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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 5 |
| 1858 | 3 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 6 |
| 1862 | 7 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 30 |
| 1877 | 12 |
| 1878 | 11 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 37 |
| 1884 | 14 |
| 1885 | 26 |
| 1886 | 20 |
| 1887 | 23 |
| 1888 | 19 |
| 1889 | 65 |
| 1890 | 11 |
| 1891 | 37 |
| 1892 | 102 |
| 1893 | 81 |
| 1894 | 95 |
| 1895 | 86 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1898 | 11 |
| 1899 | 8 |
| 1900 | 9 |
| 1902 | 3 |
| 1903 | 41 |
| 1904 | 36 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 4 |
| 1908 | 22 |
| 1909 | 67 |
| 1910 | 17 |
| 1911 | 2 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 11 |
| 1915 | 25 |
| 1916 | 22 |
| 1917 | 18 |
| 1923 | 6 |
| 1924 | 4 |
| 1925 | 4 |
| 1928 | 1 |
| 1929 | 1 |
86 stories matching serious
- The Bottomless Pit of Rainier Street
A fed-up resident petitions the city to fix a dangerous, muddy depression that has become a local hazard.
- Ballard Fights to Save Its Waterfront
Local mill owners and city officials protest a state contract to fill Salmon Bay tide lands, fearing economic ruin.
- Thrown to the Four Winds: A Green Lake Car, a Strawberry Wagon and a Dead Horse
Clinton Little is hurrying his berries to market when a Green Lake streetcar comes down the grade and strikes his rig — leaving him with a stitched scalp and his load scattered across the street.
- A Rock Slide Throws a Northern Pacific Freight Into the River
An eastbound freight wreck near Bristol leaves one brakeman missing and two crewmen injured, delaying the southbound overland train.
- 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.
- When the Entiat Log Jam Let Go
Eight loggers were caught in a sudden torrent near Wenatchee in 1895; two were badly hurt and the river was still rising.
- The Hotel Room Assault That Sent Seattle Detectives on a Weeklong Manhunt
After Ruby Stanley was found beaten and bloodied at the International Hotel, police hunted John Diegan until a Tuesday-night struggle ended in his arrest.
- King County Commissioners Slash Pay Instead of Staff
Facing pressure to retrench, county commissioners cut deputies’ salaries across the clerk, treasurer, auditor and prosecutor’s offices—while Treasurer Maple fought to keep all twelve of his clerks.
- A Divorce Court Airs Nights Out, Bad Language and a Vanished Household
Elias Westlake sues Emma M. Westlake for divorce, alleging drinking, insults to his business partner, and a December departure for Portland with the furniture.
- Seattle’s Half-Million-Dollar Canal Fund Was $16,000 Short
A subscription drive for the South Canal neared its half-million-dollar goal in 1896, with bricklayers pledging $1,000 apiece and boosters pressing tardy donors to pay up.
- Lawmakers Pocketed Mileage for Railroad Passes They Rode Free
A Tacoma editor accuses Washington legislators of charging the state for travel they never paid for — and then shouting for reform.
- The Navy's Giant Dry Dock Needed One More Appropriation
A $200,000 federal appropriation rescued the Port Orchard dry dock from a year's delay, a rare bit of good news for Puget Sound's naval future.
- 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.
- The Milkman’s Math: One Gallon of Water to Three of Milk
Seattle’s city chemist finds W. H. Putman’s milk watered by a fourth and urges the health board to publish the names of adulterators.
- The Cigar-Box Bomb That Came in the Mail for Gertie Spicer
A Washington woman suspected a prank, set the package on the sidewalk and opened it with a stick—just before it exploded and shook the buildings.
- Seattle's Church Basketball Rivalry Was Already a 500-Person Spectacle in 1895
St. Mark's Episcopal beat First Baptist 4–2 at the YMCA gym, in a game so physical that a few spectators objected.
- Fifty Cases of Scarlet Fever and One Health Officer
As scarlet fever spreads through Seattle, an editorial defends the city health board against parents resisting school closures.
- After the Franklin Mine Explosions, the Company Says the Worst Is Over
Two explosions tore through the Franklin coal mine on a Thursday afternoon, killing pit foreman Park Robinson and injuring nine. The company's manager insisted no more would die — and angrily denied rumors the blast was caused by boxing up a burning seam.
- 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.
- Black Diamond No. 12: A Mine Fire, a Sealed Slope, and 100 Men Idle
Fire breaks out in the pump room of Black Diamond's No. 12 mine, forcing superintendent to seal the slope and steam the flames while a hundred miners are thrown out of work.
- Harry Fraser Took a Bullet at the Northern Hotel—Then Seattle Defended His Name
A shooting in a hotel bar left one man wounded and another in jail, but the loudest fight the next day was over a rumor about the victim.
- Fire Damp and Twenty-Three Dead at Blue Canyon
A gas explosion in a new coal working near Lake Whatcom kills twenty-three miners and forces a state inspection into what the company knew about the mine’s ventilation.
- The Customs Officer and the Paper Trail
A San Francisco dispatch accuses a former Port Townsend customs inspector of leading a ring that forged Chinese immigration certificates. His neighbors call it a smear.
- A Dressmaker Offered to Sew Seattle’s Library Out of Trouble
With the public library’s appropriation nearly gone and no new books leaving the shelves, an anonymous patron proposed making dresses for commission members and giving the proceeds to the library.
- Seattle's City Hall Goes Dark After a Bribery Letter Leaks
After a letter denying a bribe to an alderman reached the press, the board ordered the city clerk to lock official documents away until meetings.