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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 53 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 6 |
| 1860 | 12 |
| 1861 | 58 |
| 1862 | 65 |
| 1863 | 44 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 14 |
| 1876 | 9 |
| 1877 | 11 |
| 1878 | 7 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 35 |
| 1884 | 11 |
| 1885 | 18 |
| 1886 | 10 |
| 1887 | 9 |
| 1888 | 6 |
| 1889 | 57 |
| 1890 | 8 |
| 1891 | 212 |
| 1892 | 184 |
| 1893 | 105 |
| 1894 | 17 |
| 1895 | 111 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 23 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 94 |
| 1910 | 7 |
| 1911 | 11 |
| 1912 | 4 |
| 1914 | 11 |
| 1915 | 8 |
| 1916 | 11 |
| 1917 | 3 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 13 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1925 | 10 |
1,280 stories
- The Sergeant-at-Arms Breaks a Representative's Nose
A legislative debt dispute turns violent on the floor of the Washington House, leading to a physical brawl and a public reprimand.
- Legislative Turf Wars in the Early Days
Despite attempts to smear the new leadership as corrupt, the first Legislative Assembly of Washington Territory successfully organized its houses in Olympia.
- A.A. Denny Challenges Ambiguous Indigenous Voting Law
A territorial legislator objected to unclear rules for Indigenous enfranchisement, warning that local election judges would decide voter eligibility inconsistently.
- Celebrating the Lunar New Year in 1863
Olympia's Chinese residents celebrated the New Year with traditional firecrackers and tea, an occasion marked by a local editor with a mix of curiosity and cultural commentary.
- Political Conflict in an Olympia Classroom
A student is driven from school after being bullied for his vocal support of the Union.
- A Historic First for Washington Electors
Mrs. Samuel G. Cosgrove becomes the first woman in the nation to deliver a state’s electoral votes to Washington, D.C.
- Accusations of Corruption in State Capitol Planning
The Walla Walla Statesman warns that a proposed constitutional amendment is a front for a 'boodler' syndicate in Olympia.
- Legislators Duck 'Wife Beater' Bill
Public ridicule stops lawmakers from sponsoring a measure to punish domestic abusers.
- Political Seances in the Capital
Olympia’s socialites visit a trance medium to divine the outcome of a heated senatorial fight.
- Riot and Revelry at the Capitol
As the legislative session in Olympia concluded, members engaged in a chaotic scramble to loot furniture and equipment from the chambers.
- They Burned Letters to the Dead on Ayer's Hill
Olympia's Chinese community gathered at a hillside cemetery in 1891 to honor eight departed countrymen with roast pork, red candles, wine and paper messages sent into the next world.
- The Man Who Sold Olympia's Eastside Like Hot Cakes
W. E. Sebree platted a tract on the Eastside, cleared nearly $40,000, toured Alaska and Europe — and came home to a town he hardly recognized.
- The Hotel Fire That Nearly Stayed Out of the Paper
When a blaze at the Olympia Hotel drew a sensational headline, the lessee asked the Tribune to spike the story. The paper refused—and used the fight to demand fire escapes and safer ash storage.
- Olympia’s New ‘Keeley Cure’ Promised to Break Drink and Opium Habits in Three Weeks
Dr. Watt opens a Keeley Institute in the Union block, touting a round-the-clock regimen of medicine, hypodermic injections and baths — and applications are already arriving from across Puget Sound.
- The Temperance Hall With a Deed That Wouldn't Let Go
A judge voids a ruling on the Good Templars' Columbia Street property, reopening a fight over a free library, a moral clause, and which court had the power to decide.
- The council met in secret to dig itself out of the hole it dug
A closed-door caucus of Olympia's aldermen wrestles with the bond debt their own street work created — then adjourns for drinks, with the press locked out.
- A Late-Night Arrival, a Smuggling Scare, and a Quiet Release
Customs inspectors detained five Chinese passengers who came ashore from the steamer Gatzert, but a local merchant's word and a records check left them free to go.
- The Minister, the Miracle Cure, and Olympia's War on Drink
Rev. Napoleon Hoagland preached "salvation by science" at Tacoma Hall, touting Dr. Keeley's famous remedy for alcoholism and urging Olympia to raise money so the poor could be treated too.
- The Keeley Cure Comes to Olympia
Olympia's Keeley Institute promises release from drink, and the Tribune opens a discreet charity fund for patients who cannot pay.
- The Jail Was Out of Level
Fred Neuffer was due in court for embezzlement. Instead, Olympia’s county jail became the scene of a strange one-man investigation into whether the floor itself was crooked.
- Workingmen Open a People’s Forum—and Hear That Olympia Sits on a Volcano
Two hundred residents packed Columbia Hall for the first of a series of public-question meetings, where speakers warned of hard times and one declared the city was on the edge of an eruption.
- The Streetcar Builder Who Refused to Buy His Own Right of Way
J. R. Chaplin tells Olympia's council that asking his Westside Railway to purchase Block 48 would insult the enterprise promising the city its first mile of track.
- A Territorial Legislature Grants a Divorce
In 1859, Alice Davis asked Washington's lawmakers—not a court—to end her marriage, and the House obliged by an 18-to-3 vote.
- The Colonel, the Adjutant-General, and the Olympia Hotel Lobby
A state militia court-martial adjourns without deciding whether Colonel Haines was a civilian or a soldier when he assaulted Adjutant-General O’Brien—prompting a newspaper suggestion that O’Brien wear a baseball mask.
- The Bucket Brigade That Saved a Block
Two brothers woke to smoke and falling embers in a Third Street lodging house, then doused the roof fire before the department could even join the fight.