner to succeed James Welch, deceased, was confirmed; all voted in the affirmative except Hurd, who wanted another week.

A communication from the Fremont Milling Company refusing to comply with the recent ordinance requiring fire protection for Fremont was read and referred to the committee on fire and water.

A concurrent resolution introduced by President Crichton directed the commissioner of labor to issue notices to the Chamber of Commerce, trades unions and other labor organizations to discourage an influx of working men to this city on account of the building of the South canal, because of the large number already in the city without work. It passed.

The aldermen also referred to the finance committee City Comptroller Parry's correspondence over penalty and interest on delinquent city taxes, which the county was trying to keep. They passed ordinances licensing dogs, appropriating $17.50 for bicarbonate of soda for a chemical engine, authorizing a water main from West and Seneca streets to the docks, and instructing the ordinance committee to prepare an ordinance giving free water to vessels that made Seattle their home port. An ordinance authorized the mayor to expend $500 during April to purchase material to give employment to the needy. A petition from the receiver of the Lake Washington Cable Railway Company asked a three-year extension to lay double tracks on Yesler Avenue and Jackson Street; it was referred to the railroad committee.