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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 314 |
| 1889 | 785 |
| 1891 | 328 |
| 1892 | 1,308 |
| 1893 | 1,604 |
| 1894 | 1,246 |
| 1895 | 1,087 |
6,672 stories
- Seattle’s Crumbling Infrastructure Crisis
City Engineer R.H. Thomson warns that the city’s aging wooden box sewers are on the verge of collapse, threatening the streets above.
- Seattle's Fire Chief Vanished Before His Day in Court
A.B. Hunt disappeared after telling friends he was off to Tacoma for trial; the city removed him, named Alexander Allen Jr. chief, and left a mystery that only deepened when his father was summoned to prove his birth.
- The Only Witness to a Saloon Killing
James Murphy’s second murder trial hinged on the sole eyewitness to a quarrel that began over cocktails and ended with Philip Dawe shot under the eye behind his bar.
- The Treasurer They Refused to Seat
A thousand men packed Seattle's Armory to demand that John W. Maple take office as county treasurer, threatening a tax strike against King County commissioners — until a collection plate emptied the room.
- Seattle's 1895 Warning: Secure Cedar River Water Before Private Speculators Do
City Engineer R. H. Thomson says Seattle's overworked pumps cannot survive another summer and urges the city to buy the Cedar River watershed, dams and reservoir sites while it still can.
- The Tragic End of a Civil War Veteran
A former soldier, recently discharged from the Soldiers' Home, is found dead in the bay at the foot of Pike Street.
- The Vigilantes’ Bones: Seattle Dug Up Its Most Notorious Lynching
Thirteen years after a mob hanged three men on James Street, a county doctor exhumed their skeletons for anatomy students— ropes, necktie and all.
- A 14-Year-Old Vanishes Between School and the Streetcar
Katie Arper disappeared after classes in Seattle, leaving behind a Tacoma orphanage, a devoted matron, and a young man named Hopkins.
- Seattle Offers a Bluff to Win the Army's Guns
Gen. Otis wants a garrison on Magnolia Bluff to guard Puget Sound — but the land the government thought it already owned has been quietly claimed out from under it, and Fort Townsend is running dry.
- A Wooden Pistol Emptied the King County Jail
Thomas Blanck, awaiting appeal for murder, locked the night jailer in a cell and walked out with eight other prisoners—armed with a black wooden fake.
- The Wooden Revolver That Freed Ten Prisoners
Thomas Blanck held a jailer hostage with a carved fake gun, emptied the King County jail, and vanished into Seattle's streets.
- The Wooden Revolver That Sprung Tom Blanck
A murderer awaiting appeal in the King County jail used a hand-carved fake gun to force his way past the night jailer, then vanished into the Black River woods as a sheriff's posse rushed south by special train.
- Debs Comes to Seattle, Fresh From Jail, and Tells the Crowd How He Got Six Months
A thousand workingmen meet the Pullman strike leader at the boat landing, march him through town, and pack the Seattle theater to hear him name the real conspirators.
- Katie Hackworth Vanished From School. Her Parents Say a Procuress Took Her.
A habeas corpus petition accuses Mrs. Ollie Ryther of luring 14-year-old Katie from the Pacific school with presents and money and holding her for 'purposes of vice.'
- A Clerk’s Error Won Seattle an Army Post
A mix-up in the civil appropriation bill let the Secretary of War skip a site board and choose Magnolia Bluffs—giving Seattle a federal payroll and a decisive win over Tacoma.
- The Iron Hotel: Seattle's Jail Let Convicted Killers Wait Out the Law
A 1905 exposé inside the King County jail found convicted murderers lingering for years in a steel cage while appeals stalled, one prisoner fashioning a pistol from a shoe shank and escaping, and taxpayers footing the bill.
- A Dog Led Seattle to a Dead Newborn—and a Woman in Black
A sugar-sack bundle hidden at Squire Avenue and Barclay Street held a newborn with a crushed skull; the mother vanished into the night.
- The Woman in Black and the Newborn Left for Dead
A Seattle coroner concludes that an infant found at a street corner was killed at birth by a blow to the skull. Detectives have no suspect, only a frustrated clue about a woman in black.
- The Shipworm Eating Seattle’s Waterfront
Wharf owners were spending a fortune fighting a saltwater pest. The fix: fill the tide flats, cut freshwater waterways, and make the harbor safe for pilings—and insurance.
- Four Shots at a Seattle Policeman—and a Potato in the Revolver
Harry C. Good, a popular young salesman, is held on $10,000 bail after wounding Officer J. W. Glasscock at Third and Marion, while old friends recall the time they replaced his pistol cylinder with a potato.
- The Streets Seattle Was About to Give Away
A city council committee votes to vacate waterfront streets south of Charles Street, and the city engineer warns that private tide-land leases could cut Seattle off from deep water.
- High Stakes and High Caliber
A casual card game at the Northern Hotel ends in a shooting, leaving a stranger in custody and a victim fighting for his life.
- The Widow, the Prisoner, and a Near-Miss on Yesler Hill
Mrs. Harry L. Fraser demanded to face Paul Page, the man accused of killing her husband in a Northern Hotel barroom—while Page was being arraigned a few blocks away.
- A Mayor Suspends His Fire Commissioner—and a Firehouse Scandal Erupts
Mayor Phelps removed Commissioner George T. Masel amid a fight over Chief Allen and a teenage girl's allegation against a fireman at department headquarters.
- The Verdict Was Thrown Out. Now Wilcox Faces a Second Fight for His Life.
William A. Wilcox, once convicted of manslaughter in the 1893 slaying of Charlotte Fetting, will be retried in Seattle. Both prosecution and defense claim new evidence — and the defense says the real killers are still at large.