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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 5 |
| 1909 | 3 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
30 stories matching written
- Supreme Court Refutes Prohibition Rumors
Governor Lister and the Chief Justice respond to public speculation regarding a pending decision on state-wide prohibition.
- The Great Railway Bribe Scandal of 1891
When the Northern Pacific Railway sent complimentary transit passes to Washington state legislators to influence a deadlocked U.S. Senate race, the blunder sparked a statewide scandal over corruption and corporate power.
- The Territory's Legislative Snake
A scathing critique from 1877 exposes the 'headless and tailless' chaos of newly minted Washington tax laws, exposing a system designed to strip residents of their property through administrative incompetence.
- A Call for Jewish Unity and Resilience
A historical appeal to the Jewish community, urging solidarity and the preservation of heritage amidst the challenges of the late 19th century.
- The Bureaucracy of Abandonment
Olympia’s land office is paralyzed by backlogs, leaving settlers and their titles in legal limbo while officials in Washington, D.C. ignore local pleas for help.
- A Political Dispute Over Railroad Taxes
A legislative records search settles a political feud between C.H. Warner and his critics.
- The Mystery of the Vanished Donation Claim
Thurston County officials try to purchase a poor farm, only to discover the original land claim may never have been finalized.
- The Fight for an Eight-Hour Workday
Legislators face intense pressure from local business owners to defeat a bill that would limit working hours for women.
- Governor Hay Forces Corruption Probe
A determined Acting Governor Hay forces the state legislature to investigate graft allegations against state officials.
- A Judge Too Reversed: Senate Blocks Allyn's Regent Seat
The state Senate refuses to confirm Judge Frank Allyn of Tacoma as university regent, citing incompetence, extravagance and a remarkable reversal record.
- Washington Senate Tries to Ban Election Pledges—After Being 'Buncoed' by the Anti-Saloon League
Lawmakers voted 27 to 11 for a 'freak bill' disqualifying legislators who promise support for bills before election, then added a rider against corporation lawyers. Legal scholars called it unconstitutional.
- The Whistleblower Who Was Silenced by the State
Blanche Mason, a deputy labor commissioner, accused Washington's governor and his labor chief of burying her reports on the exploitation of working women to protect big business interests.
- The Special Agent's Plea for Peace
Michael T. Simmons, newly appointed Indian Agent, calls for an end to liquor sales and unauthorized violence in the Puget Sound region.
- A $25,000 View, a Deed, and a Debt: The Land Fight South of Olympia
Ben Turner says George A. Barnes took an 80-acre donation-claim tract as mortgage security—then refused to deed it back after Turner tendered the money.
- The Priest Writes Back: A Territorial Feud Over 'Romanism'
A Methodist minister's warning in Olympia draws a sharp reply from the Catholic missionary he accused.
- Before Breakfast at the Wilson Tract
The Olympia Light and Power Company sent a crew at dawn to cut a roadbed through Col. Ben Turner's land. He vowed to fence it right back up.
- The Capital Cut Off
For twenty-four hours, the state capital of Olympia was completely erased from the Northern Pacific maps, leaving residents to wonder if their train line had simply ceased to exist.
- Rapid Transit to Eternity: Olympia's Kerosene Trolley, Minus the Matches
George Marvin Savage's homemade coal-oil motor car is about to carry paying passengers down to the Fourth Street track — if it doesn't explode first. Riders get accident insurance, and their obituary verses have already been written.
- A $5,000 Check and a Textbook Vote: the Supreme Court Says the Bribery Case Must Be Tried
Book agents accused of buying a state school-board vote with a five-thousand-dollar check get their indictment reinstated — and the case heads back to a Thurston County jury.
- A Withdrawal, a Broken Deal, and a Senate Nominee
Levi Ankeny stepped aside, a rival bargain collapsed, and John L. Wilson rode a fifth-ballot surge to the Republican caucus nomination for U.S. senator in Olympia.
- The Great Legislative Mess of 1877
A scathing editorial reveals how Washington Territory lawmakers spent their time sight-seeing instead of legislating, resulting in a chaotic pile of 'undigested' laws.
- The $3,000 Offer to Salt a Washington Land Claim
An Olympia land-office hearing turns on a state witness’s account of a bribe to fake a mineral discovery—and an expert’s verdict that the ground was worthless.
- The Petitions Were Honeycombed With Fraud—So Voters Got Referendum No. 3
After the Washington Supreme Court described initiative petitions as a 'house of cards' riddled with fraud, the 1915 Legislature passed a safeguard now before voters as Referendum No. 3.
- 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.
- Bureaucratic Delay, Bloody Quarrels: The Land Survey That Left Homesteaders in Limbo for 15 Years
Senator Squire demands answers from the General Land Office as settlers on townships 38-40 wait over a decade for their land titles, with boundary disputes turning deadly.