A Shingle Mill on the Hook: Creditors Move In as Debt Comes Due
A thousand-dollar claim and five cars of shingles seized — the Sherwood mill's creditors act fast before the season turns.
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.
Last Saturday an attachment suit was brought by Kroenert Bros. against the Sherwood shingle mill. The claim was for a little more than a thousand dollars, and was on account of orders and time checks cashed by Kroenert Bros. A suit for a small amount was also commenced by H. L. Cook & Co. Besides the mill, about five cars of shingles were levied on, which the Cosmopolis mill company were in the act of removing. The Cosmopolis mill has been furnishing the logs and handling the shingles, and they immediately gave bond for the cars. No assignment has been made, and it is stated that the difficulty will soon be settled and the mill resume.
“Besides the mill, about five cars of shingles were levied on, which the Cosmopolis mill company were in the act of removing.”
In a timber town built on credit, a single attachment suit could halt a mill, freeze wages owed to its crew, and tie up a shipment already rolling out on the rails. The scramble of creditors — and the mill's quick confidence that it would 'resume' — captures the narrow margins of Grays Harbor's boom economy. Local businesses still live and die on cash-flow crunches and the willingness of suppliers to extend a little credit.
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