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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 8 |
| 1893 | 16 |
| 1894 | 9 |
| 1895 | 10 |
54 stories matching paralyz
- The City Hall Compromise on Vice
A heated debate over whether to permit gambling and vice reveals the deep divide between reformers and those who viewed 'sin' as a necessary economic pressure valve.
- The Great Cascade Washout of 1892
A Chinook wind and torrential rain trigger massive landslides and bridge collapses, paralyzing rail travel across Washington.
- The Great Freeze of '92
Seattle and the surrounding region are paralyzed by record snowfall and freezing temperatures, leading to train delays, roof collapses, and a surge in labor prices.
- The Land Office Conspiracy
A broken man returns to Tacoma to implicate prominent businessmen in a high-stakes scheme to forge property titles.
- The Battle Over Public Health
A heated public dispute erupts between the Seattle Board of Health and the City Council’s Auditing Committee over the costs of a recent smallpox outbreak.
- The Great Flood of 1888
Torrential rains and melting snow paralyze the Snohomish and Stillaguamish valleys, destroying bridges and disrupting rail travel to Monte Cristo.
- The 'Reform' Administration's Policing Scandal
A scathing report accuses Seattle’s new municipal government of total incompetence in failing to curb a wave of burglaries, despite increased spending on the force.
- The Legislative Stalemate Over Washington’s Senator
After forty-nine ballots, the state legislature remains deadlocked in a bitter contest for a U.S. Senate seat, as factional infighting paralyzes the selection process.
- The 'Parliamentary Picnic' at Washington’s Constitutional Convention
When the delegates gathering in Olympia in 1889 grew bored, they turned the formal proceedings of the state's founding into a chaotic, hilarious session of mock motions and procedural pranks.
- The Price of Progress: Seattle’s Legal Tug-of-War Over Street Grades
In 1891, the city was forced to reckon with the constitutional requirement of paying damages to property owners before regrading streets, a lesson that paralyzed public works and exposed the city's precarious financial state.
- The Cable Car Standoff
A proposed sewer project threatens to paralyze Seattle's transit, pitting the city's public works against the cable car company.
- Anti-Allen Dark Horse Scheme Fails in Olympia
While anti-Allen forces scramble for a candidate, the state legislature remains paralyzed by 'dark horse' rumors and fabricated desertions.
- The Economic Anxiety of 1888
A fiery editorial warns that proposed national tariff reductions threaten to collapse Seattle's burgeoning industries and ruin the working class.
- The Great Telephone Switchboard Fire
A tangled mess of high-voltage arc light wires sends fireworks cascading through the central telephone exchange, nearly incinerating the entire plant.
- The One-Ton Ring That Bore Three Tons—and Left a Worker Paralyzed
Thomas O’Leary was repairing the City of Kingston when a bad iron ring gave way. He sued for $2,500, bedridden from the chest down, as doctors called him a cripple for life.
- The Phantom Title: How a Dead Man’s Land Became Seattle’s Newest Addition
A bizarre chain of custody involving a deceased San Francisco capitalist, a paralyzed attorney, and a speculator reveals the chaotic legal origins of Burke's Second Addition.
- A Senate Seat, a Stubborn Judge, and a Wasted Session
In January 1893, a Republican faction's refusal to honor the caucus choice paralyzed the Washington legislature and threatened Senator John B. Allen's re-election.
- The Wild Madison Street Sled Crash
A group of young men took a bob-sled on a high-speed, downhill run in winter, ending in a violent collision with a telegraph pole.
- The Waterfront War of 1891
A two-hour standoff between striking sailors and city officials paralyzes Port Townsend, leading to arrests and a near-riot.
- A Child’s Tragic Afternoon on the Flats
A six-year-old Seattle boy drowns in the harbor while fishing for crabs, exposing the perils of the waterfront mudflats for the city's youth.
- The $500 Vote: How a Spokane Judge’s Bribery Plot Exposed Seattle’s Political Rot
In the winter of 1903, Washington’s legislature was paralyzed by a scandal involving bribed senators and a desperate governor. When Representative Metcalfe revealed he was paid to vote for Judge Calkins, the resulting investigation tore through Olympia’s elite, revealing a web of corruption that threatened to define the state’s young democracy.
- The Black Diamond Strike: When a Single Wage Dispute Paralyzed 350 Miners
A local labor assembly ordered a halt to production at the Black Diamond coal mine after a miner was paid as a laborer despite working underground. Company agents claim ignorance of the cause, but the men stand firm.
- A Circular Saw Opened His Skull—and He Stayed Conscious
At the Stetson Post Mill on Commercial Street, engineer Horatio Stetson crawled under a rip-saw table to fix a belt. The saw caught his head, cutting through bone and into his brain, yet he never lost consciousness.
- The Ground-Squirrel Plague and the Bomb That Sent Them to 'Squirrel Heaven'
Whitman County farmers hoped a mysterious disease would wipe out the pests. Then came strychnine, arsenic and patented giant-powder bombs.
- Single Tax vs. the Saloon: A Seattle Debate on Land, Liquor, and Power
At Freed's Hall, Henry George's followers and Prohibitionists argued over whether taxing land or banning drink could break the grip of monopoly and the whisky trust.