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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 12 |
| 1877 | 13 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 13 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 26 |
| 1886 | 19 |
| 1887 | 15 |
| 1888 | 8 |
| 1889 | 32 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 8 |
| 1892 | 49 |
| 1893 | 56 |
| 1894 | 58 |
| 1895 | 41 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 11 |
| 1903 | 8 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1928 | 1 |
| 1929 | 1 |
406 stories matching commit
- The Tragedy of the State Asylum
A grim tally of patient deaths at the Washington State asylum sparks questions about the treatment of vulnerable populations committed from King County.
- The Judge Who Gambled Away His Office: Soderberg’s Dramatic Resignation
After the grand jury returned five indictments for extortion and malfeasance in office, District Attorney Joseph Soderberg walked into court, tendered his resignation, and declared he would repay every illegal fee to the county treasury.
- The Murder in the Bunkhouse North of Auburn
A young Japanese labor contractor was beaten and killed as he slept in a cabin on J.W. Nails's farm; a roommate was jailed while blood trails, a loaded musket and an opium pipe deepened the mystery.
- A Final Request for Mercy
A desperate railroad worker took his own life in a Second Street hotel, leaving behind a note confessing he was struggling to suppress a violent urge to kill.
- The Murder Foretold: Three Japanese Laborers Held Without Bail
A witness testifies that one suspect predicted the killing hours in advance, and a bloody butcher knife is found in a kitchen wall. Three Japanese men are ordered held without bail for the murder of a Japanese boss near Christopher.
- The Wife Asked Three Times: 'Henry, Where Were You Monday Night?'
Already charged with a double murder in South Seattle, Henry Craemer now stands suspected of a second killing after a cheap silver watch and a pillow-rigged fire surface as evidence.
- The Boastful Prisoner Who Talked Himself Into Federal Custody
Henry C. Grady came to Seattle to pay taxes on his Jackson Street lots and to deliver a mail-fraud suspect. P. C. Pomeroy had bragged his way out of an Oregon jail; the confession sent him straight to McNeil's Island.
- The Meller Murder Trial: A Widower’s Sobs and a Defendant’s Blank Stare
George Craemer goes on trial for the murder of Mrs. Meller, as her husband and two young daughters watch the jury chosen and the prosecutor promises to tie a hammer to the defendant.
- A Tragic End at Sea
A sailor suffering from mental health crises committed suicide by fire while aboard the schooner Siimson.
- The Man Who Couldn't Sleep: A Murderer's Five-Year Nightmare Ends in Seattle
William Devitt, a fugitive from a Pennsylvania railroad murder, surrenders to Seattle police after five years of wandering the South, claiming his conscience has finally caught up with him.
- The Yesler Will Case: A Dead Millionaire, a Missing Will, and a Widow on Trial
In a Seattle courtroom, prosecutors argue that Mrs. Yesler conspired to destroy her husband's will—while defense lawyers call the case a web of speculation and newspaper rumor.
- The Unlucky Look-Alike
A case of mistaken identity in a Seattle courtroom saw an innocent man nearly extradited for a Pennsylvania forgery because he looked exactly like his cousin.
- Judge Bell’s Hard Line on City Crime
A Seattle judge hands down stiff prison sentences for robbery to deter the criminal element in the city.
- The Vicious Old Man of the Jail
After a history of petty crime and violence, a troubled elderly man is committed to the state asylum due to worsening mental illness caused by years of dissipation.
- The Accused Killer Who Wrote to Seattle Police
Oluf Ellingson was found on the Lake Washington shore with his throat cut and a razor in his hand. Four years later, suspect Tony Miller’s letter still insisted he was coming back to clear his name.
- Under Fire on the Way to Spokane: Seattle's Militia Rode Into a Rail War
Col. Joseph Green's detachment returns from Spokane after escorting a mutinied company through burned bridges, ambushes and striker country—and the city turns out to cheer.
- The Chief's Daughter in the Shadow of the City Named for Her Father
A San Francisco Chronicle correspondent visits Princess Angeline in her Seattle shack and finds the city proudly carving her father's face on a new business block while his daughter lives on charity.
- The Letter That Never Came: A Seattle Man’s Despair Over a Broken Heart
E.A. Kilder took his own life at the Hotel Metropole after missing a crucial message from his sweetheart, leaving behind only a tragic note to his brother.
- Hanged on a Doubt: Washington Territory's First White Execution
When John Thompson was hanged in Seattle in 1877, many believed he was guilty of manslaughter, not murder. The Dispatch made the case that the law had taken a life it should have spared.
- The Tragic Delusions of a Seattle Engineer
After his child died, a railroad worker spiraled into a breakdown that ended in a tragic death at the asylum, leaving his family in dire straits.
- The Battle for the Waterfront: Seattle's 1892 Railroad Struggle
As the Northern Pacific sought to claim prime space on Railroad Avenue, the city council faced a pivotal decision: prioritize corporate rail expansion or protect the public from the dangerous, crooked 'ram's horn' tracks that choked the waterfront.
- The Dream That Found Two Bodies in Lake Washington
A double murder near Mercer Island, a suspect tried four times and never convicted, and a daughter's suicide—the lake tragedy that haunted the Colman-Patten case for years.
- A Seattle Wife Sued Her Husband for Beating Her. The Court Said She Couldn't.
Judge Osborne ruled that a married woman could not maintain a damages action against her husband for assault—even after testimony of a fist to the eye and kicks with heavy boots—sending the case to the state Supreme Court.
- A Bereaved Husband, a Faithful Dog, and a 25-Cent Room
Daniel Bauman took morphine in a downtown lodging house after his wife died at the county farm. His little black dog stayed beside the body and fought off anyone who came near.
- The Strange Tale of Henry B. Mayo
A Seattle death, a suicide note, and a landlord's theory that a man took his own life to save a condemned killer from the gallows.
Also about this, in other words
- A Counterfeiter's Conscience: How the Salvation Army Led a Seattle Man to Turn Himself In
Thomas Gorman, an iron moulder, confessed to making and passing $190 in counterfeit coin after a religious conversion, telling authorities he didn't care about jail as long as his conscience was clear.