The Great Seattle Land-Grab Controversy
A political advertisement from 1889 exposes a list of prominent Seattle figures accused of inflating real estate prices and manipulating the local land market.
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.
Why: Hon. H. G. Struve, William H. White, Judge of Washington territory, J. H. McGraw, President of the improvement company, Mr. W. E. Bailey, proprietor of the Evening Press, Mr. Manius McMicken, T. M. Reed Jr., register of the United States land office, Mr. W. R. Forrest, county auditor, Presenting Attorney Newlin, V. L. F. Holbrook, general manager of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad Company, Dr. E. L. Smith, Ex-Prosecuting Attorney Ronald, Mr. Fred J. Grant, associate editor of the Post-Intelligencer, Mr. S. R. Frailer, editor-in-chief of the Evening Press, Mr. John A. Bleicher, editor-in-chief of the Truth Illustrated Newspaper, Mr. George Piper, city editor of the Post-Intelligencer, Mr. Jerome Catlin, the real estate and improvement company, Miss M. Burns of Minneapolis, Mr. J. H. Park of Dexter Horton & Co.'s bank, Mr. J. H. Schultz of Dexter Horton & Co.'s bank, Mr. W. Case of Miller & Co.'s bank, Mrs. Anna May Russell, Mr. Robert Abernethy, Mr. Daniel Warner, Dr. Clarence A. Holmes, Captain J. A. Hatfield, Mr. J. Burton Foshay, Mr. James C. Smart, Mr. H. M. Bennett, Mr. H. A. Frederick, Mr. D. K. Howard, Mrs. Abide M. Smith, Mr. H. A. Bauer, Mr. R. G. Westerman, Mr. George E. Budlong, Mrs. D. E. Mulligan, Mr. James Heald, Mr. R. M. Crawford, Mr. John A. Ware, Dr. C. H. Merrill, Mr. Frank E. Ware, Mrs. L. J. O'Farrell, Mr. A. Charp, Mrs. Caroline Baker Stevens, Mrs. Elizabeth J. Crawford, Mr. B. M. Roberts, Messrs. Isaac and H. Bingham, Mrs. Martha George, Miss Ida Carter, Mr. J. B. Lockwood, Mr. T. A. Garett, Dr. David P. Bosman, Mr. James G. Gillies, Mr. George Hartig, Mr. G. Falk, Mr. Alexander Duncan.
“We have no soft words to spare for men who pretend to be our friends and are not willing to up and be counted on our side in this great crisis.”
This list reads like a 'Who's Who' of 1889 Seattle's power brokers, accused by political rivals of the exact kind of speculative market manipulation that still defines modern Seattle's housing anxiety. It is a striking reminder that the intersection of local press, banking interests, and urban development has been a source of public outrage in Seattle for over 130 years.
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