The Dramatic Downfall of a Seattle Speculator
After allegedly staging a robbery to cover his mounting financial failures, a prominent political figure and businessman took his own life in his Seattle offices.
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.
William P. Canady, of North Carolina, ex-sergeant-at-arms of the Senate, committed suicide here this morning by shooting himself through the head. He had been in financial difficulties for some time. Canady occupied rooms at 712 and 714 Kent street (modern location near Pioneer Square area) as lodgings and office quarters, where, in partnership with Capt. J. Q. A. Houghton, he conducted the business of loaning money on securities banks refused to handle. Earlier, Canady had been found gagged and bound in his room, claiming burglars had robbed his safe. His partner, Capt. Houghton, disbelieved the story, suspecting it was a ruse to cover the theft of $2,000 Houghton had entrusted to him. While Houghton sought police, Canady took his own life with a 32-caliber revolver. A note found on his desk addressed to a Miss Moore protested his innocence, while another to Houghton indicated he had 'no further use for life.' Canady was a former Confederate soldier, a North Carolina politician, and a once-influential figure in business circles, though his recent Seattle ventures were mired in lawsuits and failure.
“The tragedy was the climax to a decade of wild and adventurous speculation in projects of a hazardous kind in the hope, always delusive, that each successive scheme would bring large wealth.”
Canady's story reflects the high-stakes, often predatory nature of Seattle’s early growth machine, where 'magnetic' men relied on influence and speculation rather than solid assets. His demise in a rooming house near the waterfront highlights the thin line between civic leadership and financial ruin that frequently defined the era's boom-and-bust economy.
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