Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-09-29
NO. 18O

| blVh
A letter from Driver O'Dell, of the
fire department TO the mayor was read,
in which he endeavored TO excuse his
carelessness in driving over hose by
saying that hose has been much in
lured by contractors without protest
from the council. BY suggestion of
the mayor committee of two, consist
ing of Mr.. Griffin and Mr. Aubrey,
was appointed to see that better care Is
taken of hose and other property of the
fire department.
Mayor Mckenzie called Mr.. Griffin
to the chair In order that he might him.
self read a personal communication to
the council and make few remarks
He then read the following:
FAIRHAvEN, Wash, Sept. 2sth, 1892.
Gentlemen Of the City Council Of Fair
AS your presiding officer It becomes my
duty to refer at this time TO the alleged
swindle, known as the Seventeenth street
sewer swindle. That deeply laid scheme
was concOcted to deiraud the city dare
not deny until good and substantial rea-
sons shall have been set forth, showing
| why the change OF the sewer from Six
teenth street TO Seventeenth street was
made.
At the same time | firmly believe
In the integrity of this council as q bodu,
and claim for IL the most unqualified ex-
oneration from every and all charges
| from every source whatsoever as To any
dishonest motives or intentions on the
| part OF the council as q body. At the
| same time no councilman Is TO be released
from this dilemma at the expense of the
| balance OF the cOuncilmen, COUncilman
| Aubrey, Of course, excepted, as he was no
party In any manner TO the transaction,
Gentlemen, this communication / con-
tlnue and conclude verbally.
Yours respectfully,
A. MCKENZIE.
Continuing, "as citizen, property
owner and taxpayer, as well as your
presiding officer" the mayor delivered
IA most unique and entertaining ad-
dress on the text furnished by an ed
itorial In the HERALD of the 2ith
inst, holding the mayor responsible for
much of the "perniciOus activity of
Councilman Kingdom. Following is
the substance of his hOnOr's remarks:
quite a text, gentlemen Of the
cOuncil-quite a text. / am not par
tial in my nature and am never going
| 10 practice at the bar of Dame Rumor.
] am not here 10 advocate Mr. King
horns cause, nor anybody's else,
but | must say that the activity he has
displayed has very often been very
seryiceable to this city. He has per-
| formed more work than any other
member. He has helped me very much
and has done good service for the city.
He may have appeared perniciously
active sometimes in refusing to sign
certain bills, and has often refused to
approve bills in which | have been
personally interested. But in that
there is certainly nothing TO his dis
credit / do not want To shield Mr..
Kingdom from any blame hat prop
erly belongs to him, but / must admit
that IL seems to me that a good
deal of his activity has been
IN the interest Of the city. Now, so far
as his position on the sewer committee
is concerned, / want TO repeat what /
said in "a communication to the HER
AID and which was published this
morning. II there il any blame for
the prominence which Mr.. Kinghorn
has had in sewer affairs it belongs to
| Mr.. Donovan and not to your mayor
Mr.. Donovan was elected principally
because Of his ability as an engineer
and knowledge Of sewer work, and
with the distinct understanding on the
part of his supporters that he would be
placed at the head of the sewer COM
mttee, if elected. In accordance with
that understanding he was made chair
man of the committee, but he neglected
his duties and in spite Of many protests
insisted upon Withdrawing from the
committee. Mr. Kinghorn being the
second member of the committee be-
came he first and therefore chairman
| by Mr.. DOnOvan's refusal to act.
"As To- the Seventeenth street swim
die, how is it that Mr.. Donovan gets
credit for this exposure? He voted for
| tha ab a "a from Eiytaanth - ,.1
| is therefore as deep in the mud as YOU
gentlemen are in the mire. He has no
| right to throw any reflection
upon the balance of this
cUuncil-none Whatever. Now
/ come to the swindle itself, and it GER
tainly seems clear that swindle was
attempted. The Sixteenth street esti-
mate had no business 10 be attached TO
the Seventeenth street report. II was
misleading. Anyone reading the re-
port would suppose that the expense
would be diminished instead Of in
creased by the change. cannot un-
derstand how Mr.. Kinghorn could so
impose upon the council and put them
in this embarrassing situation. II he
visited the place at all he must
have seen that the change advised
would be entirely unjustifiable. 1t
was an imposition upon the council and
upon me. Any school boy could tell
that such a change would not be adj
visable."
The mayor here read the following
from the Independent: Councilman
Kingdom, Of Fairhaven, Is reported as
saying in reference 10 the alleged sewer
job Now that they're 80 hot after me,
what are they going TO do about it?'"
Speaking directly TO Kingdom, his
honor, "in the name Of the citizens Of
Foirhaven" asked, "did you or did you
not use that language?" Kinghorn
tried TO evade the question by
asking Mr.. Strong, of the In
dependent, TO give his authority
for making the statement, which he Of
course refused TO do, whereupon King