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1. The Woman on the Yesler Dock

   Despondent and alone, a woman stepped to the edge of the Yesler dock ready to drown herself — until the first officer of the steamer State of Washington caught her in his arms.

   Jan 16, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

2. A House Lifted Off Its Foundations and Floated Out Into the Lake

   After five days of rain, Lake Cushman rose to record heights — eight feet deep on the hotel floor — and carried one man's house bodily across the clearing into the water.

   Jan 18, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerLake CushmanDisasters

3. A Winter Expedition Saw Steam on Rainier—and Asked if the Mountain Was Awake

   In December 1895, a Post-Intelligencer party climbed to 9,000 feet, reported smoke and steam from the summit, and left the public demanding proof that Washington's sentinel was an active volcano.

   Jan 18, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

4. The 1895 Plan to Photograph Suspected Voters at the Polls

   A Washington legislator proposed stationing photographers at polling places to snap 'doubtful voters' and preserve evidence against repeaters.

   Jan 20, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerState Capitol, Olympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

5. The Condemned Murderer Who Ran the Jailhouse Court

   Thomas Blanck, awaiting execution for murder, was unanimously elected to preside over the county jail's prisoner-run tribunal—complete with fines, lashes, and a Bible in his cell.

   Jan 22, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerKing County Jail, SeattleTrue Crime · Local Legends

6. Ballard's Mayor Refused to Pay a Court Judgment. The Judge Wanted Him in Court.

   Mayor Matthew Dow declined to issue a warrant for J. F. Thornton's judgment against the city; a superior court ordered him to appear and explain or face punishment.

   Jan 22, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBallard, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

7. Jessie Tewes, Three, and the Electric Car

   A toddler is killed crossing Jefferson Avenue in Tacoma as her mother watches from the family fruit stand.

   Jan 22, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerJefferson Avenue, Tacoma, Pierce CountyDisasters

8. A Customs Official, a Forged Check, and the Opium Hidden in Coal-Oil Tins

   Ex-immigration inspector Thomas M. Fisher was arrested at Port Townsend for allegedly forging a Canadian officer's endorsement and pocketing a $350 opium-seizure reward.

   Jan 23, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPort Townsend, Jefferson CountyCity Hall · Nightlife

9. The Mountain That Smoked: A Seattle Expedition Finds Fire Under Rainier

   A Post-Intelligencer party climbs to 9,000 feet, is stopped by glaciers and icy chasms, and reports that Mount Rainier is volcanic.

   Jan 25, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerMount Rainier, Pierce CountyStrange But True

10. The 1895 Bill That Would Have Made Firing a Union Man a Crime

    A King County representative proposes jailing employers who sack workers for joining a union — or who demand a no-union pledge as the price of a job.

    Jan 26, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyWork & Pay · City Hall

11. The Pistol That Wouldn't Fire in a Snohomish Saloon

    G. K. Friars, chairman of the Snohomish County commissioners, was accused of putting a pistol to Robert Johnson's abdomen in the Gem saloon. Only a bad cartridge prevented a killing.

    Jan 26, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSnohomish, Snohomish CountyCity Hall

12. The 1895 Student Petition Against Mandatory Military Drill

    Two-thirds of the male students at the University of Washington signed a petition asking the legislature to abolish compulsory military drill in state schools.

    Jan 27, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerUniversity of Washington campus, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

13. The Butter Was Shipped 'Tagless, Label-less, Mark-less'—and Washington Farmers Paid for It

    A Redmond farmer's letter to the editor says Puget Sound producers are being squeezed by commission men and by adulterated Eastern butter sold in Seattle as creamery.

    Jan 30, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerRedmond, King CountyBoom & Bust

14. A Woman Challenges Seattle's New Morality Ordinance

    Rose Tetler, convicted as a 'disorderly person,' pleads double jeopardy while her husband is charged with living with her.

    Jan 30, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · Nightlife

15. The Cough-Mixture Case: Whisky, Good Fellowship and a Reservation Trial

    A white 'Indian farmer' from Arkansas was charged with selling liquor to Indians after he shared cold medicine on a canoe trip. The case collapsed when the court heard it was born of a tribal feud.

    Jan 31, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBainbridge Island, Kitsap CountyNightlife

16. She Took the Bar Exam Beside Her Husband — and Became Whitman County's First Woman Lawyer

    W. H. Harvey and his wife, E. M. Harvey, of Pullman, pass their oral examinations in Colfax, making Mrs. Harvey the first woman admitted to practice law in Whitman County.

    Feb 1, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerColfax, Whitman CountyStrange But True

17. The Doctor Who Didn't Report Scarlet Fever

    A Seattle physician is hauled into court for failing to tell the health office about a sick child — a test of the city's power to track contagious disease.

    Feb 2, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

18. The Bridge That Broke a Boiler Maker

    William Murray was never a soldier, but helping Union troops hold a West Virginia bridge cost him a leg — and, thirty years later, his life in Seattle.

    Feb 3, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King County

19. The Patent Scam That Ended With a Frenchman's Last $3

    A Seattle detective's account of a fake invention scheme shows how confidence men worked—and how the law let the swindlers slip away.

    Feb 3, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyTrue Crime

20. Two Seattle Shipmates and the Hurricane That Sank a Fleet

    Capt. D. Mullan and cigar-store owner L. S. Borchers, survivors of the 1889 Samoan cyclone, met in Seattle and remembered the Nipsic's escape.

    Feb 4, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerButler Hotel, Seattle, King CountyDisasters

21. The Little Steamer That Ate the Sound

    The Flyer ran four Seattle–Tacoma trips a day, kept to the minute through fog, and logged a record 84,000 miles in a year.

    Feb 5, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPuget Sound, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

22. Beacon Hill's Streetcar Gap: Children Walk Miles While the Company Stalls

    Residents petition the aldermen to force the Union Trunk Line to run cars to its promised terminus.

    Feb 5, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBeacon Hill, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust · City Hall

23. A Forged Check Leads to a Hotel-Room Arrest

    A bogus $7.50 check at a Columbia Street drugstore unravels into cocaine, morphine and a man who may have been the "Henry" on the signature.

    Feb 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyTrue Crime · Nightlife

24. A New Industrial Anchor for Ballard

    Councilman Thomas Winsor breaks ground on a $15,000 industrial complex, promising 100 new jobs to the growing waterfront district.

    Feb 13, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyWork & Pay · Boom & Bust

25. Investigation Clears Orting Soldiers' Home

    Legislators find that the 25 percent pension deduction at the state home was used to provide for the veterans' own care, not for drink.

    Feb 27, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerWashington Soldiers Home, Orting, Pierce CountyCity Hall

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