| |
|
|
| Historylink |
|
|
|
On
February 23, 1873, Seattle Mayor Corliss P.
Stone embezzled $15,000 (more than $550,000
in present-day dollars) from his law firm
and left for San Francisco with a woman who
was married to another man. John T. Jordan,
Stone's predecessor, was appointed acting
mayor until a special election could be arranged.
Republican Moses R. Maddocks was elected to
fill the final two months of Stone's term.
Washington became the first state to ban the
sale of cigarettes to anyone, adults as well
as minors, on March 7, 1893. The law was struck
down in the federal courts the following July,
but Progressive reformers continued to agitate
against the "little white slaver," and the
State Legislature renewed the ban in 1907.
Two years later, the Legislature enacted an
even more sweeping prohibition, banning the
possession as well as the sale and manufacture
of cigarettes and cigarette paper. Union leader
and IWW organizer "Big Bill" Haywood was the
most famous violator of the new law. Seattle
legislator Josiah Collins led the campaign
for its repeal in 1911, arguing "When you
pass a law you know is going to be violated...
you are merely bringing all law into contempt."
During the early morning hours of March 1,
1910, near Stevens Pass, an avalanche roared
down the Cascade Mountains, taking with it
two Great Northern trains and claiming 96
lives. This was one of the worst train disasters
in U.S. history and the worst natural disaster
(with the greatest number of fatalities) in
Washington.
On February 27, 1932, the George Washington
Memorial Bridge was dedicated. The dedication
was originally scheduled for February 22,
1932, George Washington's 200th birthday,
but unfortunately the bridge was not finished
and the dedication had to be delayed a few
days. The bridge is nicknamed the Aurora Bridge
because it is part of Aurora Highway, which
in turn forms part of U.S. Highway 99, a north-south
thoroughfare that extends from Canada to Mexico.
The bridge is 2,945 feet long and 70 feet
wide, and stretches 167 feet above the water
of Lake Union, between Seattle's Fremont and
Queen Anne neighborhoods.
In defiance of state law, Native Americans
protested the denial of treaty rights by fishing
the Puyallup River on March 2, 1964. Inspired
by sit-ins of the civil rights movement, Actor
Marlon Brando, Episcopal clergyman John Yaryan
from San Francisco, and Puyallup tribal leader
Bob Satiacum caught salmon in the Puyallup
without state permits. The action was called
a fish-in and resulted in the arrest of Brando
and the clergyman. Satiacum was not arrested.
The Pierce County Prosecutor refused to file
charges, and Brando and Yaryan were released.
On February 24, 1986, the King County Council
passed Motion 6461, redesignating the namesake
of King County to commemorate the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader,
rather than William Rufus DeVane King, the
Vice President-elect for whom the county was
named in 1852. On February 25, 1987, at 10:09
a.m., a section of the Husky Stadium on the
University of Washington campus, which was
under construction, collapsed. It was a 215-foot
addition to the bleachers, which became, in
about 12 seconds, a 250-ton pile of twisted
steel.
On March 5, 2000, Jerry and Sally Sinnema
discovered a foul odor and foamy discoloration
in a stream on their Snoqualmie Valley dairy
farm near Ames Lake Creek in central King
County. They traced the contamination to an
avalanche of manure and other waste, measuring
at least 100 cubic yards (equaling 20 dump
truck loads), which had slid from an illegal
hilltop dump site into the stream.
|
|
|
