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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 15 |
| 1884 | 6 |
| 1885 | 7 |
| 1886 | 4 |
| 1887 | 6 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 15 |
| 1890 | 3 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 25 |
| 1893 | 23 |
| 1894 | 15 |
| 1895 | 19 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1899 | 3 |
| 1903 | 9 |
| 1904 | 10 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 6 |
| 1909 | 15 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1925 | 2 |
223 stories matching torn
- Sidewalks Torn Up and Abandoned
Tacoma residents vent frustration as contractors rip up streets and leave them barricaded for months without completion.
- City Orders Poorly Laid Paving Ripped Up
A commissioner rejects the work of the Barber Asphalt Company for insufficient concrete foundations on North End streets.
- An 1854 Storehouse, a Saloon, and a Building on Wheels: Seattle’s Old Blocks Give Way
As Schwabacher Bros. cleared Mill Street for a new brick block, an 1854 storehouse with a saloon past was torn down and another old building was rolled toward the waterfront.
- The Perils of the Cable Tracks
A local businessman calls out the street railway company for leaving hazardous, unfinished construction in the heart of downtown.
- The Riotous Destruction of a Home
When a house caught fire, neighbors and bystanders didn't just help extinguish the flames—they tore the home apart.
- The Narrow Escape of John Long
A young man is nearly killed after being dragged fifty feet by a train at the Chehalis depot.
- The Great Sidewalk Standoff
Tacoma residents vent frustration at contractors who leave streets in ruins during the long-awaited public improvement projects.
- The Great Escape: Two Prisoners Vanish from Seattle’s Basement Jail
In a display of audacity and desperation, two men held on smuggling and liquor charges crawled through a torn-off board in a water closet to flee the U.S. Marshal’s improvised prison beneath the Clancy Building.
- Forty-Three Days of Gales, Then a Jury-Rigged Schooner Limps Into Port Townsend
Sails torn to ribbons and gear twisted, the three-masted schooner Buhne makes port after a voyage that should have taken three weeks and took six.
- Tragedy in the Wheat Fields
Industrial accidents and barroom brawls take a heavy toll on rural laborers in Eastern Washington.
- A Day Trip to Steptoe Butte Ends in Tragedy
A pleasure trip to the summit of Steptoe Butte turns to horror when a spooked team of horses destroys the hack, leaving passengers severely injured.
- The Railway Reaches the Waterfront
New rail lines carve a path through the heart of the city’s industrial waterfront, displacing old businesses and promising a new era of commerce.
- Caught in the Shafting: A Mill Worker's Narrow Escape
John Lang's clothing snagged in the machinery driving the slasher at the Fidelity mill, leaving him bruised and lucky to be alive.
- The Newport Hardware Man Who Went Through Johnstown — and Kept the River Mud to Prove It
In his store window, E. E. Reid displays a gilded St. George torn from a clock and a rocking chair pulled from the 1889 Johnstown flood — silt still hardened in the crevices — and jokes that he is still selling hardware because the flood only went through him, not over him.
- Narrow Escape at the Rock Crusher
A local official survives a gruesome industrial accident after being caught in machinery at a rock crusher site.
- City Inspector Cracks Down on Defective Chimneys
Building Inspector Hebblethwaite condemns six chimneys in a single week for fire safety violations.
- The Shafting Took His Clothes, Not His Life
Ralph K. Kennedy was caught in the mill shafting at Dalkena, stripped and badly bruised before the machinery could be stopped. Weeks later he came home from a Spokane hospital calling himself lucky.
- Farm Accident Leads to Serious Injury
A broken wire on an irrigation ditcher causes a violent workplace accident for a local farmer.
- A Threshing Machine Tragedy
A farm worker suffers a horrific injury after falling into a threshing machine near Spokane.
- The Beachcomber's Grim Find
A duck hunter discovers a severed foot on the shores of Useless Bay, leaving behind a mystery that would never be solved.
- Trapped in the Gears
A farm worker is severely injured in a gruesome accident while operating a header in the fields near Walla Walla.
- The Miracle of the Scalped Man
A brush with death on the frontier: a survivor recounts the chilling moment he was scalped by Indians and miraculously saved by his traveling party.
- Tragedy at the Black Diamond Sewer Pipe Works
A boiler explosion in the works at Black Diamond Landing resulted in one death and multiple fatal injuries.
- The Crumbling Sidewalk of James Street
For three weeks, a gaping hole on James Street has left residents navigating a mess, leaving neighbors to wonder if the city has forgotten the street commissioner exists.
- Accused Murderer Seeks Trial on Puyallup Reservation
Jacky Smokalem survives a suicide attempt while awaiting trial for the murder of his wife.