The Episcopal Debt Scandal in Colfax
A creditor, failing to collect a debt from a church congregation in Pullman, seized the rival building in Colfax, triggering a local legal battle.
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.
The Episcopalians of Colfax know how it feels to have their church property attached to satisfy a judgment against the property of another congregation. All the Episcopal church edifices in the State of Washington are owned by the corporation known as the Protestant Episcopal church of Washington. This being the case, a judgment creditor of the congregation at Pullman, not finding the property there sufficient to recover his debt of $1,000 and costs, swooped down upon the Colfax building—a handsome and expensive structure—for $340, the balance due. The Colfax brethren accused their Pullman fellows of putting up a job to damage the reputation and check the prosperity of the local denomination. The affair was temporarily adjusted by an injunction from the superior court, restraining the officers from making sale of the Colfax property. The Colfax Episcopalians, through their attorneys, set up the claim that while all the Episcopalian property in the state belongs to one corporation, each congregation must be held responsible for its own debts.
“The Colfax brethren accused their Pullman fellows of putting up a job to damage the reputation and check the prosperity of the local denomination.”
This inter-city rivalry mirrors the modern spirit of regional competition in the Pacific Northwest. While today church property is rarely seized to settle debts of separate branches, the legal friction over corporate liability remains a relevant civic topic.
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