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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 |
2,116 stories
- The Brutal Spectacle at West Seattle
Protesters condemn the planned Fourth of July pigeon shoot as cruel and lacking in true sportsmanship.
- The Forged Deed of Law’s Addition
A legal battle over Seattle land titles leads to a rare court order impounding a suspicious document suspected of being forged in California.
- Queen Anne Taxpayers Fight for School Funding
Local residents mount a legal challenge against the county treasurer to ensure tax levies specifically intended for new schoolhouses are spent as promised.
- Street Preacher Faces Trial for Pioneer Square Sermon
A street orator's right to speak on public planking sparks a debate over whether the Salvation Army's influence creates a double standard for public space.
- When Seattle's Taps Ran Dry, One Citizen Took the City to Task
A resident of the city's eastern heights petitions the Seattle City Council over empty pipes, fire risk, and water bills—with sarcasm aimed at every authority from City Hall to the White House.
- Ballard's Post Office Moves Next Door to a Saloon—And Residents Are Furious
When the post office relocated to a building owned by saloonkeepers Cors & Wegner, Ballard citizens cried foul, accusing the mayor and postmaster of putting a public office in a den of vice.
- A Militia Camp Kickback Scandal Ends in a Fistfight
Tom Box, the Tacoma concessionaire at Camp McGraw, was reduced to the ranks after admitting he lied about paying for exclusive camp privileges — then he called Gen. Curry a liar and took a punch in O'Brien's office.
- Papers, Please: The Chinese Cannery Crew Inspected at the Depot
Sixteen Chinese laborers bound for a Blaine cannery had to prove their right to be in the country at Seattle’s Northern Pacific depot. One certificate was waterlogged; the photograph saved him.
- The Drunkard, the Mortgage, and the Burial Money
Helen Tracy told a Seattle judge how her husband gambled away their Green Lake property and even the neighbors’ burial fund for their child.
- Smoke So Thick You Could Not See a Block: The August the Sound Went Dark
Forest and peat fires from Lynden to Wilkeson filled Puget Sound with smoke in late August 1894. Seattle's weather observer promised rain within thirty-six hours, and Whatcom County counted its losses.
- The Dam That Shut Down Ballard
Fremont millers raised a timber barrier at Lake Union’s outlet. When Ballard’s mills lost their water, the fight went to court—after some talked of tearing it out by hand.
- A Norwegian Teamster's Last Will: Despair, Disease, and a Sweetheart Left Behind
Fred Syvrud, a 36-year-old teamster, took his own life in a Seattle boarding house, leaving his property to a woman in Norway and blaming an incurable disease.
- The Hop Harvest Wanted White Hands
As nearly 200 people left Seattle for the White and Green River hop fields, growers and the city labor bureau made clear that Native pickers were no longer wanted.
- The First Ward Has Not Yet Voted: A Rowdy King County Convention Picks Its Ticket
In 1894, King County Republicans packed Seattle’s Armory, fought over a contested First Ward delegation, hissed down rivals, and nominated a full county ticket in one raucous night.
- A Gavel, a Roar, and a Populist Ticket Born in Chaos
King County's People's Party convention at Turner Hall turned into a shouting, proxy-fighting, faction-splitting marathon—and buried Dr. J. Eugene Jordan and Jack McDonald on the way to nominating a ticket.
- The Whisky Trial That Ended With an Empty Chair
Charles Burns was on trial in Port Townsend for selling liquor to Indians. When the evidence tied his whisky to a Native man's suicide, Burns skipped bail and vanished.
- The Suicide Machine: An Olympia Pioneer's Meticulous Last Act
A 70-year-old bachelor rigged a gun, a bench and a string in his shed, left a note on a blackboard, and arranged his own death with chilling precision.
- The Madam, the Capitalist, and the Broken Door
Lou Graham, who ran a South Fourth Street brothel, swore out a warrant against a wealthy Seattle capitalist after a drunken spree ended with a slap—and a quiet cover-up.
- The Merchant, the Night Transfer and the Missing Man
Eighteen creditors accuse Simon Rumpf of hiding goods, diamonds and a Lake Washington ranch as his Richmond Palace business collapses.
- The Fair Band Struck Over a Late Paycheck — and Management Wired San Francisco for Replacements
When the musicians' weekly wages arrived a day late, several players refused to perform; the trustees called it ingratitude, and a thirty-piece band from San Francisco was on the next train.
- A Walla Walla Pastor Defends the Prison's Sunday 'Boxing Bouts'
Rector W. Law writes to defend Warden Coblenz and the penitentiary's Sunday programs, insisting the glove contests that scandalized critics were gentler than a schoolyard game.
- The Art of the Real Estate Hustle
A satirical look at the 'Sunset Addition' land boom, where maps lied and conscience was an impediment to profit.
- The Self-Help Gospel of the Wishkah Mill
An editorial urging local unemployed men to bypass wage labor and directly operate a shuttered sawmill to kickstart the regional economy.
- The Shingle Mill Girls of Cosmopolis
A local lumber mill defies labor union expectations by hiring a crew of women, sparking both ridicule and admiration on the Pacific Coast.
- The High Price of Delinquency
An Aberdeen taxpayer exposes how the county's tax collection laws inflate minor debts into heavy penalties for ordinary residents.