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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
- Smallpox Scare Hits Victoria
Conflicting reports over an outbreak in British Columbia lead to heightened health screenings at the border and anxiety in Puget Sound towns.
- One Customs Job, Two Promises, and a Party on the Brink
A federal patronage fight between John Collins and Hugh Wallace, layered atop a King County apportionment grab, had Republicans threatening an open row in Tacoma.
- The Bering Sea's Brazen Seal Poachers, as Told by a Port Townsend Captain
A sealing schooner back from five months in the Bering Sea describes a coordinated scheme of lookouts, false alibis and cached skins used to outwit the revenue cutters.
- A Port Townsend Lawyer Vanishes Without a Trace
Capt. George H. Jones, a constitutional convention delegate and Republican county leader, had been missing for days when his family's Puget Sound search came up empty.
- Legal Ruling Defines Validity of Real Estate Leases
A court case in Port Townsend clarifies the strict requirements for property leases, warning landowners that failing to notarize agreements can lead to disastrous litigation.
- Political Uprising at the Port Townsend Democratic Club
A planned 'indignation meeting' against the local customs collector backfires, leading to a party coup and the removal of the club's president.
- Port Townsend Vows Boycott Over Tacoma's Dry Dock Gambit
The Key City accuses its rival to the south of sabotaging its bid for a stationary dry dock — and threatens to take its trade to Portland and San Francisco instead.
- Offices for a Senate Vote: The Backroom Deal in Jefferson County
A Democratic leader offers Populists half the county offices — and a customs-house appointment — if they will help elect Hugh Wallace to the U.S. Senate. Even party regulars call it a disgrace.
- A Reader Says Smiles and Bows Won't Save Port Townsend
A letter to the editor takes aim at the sentimental notion that a town prospers on politeness alone, insisting that Port Townsend needs capital, labor and trade — not suave manners and boosterism.
- Man Overboard: A Desperate Rescue Off the Port Townsend Wharf
When a crewman is swept off the steamer North Pacific just after she leaves the dock, two boats race the heavy swell to pull him from the water alive.
- A Seven-Day Ordeal at Sea: The City of Panama Limps into Port Townsend
A midnight collision with a lumber schooner, a hurricane off the Oregon coast, and a pointed comparison to the steamer Pacific — which went down with more than 200 souls aboard.
- The Tumor That Ate Through a Man's Spine
A Port Townsend autopsy found that a long-growing aneurysm had eroded bone and pushed through the skin of the spinal column.
- A Kitchen Fire on the Hill — and a Town Saves the House
Capt. Willoughby's kitchen burned with $800 in utensils and stores, but quick-acting citizens kept the blaze from taking the main building.
- The Judge's Warning: Stop Selling Whiskey to Indians
A Port Townsend grand jury was told that federal law treated every Native person as under an Indian agent's charge—and that local liquor sellers were profiting from open violation.
- The $3,000 Health Office That Vanished
A lawsuit between rival health officers ends with a lucrative post abolished and steamship companies refusing to pay for certificates they never legally owed.
- Forty-Three Days of Gales, Then a Jury-Rigged Schooner Limps Into Port Townsend
Sails torn to ribbons and gear twisted, the three-masted schooner Buhne makes port after a voyage that should have taken three weeks and took six.
- A Bottle of Whisky, a Deadly Dose, and a Doctor Called in Time
A ship's steward and his wife nearly die after drinking from a bottle doctored with croton oil — whether by accident or by design no one can say.
- The Flat-Iron, the Umbrella, and the Inkstand: A Port Townsend Divorce Suit
J. K. Meyer's divorce petition turns a respectable Port Townsend marriage into a catalogue of thrown household goods, alleged affairs, and very public embarrassment.
- A Voice in the Dark: The Burglar Who Knew the Girls' Room
Three young women in Port Townsend wake to a prowler fumbling at the bureau, hand over ten cents and two trinkets, and wait trembling for daylight.
- The 'Pirates' of Hood Canal Were Actually the Men Who Chased the Thieves
A Port Townsend dispatch mistakenly branded two Bangor residents as robbers; they were the ones who caught the real thieves and recovered a boatload of plunder.
- The Fall of Alaska's Deputy Marshal
Ralph A. Meyer, once a trusted federal officer in Alaska, passes through Port Townsend bound for six years in San Quentin — a cautionary tale of a brilliant career undone by embezzlement.
- The Lost Letter of Port Townsend
A postal worker at the Port Townsend wharf brushes off a man’s frantic search for a missing letter, revealing a small, forgotten drama of 1888.
- A Close Call at the Port Townsend Jail
A routine arrest turns into a chaotic scene as a deputy sheriff’s pistol misfires, leaving the officer wounded during a struggle.
- The Cutting-Edge Technology of an Arctic Expedition
In 1885, a state-of-the-art surveying vessel arrived in Port Townsend, beginning a multi-year mission to map the treacherous and uncharted coastlines of Alaska.
- The Unmasking of a Traveling Grifter
A persistent con man who preyed on local residents by posing as a member of the 'fraternity' was finally arrested after fleecing a victim in Port Townsend.