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67 stories matching killer
- The Drain Detectives
A warning to tenants: sewer gas is a hidden killer, and your landlord’s thrift might be costing you your health.
- The Mayor and the Murderer
A scathing editorial questions the ethics of Mayor Ronald defending a local killer while in office.
- The Silent Killer in Our Homes
Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the U.S. Bureau of Entomology, warns Tacoma citizens that the common housefly is a deadly vector for disease.
- Four Killers Confined in Pierce County Jail
A grim summary of four separate homicide cases in Tacoma, as of August 1892, including one death caused by a drunken assault.
- The Price of a Human Life
A Seattle newspaper critiques the wildly inconsistent sentencing for murder in Washington Territory, highlighting how local bias and venue changes drastically altered justice for accused killers.
- The 'Indolent' Husband Who Fired His Lawyer
When William Allen was sued for divorce by a wife who claimed he was too lazy to support her, he decided to represent himself—and his court filing for 'rheumatic pain' is a masterclass in 19th-century legal DIY.
- The Killer Who Died Before the Verdict
O. H. Miller died under indictment for two murders. From an asylum, his son claims he knows where the murder weapon lies—at the bottom of a lake near Mercer Island.
- The Jailhouse Recognition: A Killer Unmasked in Seattle
While awaiting his own release, a prisoner in the Seattle city jail spots a familiar face in the next cell and realizes he is sharing space with a notorious fugitive wanted for murder.
- Why the Local Editor is Tired of Being an 'Easy Mark'
A frank admission from the Lynden Tribune editor on why local newspapers are finally charging politicians for their campaign announcements.
- A Convicted Killer's Second Chance: New Trial Granted After Juror Admits Prejudice
The state Supreme Court overturns Wilcox's manslaughter conviction in the brutal Fetting murder case, citing a juror swayed by newspaper coverage.
- The Hidden Killer in Seattle’s Business District
The tragic, preventable death of a young businessman in 1889 exposes the lethal lack of sewage infrastructure in the heart of downtown Seattle.
- The Silent Killer in the Boarding House
An 1878 editorial warns Seattle residents that the city's obsession with airtight rooms and coal stoves is fueling a tuberculosis epidemic.
- The Most Noted Killer in the West Sits Smoking His Pipe
Convicted of killing a woman and burning her body in a pine-log heap, James F. Logan waits out his appeal in a steel cell — cheerful, confident he'll never hang, and happy to receive the curious.
- The Soil-Killer’s Ledger
An 1878 editorial warns that Pacific Northwest farmers are repeating the mistakes of fallen empires by exhausting their land for short-term profit.
- The Cedar River Standoff
A booze-fueled construction argument at the Black Diamond coal mines turned into an armed pursuit through the woods.
- The Toy-Pistol Jailbreak That Left a Killer at Large
A Seattle editorial seethes over technical delays and comfortable cells after confessed murderer Thomas Blanck walks out of the King County Jail with its keys and revolvers.
- The Confessed Killer Who Wept on the Stand
At a Montesano murder trial, John Klingenberg calmly described shooting Charles Hadberg at Indian Creek — then broke down as he swore William Gohl ordered him to do it under threat of death.
- The Milk That Killed Children: A Call for State Inspection
E. A. McDonald tells the dairymen that impure city milk is a leading killer of children and that Seattle alone employs a milk inspector — and Prof. Pearson adds a wry tale of a cow that supposedly supplied one customer for seventeen years.
- Fifty Murders, Not One Hanging: Seattle Puts Its Courts on Trial
A Post-Intelligencer editorial argues that endless technical appeals have made King County a place where killers walk free — and warns that the resulting public fury is the courts' own fault.
- A Gunfighter Imported for a Seattle Primary
Sheriff Woolery and saloon-world fixer John Considine tried to seize a First Ward Republican primary—and brought a jailed gambler along to help.
- The Policeman, the Whiskey, and the Sober Pigeons
A Seattle officer's attempt to trap church-dwelling pigeons using liquor-soaked corn ended in a hilariously humiliating failure when the birds refused to lose their composure.
- The Verdict Was Thrown Out. Now Wilcox Faces a Second Fight for His Life.
William A. Wilcox, once convicted of manslaughter in the 1893 slaying of Charlotte Fetting, will be retried in Seattle. Both prosecution and defense claim new evidence — and the defense says the real killers are still at large.
- A Governor's $1,000 Reward for a Missing Spokane County Farmer
Charles F. Gloystein vanished from his Mica home in July 1894. As neighbors whispered murder and Populists attacked his name, Washington's governor offered cash for his body and for his killers.
- 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 Killer Who Walked Into the Council and Bared His Breast
On San Juan Island, a man accused of killing a chief's son returned to face tribal justice—and his family watched him offer his own heart to the dead man's brother.