The Sudden Death of Judge Peter P. Good
A prominent New York-trained jurist who arrived in Seattle to participate in the ongoing anti-Chinese agitation has died of heart failure.
Shortly after noon on Sunday, Judge Peter P. Good died suddenly at his residence in Seattle of heart disease. Judge Good was born in New York, August 21, 1833, and after graduating at Harvard took up the study of law, and previous to coming West occupied a seat on the Common Pleas Bench in New Jersey for several years. In company with his wife, he came to Seattle last August, and has been chiefly known through his connection with the anti-Chinese agitation which has been going on here during the past few months. His remains will be embalmed and taken to New York by Mrs. Good for interment.
“Judge Good... has been chiefly known through his connection with the anti-Chinese agitation which has been going on here during the past few months.”
This obituary marks a moment when the 'anti-Chinese' movement was the central, destructive obsession of Seattle's civic life. Judge Good's passing is a reminder of how quickly historical figures—even those from Harvard and the New Jersey bench—can become foot-soldiers in localized racial campaigns that leave long shadows over a city's history.
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