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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 15 |
| 1893 | 13 |
| 1894 | 9 |
| 1895 | 5 |
46 stories matching con
- The Laundry Con Artists
Two men posing as city water works employees extorted a Chinese laundry owner, sparking a police crackdown on a recurring racket.
- A Young Lawyer's Lesson in the 'Great American Game'
A visiting English lawyer is conned in Tacoma by an elaborate 'customs officer' scam; the suspect is arrested after a quick police coordination.
- The Con Man Who Taught the City a Lesson
A prolific swindler who posed as a businessman and senator-associate leaves a trail of bounced checks and broken promises across Seattle, Tacoma, and Fairhaven.
- The Con Artist Who Played Barber on Marion Street
A fake detective who swindled his way through Seattle with a short-lived barber shop is now wanted for attempted murder in New York.
- The Shell Game at Myers Cannery
Two women are swindled out of $300 by a gang of con artists near the Myers Cannery, leading to a police hunt for the perpetrators of this classic 'gold brick' scam.
- The Persistent Barber Who Conned the City
A petty swindler known as 'Clark' or 'Rieff' spent weeks running up tabs at local drugstores and shops by impersonating city employees and prominent businessmen.
- The Detective, the Forger, and the Silverton Fiancée
Detective Sam Sumner captures a smooth-talking con man who posed as a Northern Pacific railroad official and nearly married into a Silverton family.
- The 'Line-Man' Forger of 1891
A young con artist dressed as a weary lineman successfully swindled several Seattle clothing stores and a saloon before vanishing into the night.
- The Real Estate Swindler Who Fooled Seattle
A smooth-talking con artist masquerading as an 'Eastern capitalist' swindled multiple Seattle banks by weaving himself into the city's booming real estate market.
- The Ghost Town That Only Existed on Paper
How two swindlers and a 'Nebraska Cyclone' preacher conned a community with a townsite located entirely in a duck-filled salt marsh.
- World's Fair Commission Cleared of Dishonesty, But Spending Called Extravagant
A joint legislative committee finds no evidence of dishonesty in the World's Fair Commission, but criticizes excessive expenditures and recommends $50,000 more to finish the work.
- The Ghost of the Street: Seattle’s Most Prolific Teenage Con Artist
Before the age of identity theft, a nameless youth wandered the streets of 1892 Seattle, forging heartbreaking letters of loss to bilk the city's compassionate elite.
- A Killer, a Gold-Brick Swindler, and a Widow's Missing Coat
James Murphy waits to learn whether he'll be shipped to Walla Walla for killing Phil Doe in the Copper Chief saloon — while a con man's loyal wife scours Front Street for the coat a dead man wore.
- The Swindler Is Back, and He's Bought a New Suit
Fresh from Walla Walla, a confident ex-convict jokes about prison, promises diamonds, and leaves Seattle police wondering where his money comes from.
- The Lock and the Bunko Men: How Two Hop Pickers Turned the Tables on a Seattle Con Artist
Richard Sullivan, a bunko man with a Tacoma headquarters, was convicted of petty larceny after swindling two Indian boys on the City dock.
- Spokane's Council Narrowly Votes to Dry Out Variety Theaters
After a three-hour hearing, aldermen voted 9–6 to ban liquor in variety theaters—pitting ministers and reformers against theater managers and nearly 3,000 petitioners.
- The Night Seattle’s Mayor Nearly Fired His Police Board
An executive-session showdown over Chief Rogers ended with Mayor Phelps handing a commissioner his own removal papers — then taking them back.
- The State’s Office is a ‘Sailor’s Boarding House’: Olympia’s Desperate Search for a Capitol
With state officers scattered across the city in “miserably-ventilated” rooms and valuable records stored in sheds, Representative Collins introduces a bill to erect a temporary building on business property.
- The City Wants Its Fair Share: Republican Wards Revolt Over Delegate Math
Three ward clubs storm the county Republican committee to protest an apportionment that hands the countryside outsized power — and the committee adjourns without budging an inch.
- The 'Gold Brick' King: How a Master Con Man Sold Copper to a Banker
A too-trusting Aberdeen banker, a man disguised as an Indian, and a forged letter from the San Francisco mint—the Seattle trial of the notorious swindler 'Rebel George' Knowlton.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died 150 Feet From Safety
An 1894 coroner's jury in Franklin, Washington, heard how a small fire in the Oregon Improvement Company's coal mine became a wall of smoke — and why the men who could have escaped stayed to fight it.