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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 6 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 6 |
| 1860 | 7 |
| 1861 | 7 |
| 1862 | 7 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 3 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 23 |
| 1876 | 104 |
| 1877 | 94 |
| 1878 | 58 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 23 |
| 1882 | 15 |
| 1883 | 107 |
| 1884 | 53 |
| 1885 | 102 |
| 1886 | 61 |
| 1887 | 73 |
| 1888 | 65 |
| 1889 | 146 |
| 1890 | 19 |
| 1891 | 172 |
| 1892 | 357 |
| 1893 | 423 |
| 1894 | 456 |
| 1895 | 512 |
| 1897 | 7 |
| 1898 | 33 |
| 1899 | 73 |
| 1900 | 20 |
| 1902 | 8 |
| 1903 | 195 |
| 1904 | 153 |
| 1905 | 9 |
| 1907 | 6 |
| 1908 | 49 |
| 1909 | 207 |
| 1910 | 58 |
| 1911 | 21 |
| 1912 | 7 |
| 1914 | 28 |
| 1915 | 18 |
| 1916 | 54 |
| 1917 | 18 |
| 1918 | 4 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 16 |
| 1924 | 12 |
| 1925 | 7 |
| 1928 | 4 |
| 1929 | 4 |
23 stories matching case
- The Yellow Flag Mandate of 1872
Before the age of modern public health infrastructure, Seattle's early municipal government passed strict, penalty-heavy laws to contain contagious diseases through quarantine and public shaming.
- The Case of the Empty Bond: A Cautionary Tale of Corruption in Walla Walla
When an elected official absconded with nearly $20,000 in public funds, the court had to decide if his sureties were still on the hook—even though they had signed a blank piece of paper.
- The Mayor’s Sidewalk Mandate: Seattle’s First War on Public Infrastructure
In August 1872, Mayor J.T. Jordan issued Ordinance No. 32, forcing property owners on Capitol Hill to build their own sidewalks or face fines—a stark early example of the city shifting infrastructure costs onto private citizens.
- The Battle for the Unsurveyed Frontier
A 19th-century court case in Steilacoom exposes the tension between local land speculators and the ideal of the 'actual settler' on the Washington frontier.
- The Delegate’s Missing Work
A Seattle newspaper calls out the territory’s Washington D.C. representative for feigning ignorance about a local land rights petition.
- The Scandal That Shook Seattle: The Arrest of Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin
In November 1872, two women were jailed for 'obscenity' after sending publications to a prominent broker. Their arrest sparked a frenzy in the young city, drawing crowds and highlighting the clash between radical feminism and Victorian morality.
- The Captain’s Silence: A Seattle Court Rules on Brutality at Sea
In a landmark Admiralty case heard in Seattle in 1872, Judge Jacobs holds ship owner E.A. Nickels liable for the brutal beating of sailor Frank Griffin, establishing that a captain's failure to stop abuse is an endorsement of it.
- The Legal Tangle Over 'Criminal Joes'
A judicial disagreement reveals the complexities of federal vs. local authority in 1872 Seattle.
- The Property Battle for Old Seattle
A lawyer and property claimant fight to secure titles to a sprawling Seattle donation land claim amidst territorial legal confusion.
- The Hidden Stakes in Seattle's Founding
A legal dispute over Dr. David Maynard’s 640-acre donation claim reveals the overlooked property rights of his late wife, Lydia A. Maynard.
- The Widow’s Claim: A Legal Battle Over Dower Rights
A historic Seattle property dispute reveals the complex and evolving landscape of women's property rights in 1872 Washington Territory.
- The Rowdiest Port in the Pacific Northwest
An 1872 report describes the brutal realities of the maritime labor market in Port Townsend, where sailors were coerced into service and returned to shore battered and bruised.
- The Disappearance at Skagit Pass
While railway surveyors pushed aggressively into the wilderness to map the Pacific Northwest, a young engineer vanished without a trace, leaving behind a cold case and a community's unease.
- The Forgotten Wife of Seattle: Dr. Maynard’s Double Life
A landmark land dispute in 1872 reveals how the territorial government attempted to erase the existence of Dr. David S. Maynard's first wife, Lydia, to secure a donation claim for his second family.
- The Horse That Stopped a City: How an Epidemic Ground Seattle to a Halt
In October 1872, a mysterious disease swept through the Pacific Northwest, paralyzing streetcars and commerce. As merchants turned to oxen and hand carts, the Territory of Washington faced its first major public health crisis.
- The Forgotten Wife at the Center of Seattle
Dr. David Maynard’s 1852 donation land claim, which comprises much of downtown Seattle, is tied up in a legal crisis over the validity of his divorce and the arrival of his first wife, Lydia A. Maynard.
- The City Council's Yellow Flag Fiasco
When Seattle officials passed a health ordinance to curb contagion, they refused to apply it to a notorious local brothel, sparking a public outcry against political hypocrisy.
- The Price of Patronage: Political Graft in Washington Territory
A scathing editorial exposes how federal appointments in the Washington Territory were treated as commodities, with government officials accused of padding their estates through systemic corruption.
- The Shadow of the Gallows in Early Seattle
A crowded courtroom watches as a man is sentenced to hang for a murder on San Juan Island, marking a grim moment in the early administration of justice in Washington Territory.
- The Newspaper Editor and the Political Bruiser
A brutal street assault in Olympia reveals the volatile intersection of frontier politics and an independent press.
- The Tyrant of the High Seas: A Sailor’s Knife vs. a Mate’s Revolver
In a dramatic trial before U.S. Commissioner D.S. Smith, witnesses describe how the first mate of the brig *Sampson* beat a sailor into paralysis with an iron bar and revolver, sparking outrage over maritime abuse.
- The Tax Swindle: How Seattle’s Printer Defrauded His Neighbors
In 1872, the publisher of the *Puget Sound Dispatch* exposed a collusive scheme between local tax collectors and a rival newspaper to overcharge delinquent taxpayers for legal notices, sparking a bitter war of words in the territorial press.
- The Delegate Who Sold Seattle’s Future for Five Thousand Dollars
A scathing editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch accuses Territorial Delegate George Freeman Willard of betraying Seattle’s interests—specifically the mud flats of Duwamish Bay—to secure his own political and financial gain, while simultaneously accepting bribes from rival railroad companies.