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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1882 | 101 |
| 1883 | 537 |
| 1884 | 336 |
| 1885 | 624 |
| 1886 | 395 |
| 1887 | 350 |
2,343 stories
- Seattle’s Early Infrastructure Struggles: A City Thirsty for Reliability
A pipe burst in the heart of Seattle left residents without water, forcing them to queue at public wells as the growing city learned the hard way about the vulnerabilities of its infrastructure.
- A Hero at the Waterfront
An elderly boatswain risks his life in the dark to pull a man from the frigid waters of Elliott Bay.
- The City Hall Scandal: A Contractual Nightmare in 1887 Seattle
City council members and contractors clash over botched public works, leaving taxpayers and laborers holding the bag in a classic tale of civic mismanagement.
- The Juror Who Held Out for a Payday
A Seattle jury stalled a verdict for hours, leading to the dramatic arrest of a man accused of dragging out deliberations just to secure extra witness fees.
- The Price of a Day's Pay: Seattle’s 1887 Labor Brokers
A deep dive into the predatory practices of late 19th-century employment agencies that thrived on the desperation of transient laborers.
- The Tragedy of a Deserted Mother on the Seattle Waterfront
A young woman, abandoned by an abusive husband, finds herself destitute and desperate for passage back home to Portland.
- Peter Kirk's Iron Works Signal Seattle's Manufacturing Ambitions
A bold call in 1887 to turn Seattle into a premier manufacturing powerhouse by offering free land and tax incentives to incoming factories.
- The Great Escape at the Seattle Dock
A man adjudged to be insane mounts a desperate, final bid for freedom as he is being escorted to the state asylum.
- The Jailbreak at Fort Simcoe
A notorious murderer escapes custody in Yakima, leaving the community on edge.
- The Great Population Bluff of 1887
A scathing editorial exposes how local politicians inflated King County’s census data, revealing the long history of 'boosterism' in Seattle's growth.
- The Great Seattle Church Lottery Scandal
Local merchants clash with church committees over a raffle scheme that allegedly inflated prices and exploited their goodwill.
- The Deadly Sidewalks of Old Seattle
A local minister’s tumble into a 'horrible pit' sparks public outrage over the city’s treacherous, poorly lit, and uneven walkways.
- The Waterfront 'Hotbed of Disorder'
In 1887, Seattle officials and citizens mobilized to purge the city's waterfront of the 'notorious' floating houses that provided a refuge for the city's poorest residents.
- The Ghostly Note of Joe Davis
After his wife’s death in Oregon, a man jailed in Seattle took his own life in his prison cell, leaving behind a haunting, misspelled confession that claimed they had died for each other.
- The Balloon-Powered Park Plan
A satirical interview with a Seattle developer reveals the absurd lengths civic boosters would go to inflate the value of local land.
- The Anarchist’s Pamphleteer
While the nation held its breath over the Haymarket executions in Chicago, a woman faced down Seattle police to distribute radical literature on Government Square.
- The Disappearing Contractor of Madison Street
A Seattle infrastructure project hits a snag when the lead contractor vanishes with thousands of dollars in city funds, leaving his bondsmen to face the bill.
- The Open Sewer at the Center of Town
A pedestrian’s fall into an unguarded sewer trench in front of the Odd Fellows Hall sparks a legal battle over municipal negligence in Seattle.
- The 75-Foot Coal Chute Plunge
A dock worker survived a terrifying descent through a ship's coal bunker, landing 75 feet below in the hold.
- The Forgotten Municipal Boarding House
In 1887, a Seattle councilman proposed a city-funded boarding house to protect immigrants from predatory boarding house operators and ensure the city welcomed its new arrivals.
- A Mother’s Fight for Her Stolen Child
After allegedly losing her daughter to a charitable mission years prior, a Tacoma woman turns to the district court to force a Seattle couple to surrender the child.
- The Seattle Rail Boom of 1888
A massive new contract with a Canadian firm promises to connect Seattle to the transcontinental rail line, fueling the city's rapid, foundation-building growth.
- The Unlucky Traveler of King County
A lonely worker injured on the job finds himself a pawn in a bureaucratic tug-of-war between the county and his employer.
- The Swindled Investor and the 'Silver Mine' Scam
A Seattle real estate dealer is arrested after selling fake claims to a nonexistent silver mine, sparking a heated legal battle and a courtroom confrontation.
- The Shadowed Rooms of Washington Street
A reporter dives into the underground 'stud poker' dens of 1880s Seattle, where railway men and laborers wagered their wages against the house.