The Sad End of Seattle's 'Boy Captain'
A legendary Puget Sound steamboat captain turned professional gambler finds his luck—and his life—allegedly lost at sea.
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 rumor was in active circulation on the streets last night that Mark Norton, the well-known sporting man, had been drowned at Victoria. The rumor could not be confirmed, and many anxious friends wait for the truth. The story, brought by a steamboat man from Port Townsend, suggested Norton went out with a party in a sloop and drowned. To those who arrived in Seattle recently, the interest in a professional gambler may seem strange, but Mark Norton was long known as 'the most popular steamboatman on Puget Sound.' Arriving from Los Angeles in 1871 as a runaway boy, he was taken in by Captain Tom Brennen and earned the moniker 'the boy captain.' Eventually, Norton traded the pilot house for the poker table, becoming a central figure in the 'M. & N.' gambling combination that operated on Commercial Street near Yesler Avenue. Despite the highs and lows of a life spent against the bank, his sangfroid and generosity kept him popular with the public until his final days in Victoria.
“He never carried a diagram of his luck on his face or closed his pocket to a friend.”
Mark Norton’s life—from a teenage runaway to a celebrated steamboat captain and finally a downtown gambler—mirrors the volatile, transient nature of Seattle’s early growth. While the gambling dens of Commercial Street (now First Avenue South) are long gone, the city’s enduring fascination with the 'popular rogue' archetype remains a staple of our civic character.
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