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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 62 |
| 1858 | 29 |
| 1859 | 52 |
| 1860 | 27 |
| 1861 | 101 |
| 1862 | 87 |
| 1863 | 69 |
| 1864 | 32 |
| 1865 | 11 |
| 1871 | 11 |
| 1872 | 140 |
| 1876 | 812 |
| 1877 | 678 |
| 1878 | 526 |
| 1879 | 64 |
| 1880 | 180 |
| 1882 | 130 |
| 1883 | 911 |
| 1884 | 499 |
| 1885 | 838 |
| 1886 | 492 |
| 1887 | 484 |
| 1888 | 440 |
| 1889 | 1,324 |
| 1890 | 287 |
| 1891 | 1,115 |
| 1892 | 2,855 |
| 1893 | 2,829 |
| 1894 | 2,116 |
| 1895 | 1,830 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 62 |
| 1898 | 196 |
| 1899 | 446 |
| 1900 | 114 |
| 1902 | 34 |
| 1903 | 1,332 |
| 1904 | 1,126 |
| 1905 | 124 |
| 1907 | 53 |
| 1908 | 351 |
| 1909 | 1,545 |
| 1910 | 413 |
| 1911 | 160 |
| 1912 | 73 |
| 1914 | 261 |
| 1915 | 300 |
| 1916 | 545 |
| 1917 | 332 |
| 1918 | 45 |
| 1919 | 5 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 18 |
| 1923 | 185 |
| 1924 | 151 |
| 1925 | 64 |
| 1928 | 14 |
| 1929 | 19 |
2,855 stories
- The Con Artist Who Played Barber on Marion Street
A fake detective who swindled his way through Seattle with a short-lived barber shop is now wanted for attempted murder in New York.
- When the Heavyweight Champion Knocked Out a Seattle Logger
Before he was a legend, John L. Sullivan brought his traveling boxing exhibition to Seattle, where a boastful local logger paid a bloody price for the chance to fight the 'greatest pugilist in the world.'
- John L. Sullivan's Seattle Takeover
When the world’s heavyweight champion brought his traveling theatrical troupe to town, the city went into a frenzy of gawking, impersonations, and mass hysteria.
- The Temperance Preacher and the Heavyweight Champion
When gospel temperance evangelist Francis Murphy visited a Tacoma theater to convert prize fighter John L. Sullivan to sobriety, he found the champion as stubborn as his reputation.
- The Trench That Became a Grave
Two workmen narrowly survive a catastrophic sewer trench collapse on Eighth and Marion, saved only by the quick, heroic actions of their fellow laborers.
- The Wood Yard That Taught the City How to Care
In the winter of 1892, a group of Seattle residents turned a South Seattle timber tract into a 'work camp' to provide dignity and bread for the unemployed.
- The Cow War of Duwamish Valley
A petty dispute over a farm animal escalated into a year of false accusations, forgery claims, and midnight police raids in pioneer Seattle.
- The Juvenile 'Stables' Syndicate of 1892
A band of boys from Spokane's elite families formed an organized criminal ring, stealing horses and sleighs to stash in a secret suburban hideout.
- A Mother's Death, A Baby's Lawsuit
In a heart-wrenching 1892 legal filing, an infant daughter’s father sues a doctor for $5,000, claiming malpractice led to the death of the child’s mother shortly after childbirth.
- The Science of Charity: Seattle’s 1892 War on Beggary
Before modern social safety nets, Seattle churches pushed a 'scientific' model of charity to distinguish between the 'deserving' poor and what they termed fraudulent street mendicants.
- The Street Preacher on Pioneer Square
A Seattle man, parading through the city with a Bible and an American flag, faces a jury trial to determine his sanity while his wife struggles to support their family.
- The Tacoma Pastor Who Challenged the Drums of War
While the nation beat the drums of war against Chile in 1892, a Tacoma minister took to the pulpit to defend the dignity of peace, challenging the government's rush to protect the honor of sailors who had been frequenting brothels.
- A Violent Reckoning at a Seattle Import Shop
After embezzling over $600 from his partners, a treasurer at a local Chinese merchant firm attempted to strike down his employer with a sword-knife, sparking a chaotic pursuit through the city streets.
- The 1892 Citizenship Crackdown on Puget Sound Fishermen
A newly enacted state law barred foreign-born fishers from working Washington waters, forcing an immediate rush for naturalization papers at the county courthouse.
- The Fifteen-Cent Shooting at Newcastle
A pay-day dice game in a company saloon ends in a near-fatal shooting, leading to a botched manhunt and a casual local acceptance of violence.
- Abandoned and Destitute: A Public Plea for Support
When an attorney abandons his wife and child in 1892 Seattle, the legal system proves powerless to help—until a local judge intervenes.
- The University Mutiny: A Student Protest Over Compulsory Drill
When the University of Washington faculty mandated weekly military training for all students, a group of undergraduates went on strike, claiming the time—and their dignity—was their own.
- The Opium Smuggling Ring of Pike Street
A failed nurseryman and a former grocer are arrested in a desperate scheme to smuggle opium in Seattle, orchestrated by a local 'fast young man.'
- The Snohomish Bond Scheme: How Outsiders Tried to Rig City Finances
When Eastern and California financiers tried to orchestrate a 'little combine' to depress the value of city bonds, Snohomish officials fought back.
- The Unwelcome Return of the Carpenter
When an injured husband returned home to Seattle after months of medical treatment in San Francisco, he found his wife had replaced him with a local fireman.
- The Short, Lavish Reign of a Newsboy King
After finding a purse filled with gold and bills on a Seattle street, a young newsboy went on a spending spree that briefly transformed him into the wealthiest, most generous kid in the neighborhood.
- The City Mission’s Public Plea: Feeding the Unemployed of 1892
Facing heavy winter demand and political scrutiny, Seattle’s City Mission defended its non-sectarian charity work, detailing how it provided thousands of meals and lodgings to laboring men during a harsh economic downturn.
- The Price of Virtue in a Growing Boomtown
Mayor George W. Hall rejects 'vicious' municipal profits from sin, grappling with the fiscal reality of a rapidly expanding, fire-scarred Seattle in 1892.
- The False Priests of Tacoma
Two con artists passing themselves off as Catholic missionaries hoodwinked a congregation in Buckley, performing masses and collecting offerings before being chased down and arrested in Tacoma.
- The Deckhands Who Walked to Edmonds
Two sailors, forcibly removed from their ship by union men in Seattle, recount a harrowing trek on foot to escape the reach of labor organizers.