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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 5 |
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50 stories matching immor
- The Saloon at the State Fair: A Temperance Warning from Yakima
An impassioned editorial condemns the state fair commission for auctioning saloon rights, warning that liquor will corrupt young men and tarnish the fair's educational mission.
- Crackdown on Human Trafficking in the Pacific Northwest
Federal officials in Portland and Seattle move to deport Japanese women brought into the country for forced labor and prostitution.
- The Price of a Scandalous Partnership
A woman who eloped to Seattle seeks to reclaim her share of a partnership, only to have a judge dismiss the suit as based on an 'immoral consideration.'
- The Price of Virtue in a Growing Boomtown
Mayor George W. Hall rejects 'vicious' municipal profits from sin, grappling with the fiscal reality of a rapidly expanding, fire-scarred Seattle in 1892.
- The Postal Inspector's Decoy Trap
A persistent postal investigator nabs two local lottery men after months of elaborate sting operations.
- The Forgotten Women of the Lodging-Houses
A sympathetic, if patronizing, look into the harsh, itinerant lives of women surviving in the depths of Seattle’s 19th-century urban poverty.
- The Women Who Stormed the Police Chief’s Office
In 1885, a group of Seattle women, frustrated by official corruption and the unchecked influence of saloons and gambling dens, launched a moral crusade to demand a new Chief of Police.
- The Trial That Shook Tacoma: The Scandal of Sadie Brantner and Judge Wickersham
A dramatic courtroom battle in the late 1880s reveals a web of sexual politics, professional ethics, and character assassination involving a prominent probate judge and a young woman accused of immorality.
- The husband of a day and the forged $300 check
A woman known in Newport as Winifred Moter was sent to the penitentiary after forging her new husband's name to a check and spending the proceeds on millinery and cash.
- She Married the Man She Sued — Then Her Lawyers Came for Their Cut
A breach-of-promise case ends in a wedding, but the attorneys who won the judgment want $6,100, and the newlyweds leave for Walla Walla with papers in hand.
- The Cake-Walk Controversy: When Morality Met Modernity in Bellevue
A local violinist’s moral objection to a high school charity dance nearly sparked a riot, dividing the town between tradition and progress.
- A Seattle Preacher Tells Society Women They Are Marching Their Children to the Gallows
Preaching to women only on "Dying Mothers and Starving Children," Rev. M. A. Matthews calls society "the emptiness of emptiness" — and blames card parties, prizes and maternal neglect for juvenile crime.
- The Prosecutor's Parting Shot at Stevens County's Saloons
In his final annual report, Stevens County Prosecuting Attorney J.A. Rochford counted nine penitentiary convictions, warned of pending rape cases, and told the governor the saloon trade was responsible for most crime.
- The Great Nude Debate: When Seattle’s Church Ladies Tried to Save Their Living Pictures
A fundraising gala at Christ Episcopal Church descended into moral panic when vestrymen declared 'living pictures' (nude art) too scandalous for the pulpit, forcing a cancellation that left donors furious and ladies defiant.
- The Unseen Conflict at the House of the Good Shepherd
A desperate mother and a firm mother superior navigate the complex, often heartbreaking task of institutionalizing a 'headstrong' teenager in late 19th-century Seattle.
- The Kidnapping of the Kerr Children: A Seattle Scandal of Custody and Class
In July 1888, Chief Justice Jones presided over a dramatic habeas corpus hearing regarding two young girls seized from an orphanage by their father and his new lover, sparking a public debate over morality, custody rights, and the fate of vulnerable children.
- Grand Jury Exposes Seattle Brothels and Liquor Sales to Native Americans
In September 1876, a King County grand jury reported widespread lawlessness in Seattle, including indictments for selling liquor to Native Americans, running gambling houses, and maintaining public nuisances.
- 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.
- The Pastor, the Pawnshop, and the Forged Minutes
Seattle's Jones Street A.M.E. church removed Rev. Allen Whaley after trustees found missing collection money, a suspicious bank receipt, and minutes he wrote himself.
- A Freethinker Takes On the Pulpit in Olympia
At Liberal Hall, P. D. Moore answers a minister’s sermon on law with a call for a religion of nature, reason, and good conduct rather than wrath and dogma.
- The Judge Who Was Both Defendant and Accused
In a stunning legal double-header, Judge Wickersham is convicted of seduction in one court, then immediately indicted for perjury by the federal grand jury in the very same day.
- The Minister, the Miracle Cure, and Olympia's War on Drink
Rev. Napoleon Hoagland preached "salvation by science" at Tacoma Hall, touting Dr. Keeley's famous remedy for alcoholism and urging Olympia to raise money so the poor could be treated too.
- Seattle Pastor Warns of Anarchy and Labor Unrest in 1893 Sermon
Rev. Dr. D. C. Garrett told St. Mark's Episcopal congregation that labor troubles stem from a failure to render unto God and Caesar.
- The Wig and the Wire: How a Tacoma Newspaper Owner Tried to Destroy a Judge
In the sensational Wickersham trial of 1889, prosecutor R.P. Radebaugh’s own past and his alleged conspiracy to frame Judge Wickersham for 'immorality' were laid bare in court.
- The Circular of Rumors That Landed a Minister in Court
A four-hour Seattle libel hearing ends with Rev. M. H. Nichols bound over after he admits his charges against Rev. Dr. T. E. Ford were built on hearsay.