The Walla Walla Rebellion
A small-town municipal election ends in a landslide defeat for incumbent councilmen who dared to enforce an ordinance against public roaming.
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 municipal election at Walla Walla, last Monday, was almost as complete a landslide as the election here. The Mayor, Marshal and three councilmen all stood for re-election, and all were beaten but the Marshal. The fight was over the enforcement of a cow ordinance. The Marshal was opposed to its enforcement; the others demanded it. The voters by large majorities said they did not want enforcement, and presumably cows will hereafter be free to roam at will. The new Mayor is Dr. J. M. Boyd, who got 781 votes to 710 for F. W. Paine. T. Robinson was elected Marshal by 447 to 401 for James B. Thompson. The new councilmen are J. W. Ketch, John Heard and L. H. Bowman, the defeated ones being William Giasford, Harry Winther and Thomas Quine.
“The voters by large majorities said they did not want enforcement, and presumably cows will hereafter be free to roam at will.”
While today’s Seattle debates cows in the streets for different reasons (often involving urban zoning or animal rights), this 1885 dispatch highlights a perennial Western tension: the conflict between municipal order and the freedom of rural life. It serves as a reminder that local politics, even down to the regulation of livestock, have long been the primary battleground for community identity in Washington.
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