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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 34 |
| 1877 | 38 |
| 1878 | 15 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1880 | 8 |
| 1882 | 10 |
| 1883 | 25 |
| 1884 | 21 |
| 1885 | 35 |
| 1886 | 23 |
| 1887 | 28 |
| 1888 | 12 |
| 1889 | 41 |
| 1890 | 11 |
| 1891 | 41 |
| 1892 | 87 |
| 1893 | 72 |
| 1894 | 78 |
| 1895 | 103 |
| 1897 | 4 |
| 1898 | 10 |
| 1899 | 18 |
| 1900 | 3 |
| 1902 | 5 |
| 1903 | 46 |
| 1904 | 24 |
| 1908 | 6 |
| 1909 | 35 |
| 1910 | 14 |
| 1911 | 4 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 6 |
| 1915 | 9 |
| 1916 | 13 |
| 1917 | 9 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1925 | 2 |
| 1929 | 1 |
910 stories matching poor
- The Charity Bureau’s War on ‘Strawberry Jam’ Relief
A newly formed Associated Charities bureau boasts of cutting poor relief costs by policing the 'worthiness' of recipients and weeding out fraud.
- Floodwaters Threaten the County Farm
Spring flooding on the Duwamish River forces the county to intervene as a private sawmill's boom logs threaten to divert the current into public land.
- The Salvation Army's Plan to End Urban Poverty
A proposal to move impoverished tenement dwellers from congested cities onto government-allotted public lands in the West.
- The Women of Olympia Organize for the Poor
A local group of women forms a relief society to provide food and clothing to the city's needy during the winter months.
- Taxation Without Representation for the Poor
A scathing breakdown of how local tax laws favor wealthy landowners while crushing the small lot owner.
- The Price of Public Care
King County officials weigh competing bids for the medical and basic care of the county's poor in 1883.
- Walla Walla to Build New County Poor House
After inspecting neighboring Whitman County, local commissioners decide to move from a contract-based system to a county-owned brick facility.
- The Struggle to Feed and House King County's Poor in 1876
Newly surfaced county records reveal the bureaucratic grind of managing public welfare, road construction, and the sequestration of municipal rents in 1870s Seattle.
- Cowboy Terry, the Chinese Smuggler, and the Ghost of a Deputy’s Killing
Caught smuggling Chinese laborers near Sumas, “Cowboy” Terry waives examination and is bound over—while insisting a fatal 1892 shooting began with other men’s guns.
- Sold at Fifteen, Then Shut Out: A Walla Walla Nurseryman's Daughter Ends Up in the County Poor Farm
Sixty-five, penniless and 'bent and weary,' Alice Hess writes from the Spokane County poor farm asking whether the law can force her wealthy Whitney relatives — a nurseryman, a Big Bend doctor, a sitting legislator — to keep her alive.
- Sixteen Paupers, a Clay-Bed Well, and a Farm Not Fit to Live On
County commissioners tour the county poor farm and find cracked fences, filthy bedding, horses bleeding on barbed wire and water unfit to drink. The old place will be sold, they say — but only if a poor farm is worth having at all.
- The County Would Keep Her for Life — If It Could Sell Her Land
After 18 years at the Stevens County poor farm, an Indigenous woman named Katherine Martin becomes the object of a bargain between county officials and the Indian department over her allotment.
- They Killed Poor Mac
A widow steps off the stage at Pomeroy's St. George Hotel with news of her husband's death in Dayton — and the town's sympathy stops short of the dead man.
- Tragedy at the County Poor Farm
A patient suffering from typhoid fever leaps to his death from a third-story window.
- The City vs. The County: A Dispute Over Who Feeds the Poor
A finger-pointing match erupts between the City of Seattle and King County as local officials refuse to fund the medical care of the indigent.
- The Forgotten Souls of the County Poor Farm
A rare, unflinching account of the grim conditions inside Seattle’s makeshift county asylum, where the elderly and infirm were left to languish on hard wooden planks.
- The River Blockade
A standoff between the County Auditor and a local mill company reaches a breaking point over the Duwamish River.
- The Inner Life of a Dining Room Waiter
A frank, cynical look at the power dynamics between restaurant staff and customers in early Seattle.
- South Tacoma Residents Organize for Basic Infrastructure
Tired of poor transit and bad sidewalks, citizens in the Sixth Addition form an improvement club to demand fire protection and city services.
- The Apple Quality Showdown
A local grower challenges rumors of poor fruit shelf-life by proving his apples outlast the competition.
- The Unreliable Peer: A Seattle Critique of Jury Bias
An 1878 editorial laments that the 'glory of English law' is being tarnished by jurors who prioritize class bias over evidence.
- The Minister Who Left the Church for Socialism
Declaring the modern church a 'parasite,' Reverend J.C. Wiswell resigns to embrace the message of international Socialism.
- The Fight Over the Stubblefield Home
Walla Walla's civic leaders spar with the county attorney over the legality of funding a home for orphaned children.
- The Tragedy of 'Poor Tom' Boyd
A scathing editorial commentary on a recent Seattle murder, reflecting the era's harsh moralizing and gendered double standards.
- Camp Murray Soldiers Arrested for Refreshment Raid
A group of guardsmen, frustrated by poor rations, caused a late-night commotion by raiding a local fruit stall, leading to mass arrests and a disciplinary crack-down.