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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 3 |
| 1858 | 13 |
| 1859 | 27 |
| 1860 | 6 |
| 1861 | 6 |
| 1863 | 5 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 11 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1879 | 5 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 56 |
| 1884 | 25 |
| 1885 | 43 |
| 1886 | 26 |
| 1887 | 70 |
| 1888 | 34 |
| 1889 | 76 |
| 1890 | 6 |
| 1891 | 48 |
| 1892 | 267 |
| 1893 | 263 |
| 1894 | 243 |
| 1895 | 182 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 7 |
| 1899 | 30 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 64 |
| 1904 | 848 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 7 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 758 |
| 1910 | 5 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 3 |
| 1916 | 9 |
| 1917 | 5 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 4 |
| 1925 | 1 |
3,195 stories
- Elevator Mishap at Hunt Mottet Hardware
A 14-year-old employee was critically injured while operating a freight elevator in downtown Tacoma.
- Explosion Rocks Rooming House on Pacific Avenue
A defective chimney sparks a blaze in a three-story rooming house, leading to a mysterious explosion that shook the entire structure.
- A Whitworth Student's Despair
After reading 'trashy' novels, a 16-year-old student attempts suicide twice in one day.
- A Detective's Bizarre Extortion Claim
A Tacoma private investigator is accused of kidnapping a woman who claims he harassed her after a dispute over a $1,000 demand.
- The Saloonkeeper’s Misrepresented Nationality
A group of Norwegian citizens in Tacoma take a public stand against a local businessman claiming their heritage for political gain.
- A Mysterious Death at the Asylum
A state official dies suddenly at the Fort Steilacoom asylum, sparking local rumors and questions about the workplace environment.
- The Great Moonlight Water Pipe Heist
The Tacoma Light and Water Company sues the city after the Mayor and Board of Public Works seized their pipes under the cover of darkness.
- A Rope of Rags, a Jar of Coal Oil, and a Tacoma Arson Plot
Fire Chief Bruemmer found a carefully laid fuse running through a mortgaged tenement—just before the owner left town for Neah Bay.
- A Wife Followed Her Husband to Tacoma. Then She Swallowed Laudanum.
William Woodard's wife tracked him from Portland to the Auburn House, where she found him living with Mollie Agnew. A suicide attempt, an adultery charge and a stack of newspaper clippings followed.
- Three Banks, One Creamery, and a Race Against the Clock
Seattle and Tacoma banks claw over the last assets of an insolvent creamery, ending with a sheriff's sprint to the wharf before an injunction could land.
- The Iron Horse Comes to Tacoma
Thousands gather at the waterfront in 1887 to witness the arrival of the first direct Northern Pacific train from the East, marking a new era of connectivity for the Pacific Northwest.
- The Great Buckley Fire Wipes Out East Main Street
A lumber town’s business district is reduced to ash after a mill fire jumps the tracks and consumes an entire city block.
- The General Who Laid Out Tacoma
Maj. Gen. John W. Sprague—Northern Pacific superintendent, Tacoma's first mayor and a founder of its bank and chamber—died at 74, leaving a city he helped place on the map.
- The Milwaukee Road Connects Tacoma to the East
Construction crews drive the final spike on the new rail line, cementing a direct path from Tacoma to Chicago.
- The Decoy in the Rubbish Heap: How Tacoma Residents Outsmarted a Private Detective
When a notorious private eye attempted to frame two young express employees for a phantom theft, their friends staged an elaborate performance to expose his heavy-handed tactics.
- The Disappearing Pioneer
A 99-year-old man, confused by his move to a new neighborhood, wanders the city streets all night.
- Large-Scale Land Purchase Includes Indigenous Waterfront Territory
A real estate investor secures hundreds of acres of Indian land near the city's growing waterfront.
- The Union Pacific’s Secret Deal: Tacoma’s Next Rail Giant Already Buying Land
While the city debates whether the railroad will come to town, Mayor Campbell confirms negotiations are underway and insiders reveal land deals in the Indian Addition.
- The Arsonist's Confession: 'He Wanted Me to Burn It'
A Tacoma man details his coerced participation in the Aurora Hotel fire, revealing a plot by property owner Ed Williams to collect insurance money.
- The Tacoma Coal Strike: When Miners Turned on the Overseer
A labor dispute at the Pacific Coast's only coke works escalates into a siege of an office and mass arrests, highlighting the volatile tension between mine owners and workers in 1890s Washington.
- The Smuggler's Shield: How a Seattle Customs Chief Defended Himself in Tacoma
In the height of the 1888 opium smuggling scandal, Chief Inspector Gardner takes the stand in Tacoma, claiming he was set up by political rivals to cover his own failures.
- The Great Land Ring of the Northern Pacific
Settlers of Washington Territory take on a powerful railroad corporation accused of hoarding public land for private profit.
- The Siege at Keets Mine
A desperate labor standoff unfolds as miners seize a Washington claim over unpaid wages, fortifying their position against the contractor.
- The Seduction of a Judge: Wickersham Indicted in Tacoma
Territorial Grand Jury Returns True Bill Against Probate Judge James Wickersham for Alleged Seduction of Miss Sadie C. Brantuar; He Arraigned and Given Until Noon to Plead.
- The Women Who Refused to Look Away
Tacoma’s most prominent ladies rally behind a betrayed young woman in court, challenging Seattle’s apathetic society to stand with her.