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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 3 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 6 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1872 | 12 |
| 1876 | 62 |
| 1877 | 62 |
| 1878 | 31 |
| 1879 | 5 |
| 1880 | 13 |
| 1882 | 7 |
| 1883 | 58 |
| 1884 | 31 |
| 1885 | 36 |
| 1886 | 31 |
| 1887 | 32 |
| 1888 | 37 |
| 1889 | 85 |
| 1890 | 13 |
| 1891 | 65 |
| 1892 | 132 |
| 1893 | 130 |
| 1894 | 162 |
| 1895 | 227 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1897 | 9 |
| 1898 | 20 |
| 1899 | 27 |
| 1900 | 4 |
| 1902 | 3 |
| 1903 | 70 |
| 1904 | 44 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 4 |
| 1908 | 20 |
| 1909 | 61 |
| 1910 | 15 |
| 1911 | 6 |
| 1912 | 5 |
| 1914 | 12 |
| 1915 | 17 |
| 1916 | 33 |
| 1917 | 15 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1923 | 9 |
| 1924 | 3 |
| 1925 | 1 |
| 1928 | 6 |
| 1929 | 5 |
32 stories matching reason
- The Weight of Reasonable Doubt in Early Seattle
A century and a half ago, a Washington judge meticulously laid out the standard of proof for a murder trial, reminding the jury that a man’s life hung not on suspicion, but on evidence.
- The Juror Who Held Out for a Payday
A Seattle jury stalled a verdict for hours, leading to the dramatic arrest of a man accused of dragging out deliberations just to secure extra witness fees.
- The Price of a Capitol Seat
When the Territorial Legislature convened in Olympia, residents hiked rent to price gouge the lawmakers, sparking a legislative push to abandon the capital city.
- The Lumber Boom of 1887
Seattle's bustling mills are running night and day to keep up with the frantic demand for timber, driving labor wages and export prices to new heights.
- The Chamber of Commerce Pleads for the Railroads
Tacoma’s business elite pen a desperate memorial to the Northern Pacific, crying 'perfidy' as the terminal war heats up.
- The High Cost of Shipping Produce to the Sound
Yakima farmers complain that exorbitant transport rates are leaving them with nothing to show for their labor.
- The Deed, the Railroad, and the Piles in North Seattle
A waterfront owner blocks railroad crews from driving piles in front of his North Seattle property while a right-of-way deed sits unsigned in New York.
- The Health Officer's Boycott
A shipping standoff at the Seattle wharf reveals the messy intersection of port labor, professional fees, and city bureaucracy.
- The False Alarm That Almost Set Seattle Afire
When an unfounded panic about an anti-Chinese uprising brought the Governor and the state militia to Seattle, a tense city collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
- The Seattle Rail Boom of 1888
A massive new contract with a Canadian firm promises to connect Seattle to the transcontinental rail line, fueling the city's rapid, foundation-building growth.
- The Gift of Block 88
When George Kinnear gifted a plot of land for a city park in 1888, he demanded the city clear the dead trees and build a fence, sparking a long-term vision for Seattle's public spaces.
- The Strange Legal Battle of Two Men Claiming One Wife
A quarrel between two men over a woman leads to a courtroom standoff in Seattle, revealing a messy web of bigamy, divorce, and personal vendettas.
- The Unseen Crime Wave in Early Seattle
A local report exposes how the Seattle police force in the late 1880s suppressed news of burglaries to keep them out of the papers, hoping to solve the crimes quietly—with disastrous, ineffective results.
- The Secret Railway Building Under Seattle’s Streets
While the city slept, a mysterious construction crew pushed a new railway line through the downtown core, dodging private lots and baffling local observers.
- The Myth of Labor Displacement
An 1887 editorial piece argues that fears of Chinese laborers 'stealing' work are baseless, claiming they fill roles white workers refuse to take.
- The Forgotten Fortune in the Chapin Mine
A Tacoma man claims he was cut out of a million-dollar mineral discovery that sparked a heated legal battle in the Washington Territory.
- The Tragedy of a Deserted Mother on the Seattle Waterfront
A young woman, abandoned by an abusive husband, finds herself destitute and desperate for passage back home to Portland.
- The Waterfront Property War: A Seattle Legal Standoff
A real estate battle over water frontage reveals the cutthroat competition between rival companies in 1887 Seattle.
- The Forgotten Dry Dock: Seattle's Missed Opportunity
In 1887, a committee’s failure to finalize a dry dock project drove local jobs away, forcing the city to reckon with the consequences of industrial stagnation.
- The Price of Resistance: Seattle Unions Take On 'Dark' Boarding House Practices
While Seattle’s 1887 press was full of land speculation and railroad hype, a quiet labor dispute reveals how maritime workers fought back against predatory rooming house keepers who swindled sailors out of their hard-earned pay.
- The Broken Promise of the University
A bitter civic dispute over why the territorial university moved from Port Townsend to Seattle, revealing 19th-century political maneuvering and broken handshakes.
- The Temperance Debate in Seattle
A look at the Women's Christian Temperance Union’s push for high license fees in Seattle and the broader fight for liquor regulation in the late 1880s.
- The Unsolved Murder of John Smith
A Scottish laborer is found beaten to death on the roadside, his pockets empty and his identity a mystery to the local coroner’s jury.
- Showdown at Cedar Mountain
Striking coal miners in King County confront non-union workers, forcing the Sheriff to intervene as tensions boil over at the mines.
- The Wealth of the Nation Trapped in the Vaults
A century and a half ago, President Grover Cleveland grappled with a modern-sounding crisis: federal budget surpluses causing economic panic, skyrocketing costs for common goods, and the crushing weight of a tariff system on working families.