Seattle Mayor Corliss P. Stone embezzles $15,000 and runs on February 23, 1873.

  • By Greg Lange and Cassandra Tate
  • Posted 11/04/1998
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 197
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On February 23, 1873, Corliss P. Stone, Mayor of Seattle and partner of the firm Stone and Burnett, reportedly embezzles $15,000 ($547,500 in 1997 dollars) from his firm and leaves for San Francisco with a woman who is married to another man.

Stone was a businessman and developer who subdivided and platted what are now the Wallingford and Fremont neighborhoods of Seattle. Stone Way and Corliss Avenue in Wallingford are named after him. A Republican, he had been active in local politics for several years before being elected mayor. He was appointed to the Common Council when the Territorial Legislature chartered the city of Seattle in December 1869 and then served two terms as an elected member of the council.

John T. Jordan, Stone's predecessor, was appointed acting mayor until a special election could be arranged. Republican Moses R. Maddocks was elected to fill the final two months of Stone's term.


Sources:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer November 14, 1988, p. C-8; Paul Dorpat, "Stone Way Wreck?" The Seattle Times, Pacific Northwest Magazine, August 5, 2001 (http://seattletimes.nwnewsource.com); Clarence B. Bagley, History of Seattle From the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. 1-2 (Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1916).
Note: This file was expanded on August 31, 2004.


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