Katie Gale: A Coast Salish Woman's Life on Oyster Bay

18. Turn Around

189 18 Turn Around On September 6, 1893, Joseph Gale filed an astonishing sworn statement with the clerk of courts in Mason County. In it he says that the “plaintiff and defendant have settled their property differences as shown by the annexed exhibit,” the plaintiff has “entered into possession of the property granted to her,” and that there is “no necessity for the continuance of said order for alimony or restraining order.” In early August the court had required that Joseph stay away from Katie’s property and that he mortgage the property acknowledged by the court not to be at issue so that he could begin to pay alimony to Katie. Joseph said the court orders would prevent him from doing his business. This “hardship” apparently motivated him to find a solution that would cut his losses. By August 29 he had arrived at an understanding with Katie. Their agreement took the form of a typewritten contract between them. It was attached to the sworn statement delivered to the court. In the agreement Katie received title to a strip of land 210 feet wide on the waterfront bordering the east side of Lot 1, Section 21. It was approximately six acres. This was presumably the land on which her house stood. She also received the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 21 in Township 19 North, Range 3 West, a total of eighty upland acres. That was the property they had acquired from Ada Hartman. She Turn Around 190 also received the Bettman claim, the tidelands in front of her waterfront property. Joseph had also agreed to convey to her six acres of oyster ground across the channel, part of the other Gale claim. Joseph agreed to buy eight-plus acres for Katie from this claim, meaning that the claim alone did not allow him, given the rules of the state, to assure her ownership. He was not to pay more than twelve dollars an acre for these lands, according to the agreement. Joseph was also to pay for the costs of a divorce (“which may be hereafter obtained between these parties” and “not to exceed one hundred dollars”) and to be allowed to send the children to “some good school.” He was to bear the cost of their “custody and expense of maintenance.” Katie was to retain her sewing machine and all the household goods except for Joseph’s personal items. She was also to retain half of all the livestock except the “two fillies” that belonged to the children. Joseph retained all the rest of the property, the bulk of the oyster claims. This agreement secured Katie Gale’s future and assured her the life of a well-to-do woman or, at the least, one with a steady income. Joseph may have been mean and he may have been cruel and abusive and he may have been desperate, but this settlement was the act of an honorable man who acknowledged his wife’s role in accruing their wealth. The agreement was witnessed by James Wickersham (the attorney for the Shakers), George T. Reid, and Jack Simmons, an Indian oysterman , and signed by both Joseph and Katie Gale. (Katie marked a cross above her name, asserting thereby that the document had been read to her and met with her approval.) Wickersham’s name does not appear on the earlier court papers. Katie’s attorney of record in that proceeding was J. E. Sligh. That Wickersham’s name appears here on the agreement is significant. Was Wickersham watchdogging Katie’s courtroom dealings? Was she acquainted with him through his support of the Shaker Church and among those to whose rights he was attending? Did Shaker Church Turn Around 191 members, including Dick Jackson and James Tobin, and Wickersham help her to understand her rights and even encourage her action? This agreement was a victory for Katie. She was awarded essentially what she asked for, including the land and tidelands she claimed to have paid for. Katie was now a landholding Indian citizen with the means to support herself and her children. But the victory was also one for Joseph. He had negotiated to have his children educated away from Katie’s influence. And he held on to most of their valuable oyster lands, the center of his industry and the business upon which he was building his reputation in the white economic and political...