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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 3 |
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1861 | 7 |
| 1862 | 8 |
| 1863 | 4 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1872 | 13 |
| 1876 | 30 |
| 1877 | 29 |
| 1878 | 20 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1880 | 11 |
| 1882 | 7 |
| 1883 | 48 |
| 1884 | 39 |
| 1885 | 60 |
| 1886 | 35 |
| 1887 | 43 |
| 1888 | 49 |
| 1889 | 99 |
| 1890 | 14 |
| 1891 | 69 |
| 1892 | 263 |
| 1893 | 245 |
| 1894 | 250 |
| 1895 | 220 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1898 | 12 |
| 1899 | 37 |
| 1900 | 11 |
| 1902 | 5 |
| 1903 | 94 |
| 1904 | 104 |
| 1905 | 6 |
| 1907 | 5 |
| 1908 | 14 |
| 1909 | 109 |
| 1910 | 29 |
| 1911 | 12 |
| 1912 | 4 |
| 1914 | 8 |
| 1915 | 7 |
| 1916 | 25 |
| 1917 | 14 |
| 1918 | 3 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 4 |
| 1924 | 4 |
| 1925 | 1 |
| 1928 | 1 |
| 1929 | 2 |
30 stories matching refus
- The Ship That Could Be Scraped With Fingernails
A Port Townsend jury acquitted a sailor who refused duty on the bark Caroline Reed after the vessel was shown to be dangerously rotten.
- The Nine Men Who Refused to Work: Seattle’s First Labor Standoff
In December 1876, nine coal miners at the Seattle bunkers defied orders on the ship *War Hawk*, leading Commissioner Smith to commit them to jail until the vessel sailed.
- Showdown at the Seattle Wharf
A hotel runner's refusal to retract words during a wharfside confrontation leads to a dramatic, failed assassination attempt in broad daylight.
- A Crew Called the Iona Unseaworthy. The Cutter Called It Mutiny.
Before the Italian bark Iona could leave Port Townsend, its sailors refused to sail. A survey said the ship was sound; a revenue cutter's officer put the men in irons and warned them of a mutiny trial.
- The Wellington Strike: When Coal Miners Said 'No' to a Pay Cut
In July 1876, 70 miners at the Wellington colliery were fired for refusing a wage reduction, bringing the mine to a halt in a struggle that defined labor relations on the Pacific Northwest frontier.
- The Great Congressional Shutdown of 1876
A historic clash between the House and Senate left federal workers across the country—and the crew of a local Revenue Cutter—stranded without pay.
- The Jailhouse Serenade: Seattle’s Most Popular Prisoner Refuses Bail
Val Wildman, proprietor of the 'Vanity Fair' lottery, sits in King County Jail refusing to pay his fine. When friends and influential citizens gather outside to raise the money for his release, he turns them away—insisting his imprisonment is a matter of principle.
- The Swarm That Stalled the Trains
A plague of army worms in a Washington swamp grew so thick they brought a locomotive to a grinding, slippery halt.
- A Taxpayer Fights the Assessor for Six Years — and Loses
William Craswell petitions the county board to strike fraudulent assessments from the rolls and demands back the money already taken; the commissioners refuse, then set the rates for everyone else.
- The Partisan’s Price: How Civil Service Reform Cost a Delegate His Seat
In 1876, King County’s Republican establishment turned on Judge O. Jacobs for refusing to hand out federal jobs to party loyalists, revealing the brutal mechanics of the spoils system in early Washington Territory.
- The Unwelcome Neighbor
When a Seattle doctor suggested a medical procedure involving a neighboring family, a local woman’s sharp refusal revealed the rigid social anxieties of the frontier.
- The Lottery That Wasn't: A Commissioner's Moral Standoff in 1876 Seattle
While the county board approved a gambling license for Val Wildman to fund a road project, one commissioner filed a formal protest, declaring the legislature's authority void and refusing to legitimize vice.
- The Crew That Wouldn't Sail: A Mutiny on the War Hawk
Seattle's shipyard workers and legal system clash as the crew of the brig War Hawk refuses to depart, citing safety concerns, while the city watches a habeas corpus battle unfold.
- The Great Cedar Jam: How Settlers Cleared the Skagit River by Hand
In September 1876, a group of determined farmers and loggers took on the massive timber jams blocking the Skagit River, hoping to unlock sixty miles of navigation for their struggling community.
- The Justice, the Teen Bride, and the Proof of Adulthood
When a young couple arrived in 1876 Seattle seeking to re-validate their wedding, a skeptical judge found himself out-argued by the bride’s most persuasive piece of evidence.
- The General Who Couldn't Say 'No' to a Bigot
Lt. Col. George Newton’s stinging reply to a letter writer reveals the ugly underbelly of Seattle’s civic elite in 1897.
- The Whitewashing of Snohomish: A Town’s Cosmetic Makeover
In a display of civic vanity and political maneuvering, local officials have undertaken an elaborate 'whitewashing' of the town, leaving residents to wonder if the fresh coat of paint hides more than just grime.
- The Missing Payday at the First Seattle Railroad
Workers on the nascent Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad staged a walkout after a payroll error left them empty-handed.
- The Shadowy Streets of 1870s Seattle
A wave of violent street crime hits the city as a mysterious gang terrorizes residents and burns down a derelict dance hall.
- The Ethics of the Office: Fighting the 'Spoils' System in 1876 Seattle
A local official refuses to trade his political independence for employment, sparking a public debate over corruption, civil service reform, and the 'party hacks' of the Gilded Age.
- The Day the Earth Shook: Seattle Ship Launches Amidst Pacific Tremors
While the bark Forest Queen was battered by an earthquake at sea, local shipwrights celebrated the launch of a new vessel in Port Ludlow, marking a moment of resilience and growth for Washington Territory.
- The Struggle for Rails and Revenue in Pioneer Seattle
An editorial chastising local property holders for failing to invest in their own infrastructure, warning that without local buy-in, Seattle’s growth remains a hostage to outside capital.
- The Jail That Wasn't: A Tour of Port Madison’s Fortress
While Seattle’s own jails were often little more than wooden rooms with locks, the new facility on Port Madison was built like a fortress—iron spikes, windlass doors, and a view of the sound. But its warden faces a grim reality: no work for his prisoners.
- The Farmers’ Fight to Clear the Skagit River
When the government refused to fund the removal of dangerous log jams, local settlers and merchants took the job into their own hands, relying on community donations rather than official aid.
- The Silent Dangers of Seattle’s Early Boarding Houses
A 19th-century public health warning reveals the grim reality of sanitation in early Seattle, where overcrowded and poorly drained boarding houses became breeding grounds for typhoid fever.