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Community Corner

James Brady: School Principal, Businessman, Mayor, Murder Victim

James Brady, a larger-than-life individual, was a major force shaping Edmonds in its formative years. Despite his many contributions to the community, he is best remembered for his death in an apparent murder-suicide at the hands of his wife.

During his 22-year residence in Edmonds, James Brady made an indelible mark on the young city as an energetic and charismatic school principal, politician, businessman, and mayor. Yet he is now best known as the apparent murder victim in a tragic slaying.

One of seven children, Brady was born in 1856 in Columbia County, Wisconsin.  In 1888 he married Margaret Venner of Caledonia, Minnesota. The couple moved to Washington in 1889, the same year Washington achieved statehood. In 1890, They settled in Edmonds, where Brady had accepted a position as teacher and principal of the , known at the time as the graded school.

He served as principal for seven years. But his energy and ambitions reached far beyond the school. He was in the position barely one year before he accepted an appointment as Edmonds City Clerk, and later the same year he became City Attorney. Brady helped organize the local chapter of the International Order of Odd Fellows, and was among the charter members.

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After leaving the school district, Brady plunged more deeply into law and politics, operating as an attorney out of his Main Street office.  In 1900 he ran for secretary of state. By all reports he ran an energetic and well-organized campaign. Despite losing the election by a thin margin, the campaign solidified his reputation as a major political force. The next year he was elected mayor of Edmonds, and except for a one-year interruption (1903-1904) continued to serve as mayor until 1910.

While serving as mayor, Brady extended his business enterprises by opening a shingle mill near at the foot of Bell Street. Over the next several years, he acquired a number of business properties around town, and in 1907 added the building on the northwest corner of Fourth and Main. At the time, this building housed the offices of the , established that same year by Will Taylor (see Patch article ).

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By all reports, Brady was tough (some might say ruthless) in his business dealings. Scarcely a month after the Tribune was acquired by William Schumacher in 1908, Schumacher published a letter critical of a citizens’ committee which included James Brady. Brady responded by giving Schumacher three days to vacate the premises or pay a prohibitive rent. Schumacher responded by hastily constructing new offices across the street on the site of today’s Bank of America parking lot. The building was completed within a week, and the Tribune never missed an issue.

On April 18, 1912, the Edmonds community was shocked when O.C. Garrett, who had been hired to paper the Brady's home, discovered the bodies of James and Margaret Brady in their bedroom. The deaths were assumed to be a murder-suicide, the generally accepted version being that Margaret, James Brady’s wife of 24 years, shot her husband to death in his bed before turning the gun on herself. A bucket of coal oil was found under the bed, which led to speculation that she had intended to set the house on fire as well.

Reports of the murder described Margaret as "demented" and suffering from mental problems. But a few years earlier, this same woman won praise in the local press as "a lady of refinement and charming social qualities," whose "popularity was graciously attested in her recent selection as hostess of Edmonds during Snohomish County week at the Portland Exhibition."

While history has placed the guilt on Margaret, there is no question that Brady had his share of enemies and detractors. Some of these no doubt read his obituary with satisfaction. To this day the facts of the case remain inconclusive and open to interpretation.

A double funeral was held at the Edmonds Opera House, an estimated 800 attending. James and Margaret Brady were buried side by side in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, now the Edmonds Memorial Cemetery.

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