The Hotelkeeper Who Jumped to Escape Justice
A Port Gamble innkeeper’s dramatic leap from a second-story window reveals the gritty reality of justice in 1876 Seattle.
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.
Samuel Alexander, ex-keeper of a low hotel outside of Seattleck [Seattle], was arrested on the 29th, charged with robbing a drunken man upon Long Wharf, in this city. He was adjudged guilty by Kelly, upon evidence, and sentenced to pay fine, and three months imprisonment. C. M. Bradshaw, Esq., was the attorney for defendant. Prior to the investigation 'Sam' attempted to 'fire the wrath of Cain,' by jumping from the upper story of the old Masonic Hall to the sidewalk, a distance of about ten feet. The shock to his nervous system was so great as to impede progress. Sam acknowledged in open court that he had often 'gone through the pockets of old ladies' when doing them [narcissistic] to his haunt of pollution at Seattle.
This 1876 account of a petty theft and subsequent courtroom antics highlights how quickly local justice could turn physical. While today we might view such a jump as a failed escape attempt, the text frames it as a desperate, almost theatrical gesture by a man already known for preying on vulnerable patrons—a stark reminder that 'low hotels' were often hubs of vice and danger in frontier towns.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.