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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1862 | 7 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1872 | 4 |
| 1876 | 38 |
| 1877 | 18 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 14 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 19 |
| 1886 | 6 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1888 | 20 |
| 1889 | 18 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 8 |
| 1892 | 42 |
| 1893 | 57 |
| 1894 | 35 |
| 1895 | 32 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 8 |
| 1909 | 1 |
347 stories
- A Taxpayer Fights the Assessor for Six Years — and Loses
William Craswell petitions the county board to strike fraudulent assessments from the rolls and demands back the money already taken; the commissioners refuse, then set the rates for everyone else.
- A Captain's Alaska Liquor Case Comes to Port Townsend
A federal warrant for importing liquor into Alaska and selling it to Native people sends Capt. Thomas Butler to Portland to answer the charge.
- Adlai Stevenson’s Name Was the Bait in a Port Townsend Loan Swindle
A man claiming to be the Vice President’s cousin sold shares in a building-and-loan association, promising loans on Port Townsend real estate that never came.
- The Estate That Outran Its Will
A New York inheritance officer comes to Port Townsend to sort out Ansel White's estate, where a will written before the money arrived may leave dozens of cousins fighting over a fortune.
- The Corpse in the Drifting Boat
A body found in an open boat in the Strait of Juan de Fuca leads authorities to a sealing schooner and a missing companion. Was it murder, or did both men drown?
- The Desert Town That Finally Found a Well
For years, the residents of Port Townsend relied entirely on collected rain for drinking water, fearing the earth held nothing but salt.
- The Farming Pioneer of Protection Island
A bold settler bets on agriculture in the San Juan Islands, finding a thriving home where others saw only isolation.
- The Tailor’s Basket: A Drunkard’s Violent Encounter with a Chinese Laundryman
In the tense racial climate of late-19th century Port Townsend, an intoxicated tailor attempted to pick a fight with a Chinese immigrant, only to be knocked unconscious by his own laundry basket.
- The Unintended Voyage of a Victoria Day Excursionist
A man looking to celebrate the Queen's birthday ends up on an accidental odyssey across international waters after being denied passage on a ferry.
- The Unlucky Travelers of the Puget Sound
A small steamer encounters the harsh realities of the Sound, leaving passengers stranded in the fog.
- The Hunter Hunted: A Seattle Man Shot for a Bear
A Seattle man traveling to Port Townsend to file for government land is mistaken for a bear and shot by a school teacher in the dense brush.
- The Forgotten Sailors: A Call for Reform in the U.S. Navy
A seasoned veteran of the U.S. Navy writes from Port Townsend in 1886 to lament the decline of practical seamanship and the lack of decent pensions for sailors who have served their country for decades.
- Federal Request for Protection at Port Townsend
The Marine Hospital Bureau at Port Townsend expresses alarm over recent threats and requests a watchman to secure the facility.
- The Perilous Mistake of Captain Thomas Wilson
A small favor leads to a large legal headache when a Port Townsend steamer is accused of illegally transporting explosives.
- The Teen Bride and the Soldier
A seventeen-year-old in Port Townsend seeks a trade: her marriage certificate for a new license.
- The Shocking State of the Port Townsend Courthouse
A dangerous electrical grounding issue in the county building leaves water pipes charged with current.
- Drowning and Smuggling in Port Townsend
Court business is quiet, but a sailor goes missing, a steward is drowned, and a smuggler is fined in the latest local update.
- The Opium Smuggler of Port Townsend
A ship steward is arrested and held on high bond after customs agents discover a hidden stash of opium on his person and in his cabin.
- A Rough Arrival from Yokohama
The steamer Crown of England arrives in Puget Sound after a harrowing 23-day voyage marked by mechanical failures and a violent 26-hour gale.
- The Strange 'Living' Well of Port Townsend
A dry well dug in an addition to Port Townsend acts as a natural, pneumatic barometer, baffling local scientists.
- The Boomtown Delusion of Port Townsend
In the late 1880s, Port Townsend boosters scrambled to convince the world that their city was destined to be the 'Frisco' of the Pacific Northwest.
- The Unsung Patron of Port Townsend
A local priest takes to the pages of the Dispatch to set the record straight on who actually paid for the town's new church, insisting on public accountability for his private donation.
- The Price of a Hand: A Labor Settlement in Port Townsend
A longshoreman injured while unloading cargo from the steamship Walla Walla receives a court-ordered settlement, highlighting the physical dangers of 19th-century maritime work.
- Tragedy in the Bay: A Fatal Scuffle at Port Townsend
A playful afternoon turned fatal when a young sailor fell from his boat and vanished into the waters of Port Townsend Bay.
- The Mysterious Death of a 'Well-Known Character'
When Mary Todhunter was found dead in a locked room in New Westminster, her complicated past as an alleged heiress and runaway brought a dark local scandal to the surface.