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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 10 |
| 1889 | 22 |
| 1891 | 13 |
| 1892 | 23 |
| 1893 | 15 |
| 1894 | 29 |
| 1895 | 36 |
148 stories matching vice
- Justice Glasgow Sets New Fines for Dance House Girls
Judge Glasgow increases bail and fines for women working in dance halls and brothels, signaling a harsher crackdown on vice in the city.
- The Fire That Paid: A Grocery Store’s Lucky Escape
When a Jackson Street grocery burned down in January 1889, the owners didn't just rebuild—they received a full cash payout from their insurer, Pacific Carpet Company President John P. Hoyt, and sent a public note of gratitude.
- The Fire That Paid the Bills: A Grocery Owner’s Gratitude
In the chaotic early days of Seattle, a local grocery firm received a full cash payout from an insurance company after their Jackson Street store burned down—a rare moment of financial relief in a city prone to disaster.
- The Failed Promise of 'Clean' Streets
Critics decry the Democratic administration's failure to suppress gambling and vice, alleging that prostitution has simply migrated from 'Whitechapel' to transit corridors.
- The Ghost Ship of Port Townsend
A British bark vanishes in the fog off Washington’s coast; a court of inquiry clears the crew, but not before two men drown and the master walks away with nothing.
- The Battle Over the Plummer House
Mayor Ronald blocks a city ordinance that would have extended liquor limits to a specific building, sparking a public outcry from residents and churchgoers.
- The Internal Feud at a Ballard Lumber Mill
A sawmill partnership in Ballard faces a forced liquidation as the company president sues his partner for mismanagement and mounting debts.
- Seattle's Three Breweries Merge Into a Trust
Local brewers consolidate to cut costs and end competition, sparking fears of monopoly power.
- The Trust That Wasn't: Seattle's Local Insurance Giant Puts Out a Fire (and a Note of Thanks)
While national headlines buzz with anti-trust legislation in St. Louis, a local grocery store owner in Seattle offers a rare moment of civic gratitude to the Farmers' Insurance Company for promptly covering the losses of a recent Jackson Street fire.
- The Snohomish Moral Crusade
Ministers unite to force the city council to shutter local gambling dens and brothels.
- City Council Ousts Park Commissioner
William E. Bailey is removed from his post after being absent from the city for more than sixty days, sparking a shuffle in local governance.
- Monte Cristo Is Hiring: 600 Miners and the Steepest Tramway in America
F. W. Wilmans returns from the boomtown with word that the mines need hundreds more men and a 6,000-foot tramway with a grade over 45 degrees.
- Seattle Schools Slash Budgets Amid Financial Panic
Facing high fuel costs and the economic strain of 1893, the school board cuts teacher salaries for sick leave and consolidates classes.
- Miners Organize Amidst Industry Turmoil
As labor strikes ripple through coal operations in Pennsylvania, miners at the Northern Pacific Coal Company in Roslyn formally organize under the United Mine Workers of America.
- A Candy-Shop Front, a Church Shadow, and a Vice Conviction in Downtown Seattle
Rose Zetler was found guilty of running a disorderly house near Third and University, with testimony tying her husband to a tar-and-feathering in Winnipeg.
- Hostile Takeover at the Grocery Counter
A local businessman alleges he was coerced into signing away his stake in the Haley Grocery Company under threat of public disgrace.
- Ballard Reanimates its Chamber
After a two-year dormancy, Ballard’s merchant class moves to incorporate and plot the construction of a new commercial home.
- 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.'
- Police Raid the 'Whitechapel' District
Justice Miller fines two dozen women in the wake of a citywide vice sweep.
- The Political Brawl Over Seattle’s Debt
At a heated series of ward meetings in 1892, Republicans and reformers clashed over city finances, corruption, and a controversial proposal to tax 'abandoned women and gamblers.'
- The Dry Party That Wanted Woman Suffrage, Equal Pay and Public Railroads
One hundred and fifty Prohibitionists from thirteen Washington counties met in Tacoma in 1894 and wrote a platform that went far beyond liquor — endorsing votes for women, equal wages regardless of sex, government ownership of railroads and telegraphs, and the forfeiture of unearned land grants.
- Shoemakers Form Protective Union to Restore Prices
After organizing at labor headquarters, local cobblers and shoe shop owners unite to purge cut-price advertising and set standards for the trade.
- The Saloon Turf War: Seattle's 1891 Zoning Scandal
A surprise move by the Board of Aldermen to eliminate limits on where liquor could be sold triggers a fierce public outcry against perceived civic corruption.
- Sunday Statistics: The War for the Soul of Seattle's Youth
Rev. Wallace Nutting takes a census of the city’s saloons and churches to prove the moral decay of young men in the West.
- The Human Cost of the Coal Mine
As Seattle's mines teeter on the edge of insolvency, the burden of reorganization falls squarely on the shoulders of the workers.