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214 stories matching mob
- The Mob That Didn't Hang Wallace
A vigilante mob strings up a man in Seattle, only to be turned back by a local citizen standing between the prisoner and the rope.
- Vigilante Mob Executes Prisoners in Oysterville Jail
After the supreme court granted a new trial to two men accused of murder, a Pacific County mob took matters into their own hands, storming the jail and killing the suspects.
- The Local Press and the Mob
A critique of Washington newspapers that refused to take a hard moral stand against lynch law.
- The Governor Condemns the Colfax Lynching Mob
Governor McGraw orders an investigation into the extrajudicial murder of two men in Whitman County, declaring that mob violence is no substitute for the courts.
- The Riot and the 'Queen City'
Mayor Henry Yesler recounts the dark days of the 1886 anti-Chinese riots and the subsequent rise of the 'Home Guards' in Seattle.
- The Desperate Flight of Charles E. Myers
Accused of a fatal arson in Asotin, a man is moved from jail to jail across the state to escape an angry lynch mob.
- The Mob's Cruel Gamble: A Wrongful Lynching Attempt in Rosalia
A husband and wife were dragged into a horrific ordeal by a lynch mob convinced of their guilt in a missing child case—only to discover the child had been safe all along.
- Vigilante Mob Lynches Two Prisoners at Whitman County Jail
A masked party of fifty men broke into the courthouse to extract and hang a convicted assailant and a murder defendant, while a jury slept just feet away.
- Vigilante Mob Targets Ballard Policeman
A vigilante mob descended on a Ballard home demanding that an acquitted police officer flee the county within 24 hours.
- The Sheriff’s Bold Stand Against Mob Rule
A newly minted newspaper editor-sheriff argues that local complicity, not just law enforcement failures, fuels vigilante violence in Washington.
- When the Local Paper Cheers the Mob
A governor's push to prosecute the Colfax vigilantes draws a shocking defense from Whitman County newspapers—and a sharp rebuke from The Olympian.
- The Massacre at Squak Valley
A coroner's jury investigates the brutal 1885 killing of three Chinese hop-pickers, uncovering a mob's systematic effort to ethnically cleanse the valley.
- Vigilante Expulsion in Yakima
After an arrest for public indecency, a mob seized a man from the town jail and forced him to leave the area.
- Mob terrorizes Chinese store on Washington Street
A group of men and boys pelted a Chinese-owned store with snowballs, forcing their way inside and destroying property until the police intervened.
- An Interracial Wedding Sparks Public Outrage
Helen Gladys Emery leaves her California home to marry a Japanese man in Tacoma, facing mobs and hostile crowds along the way.
- The Billy and the Mob: A Tacoma Street Arrest
A thousand-strong crowd gathered on Pacific Avenue to witness the chaotic arrest of a man resisting police.
- The Minister Who Faced Down the Mob
How a local pastor stood against the 1886 anti-Chinese riots and became a target of the city's fury.
- The Street Swindler's Bad Day
A carnival-style street hawker is mobbed and arrested after selling worthless watch chains to an angry Tacoma crowd.
- The Mob That Stole Justice in Seattle
A federal judge delivers a blistering rebuke to the Seattle vigilantes who lynched three men in January 1882, declaring that the lawless 'Committee of Safety' is a threat greater than the criminals they executed.
- ‘Incipient Treason’: Judge Hanford Sentences the Spokane Strikers
Seven men are jailed for contempt after a mob derails trains and seizes a roundhouse during the 1894 railroad strike. The federal judge calls it insurrection.
- White Mob Hangs Innocent Teen at Nooksack Crossing
A white mob dragged Jimmie Boole from his bed at Nooksack Crossing and hanged him from a tree to force a confession for a horse theft he was innocent of, cutting him down before he died.
- Terrified Chinese Immigrants Flee Tacoma Station
Fearful of mob violence in an anti-Chinese city, seven men abandon their luggage and run for their lives to escape a perceived threat.
- The Mob, The Military, and the Riot at the Seattle Wharf
In February 1886, a citizen-led campaign of forced expulsion against Seattle’s Chinese residents spiraled into a violent confrontation, triggering a week of martial law and armed conflict in the streets.
- Seattle Lawyers Debate Martial Law and Mob Violence
In a tense meeting, the King County Bar Association condemns the recent anti-Chinese expulsions and debates whether to censure lawyers involved in the agitation.
- Squak Valley Trial: Chinese Hop-Pickers Killed in 1885 Raid
A brutal night of terror in the hop fields as an armed mob targets immigrant laborers.
Also about this, in other words
- The Mob is Not a Court of Law
An editorial reflection on the recent lynching of Bill at Colfax, arguing that a community’s failure to maintain a just legal system does not justify vigilante violence.
- The Mob Rule at Our Doorstep
When an organized society in Walla Walla issued threats against anyone hiring Chinese labor, the press decried the move as a return to the lawless spirit of the frontier.
- The Deadly Contagion of Mob Law
An editorial reflection on the rising threat of lynch law in the Pacific Northwest and the necessity of the courts.