From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

This item on page 1 of the Jan. 17, 1907 issue of the Seattle Daily News caught my eye due to the use of the words “eccentric,” “peculiar,” and the mention of a $100,000 monument for a man and his dog:

CLAIMS TO BE CHOIR’S WIDOW

Latest Claimants for Estate of Dead Man Declare His Name Was Joseph Calentine

“That Melody Choir, alias Joseph Melchoir was really Joseph Calentine, and that he left a widow and a son residing in Wenatchee, Washington, who are his legal heirs, is the substance of a claim to the estate of the eccentric and wealthy Seattle man who died two weeks ago.”

“Through local attorneys George C. Calentine has petitioned the probate court to appoint a special administrator to the estate of Melody Choir, whose real name was Joseph Calentine. He further alleges that Mrs. Lucy Calentine of Wenatchee, is the widow of Melody Choir, having married him in the East, come West with him and then separated from him. She is said to possess a marriage certificate and other proofs of her claim.”

“The petition for a special administrator to take charge of the estate went on for hearing before Judge Albertson this afternoon. Rev. W.G. Jones, a friend of the dead man, who yesterday applied for the appointment, is satisfactory to the new claimants, Mrs. Calentine and her son.”

“If the special administrator is appointed it will be possible to search the personal effects of Melody Choir for proof of his relationship to the claimants for his money. The special administrator will have no right to carry out the will of the dead man, which provided that his $100,000 estate will be used to build a monument for himself and his dog.”

“The Melchoir family, which is represented in this city by an alleged brother of the deceased, has not yet entered a claim to the estate, but is expected to do so shortly.”

“The petition filed by Calentine does not take cognizance of the peculiar will left by Choir.”

The gentleman known as Melody Choir is yet another one of those great characters in Washington history who has yet to be fully discovered. According to information provided in the 1900 Census, he was born in Kentucky in March, 1850. Several sources indicate his previous name was Joseph H. Melchoir. It would appear he was among the youngest of his siblings. He surfaces in Seattle around the mid-1870s under the name of Melody Choir. His birth family probably lived in Canton, Ohio at this time.

Melchoir was one of the earliest compilers of a Seattle area city directory. His Choir’s Pioneer Directory of the City of
Seattle and King County, History, Business Directory, and Immigrant’s Guide to and Throughout Washington Territory and Vicinity was published in 1878 and contained a statement it was meant to be an annual publication, but apparently only this issue made it to print. The Washington State Library has a copy on microfilm. It is a fun read, which is not something you can normally say about city directories.

In addition to providing colorful local descriptions, Choir included a photograph of himself with the handwritten caption: “His Royal Impudence, M. Choir, as he daily appears out on the war-path of Professional Business.”

Also he gives the reader a full page advertisement of his services and wares, marketing everything from wooden shoes, marble work for cemeteries, real estate, sewing machines, etc.

And as frosting, we are treated to a long poem he created honoring Seattle. His name might’ve been Melody Choir, but there was nothing melodious about his poetry. An example:

In plenitude thy people live,
Regaled by health that’s wealth: so can attain
Blended this gift with their endowments
Ruling power in Mortal’s highest plane:
Here churches and clans, schools and the press, All tutors of the public mind, that governs
Thy people’s hopes and fears, rights and wrongs
Though one and all are clothed as sovereigns.

I vaguely remember adding a local note to the bibliographic record for his directory a few years ago (when I was WSL’s Head of Cataloging) and encountering this poem and the author’s unusual name. At the time my reaction was, “That’s not something you see every day.” Little did I know.

In city directories his occupation is listed as “book agent” in the 1880s, and “real estate” or “capitalist” in the 1890s. For a brief time at the end of the 19th century he amazingly held public office as a Seattle Park Commissioner.

How did Choir acquire his wealth? In volume 90 of the Central Law Journal (Jan.-June 1920) an attorney named Fred H. Peterson contributed an article entitled “Odd Wills and Peculiar Testators.” It turns out Mr. Peterson represented Choir in the 1890s on the losing end of a deed case that went to the State Supreme Court. Peterson didn’t have a lot of positive things to say about his client:

“For many years an eccentric character lived in Seattle, who called himself Melody Choir, his real name being Joseph H. Melchoir. Like many people, not insane, however, he tried to get something for nothing, which he sought to accomplish by acquiring tax titles to Seattle property. Some of the lots he purchased for less than $5 each, through the rapid growth of the city, in the course of thirty years, had increased to $5,000. At the time of his death than $120,000 … For years he lived in a dug-out, his only friend being a dog, as queer as his master.”

Melody Choir’s will apparently is something of a manifesto, as Peterson describes:

“Of course, he left a will. ‘For the benefit of posterity’ he listed mankind according to a scale of merits; some were designated as trustworthy, others as suspicious, and the remainder as ‘unhung scoundrels;’ his counsel and the appellate court attained to the ‘bad eminence’ of the last class.”

“Choir’s will is closely written in a bound book of 148 pages, ten inches by 18 inches. At the top and bottom of each page he wrote in red ink, ‘Witness my hand and seal–Melody Choir,’ followed by an elaborate seal, and dated October 20, 1900. The will was admitted to probate March 1, 1907. He writes of himself thus: ‘The incontrovertible facts in my case are these– there never was a better, all round individual ever set foot upon the regions of this broad State, than myself!’ He declares that in 1875 he read Blackstone, but detested attorneys, for he says: ‘I never liked lawyers as a class, and to keep away from them and steer clear of their inveigling schemes and grasping machinations– ever an active ingredient in their diabolical profession– has been my constant, lifelong effort.'”

“His egotism stood out ad nauseam; his egregious vanity caused him to provide that all his property should be spent for a mausoleum for himself and dog ‘Hoboe,’ [SW note: all other sources spell the dog’s name as “Hobo”] plans and specifications for which are completely shown in the will– it even shows a diagram of his teeth; his great virtues were to be engraven on the monument in ten languages. That no one might contest because of any marital relations, he declares: ‘I never was married or even engaged to be married. Nor ever gave to any female, old or young, married or single, maid or widow, white or any color, directly or indirectly, verbal or written, open or implied, any pledge, vow or promise of marriage whatsoever.'”

Choir died in Seattle on the last day of 1906.   Choir’s dog, Hobo, a black and white Newfoundland, was killed by a streetcar on May 26, 1906.

It took almost a full year to settle Choir’s estate. The Superior Court jury decided in favor of granting the now $200,000 estate to Choir’s mother, 89 year old Elizabeth Melchoir of Canton, Ohio, apparently rejecting the Calentine claim. There was a real Joseph Calentine, he was last recorded living with his family in Kansas in 1875, but according to Census records he was a carpenter who was Ohio born and at least six years older than Melody Choir.

Choir was buried in Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery, under considerably more modest circumstances than he dictated, and Hobo was not allowed to be buried with him.    Where and how Hobo’s body was preserved is a question yet to be answered.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

This week’s random article comes from the Jan. 5, 1901 issue of The Ballard News, published at a time when Ballard was an independent incorporated city. But the news itself is actually about Seattle, and the almost total destruction of the Seattle Public Library by fire on the evening where 1900 turned into 1901.

According to John Douglas Marshall’s book, Place of Learning, Place of Dreams (2004), SPL had struggled in the early years to find funding and a permanent home. On Jan. 12, 1899 the Library opened in the posh quarters of the Yesler mansion, and patron usage soared. But City Librarian Charles Wesley Smith expressed concern the enormous Victorian wooden structure was a fire hazard. The memories of Seattle’s great 1889 inferno were still fresh.

Smith’s fears were well founded. Practically the whole collection went up in smoke on the cusp of 1900/1901. Andrew Carnegie came to the rescue and in short order a fine new library was constructed. The cause of the fire was never fully explained. There was some feeling it was sparked by someone who wanted to force the issue of finding a secure home for SPL. One prominent Seattle educator even declared, “All glory to the man who applied the torch.”

This article was apparently originally published in the Seattle Mail and Herald. It is interesting how many of the points made in promoting the local library in 1901 remain valid over a century later:

 $35,000 WORTH OF BOOKS

 That Was Seattle’s Loss in Tuesday Night’s Fire

 “Ever since Seattle’s great fire the city has been learning to turn apparent evil into good and to make the most of her calamities. The same spirit which prompted her to rise up in the ashes of 1889 and build on new foundations the basis of a greater city than could ever have sprung from the old, will not desert her now, as she stands and looks in the ashes of what was, a few days since, the pride of every man, woman and child on Puget Sound,– the Seattle Public Library.”

“All are by this time acquainted with the fact that on New Year’s night the library, consisting of $35,000 worth of books and  paraphernalia, was destroyed by fire.”

“Until this calamity few people had known in just what an exalted position they held this institution; but the calamity has appealed more directly to the people than would the destruction of any other institution, public or private, in the city, with the possible exception of the University.”

“A public library such as this, is of incalculable value to any city in which it is located. A public library operated in such a satisfactory way as was this one is, we believe, of as much value to the city as the churches combined.”

“The Seattle Library had 8,200 patrons, and it may be safely calculated on the basis of five readers for every card– more than 40,000 readers.”

“It had an average of 2,500 visitors daily. The number going in and out of the library building on last Thanksgiving day, aggregated 3,000.”

“There is another fact– and it is important– that hundreds and even thousands of men and girls, who had not decent rooms or apartments, spent all their leisure time in the library. Now that the establishment is destroyed and temporarily inaccessible, they are seen walking listlessly about the streets or lounging in clubs or saloons– for they are out of a home. These, and the further fact that education and high ideals are the acknowledged solution to the problem of crime, are some of the reasons urged why the Seattle Public Library was of such vital importance to the city. Outside of all other argument there is the fact that no other city of Seattle’s size could afford to be without a well equipped complete library.”

“We desire to commend the Library committee of the city council upon their prompt and decisive action. It seems that they have no other thought in mind than that the city must at once proceed, not only to place the library back in even a better state than before, but more important than all else, to purchase a site, forthwith, and construct a fireproof library building that will answer for all time.”

“This is as it should be. Seattle is not a city of ephemeral hopes and iridescent booms. She is building for all time. Mr. Smith, the man who has conducted to such perfect satisfaction, the affairs of the City Library for so many years, has been working for two years past to this one end– a permanent library building for Seattle. The city can afford to take up the matter at once,– rather, it can not afford not to, and we are glad to be able to inform our readers that the committee will report to this effect to the city council.”

“The locations being considered as most desirable are, we are informed, the present site and the old University grounds. It is not known that either of these is available at reasonable figures, but they, together with others, are under contemplation of the committee.”

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The random reel for this week contained the following article from the Dec. 17, 1920 issue of the South Bend Journal:

 “COFFEE-O”, ONCE A RESIDENT, RETURNS AGAIN TO SOUTH BEND

 Had Troubled Career — Is Sure He Can Make Gold — Fears Government Will Stop Him — Has Improved His Coffee Substitute.

 “After over two years absence Albert Cornell, better known as ‘Coffee-O’ after a coffee substitute he invented, arrived in the city looking prosperous and more confident than ever that he had discovered the method of making gold by the combination of certain gases. It may be remembered that he came here first and opened a dyeing establishment and then left town and in about a year returned with a preparation in which peanuts and grains had a large part which made a very good substitute for coffee. It became locally popular and the local merchants pushed it. It bade fair to be a success but Cornell was more interested in making gold directly than in making it indirectly through profits on ‘Coffee-O.’ Then also the prices of the materials rose as the war progressed and the manufacture of the substitute was not so profitable. He carried on his experiments for making gold mostly at night and produced so much foul smelling smoke and so got on the nerves of his neighbors with his frequent explosions that the city authorities twice made him move and he finally made his last stand just outside the city limits in Alta Vista with the Hummel family.”

“As Cornell is an Austrian by birth and was not naturalized the impression became widespread that he was making bombs, or trying to, and then mysterious bundles were taken to his place by night and a German friend of his was caught coming from there with a gunny sack containing bottles and then there was a new theory that he was making moonshine when Cornell declares that all he was doing was giving his friend some medicine of his own concoction. Cornell was watched by the county and city authorities and he decided to leave town and go to Seattle, where he consulted the then District Attorney, Clay Allen, who advised him to go to Washington City. He went there not knowing that, as a citizen of an enemy country, like Austria, his presence in the District of Columbia was forbidden. Fortunately for him he reported at the Washington police station, showing that he was acting in good faith. He was promptly arrested and jailed but through the efforts of Congressman Johnson and Senator Chamberlain he was released and he returned to Puget Sound and located in Tacoma where he experimented with his ‘Coffee-O’ and later resumed his explosive attempts to make gold and he declares that he was never molested by his neighbors in Tacoma as their nerves were evidently not so easily jarred by violent eruptions and vile smelling smoke.”

 Afraid of Government

 “Cornell is just as positive as ever that he can make gold and declares that he is now awaiting an assayer’s report on some of his last batch of artificial ‘ore’ and that he has on hand a large quantity of the ore, or material which he has made from which he can easily extract gold. His only anxiety is that the government won’t let him make gold after he has demonstrated that he can make it cheaply, presumably because it will revolutionize the monetary system of the world because it is based on gold. He declares that other investors and discoverers have been discredited and hooted at before they made good on their discoveries and he says that he is in that class.”

Coffee-O Extract Good

 “Leaving his gold experiments aside he has really greatly improved his coffee substitute and has a good thing in that. He has interested Tacoma capital and it is being given a thorough trial. He now makes a liquid extract from the original ‘Coffee-O’ so that all that has to be done is to put a teaspoon of the extract into a cup of hot water and you have a very good coffee substitute. He says that he has changed his formula too somewhat and now makes four by products which will sell for enough to more than make the extract pure velvet. After making the extract he says that he can make from the residue ‘mapleine’ which is used to make an excellent imitation of maple sugar and syrup, a breakfast cereal and a salad oil, all of superior quality. He is apparently amply supplied with funds. He is here visiting the Hummel family.”

With the help of Robert Bailey’s North Pacific County Newspaper Index, 1889-1981 I was able to track down a bit more information on “Coffee-O” Cornell.

He was born Albert Kornelius, July 1, 1887 in the Bukovina region of the Austrian Empire to German parents. He arrived in the United States on Dec. 15, 1905 and within a short time unofficially changed his name to Albert Cornell. By 1910 he was living in Aberdeen, but then made his way to South Bend, where he set up a laboratory.

His “Coffee-O” product was patented in 1915 and apparently enjoyed some initial economic and critical success, buying him time to experiment with creating artificial gold.

But his activities frightened the neighbors. They complained about the toxic fumes, the noises, the explosions. Finally, in 1917, he was arrested and his operations shut down as a public nuisance. When he appeared before the City Council to argue his case, the debate became so heated one councilman invited Cornell to step outside where they could settle the matter with fists, but Coffee-O didn’t take the bait.

He lived in Tacoma throughout the 1920s. In Feb. 1928 he landed in the hospital as the result of a powerful explosion, a blast that destroyed his home and disfigured his person to some degree. He refused to divulge the purpose of his experiment.

Coffee-O Cornell appears in the Tacoma City Directory up to 1930 and then vanishes only to resurface in the 1940 census as a patient in Western State Hospital. He was an intriguing character who left us with a long trail of little mysteries.

Alfred M. Hubbard

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The Hubbard Coil sounded too good to be true. As it turned out there was a little secret component the inventor neglected to share with the press.

This week’s random article about the seemingly magical energy-producing device demonstrated by Alfred M. Hubbard was found in The Monroe Monitor, Sept. 17, 1920:

 MYSTERIOUS COIL PROVES SUCCESS

RUNS AUTOMOBILE ON EVERETT STREETS AND BOAT IN SEATTLE LAKE.

May Reach the Farm to Run Labor-Saving Machinery and Solve Ever-Present Labor Problem.

 “In consideration of the telephone, wireless, airplanes and other inventions the man who said ‘there ain’t no such animal,’ when he saw a giraffe should have passed on, but in the face of the claims of a new invention by Alfred M. Hubbard, a Seattle boy, engineers and scientists are reviving the ancient phrase and people generally are waiting to be convinced although willing, so willing, to have the invention develop into a fact.”

“What Hubbard claims to have is a coil that takes its power from the air and turns out an electric current that will run lights, motors, automobiles, stoves, anything where power is needed without money and without price once the coil is installed.”

“An ‘atmospheric power generator’ he calls it for want of a better name.”

No Light Bills

 “A coil it is, or a series of coils, a central coil surrounded by smaller coils and all wound to form a big coil. No moving parts, no noise, no battery, a little affair about eight or ten inches long. Hubbard connected it up to an ordinary electric light which immediately began to glow and continued to glow and would continue to glow indefinitely– Hubbard claimed.”

“The light demonstration was given last December in the office of one of the Seattle newspapers. Later Hubbard went to Washington, D.C., to arrange for getting a patent. Then he came back and retired into his laboratory to work out a larger coil and the problems of connecting it up to an automobile or a boat.”

“With no particular training for his work except that which every boy who has an inherent curiosity for mechanical things possesses, Hubbard has taken to the study of electricity and the hours that most boys spend in the swimming pool or at other kinds of pool he puts in working with batteries, motors, wireless and his coil. He says he felt that there was a great deal of electric power free in the atmosphere and set out to harness it. He does not think that he has discovered perpetual motion, he makes no such claim, but thinks he has succeeded in transforming the earth’s lines of magnetic force into electrical energy available for use.”
“One thing is certain, he has stumped all of the electrical engineers and scientists, none of whom have been able to offer any possible explanation for what he has done.”

Drives a Launch

 “A short time ago Hubbard invited some Seattle people out to the yacht club and took them for a ride in a launch. There was no engine in the launch, only a small motor. With him Hubbard took a coil, larger than the one he used for the light, but not so large that he couldn’t carry it with him. The coil was connected to the motor and the boat started out from the dock. Around the lake it went and then back to the club house. The people with him lifted the coil and looked at it. Then they started on a still hunt around the boat for storage batteries. Then they sat down and stared at each other.”

“Then Hubbard connected the coil to the motor again and the boat made another trip around the lake. The motor was evidently too small for the coil for the wires connecting the two got hot and to be disconnected occasionally and allowed to cool off.”

Hubbard with Coil

“After this Hubbard went up to Everett and put one of his coils in an automobile. The auto was a standard car with the engine left out and a motor, ordinary electric motor, in its place. The coil was small enough to go under the hood of the engine. The auto started off up a steep grade on a dirt road. It ran around the Everett streets. People stared and wondered. They are still wondering.”

“These things have been seen and done. What of the future? Will there be no more transmission lines running up and down the streets and country roads? Will all this legislation about power plant sites be for naught? Will each house have its own coil turning out its heat and light, running the sewing machine and vacuum cleaner and coffee percolator and churn and so on? Will large manufacturing establishments have large coils and no bills for coal or oil fuel and no pall of smoke coming in from their chimneys to burden the atmosphere?”

“Those are questions that are bothering the brains of those who have seen the coil work. What will be the price of copper if every one is trying to buy a coil at once? What about gasoline? Will John D. have a world organization on his hands for which he has no use? Will the coil bring cheap power to the farmer with running water pumped from the well to the barn and the house and for irrigation? Will it be cheaper to pump the rivers here and there than to build long irrigation ditches?”

Years later Hubbard confessed the true source of the energy for his coil. When another inventor produced a similar coil, the young scientist stepped forward and talked to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. This is quoted from the Feb. 26, 1928 issue:

“In 1919 Hubbard represented the apparatus as being capable of extracting electrical energy directly from the air, but he admitted yesterday that this had been merely a subterfuge to protect his patent rights, and that, as a matter of fact, it had been a device for extracting electrical energy from radium, by means of a series of transformers which stepped up the rays. “

“He declined to go into detail in regard to the exact manner in which he managed to extract power from radium …”

Basically, he produced a sort of nuclear power battery. To this day the exact material he used is not known.

Hubbard’s subsequent career was one wild ride through the shadows. He sold most of the patent rights of his coil to the Radium Chemical Company. In 1929 he took out a patent for radioactive spark plugs, which were actually available on the market from Firestone in the early 1940s.

Hubbard’s path led to running booze in Seattle, which landed him an 18-month prison term. His scientific skills caught the eye of the Office of Strategic Services, and he became a government agent. He somehow became involved with gun-running which attracted the attention of Congress. In order to escape prosecution, he cooled off in Vancouver, B.C. for a few years.

In Canada he created a charter boat service and was a director for a uranium corporation. He became a millionaire but grew bored. In 1951 he discovered LSD and then dubbed himself “The Johnny Appleseed of Acid.” As would be expected, Hubbard’s exact role with any U.S. or Canadian government project is difficult to verify after 1951. When the crazy spiral stopped he was broke and living in a trailer park in Casa Grande, Arizona, definitely not a situation for him that was too good to be true. He died there Aug. 31, 1982.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Pennsylvania-born Dr. Albert Henry Fehr appears to have arrived in the then independent city of Georgetown, Washington around 1908, at age 36. He specialized in horses, and even had a patent in 1899 on a toe-weight for equines. In 1906 he was a one-day national news sensation when he blew the whistle on a horse he was ordered to drug in order to fix a race in Memphis.

Georgetown had only been incorporated since 1904 when newcomer Dr. Fehr tossed his hat in the ring during the 1909 election after the original Mayor decided to retire from the office. Fehr placed third out of three candidates, gaining only a dozen votes.

This week’s grabbed at random reel of microfilm is from The Seattle Daily Times, Jan. 14, 1910. It describes the consequences of an unusual campaign promise made by Dr. Fehr:

 SOMEBODY LIED, NOW BURDEN OF SONG BY FEHR

 Georgetown Mayoralty Aspirant, Who Promised Dinner to Supporters, Gets 12 Votes but 137 Want Feed

ALL SAY THEY GAVE HIM THEIR BALLOTS

 Only Thing to Do, He Says, Is to Entertain Whole Town at Barbecue — Leases Long String of Sausages.

 “One hundred and thirty seven legal voters of Georgetown solemnly declare they cast their ballots for Dr. A.H. Fehr, candidate for the mayoralty nomination on the Citizen’s ticket at the recent primaries. The election clerks and judges as solemnly declare that the official count of the ballots gave Dr. Fehr exactly twelve votes. The ever-growing list of men who say they voted for Dr. Fehr is reaching such proportions that there is now an issue of veracity between the election boards and the remainder of Georgetown.”

 “Little attention would be given to the wide difference in the figures were it not for the campaign promise of Dr. Fehr that he would invite each man who voted for him to a dinner after election. Many promised to vote for him, but only eleven kept the pledge, and Dr. Fehr voted for himself.”

 “When the last vote was counted Dr. Fehr slapped his pocketbook in satisfaction and next morning started to round up the faithful eleven.”

 Number Keeps Increasing

 “The first day of his canvass he found twenty-six who swore they voted for him. Dr. Fehr scratched his head in amazement, asked each member of the election boards if they were honest, consulted City Attorney Charles Ennis about throwing out the whole election on account of fraud, and then decided to feed the twenty-six. That night Fehr’s telephone bell rang repeatedly and each time he answered it a voter promised to attend the banquet in accordance with the preelection arrangement.”

“By sunrise Fehr had a list of thirty-five who voted for him, and the next night his intended guests numbered fifty-three. Then Fehr began to stave off the banquet. He refused to be called a ‘quitter’ but he acknowledged that he was sparring for time. It was believed that an indefinite postponement of the banquet would discourage the remaining voters in Georgetown. The voters not only knew their game but were hungry.”

 Will Feed Whole Town

 “‘There is only one way to give that banquet and not slight anyone,’ said Dr. Fehr today, ‘and that is to feed the whole town. I thought the matter over last night and have decided to barbecue a big, fat hog and invite everybody to come. I have rented the old livery stable of Roy Wilson, now being fitted up for a Georgetown theatre, and as soon as the alterations are finished, I will give that banquet. I have taken options on a half barrel of sauerkraut, a half barrel of dill pickles, 150 loaves of bread, leased a strong of sausages that will reach from Frye-Bruhn’s to the city hall, and, with a 300-pound hog I believe I shall be able to feed all who voted for me.'”

“‘There also will be two or three barrels of coffee and tea. Just as soon as Wilson gets his new theatre ready I shall keep my election promise and feed everybody who voted for me.'”

June Peterson Robinson in her book, The Georgetown Story (2nd ed., 2000) picks up where the above story left off:

“A number of Georgetown residents could be classed as ‘characters’ but none captured the attention of the media more than Dr. A.H. Fehr during the spring of 1910.”

“The little dandy with the small mustache and close-cropped hair had been an unsuccessful mayoral candidate the previous fall, polling only twelve votes in the primaries. His public offer to buy dinner for the eleven persons who voted for him turned up twenty-six voters the first day and rose to one hundred thirty-seven by January. He advised the town fathers that he could either ask for a recount or charge election fraud, but decided to keep his election promise and feed the whole town.”

“The dinner would take place as soon as alterations changing Roy Wilson’s livery stable to a theater had taken place. The date was finally fixed for March 3, Fehr’s birthday, and was to be held out of doors– weather permitting. Hi Gill, Seattle mayor John Miller and the Seattle City Council, the Georgetown mayor and Council and all King County Veterinarians were invited to be special guests. The menu would include one barrel sauerkraut, one half barrel dill pickles, three gallons mustard, one bear, one veal, one mutton, one shoat, two dozen Belgian hares and wieners containing the meat of twelve animals (to correspond with the votes cast in the election). Paper plates and napkins would be used. Dr. Fehr announced that he was having iron forks made, twelve would bear the words ‘I did,’ the remainder would say ‘I didn’t.’ Those who picked ‘I did’ out of the basket would be considered the only honest men– the ones who really voted for Fehr. Unfortunately, the story of the end of the celebration has been lost. No account has been found of the actual event and what really happened.”

Although Dr. Fehr can be found in the Seattle directories for 1908-1910, he vanishes from that source 1911-1914. Interestingly, he does not appear in the 1912 Year Book of the Washington State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners as someone licensed to practice veterinary medicine in Washington State. He died in Seattle at age 41 on Jan. 12, 1914, two days shy of the 4th anniversary of The Seattle Daily Times article above.

As for Georgetown, it came to an end as an incorporated entity on Apr. 4, 1910, when it was annexed by Seattle.

JP Patches Statue 7/31/12

The recent death of local cultural icon J. P. Patches has reminded me of other children’s TV shows I watched devotedly in the 1960s.  Shari Lewis, Stan Boreson, Brakeman Bill, Captain Puget and Wunda Wunda were all entertaining and educational.

Wunda Wunda was the persona of Ruth Prins who was hired by Seattle’s KING-TV.  She wore a harlequin’s clown outfit (adorable) and told a story on every episode.  Back in the day, my mother was too busy with siblings and housework to take me to the local library.  But I had Wunda Wunda who told stories and showed illustrations on-the-air.  Later, we moved closer to a public library, and I knew all about libraries thanks to Wunda Wunda.

And Shari Lewis was much more than a puppeteer.  She wrote several books. I discovered them in the 1980s while I scoured the library shelves for cub scout activities.

Books that were read on these shows provided great reading fun for the children who watched them, many of them rushing to their local libraries to find the books.  History of Ruth Prin and her influence on the reading habits of young children can be found here http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9355.

Books and material on these wonderful shows can still be found in libraries today, including my own library here at WSH where some of Stan Boreson’s and Shari Lewis’s material can be found on the shelf. The Washington State Library also carries a DVD, J.P. Patches Show and book J.P. Patches, Northwest Icon by Chris Wedes.  Many people remember their childhood shows and the books that were read on them.

Jamie Ford

The “community read movement” started in 1998 in Seattle and has gained popularity across the United States. I’ve been intrigued by them for many years. And while I hear about them all the time, I’ve never heard of one taking place inside a prison. So, last summer, I decided to organize one for Coyote Ridge. And it wasn’t easy, but I did it.

The book I decided to use was Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It has been translated into over 30 different languages. The setting is Seattle, and the book was recently selected for a community read in Pierce County, Washington, which is where I managed to get 45 used copies of the book.

Now, for those who don’t know, a community read is different from a regular book group in three ways, 1) it is open to an entire community, 2) it includes supplementary social events related to themes in the book of choice, and 3) it usually includes a guest appearance by the author. At first, I was unsure about how I would achieve that third piece. Without any programming funds available, I wasn’t sure how to entice this successful author, who lives in Montana, to come all the way to Connell, which is miles from any major airport and not exactly a late-night excitement kind of town. Upon contacting his agent, however, I found that they were eager to work with me if we could figure out a way to cover Mr. Ford’s travel expenses. In the end, I was only able to bring Jamie Ford in as a guest speaker by teaming up with a Humanities group at Washington State University’s Tri-City campus, and by a donation from the Friends of the Washington State Library. Finally, after months of planning and negotiating, Mr. Ford spent the evening of Wednesday, March 22, talking to inmates, reading from his book, and answering an endless stream of questions.

In addition to the guest author event, the library at Coyote Ridge hosted a jazz music appreciation event and a historical slide show about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, featuring images from Densho and Library of Congress digital archives.

Breach of Duty: A J.P. Beaumont Mystery. By J.A. Jance. (New York: Avon Books, 1999. 384 p.)

Recommendation submitted by:
Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA.

This is mystery writer J.A. Jance’s 14th Seattle-based J.P. Beaumont police procedural. In it, Beaumont is investigating the arson murder of a woman whose death would not have been particularly noteworthy, if $300,000 had not been found hidden in an old refrigerator in her garage.

Meanwhile, a Native American woman, who happens to be a professor of physics at the University of Washington, shows up and warns Beaumont and his partner of a powerful curse. It seems that someone has stolen the bones of an important shaman and bad things start happening to those who handle them, as predicted.

Meantime the chief of police retires, and his replacement is a co-worker of Beaumont whose dislike for him is heartily reciprocated. Oh, and did I mention that Beaumont’s current partner, Sue Danielson by name, divorced mother of two, is worried because her deadbeat ex is coming to town?

Talk about a plot with lots of complications and disparate story lines! Jance weaves all of these lines together throughout various seedy locations of the greater Seattle area. For those who enjoy well-written – if slightly superficial – police-procedural style mysteries set in Seattle, J.A. Jance and J.P. Beaumont could easily become a habit!

ISBN: 0-380-97406-1

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 813.6 JANCE 1999.
Available in eReader, Braille, Large Type and Audiobook (Cassette, Digital Book) editions

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian

49 years ago, Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne district was abuzz with excitement.  Many locals were curious to what the futurist wonder of the Century 21 World Exposition – still in construction – would hold for them when it opened.  Others were skeptical of the prospects for success and debated the costs involved.  Seattle now prepares for the 5oth Anniversary of the Fair, and it feels like a good time to give a brief overview of its history and impact on the city, and to highlight a few things that might assist researchers preparing histories of the event.

The World’s Fair began as the desire and vision of one man in particular, city council member Al Rochester (1895-1989).  As a young boy he attended Seattle’s Alaska-Yukon–Pacific Exposition (AYPE) held in 1909 on the nascent University of Washington campus.  Recalling the civic pride and recognizing vast commercial potential in such a grand event, Al wanted to commemorate its 50^th anniversary with another Seattle exposition.

Though Al’s idea was slow to excite the imagination of potential boosters, it eventually caught hold.  The Washington State Legislature was approached with the concept.  On November 20, 1955 the legislature resolved that a World’s Fair Commission would be created and given $5000.  Then the City Council submitted a bond proposal of $7,500,000 was issued to the people of Seattle. The voting majority approved it 187,053 yea to 63,752 nay.  The State of Washington matched that bond with an additional $7,500,000 bond, funded by an increase in Corporations fees.  The fees were adjusted by the legislature after realizing that they were significantly below all other western states and had been left unadjusted since statehood in 1889!

Construction began on a 74-acre plot at the base of Queen Anne Hill that prior to white settlement was known to natives as Baba’kwob, a prairie used for tribal gatherings.  In the 1860’s the land was homesteaded by early pioneers David Denny and Louisa Boren Denny, but retained the nickname common amongst white settlers: “Potlatch Meadows.”  This swale between Queen Anne and Denny Hill was the site of many pioneer social events such as circuses and tent revivalist meetings.  Denny Hill is no longer a part of the landscape, having been obliterated in the regrade of 1910.  The site was also significant as the location where a shaman named Chaoosh came to warn Denny, and the other whites of Seattle, of a coming attack by Natives outraged at the increasing arrogance of the government and settlers towards the tribes of the region.  This attack is remembered as the original “Battle of Seattle”.

At the time of construction, the land contained homes, schools and churches that were razed to the ground; all except the school playfield, the enormous National Guard Armory and a Civic Auditorium that was notorious for its terrible acoustics.  Soon the playfield became the site of the Exposition Stadium and International Fountain, the armory became the Food Circus – now known as the Center House – and the auditorium transformed into an acoustically improved Opera House – renovated again in 2003 and reopened as McCaw Hall.

The Commission hired Paul Thiry, a renowned Pacific Northwest architect who also designed the Pritchard Library Building, as the chief architect of the site.  He designed the new Washington State Coliseum, known currently as Key Center.  Seattle born architect Minoru Yamasaki designed the United States Science Pavilion (currently the Pacific Science Center).  UW Professor, Architect and chronicler of Pike Place Market life Victor Steinbrueck, UW engineering professor Al Miller, artist Earle Duff, designer John Ridley, and design partner Nate Wilkinson made hotelier and commission member Edward E. Carlson’s dream of a floating restaurant that highlighted the beautiful vistas of the state a reality.  The tallest building west of the Mississippi River when it was built, the Space Needle is a testament to high concept and daring made reality and since April 21, 1999, a national landmark.

The fair opened at 11 a.m. on April 21, 1962.  The planners knew that they would not be able to open on the 50^th anniversary of the A-Y-P, but to be fair, that 1909 event was supposed to commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush to the Yukon, so it was oddly appropriate.  Another interesting connection is that this new center in a way realized a portion of civil engineer Virgil Bogue’s 1909 vision of a bustling civic center (albeit one more political than cultural) on almost the exact same spot.*

The forward-looking campus greeted nearly 10 million visitors who were treated to a broad array of diversions:

• Northwest quarter was the International Mall, representing select countries from across the globe, the Washington State Coliseum and its famous Bubbleator, a hydraulic elevator whose orb shaped transport refracted light prismatically and featured “space-age” music and narration.  Parts of the Bubbleator are now serving as exhibit pieces at MOHAI and another part at one point was the greenhouse of a Burien man who helped to build it.  A bit south of the coliseum was a dedicated NASA exhibition showing progress in the still furious race to space with the Soviet Union, the beautiful International Fountain that is still enjoyed today and the Fine Arts Pavillion that exhibited eight fantastic exhibitions – regional and international in scope – of upcoming and renowned artists.
• To the South of the Pavilion and Fountain were the Space Needle and the Friendship Mall that contained exhibits on the co-existence of faith and science and showcases for American industrial giants such as Ford Motor Company, Bell Systems, International Business Machines (IBM), General Electric and Standard Oil.
• In the Northeast quarter, was the Opera House and Stadium, Food Circus, plus amusements and rides in the carnival-like section known as The Gayway.  In the furthest northeast corner, there was Show Street.  Show Street was an adult themed entertainment district with Vegas showgirls, an adult puppet show put on by Sid and Marty Kroft and a famously shut down show of galactic-themed nude female models.  Despite the raised eyebrows and concerns that these risqué attractions would corrupt all adult attendees, the Fine Art Pavilion drew far more people and interest.

The World’s Fair was a badly needed boost to a city struggling since the growth experienced during World War Two, but it changed the city in so many ways.  The Space Needle redefined Seattle’s skyline, and the monorail transit system that the fair added still shuttles people between Downtown and Queen Anne to this day.

It Happened at the World’s Fair also paired Seattle with the Elvis the “Pelvis from Memphis” Presley.  Financially, the fair ended in the black, unlike many other World’s Fairs.  It is also interesting to note that other World’s Fair sites have failed to stick as landmarks within their host city.   Its power as a gathering place undiminished for centuries and the site, known as the Seattle Center since 1962,  is well-loved amongst the city’s people and continues to be developed in new ways to a meet the social needs of Seattleites and visitors worldwide.  The native peoples of this region have also found contemporary use for the space.  Local tribes returned to the Seattle Center in 1966 and 1986 to hold two major 20th Century Powwows.

The State Library has quite a few items of interest to Century 21 historians and enthusiasts.  Among those:

• 13 boxes of  World Fair Commission’s records and correspondence (MS 178), and collected by Mr. Ray Olsen, State Representative and Chairman of the Historical Committee for the State World’s Fair Commission.  This manuscript collection spans the years 1957-1963 and includes correspondence, minutes, the Commission’s organization, photographs, reports and committee assignments.  There’s lots of other fun stuff in this collection like the official souvenir program, magazines and newspaper clippings that cover the fair from construction to closing, stickers, and flyers.  Lastly it has a recording of a musical panorama for symphony orchestra titled, “The World of Century Twenty First” music by Alexander Laszlo; words by Wesley La Violette; narrated by Vincent Price and pressed as a vinyl record.  Hey, how hip is that?  Let’s hear it for vinyl records!
• A map of Seattle showing off the newly designated exposition grounds that, naturally, highlights some local spending opportunities (RARE MAP-1 912.7977 KING 1962?)
• A flyer for the gala opening concert, April 21, 1962, honoring famed Russian composer Igor Stravinsky on his 80th year and featuring the guest of honor as one of the evening’s conductors  (State Documents; WA 606 C33ga)
• Washington State Federation of Music Clubs’ brochure on Washington State composers, with a salute to the Seattle World’s Fair–Century 21 Exposition (RARE 780.9797 WASHING 1963)

Not mention Seattle Center and Century 21 Exposition clippings and pamphlet files and the ever-fabulous Washington Newspapers and Journals collections that cover this critical era of Puget Sound history.  Feel free to contact our staff via “Ask-a-Librarian” and ask about what else at the Washington State Library might be helpful or interesting to you.

Did you attend the Seattle World’s Fair?  Care to reminisce about your experience?  Please share your comments, we love a good story!

*Come to think of it, Bogue and his audacious plan could use a separate blog post.  Perhaps a bit more on that later.

As National Poetry Month draws to a close, we stumbled upon a quaint obituary poem in our Digital Collections. Annals of old Angeline : “Mika Yahoos delate klosch!,” was written by Bertha Piper Venen in 1903 to honor a beloved icon of early Seattle.

Princess Angeline, originally named Kikisoblu, was the eldest daughter of Chief Seattle.  She was also one of the few natives who stayed in Seattle after most relocated to the Port Madison Reservation in the mid-1800s.  Angeline worked as a laundress and basket weaver, and she was a dear friend to many early pioneers, including Henry Yesler and Doc and Catherine Maynard.

Venen’s poem recounts Angeline’s days living on the Seattle waterfront, peddling her wares to passers-by. The rambling narrative contains anecdotes about several of her prominent friends, and describes her grand, well-attended funeral. The poem itself might be a bit sentimental and simplistic for modern sensibilities, but be sure to flip through the pages to view some stellar photographs of  Seattle and its mid-19th century inhabitants.

If you’d like to see more evidence of Angeline’s celebrity (she was photographed by many of the city’s prominent photographers), take a look at the University of Washington’s Princess Angeline Photograph and Postcard Collection.

A brief, factual biography of Angeline and Chief Seattle can also be found here in our Digital Collections.