The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-15
TROUBLE IN FIRST. WARD.
McArdle and Navin to Wage Bit
tor War, One on the Other.
FIGHT HAS ALREADY BEGUN.
lfcArdIe II Accused Of Being Untrue
to the Tenets Of PopuIism-sa1oon
Men Are Likely to Oppose Navin,
Who In Looked Upon a. u Quasi
Prohibitionist - Joe Livingston
and His Ambitions Are Factors.

Fusion politics in the First ward, never
notable for harmony. bids fair to reach
= warmth during the coming campaign
that may surpass anything ever Witness
ed In that ward, famous for its heated
political contests. Councilmen Thomas
Nayin and william McArdle are both out
for denomination, and each has a deter
mined faction lined up behind him. AL
ready the batteries of vituperation and
recrimination have opened fire, and. as
one expressed 1t. by the time the fusion
conventions meet the Intervention OF the
police may be necessary to preserve the
peace.
At present McArdle is councilman-at-
large. He was elected in 1896 for term
OF four years At that time he secured
the nomination because ne had the friend
ship OF Eugene Way. who, then as now,
carried his own party organization IN
that ward at least In his pocket. Navin,
Way and McArdle were fast friends dur
ing the memorable Jordan campaign. ana
Navin and McArdle were the only candf-
dates on the Jordan ticket elected.
Good Friends Quarreled.
Time passed, however, and McArdle and
way quarreled. It is doubtful II
they themselves can remember now
what the quarrel was about. but
II was bitter one, and soon
awoke fiery resentment in the hearts Of
the First ward Populsts. Every mem
Der of the party in the ward arrayed him.
self on one side or the other. Navin
sided with Way and forsook McArdle.
In 1898 Way and McArdle were both
candidates for the state senate. Way
won the nomination but was defeated at
the polls Since then he and Navin have
not hesitated to lay his defeat at Nc
Ardle's door, and their animosity toward
him has deepened in consequence
McArdle says he has no wish to be NOM
mated for councilman-at-large again. He
desires. he says, to submit the matter of
his quarrel with Way to the Populist vot-
ers of the ward and let them determine
in the party primaries whose cause may
be just Navin, backed by Way, Will
oppose him.
Each man has elements of strength that
the other will have to reckon with in the
primaries. The party workers, to great
extent, seem to be with Navin. Andy
Erisman, Louis Huney. Bruce Harden, Ben
Pincus and score CT others in the First
ward say they will support Navin.
On the other hand. the saloon men are
largely with McArd,e. Since Gene Way
Joined the ranks of the temperance re-
formers Navin has followed in his foot
steps to certain extent. and upon one
or two occasions has shown hostility to the
sdioOnS- IHlS WAS puTtlcuidliy nuticedpio
when the ordinance to exclude saloons
from First and Second avenues, which was
vetoed by the mayor, was before the coun-
Gil.
Navin was the leader on the floor of the
council in behalf of this measure. His old
time saloon friends in the First ward view
ed his actions with dismay. but all efforts
to d.ssuade him from his course were un-
awaiting. He persisted and the ordinance
was finally passed. Next to Navfn, his
best friend Gene Way, was the most ar
dent advocate of the ordinance in the city.
The result was that both of them aroused
the antagonism of the saloon men In the
ward where they live and have their po-
ltical being
saIoonmen Favor McArdle.
McArdle stood like rock for the saloon
interests, and fought the ordinance to the
bitter end. He runs saloon himself, and
the saloon men say that with him in the
council their interests will be safer than
with Nav!n.
Again. it is claimed that Navin did not
materially aid his chances of renomina-
ton, certainly not his prospects of re-elec-
ton, when he introduced his famous
''pop-gun" resolution to close gambling.
The gamblers say that he lent himself to
scheme of Andy Erismans to hold them
up, and that by virtue of Navin's action
they were forced to yield some points to
Erisman and the men whom he repre-
sents. The gamblers insinuate that they
will recognize Navin's influence while ne
is In the council, but will fake care that
he is not returned. McArdle. on the other
hand, is said to enjoy the friendship of
this element.
The Navin-Way faction charges that Nc
Ardle has been untrue to the tenets of
Populism. They have arrayed the single
takers against him, because they say he
Is not faithful to that creed. They as
sert that he is not warm in his support
of municipal ownership of street railways,
which. next to total abstinence and pro-
hibition. is the principal article of faith
in the Way-Navn creed. as it is ex-
pounded every week In Ways newspaper.
There is another element likely to be in
jected into the fight. Democracy hereto
fore has been a part OF the fusion alli-
ance, and that wing of the Democracy In
the First ward which draws inspiration
from Joe Livingston and Tom Kelly says
that the Democrats must have the privi-
lege. of nominating a candidate for the
council instead of the Populists. Living
ston makes no secret that he has am
billions In that direction himself.
Between Livingston and Gene Way
there Is bitter antipathy. Livingston
bolted Ways nomination for the state
senate last fall and fought him openly at
the polls. Now to rub salt in the wounds
he has inflicted upon his enemy he seeks
the nomination against Ways man Navin
1t Is hinted that in the next few weeks
n combination may be formed between
the Livingston faction of the De-
mocracy and McArdle and that a new man
will be agreed upon. This Is believed to
be not improbable consummation of the
trouble.
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS MEET