Judge W.W. Black was destined to leave a judicial rather than a political legacy. As a politician various historians have described him as a conservative, moderate, and progressive-- a bit of conflicting opinion emphasizing his vague stand on the issues. In short, he was perhaps too cautious for his own good. He attempted to be a moderate in an age of extremism, but his background as a corporate lawyer failed to give him that all-important connection to the voters and their issues. Political junkies should note his unsuccessful path to elective office does have some oddities that are fairly unique in the electoral history of the Evergreen State.

William Wilson Black was born Jan. 19, 1855 in West Lebanon, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, the oldest of 8 children to Solomon and Mary (Russell) Black. Solomon was a blacksmith and carriage maker who served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

W.W. (as he became known), climbed the academic ladder and attended Greenville Academy, the State Normal School, and Allegheny College. At some point, perhaps in the early 1880s, he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he "took up up the study of law with William Dill," according to the History of the Puget Sound Country (1903) by William Prosser, and "diligently pursued his reading and was admitted to the bar in 1883."

Also in 1883 he married Mollie Neil in Leavenworth.

Prosser can fill in the next few years:

"While residing in Leavenworth he served for four years as deputy county attorney, and in 1889-90 was assistant attorney general for the state of Kansas. His rise at the bar has been uniform and rapid. No dreary novitiate awaited him, for his careful preparation and earnest devotion to the causes entrusted to him were soon manifest in the masterly way in which he handled his cases, and his clientele became distinctively representative."

"In May, 1891, Mr. Black came to Washington. He made his way to Tacoma, and at the advice of Chief Justice Field he came to Port Gardner Bay, which is now the city of Everett, arriving in June of the same year. In 1891 he removed his family from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Snohomish, Washington, and in 1892 he brought them to Everett."

Black quickly established himself as a corporate attorney. His clients were mostly land development and investment companies. He also became active in the local Democratic Party. Later in life he was called a personal friend of William Jennings Bryan, but at what point this connection was made was never made clear.

His entry into the world of elective office began in the new century. Black was elected as a Superior Court Judge in 1904 and again in 1908. In 1910 he was a good soldier and ran as the sacrificial Democratic Party lamb against incumbent William Ewart Humphrey.

1912 was the year Judge Black became a statewide political figure. He was head of the Washington State organization to get the Democratic Party nomination for Champ Clark, and served as a delegate to the National Convention. Black also ran in the primaries as a gubernatorial candidate. And won! But something happened.

Operatives for Black's main primary opponent, Tacoma politician Ernest Lister, dug up some legalities from the State Constitution barring judges leaving one public office for another while still serving in a judicial capacity. The State Supreme Court agreed. The State Democratic Party replaced Black with Lister, who in turn went on to barely win the Governorship.

In 1914 Black made a try for the U.S. Senate and once again was defeated. Historian Robert Cole called Black's campaign "an uninspired challenge" to Republican incumbent Wesley Jones.

By 1920 the Democratic Party in Washington was in a shambles. Conservatives felt the Wilson administration had bitten off more than it could chew in trying to be an international player in the wake of World War I, and the progressives deplored the suspension of civil liberties. Since 1912 Washingtonians had experienced the Everett Massacre, the Centralia Massacre, and the Seattle General Strike. Russia had just become the Soviet Union, and some of the more capitalistic-minded types were getting worried. And the average voter wanted a rest. The Republicans offered a safe, status-quo platform, with candidates like Warren Harding for President, and Louis Hart for Governor. Hart, formerly the Lt. Governor, had filled out Lister's term after the latter resigned due to health and died shortly after. Lister himself, isolated as one the few Democrats in any position of power, had failed to build or unite his party. In 1920 a faction of the Dems bolted and joined the Farmer Labor movement of Bob Bridges.

Black, who by now was in the words of historian Richard Fisch, "well acquainted with defeat," made his final run for public office in 1920. It was a foregone conclusion that all the Republicans had to do was not screw up and they would sail into victory. The real race for Governor, if you could call it that, was between the charismatic Bridges and the stolid and safe Hart.

Judge Black tossed his hat in the ring in Aug. 1920, announcing he was confident of a Democratic Party victory across the board. He came out in support of Wilson's League of Nations and stated: "Among the vital issues now confronting this state is the question of industrial unrest, which is coupled with profiteering, high cost of living and high cost of extravagant government in the state and throughout the counties. A real solution must be sought."

Historian Cole describes the 1920 Democratic Party primary election for Governor: "Bridges' intention to seek the governorship at the head of the Farmer-Labor party ticket left the Democrats stranded. A three-cornered primary race for the nomination resulted, but none of the candidates could provide the authority or appeal that was needed. Judge W.W. Black of Everett, the most widely known, had a long record of consistent reform politics behind him, but he was neither the dynamic political organizer or campaigner that the party needed ... Black was an elder statesmen of the party who, if he won, would be nominated for convenience and campaign out of duty. State Senator E.A. Judd, Centralia, the second candidate, was associated with the efforts of the Democratic conservatives to frustrate the progressive leadership of the party. The third candidate was Mayor E.T. Mathes of Bellingham, a progressive with only a local reputation. His 1920 campaign was too closely tied to a single scheme to provide low budget real estate purchases for citizens wanting to own their own homes. Black was the favorite and was seeking to align the progressives with the Lister followers, but he was not an individual around which a wide coalition of Democratic support could be expected to develop."

Black won the primary election, but there was a big red flag. The guy who came in 5th place in the gubernatorial Republican primary-- I said 5th place-- had more votes than the combined total of all the Democrats running for Governor.

Attempting to play the middle ground, W.W. Black presented himself to the voters as someone who could work with both business and labor. He slammed Gov. Hart as a "politician" who was unfriendly to labor, and Bridges as the tool of socialists, anarchists, and the I.W.W. One of the low points in the campaign came when Black attempted to gain votes through the charge that Bridges had leased land to some Japanese farmers. Using the racist card and beating the anti-immigration drum, he did manage to hurt the FLP candidate. Republican newspapers enjoyed the show and fanned the flames.

Most newspapers endorsed Hart. In Olympia, the Washington Standard was one of the few papers to back Black, but in their editorial it was mostly anti-Hart, with no positive specifics about their man. The Olympia Daily Recorder, endorsing Hart, didn't even mention Black's name. It was all anti-Bridges.

The results of the 1920 Washington State election was not just a another vote/another loss for the Dems. It was a total disaster. Thanks to the FLP, they had become marginalized into a third party. Although Black did place second in a few counties, statewide he was a very dismal third, 66,079 votes, or only 16.39%. His support, such as it was, came from "urban, immigrant, and Catholic voters, who could not support the FLP's stand in favor of prohibition," according to historian Jonathan Dembo. Judge Black, said the Argus, "did not get votes enough to wad a shot gun."

Around 1922 Black basically moved to the Los Angeles area, although he always returned to Washington in order to vote. On Valentine's Day, 1932, Mr. and Mrs. Black arrived in Seattle by train to attend the funeral of their daughter-in-law. From Seattle they went to Everett, where Judge Black suffered a heart attack, resulting in his death in Everett's hospital early on Feb. 15. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

One of W.W.'s children, Lloyd (1889-1950) was also a superior court judge. In 1924 Lloyd was an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Congress.