HomeMy WebLinkAbout1853 - Louis Wyckoff - Farmer to 1st King County SheriffS V. WY fK
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Birth 1829 USA
Death 20 Jan 1882 (aged 52-53). Seattle, King County, Washington, USA
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First Sheriff of the City of Seattle.
"On Friday, January 20, 1882, King County Sheriff Louis
Wyckoff and his deputies were guarding the county jail from
an angry lynch mob of about 200-300 men who were
attempting to invade it. The mob was demanding that two
men who were responsible for a fatal robbery attempt from
the day before be executed. After failing to stop the mob, the
men removed the two suspects and they were hanged from
Henry Yesler's maple trees.
Later, the mob returned and removed the accused murderer
of Seattle Police Officer David Sires. They also took him to
Yesler's maple tree and he was hanged.
During the lynching, Sheriff Wyckoff suffered a heart attack
and died. He had served as the King County Sheriff for
nineteen years and was survived by his wife and son.
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Soccer fields
once farmland
BY PAT BRODIN
TUKWILA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The area of Tukwila called Fort Dent now covered in soccer fields
once boasted a small farm on land originally claimed by the respected
Louis V. Wyckoff. Arriving to the Duwamish Valley area in the fall of
1853, Wyckoff settled east across the River from other early settlers,
Joseph Foster and William Gilliam. The claim also included a pond
that froze over in the winter known as White Lake. Wyckoff was a
blacksmith and opened a shop in downtown Seattle.
Louis Wyckoff stayed busy in those early years, maintaining the
blacksmith shop and improving his claim. Wyckoff married Ursula
McConaha in 1858. He readily became enmeshed in local commu-
nity events and affairs and served on the King County grand and petit
juries. He offered up his cabin as a polling place for the Mox La Push
voting precinct. His blacksmith shop was used by Joseph Foster, a
skilled tailor who was able to fashion
the first official wedding suit for White
River Valley settler John Thomas. Fos-
ter improvised a table of planks on
sawhorses and heated the tailor's iron
on the forge.
In 1862, Wyckoff kept law and order
as the new King County sheriff. He
faithfully served the citizens of King
County for next 19 years until his
death on Jan. 20, 1882. His final days
as a lawman and peace officer had the
kind of drama that could have been
depicted in an old western movie.
Tensions unfolded late in the day on
Jan. 18 when a lynch mob executed
three murderers by hanging using a
timber stanchion in Henry Yesler's
maple trees. A vigilante group called
the Committee of Safety had reluc-
tantly surrendered two suspects in a fatal robbery attempt. The ul-
timatum to cease further exploits came from Wyckoff with revolver
in hand to hold off the mob, and he presented the prisoners in court
the next day. Instead of being tried, the vigilantes stormed the court
dragging the doomed pair to up the alley to James Street for the ex-
ecution. While the violence during that fateful day is commonly be-
lieved to be the contributing factor that led to Wyckoff's heart attack,
he was remembered by his fellow citizens for his dutiful service to
King County.
Louis V. Wyckoff was an
early farmer in Tukwila and
the first sheriff of King County.
Tukwila Historical Society
Pat Brodin is treasurer of the Tukwila Historical Society. The society
operates the Tukwila Heritage and Cultural Center, 14475 59th Ave. S.,
Tukwila. The center can be reached by phone at 206-244-HIST or via
email at tukwilaheritagectr@tukwilahistory.org.
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