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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 16 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 8 |
| 1903 | 5 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
47 stories matching phil
- Tragedy at the Occidental Hotel
A pre-dawn fire at a downtown boarding house kills a resident and leaves others fighting for their lives in the smoke.
- Twenty Clowns, Cloth Elephants, and a College Circus at the Armory
Whitman students and the Walla Walla Band plan four nights of acrobats, side shows and pink lemonade — with a hired professional troupe to keep it honest.
- The Price of a 'Pull' in Seattle's Police Force
Seven officers were fired to make room for the mayor's favorites, sparking outrage over political patronage.
- The Hard Road to Fish Lake and the Tall Tales Found There
A traveler recounts the grueling journey from Cle-Elum to Fish Lake, where prospectors and mountain air await—if you can survive the trip.
- Two Iowa Veterans Find Each Other After Thirty Years in an Olympia G.A.R. Hall
At the first meeting of Geo. H. Thomas Post in its new rooms, a visiting commander discovered a fellow Iowa soldier in the audience—and the speechmaking dissolved into a handshake.
- The Burglar Who Got Away: Old Soldier's Failed Identification Frees Suspect
Herman Wendt, 19, released after James Bowie couldn't positively identify him as the man who broke into his South Seattle home—but Wendt remains a suspect in a recent murder.
- A Fatal Ride on the Grant Street Line
Jack Collins, a nurse at the poor farm, met an instant death after attempting to navigate the rails while intoxicated.
- The Ball Club Breaks Up and the Boys Scatter for Winter
Seattle's professional nine pockets its benefit-game proceeds, cancels the barnstorming trip east, and dissolves — leaving a dozen players to find work from Butte to Omaha.
- The Girl Who Broke the Glass Ceiling at Whitman College
In 1903, Miss Worthington became the first woman to run for an executive office in the Associated Students, challenging a male-dominated political machine.
- Thirty Men Want One City Job as Olympia’s New Council Takes Over
A patronage scramble greets Olympia’s incoming administration, with a crowd of applicants for street commissioner and a proposal to cut the police force while adding more streetlights.
- A 30-Cent Debt Ends in a Water Pitcher, a Watch Chain, and Two Lawsuits
A Newcastle boarding-house keeper and a stage driver turn a petty fare dispute into a grand-larceny trial, a jury, and a follow-up assault charge.
- A Guard Called It an Escape. A Witness Called It Murder.
In a letter to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Thomas Hayden described the shooting of convict Thomas Dryden at Walla Walla and accused prison officials of covering it up.
- Six Drowned and the Dead Looted: The Wreck of the Strathblane
Eyewitnesses described a fearful scene off North Beach as the iron ship Strathblane broke apart—farmers rode into the surf to save survivors while others rifled the dead.
- The Donation Claim That Ended in Murder—and Took Decades to Settle
A federal land ruling near Sumner untangles decades of inheritance, foreclosure, and a killing tied to a donation claim first filed in 1853.
- The Home Market Fight: Farmers Say Seattle Merchants Look Past Their Own Fields
A Port Angeles farmer’s letter to the Post-Intelligencer argues that Seattle merchants undercut local growers by buying from California, Oregon, and Chinese gardeners—and warns that the city’s food economy is bleeding money out of Washington.
- The Franklin Mine Dead Were Buried. Then the Miners Went Back Down.
A relief fund swells with donations from Eddyville millmen and Seattle readers as surviving miners reopen the levels that did not burn.
- A Wooden Pistol Emptied the King County Jail
Thomas Blanck, awaiting appeal for murder, locked the night jailer in a cell and walked out with eight other prisoners—armed with a black wooden fake.
- The Iron Hotel: Seattle's Jail Let Convicted Killers Wait Out the Law
A 1905 exposé inside the King County jail found convicted murderers lingering for years in a steel cage while appeals stalled, one prisoner fashioning a pistol from a shoe shank and escaping, and taxpayers footing the bill.
- The Ghost of the Seattle Enterprise: Stockholders Escape a Dead Newspaper's Debts
A receiver's long-running suit against 85 subscribers to the failed Seattle Enterprise collapses in court, but not before the paper's brief, fiery life is recalled — complete with a building-bulging press and a strike by its own printers.
- Liquor Dealers Organize to Capture City Council
A slim meeting at Columbia Hall reveals a saloon-backed push to elect Murphy and Grainger, as the liquor interests try to regain control after last year's defeat.
- Who Should Keep Olympia's Money?
On the eve of the 1891 municipal election, a dozen anonymous Olympians argued over the city treasurer's race, a regular nominee, a new brick block, and a saloonkeeper's ten-dollar joke.
- The People’s Ticket: Olympia’s 1891 Caucus Revolt
A printed slate handed out at the door, a mayor booed as 'defeated,' and a second-ward protest meeting: the fight over who would control Olympia's city nominations.