The Riot-Scarred Streets of 1886
A critical look at the Seattle City Council’s tepid handling of the anti-Chinese riots, as the city struggles with the legacy of mob violence.
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 action taken by the City Council on Wednesday evening is a desultory one. It is worse than the most timid alarmist could have feared; it is far worse than could have been expected from the present council. With few, if any, exceptions, it is composed of men who openly sympathized with the outrages of February 7th, and the leaders of the old force who met to justify themselves on that day, and gave proof of their conduct in regard to this matter. Indeed, the new appointees are known to have no qualifications for the positions which they are to fill, and only one of them is at all qualified to be a guardian of the peace. Welch, the captain of the force for $100, and those who were found wanting in the trial of Sand and Pinckney, who was an active member of the old force, and Campbell, who was appointed to a police officer on the day of the riot, were equally culpable. There were those whose duty it was to reward men for the faithful performance of duty, but they have shown that rewards are distributed, not for the performance of duty, but for its neglect; not for worth, but for worthlessness.
“There were those whose duty it was to reward men for the faithful performance of duty, but they have shown that rewards are distributed, not for the performance of duty, but for its neglect.”
This editorial captures the aftermath of the 1886 anti-Chinese expulsion riots in Seattle, where the city’s power structure failed to hold complicit officials accountable. Much like contemporary debates regarding police accountability and systemic civic corruption, the newspaper highlights how institutional rot can turn a city’s leadership into protectors of a mob rather than the public.
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