A Home Lost to Debt in Early Seattle
A legal notice for a Sheriff's Sale reveals the precarious nature of property ownership and domestic stability in late 19th-century 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.
Sheriff’s Sale: By virtue of an execution issued out of the Superior Court of the State of Washington, for the County of King, on a judgment rendered on the 26th day of October, 1891, in favor of the plaintiff, W.B. Morse, and against the defendant, Sarah A. Eichelberger, I have levied upon the following described property: All that certain piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the City of Seattle, County of King, and State of Washington, known and described as Lot 4, in Block 14, of the Addition of A.A. Denny, to the City of Seattle. Public notice is hereby given that I will sell said property at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, on the 12th day of December, 1891, at the hour of 10 o'clock a.m., at the front door of the Courthouse in the City of Seattle.
“I will sell said property at public auction to the highest bidder for cash.”
This notice serves as a stark reminder that the vulnerability of housing tenure is not a modern invention in Seattle. While the legal mechanisms of the 'Sheriff's Sale' persist, the displacement of individuals over debt remains a recurring, painful theme in the city's growth, echoing the struggles of current residents facing foreclosure or eviction.
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