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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1903 | 19 |
| 1904 | 845 |
| 1907 | 7 |
| 1909 | 747 |
1,618 stories
- The Anti-Vaccination Protest of 1909
Tacoma parents, barred from sending their children to public schools, organize a legislative campaign against compulsory vaccination laws.
- The Price of Tacoma’s Railroad Growth
After a grueling two-year standoff, the city grants Jim Hill massive concessions in exchange for long-promised freight terminals and a new depot.
- The High School Garroter
A fifteen-year-old high school student is in custody after confessing to a series of violent street robberies in Tacoma.
- Race Riot Erupts in Opera Alley
A domestic dispute over smoke turns into a mob confrontation between a Black household and local Italian residents.
- Three Thousand Boosters Eat, Cheer, and Rebrand Tacoma
One night in February 1909: 3,000 boosters packed the armory, picked a new city slogan — 'You'll Like Tacoma' — and got sermons on land, liquor, and who should own the tide flats.
- The Mysterious Burial on South O Street
A workman clearing land in Tacoma stumbled upon a bizarre scene: a well-dressed young man on a bicycle burying an infant in a shallow grave.
- Police Purge Streets of Sandberg District Women
City police launch a targeted campaign to round up and banish marginalized women from Tacoma's downtown.
- The Guggenheim-Morgan Industrial Play for Tacoma
A proposed $20 million expansion of the Tacoma smelter and a new fleet of ships aim to cement a copper monopoly on the Pacific coast.
- Every Hospital Turned Him Away, So the Health Officer Decided to Open One Himself
A contagious patient with nowhere to go, a council that won't pay its bills, and a health commissioner who dug up a forgotten ordinance and stopped asking permission.
- The Price of a Transit Franchise
Tacoma’s City Council strikes a bargain for new railway depots in Old Town and the Narrows, bartering city streets for future development.
- Tacoma Grand Jury Indicts Mayor and Officials Over 'Social Evil' District
A sweeping probe into city vice and municipal corruption concludes with calls for reform and the indictment of the mayor.
- The Science of 'Degeneracy' in the Courtroom
Tacoma experts describe the dubious medical pseudoscience used to argue insanity and 'degeneracy' in high-stakes murder trials.
- The Saloon Keepers' Political Machine
Local liquor interests meet at Eagles' Hall to strategize against a mayor who shuttered dance halls and cracked down on 'sporting women.'
- Tragedy at the Gale Creek Coal Mine
An Austrian miner dies from gas inhalation after returning too early to a freshly blasted chute.
- Minors Found Inside Tacoma’s Notorious 'Vile Resorts'
A legal battle to shutter saloons and dance halls reveals that children were regularly witnessing and participating in the city's 'wide open' nightlife.
- Sewage Crisis Plagues Tacoma's East Side
The filling of tide flats has caused a sewer to back up, creating a public health nightmare for hundreds of factory workers.
- An Investigation into the Filth at Clover Creek
A reporter takes a trip to the Parkland outskirts to document the raw sewage, pigsties, and animal waste contaminating the city's water source.
- The Unfiltered Reality of Tacoma’s Water
An exposé reveals that the city's water supply flume runs through backyards and cesspools, gathering filth before reaching the tap.
- The Great Tacoma Freeze of 1909
A record-breaking cold wave and gale-force winds rattle the city, freezing pipes and sending houseboats adrift.
- Shocking Lawsuit Filed Over Faulty Electrical Socket
A local mother sues for $20,045 after her six-year-old son was paralyzed by an electrical jolt from a home light fixture.
- City Wins Long Battle Over Northern Pacific Land
Tacoma secures major property concessions worth half a million dollars after a two-year fight with the railroad.
- Grand Jury Digs Into the Restricted District
A secret investigation into local vice and government corruption begins, with former inhabitants of Tacoma's restricted district called to testify.
- The Disappearing Developer
A local real estate operator vanishes, leaving behind a trail of dishonored checks, uncompleted houses, and angry creditors across Tacoma.
- Shot by a Rejected Lover, Mabel Thorp Is Mending at St. Joseph's
Two days after Ernest Grant shot her and then drank acid to kill himself, the young Tacoma woman is healing fast — the bullet wound, the paper reports, is nearly closed, but the shock is another matter.
- One Punch in a Tacoma Saloon, and Three Days Later a Man Was Dead
A Seattle commercial traveler needled a dog, then a bartender. He walked the streets with a fractured skull for three days before he finally asked for a hospital — and his last coherent claim was that he'd been sandbagged.