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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 242 |
| 1892 | 226 |
468 stories
- The Taxpayer Who Couldn’t Sue the State
Washington’s Supreme Court dismisses the Agricultural College case, ruling that a private resident cannot halt state spending in equity—only the attorney general can.
- No Appropriation, No Warrants: Washington's 1891 Budget Standoff
The state treasurer refuses to honor university and militia warrants the legislature never funded, the Supreme Court backs him up, and Governor Ferry — in poor health — lets the idea of an extra session die.
- The State Is Broke: Why Olympia Needs an Emergency Legislature
A supreme court ruling on university lands has left Washington's brand-new state government without money to pay its own debts — and the Olympia Tribune argues the legislature must be hauled back to the capital before the state's credit collapses.
- The Governor's Cabinet Meets as Washington's Bills Go Unpaid
With public servants holding $103,000 in IOUs, Olympia officials debate whether to call the legislature back for an emergency session.
- The Eastern Oregon After the Fire
A board of survey finds the burned steamer's machinery ruined and its safe intact, while the crew buries the ship's cook.
- Twelve Puget Sound Steamships Ground to a Halt as Engineers and Pilots Dig In
A bare-knuckle jurisdictional feud between the Marine Engineers' Association and the Brotherhood of Pilots leaves the Sound's biggest passenger boats idle and 300 men out of work.
- The Letter That Asked: Is Olympia's Street-Tax Ordinance Even Legal?
A citizen signing himself 'Marius' argues that the city's method of charging property owners for street paving and grading violates due process — and warns that if the assessments collapse in court, every taxpayer in town will pay for it.
- A Defaulting Treasurer’s Debt Finally Comes Due—for a Governor and His Bondsmen
A Seattle judge orders E. P. Ferry and other sureties to pay King County $29,143.60 plus years of interest for George D. Hill’s vanished public funds.
- A Four-Term Mayor Dies, and Tumwater Shuts Its Doors
Clark Biles — pioneer tanner, founder of a public life in Tumwater, and its mayor four years running — succumbs to typhoid at 43, and the town suspends all business for his funeral.
- The Streetcar That Would Wake Olympia: A $250,000 Bet on Electric Rails to Tumwater Falls
Olympia's gas and electric companies merge, buy up the Deschutes waterfalls, and float gold bonds to run the first electric cars between town and Tumwater.
- Armed Robbers Hit the Kitsap Pacific Train at Shelton
Two men boarded the morning train at Shelton, broke into the express car, and held up the messenger and a passenger, making off with money and jewelry.
- The Women of Olympia Organize for the War Effort
Local women form a society to provide aid and supplies to soldiers, reflecting the community's mobilization during the conflict.
- A Call for Jewish Unity and Resilience
A historical appeal to the Jewish community, urging solidarity and the preservation of heritage amidst the challenges of the late 19th century.
- Three Children Die in Seattle Fire as Father's Rescue Fails
A morning blaze destroyed John Simpson's Seattle home, killing three children asleep upstairs while Simpson and his wife escaped with their baby. Simpson was badly burned in several failed attempts to reach the children.
- Olympia's Boosters Had a Plan for the Tide Flats: Give Land to Factories
In March 1892, five local men formed an improvement company to buy waterfront tide lands, donate parcels to manufacturers, and press governments to dredge a deep-water harbor.
- The Railroad President Who Said No to Olympia
A Great Northern snub prompts the Olympia Tribune to rally the capital city behind its railroad ambitions.
- The Supreme Court Stops a Judge From Sending Yakima County the Stenographer’s Bill
A superior court judge tried to force the county treasury to pay for trial transcripts. The state Supreme Court said no—and used a rare writ to stop the warrants before they became county debt.
- Seattle Voters Break the Ring—and Olympia Cheers
A Democratic sweep in Seattle unseats the machine the Post-Intelligencer defended, and the Olympia Tribune savors the reckoning.
- The Silver Question and the Workingman's Wage
A political maneuver in the House of Representatives forces a debate on whether wages and savings should be paid in gold or silver.
- The Tribune Demands Its Senators Back Chinese Exclusion
On the eve of the Geary bill vote, Olympia's paper pressures Washington's senators to keep Chinese laborers out — and takes a swipe at any candidate who hires them.
- Court Opens Salmon Bay to Harbor-Line Rules
The state Supreme Court reverses a lower-court writ and lets harbor line commissioners regulate Salmon Bay—even though the bay nearly drains at low tide—because Puget Sound freight boats still use it at high water.
- The Court Let Harbor Lines Reach Beyond the City Limits
Washington’s Supreme Court reversed a lower court and held that harbor-line commissioners had jurisdiction in front of incorporated towns like Ballard, not just cities—then sent the case back to be dismissed.
- A Lincoln Judge Buried: Olympia Mourns C. C. Hewitt
The bar and superior court adjourn as pioneers honor the ex-chief justice of Washington Territory, remembered as a plain, honest man who served from the bench through stormy years.
- Jim Hill Finally Names Everett as the Sound Terminus
A contract to build the Great Northern from Everett to Stevens Pass promises 3,000 jobs and a transcontinental line — if the tunnel and the promises hold.
- The Governor's Telegram: How the Militia Was Called Out to the King County Coal Fields
Colonel J. C. Haines lays out the paper trail behind the 1891 deployment of National Guard troops to the coal towns of Gilman and Franklin — and the labor war that nearly became a dawn battle.