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98 stories matching devic
- The Paradise of Thieves: Seattle’s 1876 Corruption Crisis
When the Territorial Legislature legalized gambling to fund a mountain road, Seattle residents warned that the city was becoming a lawless playground for criminals.
- The Race for the Rails: Seattle’s Fight to Keep the Northern Pacific Branch
As Oregon competitors maneuver to steal federal land grants, a local correspondent warns that losing the railroad connection could leave Washington Territory behind for decades.
- The Tragic Cost of the Miner's Den
In a remote mining camp, a man’s hard-earned savings and life are lost in a sudden, violent encounter with card sharps.
- County Commission Battles Northern Pacific Land Grab
King County officials call out the railroad for attempting to claim massive timber and coal holdings through fraudulent charter claims.
- Seven Votes Decide the Sheriff: Judge Langley Tosses Out Fraud Charges and Seats Van de Vanter
After a six-week ballot-by-ballot recount, a Seattle judge ruled that clumsy election officers could not disfranchise King County voters—and confirmed the Republican sheriff by a seven-vote margin.
- Blandford Takes the Blame in City Flume Patent Suit
The Statesman accuses the city administration of forcing a contractor to take the fall for a costly legal infringement on a flume project.
- Carnival Performer Critically Injured
A teenage girl performing a 'loop-the-loop' stunt in Tacoma suffered catastrophic injuries due to alleged equipment negligence.
- The Mayor Moves to Shut the Dives and Gambling Rooms
A sweeping message from the mayor demands that the council revoke the licenses of saloons and music halls where girls sell liquor and gamblers run their games—passed in full by the aldermen even as auditors report a $27,000 hole in the street-improvement funds.
- The River That Would Light Seattle: Snoqualmie Falls Power Company Incorporated
In January 1893, a $2 million company filed articles to harness Snoqualmie Falls and wire electricity to Seattle—an early bet that turned a waterfall into urban power.
- Calispel Valley Ranchers Move to Dike Out the Pend Oreille
A petition for a new diking district would protect 11,000 acres from annual floods—and add thousands to Stevens County's tax rolls.
- The Whistle That Broke a Marriage: A Trainer’s Flight from His Own Scheme
When Alfred Nickella’s wife bought a police whistle to protect herself from his threats, the device backfired spectacularly, sending the horse trainer fleeing Seattle in haste.
- Arson Attack at Snohomish Mercantile
An incendiary device was discovered burning in the floorboards of a Chinese-owned store, nearly igniting the heart of the business district.
- The Mysterious Bomb at the Postoffice
A suspicious package resembling a bomb creates a localized stir at the Seattle post office.
- Gambling Near the Throne
City hall's political elites are quietly sanctioning a new gambling house for the well-connected.
- The Phosphorus Terror of Hoquiam
A saboteur sows the streets with incendiary devices, nearly reducing the town to ash before the rains intervene.
- The Great Escape from the County Courthouse
A notorious local thief rigged an ingenious 'Spanish windlass' to dismantle his cell window and vanished into the night—completely naked.
- Seattle’s First Battle for Clean Air
The city council passes a landmark ordinance to curb factory smoke, signaling a crackdown on the industrial polluters that have long choked the downtown air.
- The Constitutional Convention's Partisan Gridlock
Delegates in Olympia debate the structure of the state's future judiciary, clashing over judicial term limits, court size, and political representation.
- The Political Bazaar of 1891: How the Calkins Faction Tried to Buy the Senate
In a frantic scramble to seize power, legislative 'strikers' in Olympia flooded the capital with promises of patronage and political favors, mirroring the high-stakes, behind-the-scenes maneuvering that still defines state politics.
- Fatal Booby Trap in Whatcom
Two men are being hunted after a 'trap gun' rigged to a door killed an unsuspecting visitor.
- The Man Who Robbed Seattle's Fire Relief Fund Walked Out of Prison on Friday
Five years after the great fire of 1889 turned Seattle to ash, the secretary trusted to hand out relief money — an inspector who forged checks to invented men — finished his sentence and went free, his full take never known.
- Seattle Slams the 'Ladies' Entrance' on Saloons
After a 2,500-name petition, the city council orders saloons to keep one street entrance and bars the screened side doors and signs that drew women in.
- The Telephone Monopoly Seattle Refused to Break
A national syndicate promised cheap telephones and a rival to Bell. Seattle's aldermen said no, and the city stayed in the Sunset Telephone Company's grip.
- A Local Judge Stays the Injunctions
How Judge W. W. Black’s common-sense ruling in a Snohomish mill strike earned him the support of organized labor.
- The Unlikely Tale of the 'Pull-Back' Train Stopper
A small-town mechanic's wild invention—a massive rubber cable designed to hook trains that left without their passengers—actually worked.