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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 14 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 17 |
| 1878 | 27 |
| 1880 | 6 |
75 stories matching left
- The Hotel Clerk’s Cold Comfort
A traveler spends a night of debauchery and wakes up convinced he’s been robbed—only to find the city's hospitality was more secure than his own memory.
- The Price of a Summer Flirtation
A classic story of Victorian social mores, heartbreak, and a young woman's calculated revenge gone wrong.
- The Confidence Man of Washington Street
A grifter exploited local tensions to con Chinese merchants out of $600 under the guise of buying off a prosecutor.
- The Unmarked Death of Bi Lee
A Chinese man, imprisoned in Seattle, is found dead in his jail cell, leaving behind only questions and a community left to claim his remains.
- The Axe and the Insane Asylum: A Tragedy in Snohomish
A local farmer justifies shooting a stranger who assaulted his sister, citing the attacker's history of mental illness.
- The Mail Carrier of Port Gardner Bay
A harrowing tale of survival in the winter of 1872 when the mail route between Mukilteo and Snohomish met a sudden, icy squall.
- The Embroidered Vow: A Victorian Romance in Seattle
When an accident leaves a young woman scarred, she retreats from society, only to discover a secret message stitched into a handmade cushion.
- The Simple Logic of a Territorial Divorce
A jilted husband pens a candid letter to a Justice of the Peace, asking how to dissolve his marriage and if the court might offer a replacement wife.
- A Tragic Kitchen Fire in Semiahmoo
A young woman loses her life in a heartbreaking domestic accident during a time of religious devotion.
- The Great Freeze of 1872
When an arctic blast paralyzed Puget Sound, turning the Columbia River to ice and testing the grit of Seattle's early pioneers.
- From the 'Brink of the Pit' to the Pulpit
An immigrant's harrowing reflection on poverty, addiction, and spiritual rebirth in Port Manson, 1877.
- The Price of Order: Seattle’s 1878 County Budget
A deep dive into the 1878 King County audit reveals a frontier government struggling to balance the books through liquor licenses, jail construction, and the high cost of local justice.
- The Pirate King of Seattle
A real-life adventure of a man who survived a childhood on a pirate ship and returned to Seattle to recruit a crew for a treasure hunt.
- The Political Price of a Road
Seattle citizens threaten to trade the state capital to Walla Walla to secure a vital road link, as regional rivalries threaten to derail the city's future.
- Thrown Into a Saw at Colman's Mill — and the Law Looked the Other Way
When Peter Feeney attacked a Chinese coworker in a Seattle sawmill, the man's foot was mangled beyond repair. The justice of the peace declined to hold Feeney, the prosecutor dismissed the case, and the town's paper argued the injury was just an accident.
- The Horror on Fifth Street: A Seattle Tragedy in 1877
A prominent local businessman, once a logger and grocer, descended into a violent, drug-fueled psychotic break that devastated his family and left the community reeling.
- The Tragedy of a Forgotten Soul
After a man drowned at a Tacoma wharf, his body was left exposed among 'ravenous fishes' for a full day before a private citizen finally intervened to provide a burial.
- A Chaotic Buggy Crash on Third Street
A pair of young, half-broken horses went berserk in downtown Seattle, leading to a violent wreck that left the passengers with broken bones and the animals severely injured.
- The Skykomish Gold Rush
A reported discovery of river-bed gold near Snohomish sparks a local frenzy, leading prominent citizens to abandon their businesses to stake a claim.
- The Paradox of Plenty: Seattle’s Lumber Boom Leaves No One to Live In
In August 1872, the city's primary industry is churning out lumber at a staggering rate, yet the town faces a bizarre crisis: there are simply no houses left to rent.
- The Seattle Coal Boom of 1876
As Seattle mine exports topped 100,000 tons, boosters predicted a regional dominance that would sideline the competition.
- The Seattle-Tacoma Rivalry Began with Petty Insults
While Tacoma boosters once mocked Seattle’s 'niggardly' natural gifts, the Dispatch fired back with a masterclass in civic trash-talk.
- He Tore Up the Railroad Track, Then Flagged Down the Train
In 1877, a King County farmer named John Ross ripped up Seattle Coal & Transportation Co. rails to force a right-of-way dispute into court — then warned the locomotive before it reached the break.
- The Abandoned Wife of Seattle's Founder
Dr. David S. Maynard claimed 640 acres in Seattle, then secretly divorced his wife of 24 years to marry another—a legal battle that exposed the heartless machinations of the city's early days.
- The Social Duty of Wealth in 1878 Seattle
A local editor challenges a wealthy property owner who claimed he owed nothing to the community that built his fortune.