Research the archive

• 1895 ×

1. Tacoma's Water Works Deal Was for Eastern Capitalists All Along

   C.B. Wright says he never wanted the city light and water plant for himself—the proposed buyers were New York and Boston investors, leaving the mayor waiting for an answer.

   Mar 23, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyFollow the Money · City Hall

2. The Elective Franchise Bill Fails—With Indians Explicitly Barred

   A proposed constitutional amendment in Olympia would have fixed voting rules for male citizens while writing 'Indians not taxed' out of the franchise; it died on the floor.

   Feb 22, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall · Exclusion & Resistance

3. The Governor Vetoes Debt Relief, and the Paper Cheers

   A bill meant to soften deficiency judgments after foreclosure is killed — on the theory that frightened capital would simply stop lending, hurting the very debtors it was meant to save.

   Mar 24, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

4. The Deed Was Too Generous: Yesler's Estate Sues to Take Back a Slice of Seattle

   A forgotten 1892 complaint by Seattle's founding figure is revived by his administrators, who say a mutual mistake gave away too much of the Yesler donation claim.

   Mar 24, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money

5. The Adjutant General, the Tent Dealer, and the Missing $175

   Tacoma's adjutant general denies trading guard business for a vote, but Jack Holleran has disappeared, leaving a disputed bill and a whiff of patronage politics.

   Mar 25, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPacific Avenue, Tacoma, Pierce CountyCity Hall · Scandal

6. Two Thousand Seattleites Filed Past the Outlaw's Corpse — and Some Said It Wasn't Him

   Burial is postponed while a Fremont woman insists the dead man is her friend's missing husband. The jail keys and handcuffs in his pocket say otherwise.

   Mar 25, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerKing County Jail, SeattleTrue Crime

7. The Telegraph Operator Who Recognized the Face on the Wanted Circular

   Escaped burglar Charley Williams is pulled off a Northern Pacific freight train at Leavenworth after a sharp-eyed operator matches him to a police photograph.

   Mar 25, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerLeavenworth, Chelan CountyTrue Crime

8. A Pigeon Flew 100 Miles to Report From Mount Rainier

   A carrier pigeon from the Starlee-Meeker expedition delivers dispatches, tall trees, trout, and one very sleepy doctor.

   Mar 26, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPuyallup, Pierce CountyStrange But True

9. The Sloop-Raiding ‘Pirates’ of Puget Sound

   For years a crew of thieves raided ranches and wharves around the Sound, escaping by water—and alibiing one another in court. Now their reputed leader faces a second trial.

   Mar 27, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSnohomish, Snohomish CountyTrue Crime

10. The Bridge That Folded Over the Nooksack

    High wind and failing bolts send six workmen into the wreckage of the Welcome bridge; one man is expected to lose a leg.

    Mar 29, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBellingham, Whatcom CountyWork & Pay · Disasters

11. Fisticuffs in the Judge's Chambers: Two Attorneys Settle a Newspaper Quarrel

    A hot-tempered Tacoma lawyer, angered by a story in the Post-Intelligencer, storms Judge Fogg's office to confront a Seattle attorney — and gets his head tucked under his rival's arm for the trouble.

    Mar 30, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyScandal

12. Roused from Sleep: A Family Left Destitute by a Flue Fire Near Green Lake

    A defective chimney destroys the home of a Scandinavian family north of Ravenna Park, leaving them nearly without possessions as neighbors take them in.

    Mar 30, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyDisasters

13. Banker Bellinger's Revolt: The Railroad Bill and a Wheat Farmer's Wrath

    A Palouse banker threatens to leave the Republican Party after the legislature fails to pass a railroad bill that would have saved him thousands in freight costs.

    Mar 30, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerColfax, Whitman CountyFollow the Money · City Hall

14. Who Pays When the City's Warrants Go Bad?

    A judge says Olympia cannot be forced to cover special improvement warrants with general taxes, leaving the loss to fall on the people holding the paper.

    Mar 31, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyFollow the Money · City Hall

15. When Populists Ran the Courthouse, County Warrants Fell to 74 Cents

    A cost-cutting order from Whatcom's Populist commissioners has clerks and deputies refusing to obey, while the county's paper warrants slide toward junk.

    Apr 1, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBellingham, Whatcom CountyWork & Pay · City Hall

16. A Killer, a Gold-Brick Swindler, and a Widow's Missing Coat

    James Murphy waits to learn whether he'll be shipped to Walla Walla for killing Phil Doe in the Copper Chief saloon — while a con man's loyal wife scours Front Street for the coat a dead man wore.

    Apr 1, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerWashington Street, Seattle, King CountyTrue Crime

17. A Land Company’s Plea to the War Department Killed a King County Bridge

    The Everett Land Company blocked a Snoqualmie River crossing near Tolt by arguing it would menace navigation—then never built the steamboat line it invoked.

    Apr 3, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerCarnation, King CountyFollow the Money

18. A Power Grab in Olympia: Electric Companies Win the Right to Condemn Land

    A bill allowing electric power companies to seize private property for transmission lines squeaked through the Washington House on a reconsideration vote in 1895.

    Feb 24, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyFollow the Money · City Hall

19. Seattle’s Railway Subsidy Drive Adds $22,000 in a Single Day

    Boosters, clergy and trade committees canvass the city for pledges to bring a railway to town, with nearly 950 property owners signed up and the committee’s Bailey Building office staying open nights.

    Apr 3, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

20. A Marriage for Money, a Dish of Hot Oysters

    A. A. Rogerson's answer in a divorce suit painted his remarriage as a scheme for a note and mortgage—and one Bremerton dinner as a brawl.

    Apr 5, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBremerton, Kitsap CountyScandal

21. The Mill That Asked Workers to Wait for Lumber

    A Seattle receiver said the Standard Mill Company could survive only if loggers and mechanics agreed to be paid out of the product of their own labor. The court let 35 cents on the dollar go to labor claims.

    Apr 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSuperior Court of Washington for King County, SeattleWork & Pay · Follow the Money · Boom & Bust

22. Single Tax vs. the Saloon: A Seattle Debate on Land, Liquor, and Power

    At Freed's Hall, Henry George's followers and Prohibitionists argued over whether taxing land or banning drink could break the grip of monopoly and the whisky trust.

    Apr 8, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money · City Hall · Nightlife

23. The $1-a-Month Man: Seattle Tries to Gut Its Plumbing Inspector

    With theft charges pending against the nominee, delegates debate whether to abolish the office or just pay a competent inspector.

    Apr 9, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyWork & Pay · City Hall · Scandal

24. Loaded to the Rails: Seattle Sends Its First Alaska Steamer

    Crowds packed Schwabacher’s wharf as the Willapa left for the north with 79 passengers, horses, sleds and more freight than it could carry.

    Mar 4, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyBoom & Bust · Gone Forever

25. The Octopus Comes to Seattle: Standard Oil Raises the Price of Light

    Coal oil and benzine prices jumped in Seattle after Standard Oil was reported to have crushed its last Pacific Coast rival, W. P. Fuller & Co.

    Apr 9, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money

Download all 1,830 as a spreadsheet (CSV)