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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 4 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1872 | 9 |
| 1876 | 50 |
| 1877 | 62 |
| 1878 | 31 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 4 |
| 1883 | 38 |
| 1884 | 22 |
| 1885 | 52 |
| 1886 | 17 |
| 1887 | 23 |
| 1888 | 29 |
| 1889 | 59 |
| 1890 | 20 |
| 1891 | 80 |
| 1892 | 135 |
| 1893 | 136 |
| 1894 | 130 |
| 1895 | 173 |
| 1897 | 3 |
| 1898 | 9 |
| 1899 | 25 |
| 1900 | 3 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 62 |
| 1904 | 70 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 5 |
| 1908 | 29 |
| 1909 | 92 |
| 1910 | 23 |
| 1911 | 8 |
| 1912 | 3 |
| 1914 | 16 |
| 1915 | 10 |
| 1916 | 30 |
| 1917 | 11 |
| 1918 | 2 |
| 1923 | 7 |
| 1924 | 10 |
| 1925 | 4 |
| 1929 | 3 |
23 stories matching light
- The Deadly Sidewalks of Old Seattle
A local minister’s tumble into a 'horrible pit' sparks public outrage over the city’s treacherous, poorly lit, and uneven walkways.
- The Jailbreak of the Electrician Who Sabotaged the City's Power
After serving months in prison for destroying the Seattle Electric Light Company’s equipment, a disgruntled former employee walked out of the mill in borrowed clothes.
- The Great Seattle Oyster War
When Colonel Jim Steel discovered a legal loophole to seize Seattle’s tide flats for private oyster farming, he triggered a chaotic race against a major land company.
- The Open Sewer at the Center of Town
A pedestrian’s fall into an unguarded sewer trench in front of the Odd Fellows Hall sparks a legal battle over municipal negligence in Seattle.
- The Brutal Work of Boring Stampede Tunnel
Deep in the Cascades, a reporter documents the grueling labor conditions of the men carving the Northern Pacific’s Stampede Tunnel through the mountain’s gut.
- The Night the Milton Sawmill Burned
A late-night inferno consumes local businesses and a storehouse, leaving a rural community in financial ruin with no insurance to soften the blow.
- The Midnight Elopement of the Kitsap Valley
A teenage daughter vanishes into the night with a farmhand, sparking a desperate manhunt across the Washington Territory.
- The Railway King's Monopoly Game
A rare glimpse into the backroom dealings of 1887 Seattle, where coal and rail barons haggled over the city's infrastructure and the 'survival of the fittest'.
- The Unprecedented Heatwave of 1887
As temperatures soared to over 100 degrees, Seattle grappled with a record-breaking heat spell that left dozens dead and the city in a state of exhaustion.
- The Scandal of the County Treasury
After years of whispers regarding the administration of the former county treasurer, a grand jury finally returns a true bill of indictment for forgery.
- The Strange Tale of Henry B. Mayo
A Seattle death, a suicide note, and a landlord's theory that a man took his own life to save a condemned killer from the gallows.
- When the Law Stops the City
A judicial ruling in Tacoma paralyzes street improvements, sparking a bitter feud between city officials and property owners.
- The Forgotten Panic Over 'Pauper Immigration'
An 1887 editorial reveals how Seattle's civic leaders—and the nation—framed foreign labor as a social and financial 'drain,' echoing the xenophobic rhetoric of modern political debates.
- The 'Dead Line' at the San Francisco Store
Before it became a retail hub, the basement of the San Francisco store in Seattle served as a federal jail where prisoners waited for trial while playing cards and bartering for tobacco.
- The Rivalry That Built the Sound
In 1887, C.B. Wright, a key figure in the development of Tacoma, reflects on the 'nip and go' panic that forced the Northern Pacific terminus to choose between Tacoma and Seattle.
- The Great Maple Valley Bear Panic
When a black bear wandered into their backyard, a frontier couple abandoned their home and fled on horseback to escape the 'ferocious' beast.
- The Iron Horse Comes to Tacoma
Thousands gather at the waterfront in 1887 to witness the arrival of the first direct Northern Pacific train from the East, marking a new era of connectivity for the Pacific Northwest.
- The Hidden Hoard of Seattle's Recluse
When two elderly men were found dead in a filthy, squalid room, a subsequent search revealed a small fortune stashed in bedposts and rags.
- The Sting on Washington Street
A bold bribery attempt backfires when a Seattle constable and a city official lure a man into a trap, leading to a dramatic arrest.
- Locked Away for Being a Stranger
A Seattle man traveling to meet his brother in Tacoma finds himself swept up in a case of mistaken identity, thrown into a filthy, unventilated jail cell, and ignored by officials despite his pleas for evidence.
- The Hidden Anarchist Dens of Old Seattle
A reporter goes undercover into the city's dimly lit saloons to find the radicals, the red-eyed agitators, and the illicit literature that supposedly threatened the order of the growing town.
- English Homesteader Runs Out of Money Near Seattle
An immigrant family struggling to clear their homestead near Seattle loses their only daughter and everything they own to a tragic logging accident.
- The 'Novelty' Harness That Changed Farm Life
A skeptical farmer encounters a bizarre, iron-framed invention that promises to revolutionize how horses work the land.