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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 34 |
| 1889 | 65 |
| 1891 | 31 |
| 1892 | 246 |
| 1893 | 259 |
| 1894 | 239 |
| 1895 | 182 |
1,056 stories
- Tide Lands and Populists: Tacoma's 1895 City Hall Fight
Eight council seats are up, the Chamber of Commerce wants a business ticket, and the city's war on corporations may decide the election.
- The Opium Smuggler Who Beat Prison by Oversleeping
A Tacoma jury convicted Jack Forbes of smuggling 110 pounds of opium—but the defendant slept through the verdict, and the judge let him go until a new trial.
- Tacoma's Waterworks: A Buyback Offer Raises Eyebrows
Former owner C.B. Wright offers to repurchase the city's water plant—and a $50,000 commission to the man who brokers the deal—as contempt proceedings against city officials continue.
- A Medicine Man Buried on the Green River, Kin to the Chief They Hanged
James Bootsoish was killed by a father whose children he could not cure. A hundred mourners, a Catholic burial on the riverbank — and a family name that reaches back to Leschi and the war of 1855.
- The Union Treasurer Who Caught a Ship
Thomas Pentory left a letter admitting he was short in the books, then sailed for Britain. Tacoma wired Port Townsend to take him off the vessel.
- The Missing Warrants in Tacoma's City Treasury
Ex-city treasurer George W. Boggs swore he had no assets, then gave two contradictory accounts of a mining note and a pencil receipt for city warrants.
- Carrier Pigeons and a Cougar on Rainier
A Puyallup party pushes toward the summit, sending dispatches by carrier pigeon and shooting a cougar for its skin.
- The Roadhouse in the Woods That Kept Its Women in Debt
A raid between the coal towns of Wilkeson and Carbonado exposed a liquor-and-gambling dive where miners were fleeced and women said their clothes were held hostage for debts.
- A Newborn Found in a Basket Under a Tacoma Cemetery Bridge
A coroner's grim morning in 1895: an abandoned infant discovered in Oakland Cemetery, wrapped in a lady's undervest and calico, with no clue to its mother.
- The Theater Manager Who Vanished Without a Word
E. W. Lester, a popular Tacoma theater partner, disappears overnight, leaving his business partner bewildered and rumors flying.
- The Deeds That Set Tacoma Speculating
When Tacoma Land Company deeds to railroad magnate Henry Villard hit the recorder’s office, rumors of a Northern Pacific power grab briefly set off a real-estate boom.
- A Drunken Man, a Barren Tract and a Race to Freeze the Money
A Tacoma guardian says Frank and Mamie Aylwin plied George Ward with liquor and sold him nearly worthless land; a judge orders the proceeds held.
- He Burned the Deed to Prove His Love — Then Sold Her House for $1
A Tacoma wife says her husband coaxed her into signing away the family home, torched the paper to win her back, and secretly sold the property to his son.
- The $5,000 Price of Freedom: Tacoma's Wilcox Trial and the Taxpayers' Burden
A detailed accounting of the Wilcox murder trial reveals the staggering cost of criminal prosecutions in 1899, from $137 for a witness from Los Angeles to the fees for 76 witnesses and a jury.
- The Chief and the Demijohn: Napoleon Whatcom Dies on the Tracks
A former chief of the Puyallup, remembered for wit and wisdom, is struck by a freight train near the Puyallup depot — with a jug of beer at his side.
- Tacoma Looks to Seattle for Paving Lessons
Tacoma city officials plan a trip to Seattle to study paving techniques, hoping to resolve a long-standing dispute over the condition of Pacific Avenue.
- A Five-Year-Old Boy Killed on the Railroad Bridge — Weeks After His Father Died the Same Way
Little Napoleon Whatcom was playing on the Puyallup reservation bridge when an eastbound train struck him; his father had been killed by a freight train only weeks before.
- The Salted Sea: A Tacoma Captain’s War on the 'Blah' Price Gang
In a fiery letter to the editor, a local shipping captain denounces the collusion of dockworkers and merchants who inflate freight rates, vowing to bypass them entirely for cheaper ports.
- The Billy and the Mob: A Tacoma Street Arrest
A thousand-strong crowd gathered on Pacific Avenue to witness the chaotic arrest of a man resisting police.
- A Newspaper Feud in Tacoma
Tacoma Tidende editor Dick Blaauw filed an affidavit denying the Ledger's claim he was bought by McGraw's campaign.
- A Sleigh-Ride Saloon Roams Tacoma
A snowy Sunday in Tacoma brings out a uniquely rowdy mobile drinking establishment, shocking local citizens.
- The 'Smuggled Goods' Confidence Trick
Two men were jailed after attempting to sell cheap, domestically-sourced goods to the local postmaster under the guise of smuggled contraband.
- Camp Murray Soldiers Arrested for Refreshment Raid
A group of guardsmen, frustrated by poor rations, caused a late-night commotion by raiding a local fruit stall, leading to mass arrests and a disciplinary crack-down.
- A Red-Ink Grudge in Tacoma
A minor mail-tampering incident leads to a brutal cane and boot assault at a Tacoma boarding house.
- A Terrifying Drop from a Fir
An infantryman at Vancouver Barracks survives a forty-four-foot fall from a tree while attempting to catch a raccoon, an experience that left him shaken but alive.