A Family Feud Closes the Shop
A retail liquor dealer in Toledo, Washington, finds himself locked out of his own business after a bitter domestic and business dispute.
The story, cleaned up
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Toledo steps forward and takes her place among other towns that have a sensation all their own. It has just come to light that there is a complication in the firm of LaPine & Keesh, retail liquor dealers, by which the senior member of the firm finds himself an outcast. About a year ago, LaPine took in a partner, Keesh, who has a handsome daughter. The months passed. Mr. LaPine and Miss Keesh became man and wife. Mrs. Keesh, mother of the bride, in some way induced LaPine to give her a bill of sale of all his possessions. The young wife accused the husband of immorality and bade him farewell. The father-in-law tears down the liquor license, closes the doors, packs up the goods and turns the keys over to the constable, while the mother-in-law clings fast to the bill of sale. LaPine claims to be victimized.
“LaPine claims to be victimized, of course, while the Keesh family claim to be able to substantiate their assertions that they have acted in good faith.”
Small-town business disputes involving family dynamics are timeless, but the era's legal tools—like the aggressive use of bills of sale to dispossess partners—show how precarious ownership was for those caught in complicated familial webs.
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