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54 stories matching paralysi
- The Passing of a Seattle Pioneer
Samuel Kenney, a merchant tailor who helped shape the city's early commercial landscape, dies at his home on Houghton Street.
- An Eccentric Pioneer Found Alone and Helpless
After marrying a much younger woman and deeding away his property in a scandal that made local news, a reclusive tailor has been found paralyzed in his home.
- The Traveling Snake Oil Peddler of Snohomish
Before modern medicine, transient doctors like Dr. Spinney swept through Snohomish promising miracle cures for everything from 'seminal weakness' to 'Salt Rheum' to avoid the trip to San Francisco.
- The Old Indian Fighter Who Taught Himself to Read After Paralysis Took His Limbs
Jim Foley fought in the territory's early Indian wars, logged its woods for thirty years, and spent his last quarter-century as a ward of Snohomish County — where the old campaigner, unable to move, finally learned his letters.
- When the Law Stops the City
A judicial ruling in Tacoma paralyzes street improvements, sparking a bitter feud between city officials and property owners.
- The Phantom Title: How a Dead Man’s Land Became Seattle’s Newest Addition
A bizarre chain of custody involving a deceased San Francisco capitalist, a paralyzed attorney, and a speculator reveals the chaotic legal origins of Burke's Second Addition.
- The Bank Failure Vendetta
After his bank deposits evaporated, an enraged depositor stalked a banker to Tacoma, bringing a revolver and a sense of ruinous betrayal.
- The Last of the Pioneer Wagon Train
Nancy Biles, who led a 150-person wagon train across the Cascades in 1853, dies in Seattle.
- The Great Seattle Property Map Scandal
A scathing editorial reveals that King County’s property assessments are so riddled with errors that the tax rolls are essentially worthless, leaving the local government in a state of administrative paralysis.
- The Political Tidal Wave that Swept Seattle’s Council
After a crushing defeat at the polls, the incumbent 'Law and Order' party leaders signal they will voluntarily step down, ending a bitter period of civic paralysis in 1885 Seattle.
- The Asylum's Quiet Harmony
A rare glimpse into the operations of Washington Territory’s only mental hospital, as reported by its superintendent in 1884.
- The Pullman Strike hits Seattle
Striking railway workers and curious mobs gather at the Columbia Street depot, testing the city's resolve during the national railway paralysis.
- The Stabber Died Under an Alias at the County Hospital
Ten years after he stabbed a companion on the Lake Washington shore, a dying man at the county hospital was recognized as the same fugitive — still hiding behind the name George Rolsom.
- The Landlord’s Lie: How a Seattle Developer Stole His Own Property
In 1888, real estate magnate W.B. Bourn Jr. was forced to publish a public defense after discovering that his father had secretly transferred the title of his home and land to another party—leaving him with nothing but a contract.
- A Sanitary Sermon for Kennewick
City Health Officer F.M. Crosby issues a biblical-style list of ten ordinances to combat filth and disease.
- The Man Who Lost His Mind to a Will: A Snohomish Tragedy
A wealthy local man, stricken with paralysis after a legal dispute over his inheritance, is now confined in the Washington Asylum for the Insane. His family’s fortune may have cost him his sanity.
- A Saloon Brawl, a Broken Back, and a Witness Who Fled Winlock
F. M. Frost's death was ruled accidental, but a missing witness's story says Henry Dabrainer bent him backward like a jackknife and snapped his spine.
- The Ghost Deed: How a Secret Land Grab Stole Seattle’s Future
A legal battle erupts over Burke’s Second Addition after it is revealed that W.H. Bourn Sr. used a dying partner to hold title to prime land, leaving his estate vulnerable to fraud.
- The Oldest Settler in Washington Dies—and He Left a Peace Between Two Worlds
Thomas Stensgar came with the Hudson Bay Company, married into Chief Tomcomly’s family, and was called on to mediate between settlers and Indians.
- The Tragic Death of James Riley: A Local Defense Against 'Ill-Treatment' Claims
After a man recently sent from Snohomish to the Territorial Asylum died suddenly in Steilacoom, local papers rushed to defend their community's actions against accusations of negligence.
- The Father of Walla Walla's Nurseries Dies
Philip Kite, the territorial delegate who helped bring the Northern Pacific Railroad to the Northwest and built a massive horticultural empire, has died at age 81.
- The Tyrant of the High Seas: A Sailor’s Knife vs. a Mate’s Revolver
In a dramatic trial before U.S. Commissioner D.S. Smith, witnesses describe how the first mate of the brig *Sampson* beat a sailor into paralysis with an iron bar and revolver, sparking outrage over maritime abuse.
- Roslyn’s Miners Stood Together—and the Company Looked to Strikebreakers
When 650 Northern Pacific Coal Company workers refused a contract cut in July 1894, the company prepared to bring in Black miners under guard. In Roslyn, a home guard was already drilling.
- The City That Couldn't Build: A Letter from a Frustrated Investor
In February 1889, an anonymous writer lambasts Seattle’s Common Council for failing to establish street grades, arguing that this bureaucratic paralysis is the primary reason developers are withholding capital and leaving the city in a building slump.
- A State Veterinarian's 1899 Warning: Fund Animal Disease Control or Pay for It Later
Washington's biennial animal-health report counted diseased horses and cattle, traced a horse meningitis outbreak to mouldy straw in Waterville, and warned lawmakers that tuberculosis could jump between cattle and people.