to his earlier job as a policeman. Meredith and Considine had slowly become enemies, and when Meredith became police chief he started an anti-vice campaign, which was really more of an anti-Considine campaign: he started to enforce laws against Considine's business, while leaving Considine's rivals alone. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer lashed Meredith for not coming down hard enough on vice. An ambitious politician named John Wilson started a Law and Order League charging Meredith and Mayor Thomas J. Humes with a variety of offenses. The Seattle Times squared off in defense of Meredith and Humes, but the real duel was between Meredith and Considine. When Considine brought forth evidence that Meredith was corrupt, the P-I "played this testimony for as much as it was worth, perhaps more." Matters escalated. Meredith accused Considine of an affair with Mamie Jenkins, a 17-year-old contortionist who performed at his theater, stating that she had become pregnant and that Meredith himself had paid for her abortion. This was almost certainly a slander: she appears to have ruptured herself while performing. By this time the People's did not even have any closed boxes, but Meredith tried to shut it down under an anti-box-house ordinance, while letting actual box houses continue to operate. The city council decided to believe reports that Meredith was corrupt and his resignation was forced. Protesting a "star chamber" investigation, Meredith resigned. While Considine consulted with his lawyers about further action against Meredith, Meredith got hold of a double-barrelled 12-gauge shotgun. The shootout On the morning of Tuesday, June 25, 1901, Considine dropped by Meredith's lawyer's to inform them that if Meredith would not retract the claim about Mamie Jenkins, he was ready to sue for libel. He and his brother Tom wandered down from their (and the lawyer's) First Hill neighborhood. He dropped by the courthouse hoping to sort out his business's legal problems; the prosecuting attorney was out. At the courthouse, a friend warned him that Meredith was after him, and advised him to arm himself. He went about his day—shooting some pool with his brother, dropping by the office to read his mail, deciding to knock off early because of a sore throat. Forewarned, he picked up a .38 revolver that normally remained at work. Meanwhile, Meredith had acquired a virtual arsenal: besides the shotgun (which he had wrapped in butcher paper), he was carrying a .32 Colt in a .45