The Price of a Bed and Board: A Snohomish Debt Lawsuit
In 1878, a Snohomish resident was taken to court over a $236 unpaid bill for room, board, and dry goods—a reminder of the precarious credit-based economy of the frontier.
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.
In the District Court of Snohomish County, Washington Territory. H. W. Light, plaintiff, vs. Daniel Leighton, defendant. Complaint filed in the County of Snohomish, in the office of the Clerk of said District Court.
To Daniel Leighton, Defendant: You are hereby required to appear in an action brought against you by the above-named plaintiff, in the District Court of Snohomish County, holding terms at Snohomish City, in and for said County of Snohomish, Washington Territory, and to answer the complaint filed therein, within twenty days (exclusive of the day of service), after the service on you of this summons.
The said action is brought to recover a judgment against you for Two Hundred and Thirty-six dollars and forty-eight cents on the following grounds, to wit: For board and lodgings and goods, wares and merchandise furnished, sold and delivered to you and for money due and payable from you to said plaintiff on assigned accounts. And you are hereby notified, that if you fail to appear and answer the said complaint as above required, the said plaintiff will take judgment against you for the sum of Two Hundred and Thirty-six dollars and forty-eight cents and interest, costs and disbursements. Witness the Hon. J. R. Lewis, judge of said Court, and the seal thereof this 26th day of March A. D. 1878.
“For board and lodgings and goods, wares and merchandise furnished, sold and delivered to you.”
This legal notice highlights the struggle for basic housing and survival in early Snohomish. While the dollar amounts have changed, the tension between landlords and tenants—and the legal mechanisms used to enforce debt—remain a perennial point of friction in our region's housing landscape.
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