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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 23 |
| 1877 | 24 |
| 1878 | 10 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 7 |
| 1882 | 6 |
| 1883 | 28 |
| 1884 | 25 |
| 1885 | 62 |
| 1886 | 32 |
| 1887 | 28 |
| 1888 | 24 |
| 1889 | 74 |
| 1890 | 7 |
| 1891 | 72 |
| 1892 | 246 |
| 1893 | 268 |
| 1894 | 211 |
| 1895 | 145 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1898 | 4 |
| 1899 | 66 |
| 1900 | 3 |
| 1902 | 4 |
| 1903 | 108 |
| 1904 | 154 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 6 |
| 1908 | 11 |
| 1909 | 161 |
| 1910 | 23 |
| 1911 | 11 |
| 1912 | 3 |
| 1914 | 18 |
| 1915 | 10 |
| 1916 | 17 |
| 1917 | 13 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 3 |
| 1925 | 2 |
23 stories matching polic
- The Man Who Fought the Law: Riley’s Brawl with Seattle Police
In July 1876, a drunken man named Riley didn't just resist arrest—he dismantled the entire police force. It took bystanders to finally pin him down.
- City Hall's Belt-Tightening Cost Two Officers Their Badges
Facing a sudden budget crunch in 1876, the Seattle City Council moves to dismiss two members of the police force to balance the books.
- The Taxation Trap: How Seattle’s Liquor Licenses Were Feeding the County, Not the City
In 1876, a territorial newspaper railed against a fiscal injustice: Seattle taxpayers were footing the bill for policing and street maintenance, while the county kept the revenue from liquor licenses sold within city limits.
- Bullets Through the Parlor: A Waterfront Shooting Spree Terrifies a Seattle Family
A late-night rifle-and-revolver crowd near Stone & Burnett's wharf has turned Mrs. P. Andrews's house into a target, and police still cannot find the shooters.
- The Strange Quiet of 1876 Seattle
After the Fourth of July celebrations, the city fell into an eerie, total stillness that unsettled its local boosters.
- The Man Who Couldn't Sleep: A Murderer's Five-Year Nightmare Ends in Seattle
William Devitt, a fugitive from a Pennsylvania railroad murder, surrenders to Seattle police after five years of wandering the South, claiming his conscience has finally caught up with him.
- The Alpine Music of South Seattle
South Seattle residents protest the discordant 'Alpine music' of roaming livestock that kept the neighborhood awake.
- The Man Who Shot at a Chinese Girl and Then Tried to Fight the Police
A drunken brawl on Washington Street ends with a drunkard in irons, revealing the volatile mix of frontier lawlessness and early civic order in Seattle.
- The Boy Who Ran a Mile for a Handkerchief
A Seattle youth sprints down Wayne Street to stop an excursion boat, not to catch his sister, but because she left her flirtation handkerchief behind.
- The Great Snohomish Brawl: A Night of Blood and Broken Bones
A chaotic street fight in downtown Snohomish left one man dead and several others injured, sparking a grand jury investigation into the town's declining morality.
- The Night the Burglar Met a Bullet: A Seattle Homeowner’s Close Call
In October 1876, Mr. Morehouse of First Street didn't just call the police—he fired back at a window-breaker, sending the thief fleeing with a bullet in his coat.
- A Violent Saloon Brawl on the Waterfront
A simmering business dispute over fifty dollars turns into a brutal ambush with a club in a Seattle saloon.
- The Call to Organize the Militia
With the shadow of the Indian War and Custer’s defeat looming, the paper calls for a organized militia to protect the Puget Sound region.
- The Shadow Ledger: Seattle’s Monthly Arrest List
A raw, unfiltered tally of twenty-nine arrests made in June 1878 exposes the policing of Seattle’s streets—where poverty, Indigeneity, and ethnic status shaped the reach of the law.
- The Election Week Hangover
A Seattle saloon keeper closes shop to avoid brawls as partisan fever turns his establishment into a battleground.
- The Ludlow Saloon Shield: How a Mill Worker’s Beating Was Ignored by the Law
In Port Gamble, Washington Territory, a brutal assault on an edgerman was dismissed by a local justice of the peace, leaving the victim powerless against his attacker in a display of judicial indifference.
- The passing of a pioneer sheriff
Edwin T. Dodge, a veteran of the California gold rush and early lawman who helped dismantle legendary highwayman gangs, has died at the Occidental Hotel.
- The Nerve-Wracking Election of 1876
As Seattle waited on the results of a razor-thin presidential race, telegraph wires buzzed with conflicting claims that would eventually decide the future of the nation.
- The Siege at the St. Charles Hotel
A young woman recounts a harrowing night of confinement after a local man tricked her into his room, only to be met with a public denial and claims of 'blackmailing.'
- The Perilous Steam Bath of 1876
A Nevadan visitor to a Seattle Turkish bathhouse finds himself in a comedic, sweltering hostage situation over the reputation of his famous family name.
- The Night of the Knives: Snohomish Councilman and Printer Attacked in Coordinated Assault
Two men were ambushed on Third Street within hours of each other; one beaten with an iron bar, the other held at knifepoint. The paper warns that 'a general preparation for self-defense' may soon be necessary.
- Grand Jury Exposes Seattle Brothels and Liquor Sales to Native Americans
In September 1876, a King County grand jury reported widespread lawlessness in Seattle, including indictments for selling liquor to Native Americans, running gambling houses, and maintaining public nuisances.
- The Floor Gives Way: Panic and Death at Seattle’s Morris Opera House
A grand opening night turns into a nightmare when the second-story floor of the newly converted theater collapses into the stables below, killing several and injuring dozens in one of the city's earliest major disasters.