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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 27 |
| 1889 | 51 |
| 1891 | 28 |
| 1892 | 206 |
| 1893 | 224 |
| 1894 | 201 |
| 1895 | 161 |
898 stories
- Tacoma's Anti-Boodler Council Seizes Power, Demands Accounting of City Funds
A new coalition of Republicans and Populists takes control of Tacoma's city council, stripping power from the old guard and launching an investigation into the city's $720,000 bank deposit. Mayor Orr's appointments are blocked as the finance committee prepares to audit every bank.
- The Populist Orator's Family Sues Tacoma Over a Bruising Arrest
James H. Ross and his wife seek $15,080, alleging that police locked up a screaming child and treated the family indecently after a theft charge.
- A Dollar Debt, a Fatal Blow, and a Tacoma Murder Trial
E. R. Capron owed W. T. Taylor a dollar; a street insult ended with Capron dead and Taylor in the superior court.
- He Burned Every Paper He Owned, Then Kept a Promise to Himself
One day after the Northern Pacific pushed its general manager out, the man who built the Sunnyside Canal methodically destroyed his records, mailed a letter to an actress, and shot himself — as he had long said a man had a perfect right to do.
- A $100,000 Hole in the Railroad's Land Books
Northern Pacific's land accounts were being audited in Tacoma amid rumors that the late land agent left a six-figure shortage—and a second company's books were under scrutiny.
- Tacoma’s $1 Million Water Lawsuit Alleges City Hall Collusion
City Attorney Wickersham refiled Tacoma’s suit against the light and water company, alleging officials and company agents conspired to carry the election.
- A Seattle-Born Son Could Own Property. His Chinese Father Could Not.
At the port in Tacoma, immigration officials examined 32 Chinese passengers—and the case of one Seattle family laid bare the era's racial limits on citizenship and land ownership.
- An Old Engineer's Body in the Harbor, and a Hole No One Could Explain
John Hall had run locomotives for thirty years. Too old for the road, out of work for weeks, he was found floating in Tacoma harbor with a wound the coroner called a bruise.
- Philadelphia Money Dredges Tacoma's Tide Flats for Ships and Grain
The Tacoma Land Company floats bonds back East to buy and fill the tide flats, cut a 25-foot channel, and build a grain warehouse and a 500-barrel flour mill on the water.
- A Million Dollars in Doubt: Tacoma's Council Moves to Legalize Its Own Debt
Behind closed doors, council members scheme to validate nearly $1,000,000 in city bonds — and to slip a new charter and a purge of salaried offices onto the same ballot, over the objections of the mayor and department heads.
- The Jealousy Hunt: A Tacoma Man’s ‘Crime of Passion’ and the Women Who Caught Him
In a scandal that gripped Tacoma in May 1909, George Essel Khrnin was arrested for assault after his wife tracked him down from Seattle. But the real drama unfolded as two other women—accusers and witnesses alike—joined the hunt, turning a domestic dispute into a public spectacle.
- The Beer Garden vs. The Hospital: A Tacoma Land Grab Turns Violent
When a liquor seller tried to build a beer garden on land encroaching on the Fannie Paddock Hospital, the hospital staff fought back with guards and lawyers, sparking a legal battle over property lines in old Tacoma.
- The Confidence Game on the Kalama-Tacoma Line
A traveler from Missouri lost his life savings to a smooth-talking stranger on a train, proving that 'confidence men' were a perennial threat to those passing through the region.
- The Theater That Wanted the Street
Tacoma’s grand new opera house design sparks a city council debate over encroaching on public sidewalks and creating private carriage driveways.
- The Battle Over Tacoma's Most Notorious 'Hellhole'
Citizens and reform groups rally at City Hall to shutter a local variety theater and saloon decried as a den of depravity.
- The Great Tacoma Housing Panic: Hotels Full, Strangers Sleeping on Floors
As the Puget Sound region braces for statehood and a railroad boom, Tacoma is facing a severe shortage of lodging. With every hotel in town crowded and strangers arriving daily, new arrivals are forced to seek shelter in private homes.
- A Tragic End in the Louvre Saloon
A lonely newcomer finds a desperate end in Tacoma, leaving behind only letters from a sister and a failed promise of sobriety.
- Gold Fever Hits the Sound
As residents of Tacoma and Port Townsend scramble to stake claims in city streets, the sudden discovery of gold in urban gravel pits sparks a brief, chaotic rush.
- The Ghost-Maker of Buffalo Gets Busted in Tacoma
A traveling spiritualist promising to summon the dead is exposed as a charlatan after an electric battery—and a hysterical scene at a hotel—reveals her 'spirit' tricks.
- The Political Toboggan: Tacoma's Revolt Against a Carpetbagger Candidate
As the state legislature prepared to convene in 1891, prominent Tacoma Republicans publicly abandoned their own local candidate, labeling him an opportunist from Indiana.
- The 'Three-Dollar' Libel Suit
A Tacoma police captain sues the local newspaper for $10,000, alleging they falsely accused him of gambling, bribery, and corruption.
- A Leap Into the Dark on the Tracks of Tacoma
A desperate local businessman chose a violent end on a moving train in South Tacoma, leaving a grieving family and a community to reckon with his tragic decision.
- Tragedy in the Timber: A Pioneer's Fatal Accident
A newlywed husband is widowed in a freak accident when a tree, toppled by the great storm of 1891, crushes his wife in their own backyard.
- The Day the 'Bulldog' Came to Tacoma
A high-stakes, controversy-filled football match between Portland and Tacoma ends in a lopsided defeat and an injured player, all under the watchful gaze of a brindle mascot.
- The Temperance Preacher and the Heavyweight Champion
When gospel temperance evangelist Francis Murphy visited a Tacoma theater to convert prize fighter John L. Sullivan to sobriety, he found the champion as stubborn as his reputation.