The Battle for a Saloon and the Dead Woman’s Secret Will
A saloon owner’s last will and testament sparks a fierce probate fight between her bartender and her estranged children.
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 contest of a peculiar will was filed in the probate department of the superior court yesterday by Frank Hartley Jones, attorney for the heirs of Mrs. Mary E. Thompson, late owner of the Minnehaha saloon at 319 Jackson Street. The will was filed weeks ago by R.W. Stokes, the bartender, who applied to be appointed sole executor. The document, dictated in Oakland, California, declared that Stokes was to have full control of all her claims, calling him 'the only one on earth I think is entitled to my affection and respect.' She claimed her son John had caused her much trouble and that she hadn't seen her daughter Maggie in years. The petition alleges Thompson died separated from her friends and family, was under the influence of Stokes when the will was drawn, and that the will was used to the detriment of her children. The boy referred to is said to be 25 years old and employed at the saloon. All parties to the case are Black.
“I have no legitimate relations. None that I care to inherit any of my gains left behind.”
Probate fights over estates are common, but the historical record of this 1893 case provides a rare, documented look into the lives and business ownership of Seattle’s Black community at the turn of the century. Jackson Street in the Pioneer Square area was a hub of Black-owned enterprise, a history that is frequently overlooked in favor of later Central District narratives.
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