City Hall’s internal news letter, The Legis-Letter, has a column called “Who Knew!” where they dig up a City Hall controversy from the past. (Here’s a great one from 1957 when the City, fearing a teenage riot, shut down an Elvis Presley concert.)

This month’s installment, from 1912, is interesting. The mayor tried to shut down the Seattle Daily Times after anti-Socialist riots rocked the downtown core. Mayor Cotteril blamed the Times in part because he felt their “false” and “perverted” coverage of the Socialists had helped spark the drunken, thuggish right wing riots.

Cotteril told the police to prevent distribution of the paper for two days unless he approved the copy. However, Times publisher Alden Blethen quickly took the City to court and prevailed, maintaining the right to put out his family paper.