The Land Sharks of the Sound
A Seattle real estate firm is trapping local farmers in predatory contracts that cloud property titles for years, leaving settlers fighting for their deeds.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A great deal of disquiet has been caused among the farmers of Thurston and Lewis counties by the operations of I.M. Dunn Co., a Seattle real estate agency that has been obtaining a large number of contracts for the sale of farm land. The firm makes a specialty of securing contracts for long terms, effectively tying up the property so the owner cannot sell to anyone else without securing a release from Dunn Co. for a fee. Zeph G. Dunn, son of the firm's principal, travels through the countryside securing these signatures. In one instance, a farmer from Mossy Rock, Daniel Shaner, only recovered his papers after confronting Dunn with a revolver. Many farmers are now arming themselves with shotguns, and local papers have issued warnings against these 'land-grabbers' who aim to profit from the confusion of title ownership.
“I was refused, with a demand to pay $150 to get them released. I made a second demand, saying I would either have them peaceably or take them by force.”
This 1892 account of 'land sharks' using predatory contract law to extract fees from vulnerable property owners echoes modern concerns about predatory real estate practices and title encumbrances in a rapidly developing Seattle. The struggle between smallholders and large-scale speculative interests remains a central tension in the history of Washington property rights.
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