The Phantom Title: How a Dead Man’s Land Became Seattle’s Newest Addition
A bizarre chain of custody involving a deceased San Francisco capitalist, a paralyzed attorney, and a speculator reveals the chaotic legal origins of Burke's Second Addition.
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.
Bourn's Title to Burke's Second Addition.
We learn that some of the holders of the Burke claim say that Bourn has no title. Such statements are best met by publication of the facts, which are these: W. L. Patterson was the confidential attorney and business agent of Win. B. Bourn, Sr., a San Francisco capitalist. As such agent, on an irrevocable contract as to do so, Patterson bought for Bourn several parcels of land on Puget Sound. Bourn paid for them, and also all of the expenses incident to the purchase, but had the title papers made to and in the name of Patterson, who, in due form, agreed to hold the land for Bourn and subject to his orders.
Bourn died in 1876, and the affairs of his estate fell into some disorder, and so remained until his son became of age in 1880. Patterson, in the meantime, was stricken with paralysis, became idiotic, and died in 1882; while Patterson was in the condition above mentioned, in 1883, a Seattle speculator bought from him, for $300, an unrecorded deed of some of the parcels of land, the title to which he was holding for the heirs of Bourn. The premises covered by this recorded deed were 100 acres in Seattle, which is now Burke's second addition, and about...
This snippet highlights the precarious nature of property ownership in the frontier era, where titles often rested on informal trusts and the health or sanity of intermediaries rather than clear deeds. It mirrors modern concerns about land speculation and the opacity of real estate transactions, reminding us that even today, 'who owns what' can be a tangled web of legal history.
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