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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 173 |
| 1892 | 159 |
332 stories
- A Street Fight Over Page Street’s Gulch
Contractor I. Liberman prepared to bill Olympia about $100 a day after the city suspended work on an Eastside street improvement.
- The Legislature’s Unfinished Business—and the Case for a Special Session
An anonymous Olympia lawmaker told The Tribune that defective appropriation laws, unpaid citizens and stalled state business demanded a special session by December.
- He Was Not Going to the Asylum: How an Olympia Guardianship Case Was Settled
Peterfield Turpin’s family asked the court for a guardian. Rumors flew that he would be committed and his estate seized. In open court, the parties explained—and settled.
- The Sheriff Was Coming for Olympia’s Hotel. A New Company Rode In.
On the eve of a foreclosure auction, local investors incorporated a $130,000 company to buy the Hotel Olympia property and keep it out of the sheriff’s hands.
- The Polls Closed an Hour Early, and the Court Threw the Election Out
A Jefferson County school-clerk contest reaches the state Supreme Court, where a statute's silence and a 7 p.m. closing time decide who holds office.
- The Court-Martial That Dismissed Itself
Colonel Haines walks free after a military court decides it had no authority to try him—leaving Governor Ferry to answer for the expense.
- The Bachelor Doctor Who Died Walking Home Along the Rails
Dr. G. S. Smith, a familiar but solitary figure in Olympia, was found dying near the long trestle after visiting a family in Tumwater.
- A Cow, a Pistol, and a Pitchfork
Two men east of Olympia fought over a single cow—one with a revolver, the other with a pitchfork—and then showed up at the same doctor's office to get patched up.
- A Chinese Resident, a Hatchet, and a Lenient Sentence in Olympia
Mayor Horr and other officials testified to Jim's good character before he received 60 days and a $100 fine, a punishment some in the courtroom thought too light.
- The last of Lincoln's men in Olympia dies at eighty
Judge John G. Sparks — territorial auditor, justice of the peace, temperance worker and twenty-two-year Methodist — is carried to his grave by the bar and the Masons.
- A Town Buries a Judge
Olympia’s bar and Masons escort John G. Sparks to the Masonic cemetery, with resolutions praising a lawyer, magistrate, and civic fixture.
- "My Idol Is Broken": A Governor Denounces a Senator to His Face
Miles C. Moore accuses John B. Allen of selling out an old friend to climb into the Senate, and prints the speech he says he delivered at Allen's headquarters.
- City Hall Takes On the Awnings of Main Street
Olympia's city attorney confirms the council has the power to remove awnings and posts from private property along Main Street, clearing the way for a downtown cleanup.
- The Bond Election That Wasn't Legal
Olympia's council pushed the city into debt and ordered a vote before checking whether it had the authority to do so — then spent public money to learn it hadn't. The Tribune, having warned them, savours the mess.
- The Only Job Worth Having in a Bankrupt Little City
Nobody wants a seat on the council, but five men are scrambling for the treasurer's office and its commissions on $200,000 of debt.
- When the Steamer Left, Thirty Jobs Went With It
The withdrawal of the Bailey Gatzert cost Olympia money and idled three dozen woodchoppers and teamsters — and left a wood dealer holding 2,000 cords.
- Who Should Keep Olympia's Money?
On the eve of the 1891 municipal election, a dozen anonymous Olympians argued over the city treasurer's race, a regular nominee, a new brick block, and a saloonkeeper's ten-dollar joke.
- A Rainy Election, and a Runaway Horse
Olympia’s municipal election unfolds in rain and quiet, with saloons shut, candidates’ teams hauling voters, and one horse making a break down Main Street.
- The Railroad Comes for the Church's Back Lot
Northern Pacific asks a superior court jury to set a price on the west 64 feet of block 79, behind St. Michael's — ground held by the Catholic Bishop of Nesqually and the State Bank of Olympia.
- Olympia’s Firefighters Needed Rubber Suits, Beds—and a Paycheck
An editorial urges the city to equip, house and compensate its firemen, noting that volunteers had spent their own money and lost clothing fighting the steamer Eastern Oregon fire.
- The Capital's Election Was Run by the Old Rules
A Walla Walla editor notes the irony: Olympia used the old ballot form after the legislature changed the law, and now the election's legality is in doubt.
- The 15-Cent Street Signs That Became a Graft Scandal
A councilman nicknamed 'Boss' hands out a street-sign contract on his own authority, and the town asks why it is buying throwaway tin markers instead of signs that last — at the people's expense.
- A Saloon Debt, a Partnership, and a Judge’s Ruling on Fraud
A Tacoma liquor wholesaler tried to attach Olympia and Tenino saloons over $700; the court said the property shuffle wasn’t enough to prove fraudulent intent.
- The Courthouse That Couldn’t: Contractors Fall Months Behind as Penalties Mount
Thurston County’s new courthouse is five months late, triggering a $20-a-day penalty and a standoff over withheld payments.
- A Farmer Denies a Backroom Deal — and Pitches His County's Wheat
W. C. Bush of Bush's Prairie says he may run for the senate to help Thurston County's World's Fair exhibit, but flatly denies the rumor that Judge Robinson ever promised him the seat.