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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 19 |
| 1894 | 8 |
| 1895 | 5 |
36 stories
- Vigilante Mob Lynches Two Prisoners at Whitman County Jail
A masked party of fifty men broke into the courthouse to extract and hang a convicted assailant and a murder defendant, while a jury slept just feet away.
- A Mob Hanged Two Men at the Courthouse. Then the State Argued Over the Bill.
After Hill and Parker were lynched in Colfax, Attorney General W. C. Jones ruled that the county need not pay for a coroner's inquest—and said the real hunt for the mob belonged to a grand jury.
- The Ghost of a Mob in Colfax
Decades after a violent public lynching left a permanent stain on the community, the citizens of Colfax still wake to find ominous reminders scrawled on the sidewalk.
- The Night Colfax Burned
A Chinese cook's kerosene mishap destroys the heart of a small Washington town, exposing the dangers of inadequate civic infrastructure.
- Violence in the Opium Dens of Colfax
A brutal feud between laborers in a remote Eastern Washington opium joint ends in a horrific shooting and a manhunt.
- The Mob is Not a Court of Law
An editorial reflection on the recent lynching of Bill at Colfax, arguing that a community’s failure to maintain a just legal system does not justify vigilante violence.
- The Local Press and the Mob
A critique of Washington newspapers that refused to take a hard moral stand against lynch law.
- When the Local Paper Cheers the Mob
A governor's push to prosecute the Colfax vigilantes draws a shocking defense from Whitman County newspapers—and a sharp rebuke from The Olympian.
- The Tragedy of the McDonald Family
A destitute family in Colfax is dismantled by the courts after years of poverty, illness, and local infamy.
- The Governor Condemns the Colfax Lynching Mob
Governor McGraw orders an investigation into the extrajudicial murder of two men in Whitman County, declaring that mob violence is no substitute for the courts.
- Tragedy in a Colfax City Well
Two workers were buried when a city well caved in, leaving one man critically injured.
- Marshal Narrowly Survives Jailhouse Shootout
A prisoner in Colfax, suspected of being a relative of the James brothers, opens fire on the police chief while being locked in a cell.
- The Episcopal Debt Scandal in Colfax
A creditor, failing to collect a debt from a church congregation in Pullman, seized the rival building in Colfax, triggering a local legal battle.
- The Night Colfax Built an Opera House
A secret crew of Spokane masons raised the walls of a new theater in a single night—while the town's electric lights conveniently failed.
- A Cabinet Pick Sparks a Land War in Whitman County
Fifty-six farmers south of Colfax protested Hoke Smith’s appointment as interior secretary, saying the Northern Pacific was taking title to land they had settled and cultivated.
- Colfax Bank Cashier Vanishes with $11,000
A small-town banker has absconded, leaving his depositors with a massive, unexplained hole in the books.
- A Tragic End in Colfax
A woman took her own life in Colfax after being forced into sex work by her husband, a gambler.
- The Irrigation Land Swindle
A confidence man posing as a land agent scams thirty-five laborers out of their hard-earned wages.
- She Took the Bar Exam Beside Her Husband — and Became Whitman County's First Woman Lawyer
W. H. Harvey and his wife, E. M. Harvey, of Pullman, pass their oral examinations in Colfax, making Mrs. Harvey the first woman admitted to practice law in Whitman County.
- The Year Palouse Horses Were Worth Less Than Hog Feed
With Eastern markets closed and thousands of horses starving on overgrazed range, Whitman County farmers began eyeing their herds as pork feed.
- The Whispered Land Grab in Whitman County's School Lands
A state land official reports that valuable school lands were leased for 'trifling sums' through a secret arrangement involving county commissioners, a Colfax lawyer and a banker—but stops short of naming names.
- The Expensive Cipher Mistake That Rocked Colfax
A bungled telegram message causes a small-town grain buyer to accidentally trigger a massive payout to local farmers.
- The Tramp Problem in the Palouse
Unemployed men camping outside Colfax have turned to raiding gardens and chicken coops to survive.
- The Juvenile Crime Spree in Colfax
A gang of boys, sons of prominent citizens, ran wild in a night of vandalism and theft.
- The Alberta Dream Turns to Ice
Washington farmers lured to Canada by immigration agents find only misery, frozen stock, and a desperate desire to come home.