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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 6 |
| 1888 | 4 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 6 |
| 1893 | 6 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 3 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
59 stories matching mess
- The Con Man Who Wore a Partner's Identity
A clever grifter posed as a prominent Seattle businessman to swindle New York merchants, leaving local partners to clean up the mess.
- The Family Tree That Became a Tangled Mess
A courtroom drama unfolds over a bizarre multi-generational marriage that left a family in civil war.
- The City Hall Scandal: A Contractual Nightmare in 1887 Seattle
City council members and contractors clash over botched public works, leaving taxpayers and laborers holding the bag in a classic tale of civic mismanagement.
- The Great Fourth of July Fireman’s Brawl
A celebratory fire competition in Tacoma turned sour as fire companies from across Washington Territory clashed over disputed rules and near-riotous crowds.
- Seattle's Fire Department Was Being Run Like a Boys' Club
An 1895 editorial blasts the fire commissioners and city council for a chief-appointment mess that left the department leaderless and the public fed up.
- 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 City Council’s High-Stakes Plumbing Fiasco
When Seattle hired a famed Eastern expert to redesign its city sewers, they ended up with a costly mess of mismatched theories and local engineering rebellion.
- The Jury That Called Out King County’s Corruption
A scathing 1887 report from the Grand Jury exposes the mismanagement, dangerous roads, and broken record-keeping systems of pioneer-era Seattle.
- The Perils of a Modern Diet
A local column warns Tacoma residents that the 'great national vice' of gluttony and poor food combinations is endangering public health.
- The Railway Gold Rush: When Every Line Wanted a Piece of Seattle
In 1890, Seattle was the ultimate prize for three competing transcontinental railroads, leading to a tangled mess of franchise wars, tide flat terminal deals, and high-stakes corporate maneuvering.
- The Great Tax Assessment Mess of 1887
Seattle and King County property owners find their tax rolls hopelessly entangled in errors, leaving public officials to question if the entire assessment should be scrapped.
- Olympia Puts Its Bond Mess on Ice—and the Mayor Objects
A council committee recommends leaving the 1891 bond tangle to the next administration; the mayor warns the city is “in a mud hole” and wants the courts to force a decision.
- 130 Waterfront Owners, and Nobody Knows Where Their Land Is
A boom-era plat, a harbor replatted by the state without regard to it, and a tide land commission trying to untangle the mess at Whatcom before the courts get it.
- The Unlucky Speckled Hen and the Tarring Party
In an era of domestic tension, a Washington housewife's patience for her husband's sloth and a neighbor’s story of a local scoundrel collide in a kitchen mishap.
- The Dream of a Seattle Ship Canal
Proposals to link Lake Washington, Lake Union, and the Puget Sound via canals promised to unlock vast timber and coal riches, but the path forward remains a tangled mess of congressional bills and engineering hurdles.
- The Ghost of the Liverpool Run
A sailor vanishes from his ship during a squall, only to reappear in an English port, leaving his crew convinced they’ve been haunted by a stowaway.
- The Newspaper Feud That Rocked 1880s Seattle
An editorial from the Intelligencer exposes the bitter, vitriolic infighting between two local publishing factions during a pivotal municipal and general election season.
- The Political Trading Floor in Mission
A backroom bargain in Chelan County pits local ambition against the governor's power, revealing the high-stakes chess game behind early 20th-century endorsements.
- City Engineer Fired Amidst Political Pressure
A storm of public indignation follows the board of public works' decision to remove the city engineer at the behest of shadowy political 'wreckers.'
- The Street Improvement Fiasco
Workers left penniless and street projects stalled as city contractors vanish without pay.
- The Self-Appointed Island Hermit
An account of a weary traveler who found 'paradise' in the San Juans, living a life of isolation among the islands' untouched natural bounty.
- The Bustle That Ambushed a Gentleman
A chivalrous attempt to help a lady on Main Street goes hilariously and disastrously wrong.
- The Struggle to Keep Seattle Clean in 1888
As Seattle prepared for a massive influx of tourists for a summer celebration, one citizen publicly shamed the city's leadership for allowing its streets to remain a cluttered, hazardous mess of construction debris.
- The Great Legislative Mess of 1877
A scathing editorial reveals how Washington Territory lawmakers spent their time sight-seeing instead of legislating, resulting in a chaotic pile of 'undigested' laws.
- A Night of Revelry at the Cannery
While anti-Chinese sentiment was rampant in Seattle, workers at the Myers cannery held a joyous, boisterous celebration for their cultural labor holiday.