So, just in case you haven’t spent a lot of time in the Seattle of the late 1800s, I can tell you it was a very different city.
“Seattle was really established by conservative Midwesterners. They were Republicans for heaven's sake. But by the turn of the century, Seattle was really a wide open town. I mean it was rough and tumble. It had a disproportionate number of single guys. Now think about our industries. They were in the water and in the woods. And when the working season ended, or the working day ended, all those guys poured into the city, and that led to a very licentious ethic in the community.” – Leonard Garfield, executive director of Seattle's Museum of History and Industry.
But, Garfield says, pressure already was mounting on law enforcement to stop turning a blind eye.
Into this mix stepped a guy who lived for sticking it to the competition. His name was John Considine. In this story, Garfield talks about Considine’s competition with Wyatt Earp, the chief of police and a theater magnate, and how he always managed to come out on top.
