The Ghost Deed: How a Secret Land Grab Stole Seattle’s Future
A legal battle erupts over Burke’s Second Addition after it is revealed that W.H. Bourn Sr. used a dying partner to hold title to prime land, leaving his estate vulnerable to fraud.
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 assert that Bourn has no title. Some have been lost by possession of the fact which are true in this case. W. H. Patterson was the constant attorney and business friend of W. H. Bourn, Sr., a prominent capitalist. As such agent, on an express agreement or contract to do certain work, he bought for Bourn and paid for same all of these lands. Bourn paid for them, and also all of the assessments independent 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 submit to his orders.
Bourn died in 1875, and the affairs of his estate fell into disarray, and so remained until his son became of age in 1890. Patterson, in the meantime, was stricken with paralysis becoming idiotic and died in 1891. While Patterson was in the condition above mentioned, in 1890, a third person got from him, for $3,000, a quitclaim deed of some of the land of which he was holding for the son of Bourn; the proceeds received by this [deed] went to Seattle, which is now Burke's second addition, and shows the same quantity of land on Volney Hill. The value of said property at the date of the deed was from $30,000 to $40,000.
More than this deed was executed the fraud in it was informed of all of the above stated facts to this day no searchers under that deed has had, before making, due legal notice of them. None of the persons paid, as expected by Patterson and his successors on the quitclaim deed, has ever been made by any one.
This claim should be freed from malaria rheumatism to the foundation of the Burke claim group over various few individuals that of Wm. L. Bourn, who has been the founder of the former.
WILLIAM THOMPSON & THOMAS, Attorneys for Wm. H. Bourn, Jr., Real Estate Executor Building.
This 1895 dispute highlights the chaotic and often predatory nature of early Seattle real estate development. The use of 'nominee' arrangements—holding title in another's name to avoid scrutiny or liability—was common among developers but left estates vulnerable to fraud when those intermediaries died or became incapacitated. It mirrors modern concerns about shell companies and opaque ownership structures in today’s housing market.
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