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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 3 |
| 1863 | 3 |
| 1871 | 8 |
| 1872 | 110 |
| 1876 | 536 |
| 1877 | 378 |
| 1878 | 279 |
| 1879 | 15 |
| 1880 | 134 |
| 1882 | 98 |
| 1883 | 511 |
| 1884 | 326 |
| 1885 | 566 |
| 1886 | 361 |
| 1887 | 327 |
| 1888 | 314 |
| 1889 | 800 |
| 1890 | 11 |
| 1891 | 340 |
| 1892 | 1,332 |
| 1893 | 1,606 |
| 1894 | 1,246 |
| 1895 | 1,087 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 9 |
| 1898 | 21 |
| 1899 | 366 |
| 1900 | 6 |
| 1902 | 6 |
| 1903 | 153 |
| 1904 | 71 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 76 |
| 1910 | 26 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 5 |
| 1916 | 28 |
| 1917 | 10 |
| 1923 | 9 |
| 1924 | 12 |
| 1925 | 3 |
| 1928 | 14 |
| 1929 | 17 |
11,240 stories
- The Confession of a Century: Allen Hewitt Admits to Poisoning a Rival
Prominent Seattle attorney and son of the city's namesake dies at his father's home after confessing to a murder committed decades ago in Spokane.
- The Gold Rush That Wasn't: Copper River’s Scurvy Epidemic and the Ghosts of the Valdez Glacier
As Seattleites debated housing and labor, a grim report arrived from the interior: men dying of scurvy in the Copper River country, and the recovered bodies of seven explorers who froze to death on the Valdez glacier.
- The Old Man’s Last Stand: A Father’s Flight from Greedy Heirs Ends in a Sheriff’s Chase
P.V. Thorpe, an elderly pioneer fleeing false rape accusations and property theft by his son and son-in-law, was arrested for carrying a revolver in Seattle—only to be vindicated when the truth about his family’s blackmail scheme came to light.
- The Iron Giant Lands: Moss Bay Steel Chooses Seattle Without Asking for a Penny
In a stunning victory for civic pride over corporate bribery, the massive Moss Bay Iron and Steel Company has selected Lake Washington as its site, rejecting lucrative bonuses from rival cities and the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- The Siege of Seattle: When the City Huddled Behind Timber Walls
A newly unearthed account from pioneer A.A. Denny details the terrifying winter of 1856, when settlers built fortified blockhouses at key intersections and waited for an Indian attack that never came.
- The Judge Who Gambled Away His Office: Soderberg’s Dramatic Resignation
After the grand jury returned five indictments for extortion and malfeasance in office, District Attorney Joseph Soderberg walked into court, tendered his resignation, and declared he would repay every illegal fee to the county treasury.
- The Mugwump’s Ledger: How Seattle’s Territorial Secretary Gamed the Law Printing Contract
A fierce editorial exposes Secretary Owings for delaying the publication of territorial laws to favor a cronies’ printing bid, while padding the bill with 40 pages of his own party platform.
- The Sawdust in Your Spice Cabinet
A Seattle newspaper exposé from 1888 reveals that the city's food supply was being systemically poisoned by greed, with sawdust in spices and grease in butter.
- 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.
- Fire Sweeps Through Seattle’s Cooperage
A morning inferno destroys fifteen homes, leaving families homeless and rumors of child casualties swirling through the city.
- The Frontier Pulse: Seattle in 1871
A look back at the origins of the city, from the arrival of the first families and the Indian War to the rise of coal, sawmills, and the hope for a transcontinental terminus.
- The Forgotten Wife at the Center of Seattle
Dr. David Maynard’s 1852 donation land claim, which comprises much of downtown Seattle, is tied up in a legal crisis over the validity of his divorce and the arrival of his first wife, Lydia A. Maynard.
- The Shadow Over Seattle: A Call to Stop the Exploitation of Indigenous Women
A 150-year-old dispatch documents the systemic abuse of Native families and the trafficking of young women, challenging the city’s early moral indifference.
- The Forgotten Wife of Seattle: Dr. Maynard’s Double Life
A landmark land dispute in 1872 reveals how the territorial government attempted to erase the existence of Dr. David S. Maynard's first wife, Lydia, to secure a donation claim for his second family.
- The Mudflat Standoff: A Political Tug-of-War for Seattle’s Waterfront
In 1872, Seattle’s local press accused the Territorial Delegate of suppressing a crucial memorial to cede Duwamish mudflats to the city for his own electoral gain.
- The Legal Scramble for Maynard’s Land
A bitter newspaper feud reveals the messy reality of early Seattle’s land titles, where a complex divorce and a 'lost' first wife sparked a struggle over ownership in the city’s heart.
- The Cedar River Siege: How a Power Mogul Tried to Steal Seattle’s Water
Seattle Star exposes the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company’s dirty game: using fake environmental panic to block municipal water rights and crush competition.
- The Council Strikes Back: Seattle Turns on Its Own Power Company
Mayor Humes vetoes saloon restrictions, but the City Council is far more concerned with a corporate power grab. They launch an investigation into the Snoqualmie Falls Power Co., accusing it of using legal injunctions to block the city’s water supply contracts and protect its private interests.
- The Power Struggle for Seattle’s Future
As the city council investigates the Cedar River water rights dispute, a fierce corporate war erupts between the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company and the Union Electric Company, threatening to monopolize the region's energy supply.
- The Kidnapping of the Kerr Child: A Battle for Custody and Morality
Charles L. Kerr and his new wife Viola Bell Thorndyke are accused of snatching an infant from a boat in Seattle, sparking a legal war over whether the child will be raised by her father or placed in a home deemed 'proper.'
- The Vigilantes' Ghost: Seattle's Dark Secret in Two Maple Trees
A poem published in the *Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer* reveals the city’s foundational myth: that its current 'peaceable' order was bought with the blood of six men hanged by a secret committee when the law failed to act.
- The Delegate Who Sold Seattle’s Future for Five Thousand Dollars
A scathing editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch accuses Territorial Delegate George Freeman Willard of betraying Seattle’s interests—specifically the mud flats of Duwamish Bay—to secure his own political and financial gain, while simultaneously accepting bribes from rival railroad companies.
- Seattle’s City Council Rejects Public Power in Favor of Private Monopoly
In a decisive vote that prioritized corporate interests over municipal control, Seattle leaders refused to condemn the city's water supply, effectively handing power to private developers.
- The Tragedy at Yesler Way: A Lawyer’s Death and a Woman’s Despair
In May 1904, prominent Seattle lawyer J. Wile was fatally shot by Miss Burke, who then took her own life in a rooming house near the waterfront.
- The Last Laugh of Charles Nordstrom
As the Seattle Star reports on May 15, 1899, condemned murderer Charles Nordstrom sits in his cell, seemingly indifferent to the death warrant signed that morning. While the legal machinery grinds toward his execution for the murder of a police officer, one man’s sarcastic smile and contemptuous silence speak louder than any final prayer.
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