A Custody Dispute Leads to Arrest
A domestic conflict over child custody results in a dramatic arrest at Port Madison and a legal battle in 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.
Capt. V. B. Seymore, who attempted to shoot his father-in-law on Tuesday last, was arrested at Port Madison yesterday morning by Constable Thornton. Mr. Thornton left here on the Geo. E. Starr, intending to go to Port Townsend in hope of finding his man there, but when the boat arrived at Port Madison, Captain Seymore came onboard, having with him the child, the possession of which has occasioned all the trouble. He was immediately arrested and taken to the hotel at Port Madison, where he was kept until 6 o'clock, when he was brought to this city on the steamboat Susie. The prisoner was taken before Justice Cann, and his hearing was set for Friday morning at 10 o'clock. In the meantime he was released on $1000 bail. Captain Seymore does not allow the child out of his sight for an instant, and the mother has not yet been permitted to see it.
“Captain Seymore does not allow the child out of his sight for an instant, and the mother has not yet been permitted to see it.”
Domestic disputes and custody battles have long been a fixture of the city's courts, though the legal mechanisms and social perceptions surrounding them have evolved significantly since the 1880s.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.