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640 stories

  1. The Gold Rush That Wouldn't Wait for Spring

    A Spokane Falls merchant is summoned back to the snowbound Coeur d'Alene mines as fortune hunters pour in a month early — and the Falls positions itself as the gateway to the new El Dorado.

    Feb 2, 1884Spokane Falls ReviewSpokane, Spokane CountyWork & Pay · Boom & Bust

  2. Spokane's Board of Trade Fights to Save the Northern Pacific Land Grant

    In February 1884, Spokane Falls merchants rallied against a Congressional bill that would forfeit the railroad's land grant — and with it, they feared, the town's entire future.

    Feb 16, 1884Spokane Falls ReviewSpokane, Spokane CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust · City Hall

  3. The Boomer Who Lied About the Gold Fields

    Spokane Falls' paper takes a Minnesota editor to task for a wildly inaccurate account of the Coeur d'Alene mines — and in doing so lays bare the whole machinery of Western town-site hype.

    Feb 23, 1884Spokane Falls ReviewSpokane, Spokane CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust

  4. A Town Buys Its Own Railroad: Spokane Falls Bets $30,000 on a Line to the Coeur d'Alenes

    A packed hall at Cannon's Hall pledges $30,000 in minutes to build a railroad from Spokane Falls to the Coeur d'Alene mines — money not due until the track actually exists.

    Mar 22, 1884Spokane Falls ReviewSpokane, Spokane CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust

  5. The Town That Grew 'In Spite of Reason'

    A Walla Walla editor visits Spokane Falls and tries to explain its explosive growth — new brick blocks, crowded lodging houses, idle men in the streets, and a land office so busy it needs two more clerks.

    Apr 26, 1884Spokane Falls ReviewSpokane, Spokane CountyFollow the Money · Boom & Bust

  6. The Mayor’s Labor Pact: How Organized Labor Bought Spokane’s City Hall

    Mayor Byrne opens up about the 'organized labor' machine that secured his election and warns of a looming anti-Republican coalition in Washington State.

    Nov 11, 1902The Spokane PressSpokane, Spokane CountyCity Hall

  7. The Boy Who Squirted Ammonia: A Spokane Youth’s Descent into Infamy

    Officer Ike keeps a watchful eye on Tobias, the 'bad boy' of the Cineograph theater, after he becomes a fugitive from home and targets Japanese children with chemical pranks.

    Nov 11, 1902The Spokane PressSpokane, Spokane CountyExclusion & Resistance · True Crime

  8. The Scissors That Broke the Jail: A Spokane Prisoner’s Audacious Escape Attempt

    Convicted hold-up man Harry Kelly nearly freed himself from the county dungeon using nothing but a rusty pair of scissors and sheer determination, leaving Sheriff Doust scrambling to find who supplied the tool.

    Nov 11, 1902The Spokane PressSpokane County Jail, SpokaneTrue Crime

  9. The Vagrant Preacher: An Elderly Man’s Desperate Plea for Dignity in Spokane

    Paul Hoffman, a German Lutheran minister turned job-seeker, was arrested for vagrancy after collecting donations from churchgoers. In his cell, he wept as he recounted his fall from grace.

    Nov 12, 1902The Spokane PressSpokane, Spokane CountyLocal Legends

  10. Blood on the Diamond: A Baseball Riot Stabs Two Men in Rockford

    When a local baseball game between Tekoa and Rockford turned violent, knives, bats, and bricks flew. Two men were stabbed, several beaten insensible, and the town was left reeling from a brawl that started on the field and ended with arrests.

    May 27, 1903The Evening StatesmanRockford, Spokane CountyTrue Crime

  11. The Tragedy at Hootman Creek

    A double suicide involving railroad workers reveals a grim financial pact and the harsh reality of life on the Cascade division.

    Aug 14, 1888The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSpokane, Spokane CountyWork & Pay · True Crime

  12. The Tragedy of Trixey Leighton

    A gambling house faro dealer and his mistress are found in a grizzly scene in Spokane, leading to a murder investigation that revealed the stark, hidden vulnerabilities of women living on the social margins of the 1890s.

    Mar 30, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSpokane, Spokane CountyTrue Crime

  13. The Spokane 'Monte Cristo' Swindles the City

    A charismatic stranger dazzled Spokane with tales of gold and a lavish lifestyle, only to leave town with $10,000 in worthless checks.

    Dec 29, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSpokane, Spokane CountyBoom & Bust · True Crime

  14. The 'Apostle' of Lona Lake

    A Spokane man claimed divine powers to swindle followers out of their money and valuables, only to end up in the county jail.

    Mar 4, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSpokane, Spokane CountySnake Oil

  15. The Con Man Who Conned a Town

    Before he was caught, a master swindler known as 'Gen. Ward' charmed the elite of Spokane Falls and eloped with a banker's daughter.

    Mar 14, 1889The Yakima HeraldSpokane, Spokane CountyTrue Crime

  16. Spokane City Council Cracks Down on 'Box' Saloons

    In a move against the private partitioned rooms often associated with vice, the city council refuses to renew liquor licenses for establishments keeping doors on their booths.

    Jul 3, 1903The Evening StatesmanSpokane, Spokane CountyCity Hall · Nightlife

  17. The Unlikely Plea for a Young Man’s Pardon

    A convicted man at the state penitentiary steps forward to clear his accomplice, arguing that he was the sole criminal mastermind and his partner was merely a pawn.

    Aug 27, 1903The Evening StatesmanSpokane, Spokane CountyCity Hall · True Crime

  18. Jailed for a Five Dollar Debt

    A Spokane barber finds himself behind bars after a landlady uses criminal law to settle a civil board bill.

    Sep 16, 1903The Evening StatesmanSpokane, Spokane CountyHousing & Rent

  19. The Barber of Walla Walla’s Trail of Ruin

    After abandoning his wife and children to a life of poverty, a local barber's volatile affair in Spokane ends in an arrest.

    Dec 18, 1903The Evening StatesmanSpokane, Spokane CountyScandal

  20. The Great Baking Powder Confidence Game

    A charismatic stranger swindled Spokane canvassers out of their commissions, leaving them with piles of product and no pay.

    Jan 6, 1904The Evening StatesmanSpokane, Spokane CountyTrue Crime

  21. The Tragic Leap Over the Falls

    A man with a prosthetic leg made a final, fatal decision to go over Spokane's Upper Falls.

    Jun 18, 1914The Kennewick Courier-ReporterSpokane Falls, Spokane, Spokane CountyStrange But True

  22. Tragedy in the Spokane Excavations

    A laborer is killed and his foreman injured after a delayed dynamite blast detonates during construction work on First Avenue.

    Mar 9, 1898Adams County NewsFirst Avenue, Spokane, Spokane CountyWork & Pay · Disasters

  23. The Mystery of the Amal Bar

    A man lies dead in a Spokane saloon with no identification but a letter from 'Maggie' and a question about a baby.

    Aug 25, 1905The Kennewick CourierMain Avenue, Spokane, Spokane CountyTrue Crime

  24. The Ghost Railway of the Okanogan

    Investors are clamoring for dividends from a railway that exists only on paper and in the pockets of its promoters.

    Jun 8, 1923White Bluffs SpokesmanSpokane, Spokane CountyBoom & Bust · True Crime

  25. Spokane Police Chief Takes on City Hall

    A showdown erupts in Spokane as the police chief moves to abolish 'box rustling' in variety theaters against the explicit wishes of the Mayor.

    Dec 5, 1903The Evening StatesmanHoward Street, Spokane, Spokane CountyCity Hall · Nightlife

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