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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 3 |
| 1861 | 3 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 35 |
| 1877 | 39 |
| 1878 | 15 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1880 | 6 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 37 |
| 1884 | 25 |
| 1885 | 59 |
| 1886 | 24 |
| 1887 | 33 |
| 1888 | 26 |
| 1889 | 71 |
| 1890 | 5 |
| 1891 | 40 |
| 1892 | 139 |
| 1893 | 130 |
| 1894 | 104 |
| 1895 | 142 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1898 | 11 |
| 1899 | 26 |
| 1900 | 5 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 42 |
| 1904 | 36 |
| 1905 | 6 |
| 1907 | 3 |
| 1908 | 12 |
| 1909 | 55 |
| 1910 | 10 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 6 |
| 1915 | 11 |
| 1916 | 17 |
| 1917 | 4 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 3 |
| 1925 | 2 |
142 stories matching becam
- The State Tries to Soften the Panic for Delinquent Taxpayers
The Senate passes a bill remitting penalties and interest on delinquent 1893–94 taxes, citing “great financial stringency” and declaring an emergency.
- A Chinese Merchant Became a Cook—and the Treaty Still Protected Him
A federal judge in Seattle ruled that a Port Townsend merchant did not forfeit his right to remain in the United States when he sold his share in the firm and took work as a cook, a rare legal win amid the exclusion era.
- The Old Indian Fighter Who Taught Himself to Read After Paralysis Took His Limbs
Jim Foley fought in the territory's early Indian wars, logged its woods for thirty years, and spent his last quarter-century as a ward of Snohomish County — where the old campaigner, unable to move, finally learned his letters.
- The Actress Who Became an Evangelist
At Seattle's United Presbyterian Church, Edith L. Peake recounted a life of books, unbelief and stage acting before a Moody and Sankey revival changed her course.
- The Little Yellow Bank That Outlasted the Great Seattle Fire
Dexter Horton’s one-story stone office at Commercial and Washington survived the 1889 conflagration—and became the foundation of a downtown banking landmark.
- The Bank Failure, the Postmaster Letters, and the Fickle Financiers of Seattle
When a Seattle bank collapsed, twenty-five men wanted to be receiver — until the controller of the currency discovered the same businessmen who protested one candidate had just praised him to the skies for a different job.
- The Governor’s Violin Fell Silent at the Bohemian Club
Charles B. Laughton—former acting governor, lawyer, and celebrated fiddler—died mid-sentence in Tacoma after a legislative session, leaving behind a career tangled in vetoes and a school-book scandal.
- The $1,000 Diamond Ring, the Saloonkeeper and 'Camille'
A wealthy Seattle courtesan says she bankrolled her young lover's saloons and had her diamond earrings reset for him to wear behind the bar. Now he's charged with stealing the ring — and she's destroyed the will she wrote in his favor.
- A Magnate's Despair: The Suicide of Paul Schulze
A Tacoma streetcar president and irrigation promoter, ruined by debt and the loss of Northern Pacific confidence, takes his own life with a chilling note about ambition.
- Too Many Lawyers, One Accused Man
A convicted man’s defense became a fight among attorneys, a wealthy widow’s charity and an accusation aimed at Seattle’s police chief.
- The Mysterious Disappearance of the 'Captain'
A suave equestrian and fencing master vanishes from Portland, leaving behind a trail of unpaid debts and a bewildered society.
- The Man Who Robbed Seattle's Fire Relief Fund Walked Out of Prison on Friday
Five years after the great fire of 1889 turned Seattle to ash, the secretary trusted to hand out relief money — an inspector who forged checks to invented men — finished his sentence and went free, his full take never known.
- The Whatcom Widow Who Bought the Coffin Before the Death
A five-times-married former Whatcom County first lady is back in the news—and old suspicions about her commissioner husband’s death at Steilacoom have followed her east.
- The Suffragist Who Told Olympia She Was Already a Voter
Bessie J. Savage tried to register in Olympia in 1895, arguing the state constitution had made her a legal voter. When the city clerk refused, she took him to court.
- The Preacher, the Deed, and the Burning House
A small-town minister's affair with a married parishioner ends in arson, a whitewash trial, and an effigy swinging from an electric light pole in the heart of Oakesdale.
- A Stanchion, a Log Raft, and Two Ships That Never Came Home
Wreckage found off Cape Flattery leads Port Townsend mariners to suspect a double collier disaster hidden in a tangle of drifting timber.
- The Prisoner Who Sawed His Shackles and Blamed the Spirits
Convicted of a daylight knife attack on his wife, Thomas McGee nearly escaped a Seattle hospital jail after a guard discovered his chains had been filed through.
- 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.
- A Desperate End for a Displaced Policeman
James E. Penrod, a former Denver officer left destitute after political shifts, takes his own life in Centralia.
- Wild Goose Bill Meets His End in a Cattle Dispute
The famed Big Bend pioneer and his assailant both die in a shootout at Condon's Ferry, twelve miles north of Wilbur.
- The Sudden Passing of Frederika Ulin
A pioneer resident of Seattle for twenty-five years, Frederika Ulin, dies suddenly at her home on Eighth Street.
- A Launch, a Leaking Tank, and Eight Tourists Who Nearly Died on Lake Washington
A gasoline explosion aboard J. B. MacDougall's launch off the Madison Street landing nearly turns an Alaska reunion into a catastrophe — no life preservers, no bars, and flames between the double hull.
- Domestic Worker Nearly Dies from Gas Leak in Seattle Home
A young woman is found unconscious in her room at 910 Fourth Street after accidentally leaving the gas jet on overnight.
- Tragedy in Ballard: Child Dies After Eating Canned Plums
A five-year-old girl has died and several others are ill in Ballard following a meal of canned fruit, prompting a medical investigation.
- A Deadly Dispute Over Sealskins
A white sealer and an Indigenous man clash over the ownership of pelts, leading to a fatal shooting on the Ozette Reservation.