The Unwelcome Swarm
As Seattle prepares for a railroad boom in 1880, the Chief of Police struggles to contain a surge in vagrancy and arson.
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.
Hardly a day passes but what Chief of Police McGraw serves notice on one, two, or three hard cases to leave the city, and as a rule they go, but the swarm continues. Ever since the announcement of the sale of the railroad, and the prospects of lively times here, great numbers of this worthless class of floating population have arrived every week. Recently, several attempts have been made to fire certain portions of the town, and two or three attempts have been discovered by the police just in time to prevent a conflagration. There are now two policemen on duty at nights besides a special policeman paid by the businessmen. It will be necessary during the winter for these men to keep a most vigilant lookout in order to prevent destruction of life and property. Some have suggested the propriety of putting another good officer on for a few months in the southern part of town, as that is where the majority of the depredations are committed. Two regular night police are sufficient for the summer months, but during the present exigency we doubt if they are capable of doing the work to their own satisfaction.
“Ever since the announcement of the sale of the railroad, and the prospects of lively times here, great numbers of this worthless class of floating population have arrived every week.”
The 1880 fear of a 'floating population' descending on Seattle during a time of rapid infrastructure growth mirrors the recurring civic anxiety over displacement and public order during Seattle’s modern boom cycles. The language used by the Intelligencer highlights how the city has long grappled with the tension between wanting to be a 'lively' economic hub and responding to the marginalized groups that arrive in its wake.
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