A.A. Denny's Addition Property Sold for 1878 Judgments
A wave of sheriff's sales across King County in 1878 signals the brutal fallout of debt and property litigation in a young, boom-and-bust frontier city.
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.
By virtue of a decree and order of sale issued out of the District Court of the Third Judicial District of Washington Territory, holding terms at Seattle, in King County, on the 15th day of February, 1878, in the case wherein James Crawford and William A. Harrington are plaintiffs, and Thomas J. Jamison and Mary Jackson, his wife, William Haunton, James Scott and Andrew Moore are defendants, I will sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, gold coin, all the right, title, interest and equity of redemption of said defendants in the property known as A. A. Denny's Addition to Seattle. The court has commanded me to make sale of the property to satisfy the following judgments: the first for $3,353.20 gold coin, with interest at one and one-half per cent per month, plus attorney fees; the second for a balance of $6,761.67 gold coin, with additional costs for insurance and taxes paid by the plaintiffs. The sale shall occur on Monday, the 6th day of May, 1878, in front of the Courthouse door in the city of Seattle.
“I will sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, gold coin, all the right, title, interest and equity of redemption.”
These 1878 foreclosure notices highlight how Seattle’s foundational real estate was built on volatile credit and aggressive litigation, a dynamic that remains a central friction point in the city's housing market today. The names cited—such as Denny’s Addition—remind us that the land parcels being auctioned in these desperate sales are the same high-value properties that shape the city’s current footprint.
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