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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 20 |
| 1889 | 18 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 42 |
| 1893 | 56 |
| 1894 | 35 |
| 1895 | 32 |
210 stories
- The Exclusion of 1888
A new federal law mandates harsh restrictions and identification requirements for Chinese laborers, forcing them to exit and enter through only six designated ports, including Port Townsend.
- Tension at the Border: The Hop-Picking Seasonal Migration
Federal immigration officials express concern over British Columbia Indigenous people crossing into Washington state for the seasonal hop harvest.
- A Family Separated by the Exclusion Act
A local woman, born in the U.S., faces deportation to China after visiting her dying mother in Victoria.
- The Jesuit Who Shot an Archbishop: A Murderer’s Cold Confession on the Way to Prison
Frank Fuller, convicted of killing Catholic Archbishop Seghers in the Alaskan wilderness, speaks to reporters as he is transported by steamship from Port Townsend to McNeil Island.
- A Knife Fight in the Bay: Union Sailors Ambush a Non-Union Crew
A boarding master tries to ship five strikebreakers onto an Alaska salmon schooner at Port Townsend. Twelve union men are waiting in the water, and the fight that follows leaves every non-union sailor hurt and swimming for shore.
- The Puget Sound Smuggling Ring Scandal
A government inspector uncovers a vast operation allegedly smuggling Chinese migrants and opium into the Pacific Northwest, implicating customs officials and steamship lines.
- Condemned at Home, Detained in Port Townsend: Three Men Offer to Buy Their Way Out of the Axe
Three Chinese men held by the collector of customs for being in the United States illegally were to be shipped home, where desertion from the imperial army is punished by beheading. Local Chinese merchants said a substitute could be hired to die in a man's place.
- Riot in Port Townsend: Citizens vs. Sailors on the Verge of Violence
A tense standoff erupts as local citizens arm themselves to prevent Coast Seamen's Union members from boarding the steamer Sumatra, leading to arrests and imminent bloodshed.
- The Arsonist Who Burned the Books: A Tacoma Cover-Up?
An attempt to torch the U.S. Custom House in Port Townsend raises eyebrows as officials fear a whistleblower’s evidence of corruption was destroyed.
- The Judge Who Played Faro: Port Townsend’s Bar Association Moves to Impeach Morris Sachs
In a stunning display of civic outrage, local attorneys and property owners present sworn affidavits to the state legislature alleging that Superior Court Judge Morris B. Sachs regularly gambled on illegal faro games and prejudged cases before hearing them.
- The Octopus and the Seal: A Local Captain’s War Against a Washington Monopoly
In 1901, Port Townsend resident James G. Swan published affidavits from experienced hunters to debunk Professor Elliott’s claim that seal pups sink like stones, exposing the Alaska Commercial Company’s stranglehold on federal policy.
- The Judge and the Gambling Den
Jefferson County’s legal establishment formally accuses their Superior Court judge of frequenting gambling houses and pre-judging cases.
- The Gambling Judge of Port Townsend
A state legislative committee moves to impeach Superior Court Judge Morris B. Sachs after reports surface of him frequenting saloons, playing faro, and ruling on cases involving family members.
- The Tragic Disappearance of a Smuggling Sloop
Twelve people, including ten Chinese laborers and two young girls, are believed to have perished in the treacherous straits separating Victoria from the American side during a high-stakes human smuggling operation.
- Federal Customs Officials Arrested for Opium Smuggling
A sweeping investigation into corruption at the Customs House leads to the indictment of the collector and several inspectors for facilitating illegal entries.
- Union and Non-Union Seamen Clash at Port Townsend
A saloon becomes a battleground as a labor dispute over shipping jobs descends into a violent, armed confrontation.
- The Waterfront War of 1891
A two-hour standoff between striking sailors and city officials paralyzes Port Townsend, leading to arrests and a near-riot.
- Fifteen Minutes to Confess: The Morphine Trial of Port Townsend's Captain De Lion
A former mayor, Chilean consul and dry-dock promoter worth half a million dollars sits in superior court while his emaciated wife describes a year of morphine, delusion and a pocket watch set on the table between them.
- The Strange Odyssey of Princess Louisa
A royal daughter from the Gambier Islands, held in forced labor in Port Townsend, finds her way to freedom through the help of a sympathetic sergeant.
- The Beachcomber and the Princess
A Canadian man is jailed after a gruesome discovery near Victoria harbor, linked to an elopement with a Tahitian princess.
- Puget Sound Out-Sailed Every U.S. Port but New York in 1894
Customs records showed a young Washington district building an Oriental trade from scratch, even as falling wheat and lumber values masked the boom in raw tonnage.
- The Charcoal Burner Who Confessed to a Killing the Birds Made Him Do
Arrested for stealing chickens, Ah Wah turns out to be Ah Chung — the Port Townsend murderer who told police where to find his partner's body, and was saved from the gallows by two volunteer lawyers and a story about blue jays.
- The Forced Deportation of Mrs. Lee Fook Bow
Customs officials seized the steamer Umatilla to enforce a federal court order, ultimately compelling the shipping company to return a Chinese woman to China under the restrictive immigration laws of 1892.
- A Cook's Desperate Pursuit—and a Wife Who Wanted Out
Louis Pesardi followed his estranged wife from Seattle to Port Townsend, then shot himself when she refused to return—a domestic tragedy reported as a love story.
- The Fishhook Baited With Human Flesh
In a Port Townsend hotel, a sailor displays the improvised wire hook that kept survivors of the wrecked whaler James Allen alive after the disaster in Bering Sea.