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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 5 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1860 | 3 |
| 1861 | 8 |
| 1862 | 2 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 12 |
| 1876 | 23 |
| 1877 | 14 |
| 1878 | 6 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 10 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 20 |
| 1884 | 12 |
| 1885 | 26 |
| 1886 | 23 |
| 1887 | 27 |
| 1888 | 19 |
| 1889 | 53 |
| 1890 | 11 |
| 1891 | 59 |
| 1892 | 103 |
| 1893 | 129 |
| 1894 | 127 |
| 1895 | 146 |
| 1897 | 7 |
| 1898 | 15 |
| 1899 | 20 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 69 |
| 1904 | 45 |
| 1905 | 7 |
| 1907 | 3 |
| 1908 | 12 |
| 1909 | 53 |
| 1910 | 19 |
| 1911 | 5 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 8 |
| 1915 | 10 |
| 1916 | 22 |
| 1917 | 14 |
| 1922 | 2 |
| 1923 | 3 |
| 1924 | 3 |
| 1925 | 4 |
| 1928 | 3 |
| 1929 | 4 |
59 stories matching rule
- The State's Tax Grab
A landmark Supreme Court ruling forces Washington cities to share their liquor license revenue with the state, hitting Seattle for thousands.
- Homesteading Rules Tightened in Spokane
A federal ruling denies a homestead title, asserting that occasional visits to a claim are not enough to prove residency.
- The Salmon Bay Land Dispute
A court ruling strips a soldier's homestead claim, favoring university land selection.
- The Trial of Judge Sachs: A Legislature in Uproar
Tensions boiled over at the Capitol as legislators and lawyers clashed in a dramatic, gavel-pounding removal proceeding against a sitting judge.
- The Loophole in the Timber Claims
A federal court ruling clarifies that innocent buyers are protected even when the land they purchased was originally obtained through fraudulent timber claims.
- The Water Rights Dispute That Reshaped Kittitas County
A landmark court decision in Kittitas County clarifies the complex laws of water appropriation for arid Washington lands.
- Seattle's Justice System Ruled Illegal
A state Supreme Court decision against Tacoma’s police court has triggered a legal crisis in Seattle, leaving local officials scrambling to save the city’s ability to prosecute crime.
- The Great Timber Land Swindle: How Seattle’s Elite Claimed Farmable Soil as Forest
A federal commissioner rules that the lands held by Bailey and Hawley are actually fertile agricultural soil, not timber land, overturning decades of speculative entries in the Samish Lake district.
- The Lieutenant Who Beat the Army
A National Guard officer successfully sues the state to get his job back after a botched, 'railroaded' court-martial.
- The Unlikely Democracy of Old Seattle's Social Clubs
While business leaders built the city’s economy, a fragile web of tennis courts, chess clubs, and elite cotillion circles defined its social fabric in 1891.
- Judge Hanford Rules on Native Rights to Personal Autonomy
A landmark federal court decision affirms that Indigenous citizens holding land in severalty are not subject to the same liquor restrictions as those on reservations.
- The Capital's Election Was Run by the Old Rules
A Walla Walla editor notes the irony: Olympia used the old ballot form after the legislature changed the law, and now the election's legality is in doubt.
- The Water Company Wins the Right to Shut It Off
The state supreme court backs the Olympia Light Power Company's authority to cut off water service when a hotel falls behind on its rent.
- The Attorney General and the Taxpayer
The state supreme court rules that citizens cannot challenge state spending, handing a victory to the Attorney General.
- The Land That Wasn't: A Seattle Man’s Bid for Federal Territory
While Congress debates silver pools and election bills in Washington D.C., a local resident named Wilson files an application for public land in the vast, unorganized territory of Washington.
- A Constitutional Oversight Stalls the Penitentiary’s Jute Plant
Lawmakers intended to renew an old appropriation for prison-made jute, but a procedural misstep holds up $10,000 and suspends work until the attorney general rules.
- A Centennial Fight for Recognition
Local leaders urge the state to honor Captain Robert Gray’s discovery of Grays Harbor, fearing the legislature has sidelined local history in favor of the Chicago World's Fair.
- The New Rules of Mortality
Aberdeen codifies the role of the health officer in managing public sanitation and mandatory reporting for every birth and death.
- A High-Stakes Land Battle in Seattle
Secretary Noble intervenes in a hundred-thousand-dollar timber land dispute involving Michigan General R.A. Alger.
- A Tinker's Alibi: How Tumwater Witnesses Overturned a Tacoma Murder Conviction
George Stowe was serving twenty years for shooting Enoch Crosby on a Tacoma street. Then residents of Tumwater swore they had watched him mend tinware miles away on the day of the murder.
- The Unpaid Ballplayer: Seattle's 1891 Baseball Scandal
When the Spokane Falls baseball team failed to pay their players, the National Board of Control stepped in to change the rules of the game—and the era of player agency was born.
- Aberdeen’s $65,000 Waterworks Gamble
City fathers approve a bond election for a municipal water system—but only registered voters get a say.
- The Land That Wasn't: How Washington’s First Supreme Court Ruled on Who Owns the River
In a landmark 1891 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court settled a fierce dispute over Puget Sound real estate, declaring that private property lines stop where the tide begins.
- The Fake Telegram That Almost Started a Diplomatic Incident
A bored telegraph operator in Blaine sparked a scandal after forging a message from Secretary of State James G. Blaine to a town assembly, causing embarrassment for local officials and leading to an investigation by the Pacific Postal Telegraph Company.
- A Victory for Property Rights Against a Flawed City Tax
A Superior Court judge voids a municipal tax sale, finding that the city failed to follow mandatory legal procedures.