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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1861 | 4 |
| 1862 | 3 |
| 1863 | 3 |
| 1871 | 8 |
| 1872 | 110 |
| 1876 | 555 |
| 1877 | 391 |
| 1878 | 306 |
| 1879 | 15 |
| 1880 | 142 |
| 1882 | 101 |
| 1883 | 537 |
| 1884 | 336 |
| 1885 | 624 |
| 1886 | 395 |
| 1887 | 350 |
| 1888 | 330 |
| 1889 | 838 |
| 1890 | 12 |
| 1891 | 362 |
| 1892 | 1,457 |
| 1893 | 1,739 |
| 1894 | 1,323 |
| 1895 | 1,115 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 8 |
| 1898 | 24 |
| 1899 | 372 |
| 1900 | 6 |
| 1902 | 7 |
| 1903 | 164 |
| 1904 | 90 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 90 |
| 1910 | 28 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 5 |
| 1916 | 32 |
| 1917 | 11 |
| 1919 | 3 |
| 1923 | 11 |
| 1924 | 16 |
| 1925 | 5 |
| 1928 | 10 |
| 1929 | 15 |
1,385 stories
- The Captain’s Silence: A Seattle Court Rules on Brutality at Sea
In a landmark Admiralty case heard in Seattle in 1872, Judge Jacobs holds ship owner E.A. Nickels liable for the brutal beating of sailor Frank Griffin, establishing that a captain's failure to stop abuse is an endorsement of it.
- The Governor’s Unacknowledged Son
A condemned prisoner in the city jail delivers a final, shattering letter to the Governor, revealing a secret connection that exposes the cruel indifference of the ruling class.
- The Abandoned Wife of Seattle's Founder
Dr. David S. Maynard claimed 640 acres in Seattle, then secretly divorced his wife of 24 years to marry another—a legal battle that exposed the heartless machinations of the city's early days.
- The Lawyer Who Sold Out the Settlers
A local editorial exposes future President James Garfield’s role as a corporate attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad, accusing him of betraying Washington Territory homesteaders to protect railroad land holdings.
- The Dark Mystery of Alfred Hoyle
A body found in Snohomish County sparks a tense inquest revealing labor unrest, anti-Chinese sentiment, and unanswered questions on the Seattle waterfront.
- The $6 Million Secret: How Seattle’s Future Railroads Were Sold to Washington Politicians
A shocking dispatch reveals that the Northern Pacific Railroad and its associated land companies were secretly divided among top U.S. Senators, Grant, and a 'army of lobbyists'—proving that the infrastructure shaping Puget Sound was built on political patronage.
- Thrown Into a Saw at Colman's Mill — and the Law Looked the Other Way
When Peter Feeney attacked a Chinese coworker in a Seattle sawmill, the man's foot was mangled beyond repair. The justice of the peace declined to hold Feeney, the prosecutor dismissed the case, and the town's paper argued the injury was just an accident.
- The Midnight Attack on a Chinatown Cigar Stand
A deliberate arson attempt threatens to ignite the heart of downtown Seattle after rags soaked in coal oil are discovered burning against a Chinese-owned business.
- The Man Who Wouldn't Die: A Seattle Gallows Horror
In a gruesome spectacle that shook the young Territory of Washington, Francis Epps survived his own hanging by mere inches, crying for mercy as the crowd watched him dangle in agony before being cut down.
- Seattle’s 1876 Anti-Chinese Riot Targeted Chinatown
A white mob swept through Seattle’s Chinatown in 1876, destroying property and threatening residents amid economic fear and racial hatred.
- The Midnight Death of Seattle’s Charter
When a judge declared the city’s incorporation invalid in 1877, the local newspaper editor went on the warpath to save the municipality from 'gratuitous anarchy.'
- The First Train to Seattle: A Lightning Ride and a City’s Arrival
On June 3, 1876, the Northern Pacific Railway blasted its way through the Cascade Mountains, delivering 100 Chinese immigrants and a crowd of hopefuls to Seattle in record time.
- The $100,000 Gamble: Yesler’s Great Lottery
To fund a mountain road, Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler turned to a massive, state-sanctioned lottery, putting his own saw mill and downtown lots on the line.
- Fire Sweeps Through Seattle’s Cooperage
A morning inferno destroys fifteen homes, leaving families homeless and rumors of child casualties swirling through the city.
- The Frontier Pulse: Seattle in 1871
A look back at the origins of the city, from the arrival of the first families and the Indian War to the rise of coal, sawmills, and the hope for a transcontinental terminus.
- The Forgotten Wife at the Center of Seattle
Dr. David Maynard’s 1852 donation land claim, which comprises much of downtown Seattle, is tied up in a legal crisis over the validity of his divorce and the arrival of his first wife, Lydia A. Maynard.
- The Shadow Over Seattle: A Call to Stop the Exploitation of Indigenous Women
A 150-year-old dispatch documents the systemic abuse of Native families and the trafficking of young women, challenging the city’s early moral indifference.
- The Forgotten Wife of Seattle: Dr. Maynard’s Double Life
A landmark land dispute in 1872 reveals how the territorial government attempted to erase the existence of Dr. David S. Maynard's first wife, Lydia, to secure a donation claim for his second family.
- The Mudflat Standoff: A Political Tug-of-War for Seattle’s Waterfront
In 1872, Seattle’s local press accused the Territorial Delegate of suppressing a crucial memorial to cede Duwamish mudflats to the city for his own electoral gain.
- The Legal Scramble for Maynard’s Land
A bitter newspaper feud reveals the messy reality of early Seattle’s land titles, where a complex divorce and a 'lost' first wife sparked a struggle over ownership in the city’s heart.
- The Delegate Who Sold Seattle’s Future for Five Thousand Dollars
A scathing editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch accuses Territorial Delegate George Freeman Willard of betraying Seattle’s interests—specifically the mud flats of Duwamish Bay—to secure his own political and financial gain, while simultaneously accepting bribes from rival railroad companies.
- The Siege at the St. Charles Hotel
A young woman recounts a harrowing night of confinement after a local man tricked her into his room, only to be met with a public denial and claims of 'blackmailing.'
- The Great Seattle Saw-Mill Lottery
A frontier town turns to state-sanctioned gambling as a desperate economic strategy to boost local development.
- The Great Seattle Saw-Mill Gamble
When the city's leading industry, the Yesler Mill, was placed into a grand lottery to boost the local economy and resolve debt, it sparked a frontier frenzy of ticket-buying.
- The Centennial That Saved Seattle: How 8,000 Souls Turned a Territorial Mist into a City
On July 4, 1876, despite being late to statehood and lacking federal funding, Seattle’s pioneers pulled off a spectacle of flags, steamers, and speeches that proved the town was here to stay.