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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 56 |
| 1884 | 25 |
| 1885 | 43 |
| 1886 | 26 |
| 1887 | 70 |
223 stories
- The Jailer’s Trust: A Domestic Tragedy in Tacoma
A prisoner allowed a day-pass to visit his wife leaves behind a trail of blood and a horrific crime scene after a fit of uncontrollable jealousy.
- The Miracle of the Giant Powder Blast
A laborer describes his harrowing journey through the air after a catastrophic industrial explosion near Puyallup.
- Tacoma’s Open Letter to the Railroad Monopoly
A scathing council memorial accuses the Northern Pacific Railroad of breaking its promises, stalling city growth, and holding the harbor hostage.
- The Sham Inspection of the Northern Pacific
A whistleblower account of how railroad executives entertained government officials with champagne to secure unearned land grants.
- The Senator vs. The Railroad Barons
A fierce Senate debate erupts over the Northern Pacific’s attempt to claim land through a 'coal branch' built years earlier.
- Puyallup Reservation Lands Distributed
After a long period of waiting, Puyallup families have finally received land patents as the reservation is divided into 167 tracts.
- Bloody Conflict at the Tacoma Mills
A wage dispute involving a belaying pin and a pistol leaves one man shot.
- The Price of White Labor in the Sound's Salmon Canneries
Prominent cannery man George T. Myers threatens to abandon Puget Sound if local sentiment forces him to abandon Chinese labor for white workers.
- The Railway Hotel Trap
A scathing critique of a Northern Pacific Railroad ticket that forced passengers to stay at a specific Tacoma hotel to validate their travel.
- The Mayor Who Refused to Expel
When an outsider asked to ban Chinese residents from Tacoma, Mayor Jacob Mann stood his ground against the era's tide of exclusion.
- A Deadly Commute: The Perilous Rails of Tacoma
A group of railway laborers, hoping for a joyride around the city, encountered a tragic and fatal end when an engine struck their buggy near the wharf.
- The Wild West Street Brawl Between Two Police Chiefs
A power struggle in Tacoma turned into a street-side standoff, forcing residents to choose sides as two men claimed the title of Chief of Police.
- The Rivalry That Built the Sound
In 1887, C.B. Wright, a key figure in the development of Tacoma, reflects on the 'nip and go' panic that forced the Northern Pacific terminus to choose between Tacoma and Seattle.
- The Doctor’s Debt: A Patient’s Humiliating Public Seizure
A Tacoma woman's attempt to board a train to Chicago was halted in the cruelest fashion when a sheriff seized her luggage over an unpaid medical bill.
- A Miraculous Escape at the Old Town Mill
A worker's arm was caught in a drive belt, and his body was hurled through an eight-inch opening in the floor, yet he survived with only a broken ankle.
- The Political Pilgrimage to Steilacoom
In 1887, Washington Territorial legislators took a collective trip to inspect the state's asylum, but the solemn mission quickly devolved into a social affair that kept the real results hidden from the public.
- The Unlikely Bond Between a Convict and His Keeper
A rare glimpse of humanity inside the grim walls of a frontier jail, where a long-term prisoner and the man paid to guard him found a surprising connection.
- Henry Villard's High-Stakes Visit to Tacoma
The Northern Pacific Railroad president defends his company's delays and promises a new luxury hotel to soothe local frustration.
- Fatal Collapse at the Northern Pacific Rail Grade
A landslide on the Northern Pacific line construction site leaves one laborer dead and several others injured.
- A Captain’s High-Stakes Mutiny on the Sound
When the ship Richard III was libeled by creditors, the captain held a deputy marshal at gunpoint to make a daring escape.
- The Cheadle Point Shootings
A domestic dispute on a remote homestead near Tacoma turns into a violent, chaotic bloodbath involving a revolver and a desperate act of intervention.
- The Judge and the Brothel
A Tacoma magistrate’s attempt to move his court away from a neighboring brothel backfired when the City Council ordered him to clean up the street instead.
- 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 Tragedy at Meeker’s Cabin
A quiet day in the woods turns fatal when an open door and a gust of wind ignite a powder horn, destroying a home and claiming lives.
- Puyallup People Wait on Delayed Land Patents
A century-old battle for property rights reveals how corporate interests and federal delays threatened to dispossess the Puyallup people of their ancestral home.