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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 9 |
| 1894 | 11 |
| 1895 | 6 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
| 1925 | 1 |
69 stories matching rotten
- A Cold Reception for a Community Booster
While Kennewick gained prestige from 'Strawberry Day,' local residents embarrassed the town by ignoring a guest speaker who traveled from Seattle to address them.
- The Butchery of Centralia
A small-town surgical operation turns into a sensational murder case, raising questions of greed, conspiracy, and medical malpractice.
- Tacoma’s Poisoned Water
A local newspaper argues that the city's reliance on the polluted Clover Creek for drinking water is driving typhoid fever and threatening the lives of its residents.
- The Flight of a Crooked City Treasurer
When the city press exposed deep corruption in the treasurer’s office, Adolph Krug didn't wait for the trial—he fled.
- The Sewer Scandal: A Whistleblower’s Warning
City Engineer Thomson testified that he repeatedly warned officials against using sub-standard, 'rotten' brick in Seattle’s sewer construction, only to be ignored as the project fell into corruption and mismanagement.
- The House That Slid Down the Hill
A ramshackle boarding house on Main Street collapses after heavy rains and poor construction send it sliding down an unstable Seattle hillside.
- Walla Walla’s Water Infrastructure on the Brink
City officials scramble to replace decaying pipes on Alder Street before a catastrophic system-wide failure leaves the city dry.
- A Scuffle on the Tide Flats
A local officer tracks stolen goods to a Chinese laundry on the Seattle waterfront, leading to a desperate hand-to-hand struggle.
- The Rotten Beef Scandal of 1872
When a local market was accused of selling diseased meat, the ensuing war of words revealed the thin line between journalism and extortion in early Seattle.
- Two Million Bricks and a Hundred Jobs for the Cascade Gateway
The Union Brick Works of Tacoma wins the Northern Pacific's contract to line the Stampede Tunnel in fire-baked brick — a regional infrastructure job that will keep a hundred men working through the summer.
- The Women of Seattle Organize for Social Change
In an era of rapid growth, the King County W.C.T.U. gathered to hold the city's power brokers accountable for the moral and social decay they saw gripping the port city.
- The Hidden Scourge on the Rooftop
When a cigar factory worker in Seattle was discovered to be rotting from a mysterious disease, it sparked a local panic over health, labor, and the limits of the city's care.
- The Brutality of the Walla Walla Penitentiary
A critical look at the failing 'cell system' and the questionable state industries in Washington’s state prison.
- The Unmasking of a Mason
A tense, public confrontation in a local Seattle establishment reveals the social friction surrounding the secret society's reputation in the 1870s.
- The Price of Civic Silence
An editorial on the danger of 'good citizens' ignoring municipal primaries and leaving the city to the mercy of ward bosses.
- The Midnight Escape from the War Hawk
A maritime labor dispute turns into a dramatic midnight jailbreak from a leaky ship at the Seattle waterfront.
- The Ghost of Fort Steilacoom: Workers Cheated Out of Their Wages
A group of laborers at the new asylum construction site speak out against contractors and commissioners who left them unpaid and used rot-prone materials.
- The Cynical Toll of Local Politics
A satirical diary of a man who wins a nomination for public office, only to be ruined by the exorbitant financial and social demands of his supporters.
- The Unlucky Life and Death of 'Jim, the Stout'
A satirical poem published in 1888 Seattle chronicled the fictional misfortunes of a man whose attempts to embrace city life ended in total catastrophe.
- The Boycott of the 'Stage Irishman': Spokane’s Hibernians Take on Theater
In November 1902, a local committee from the Ancient Order of Hibernians launched an organized campaign to banish caricatures of the Irish race from Spokane stages, threatening boycotts against any theater company that dared to perform them.
- The Perilous Ring at the Empire Theater
A local boxing match turned into a comedy of errors when the floor collapsed under the combatants twice, sending one fighter into the sub-cellar.
- Firefighters Fail as Rotten Hoses Fail to Save Homes
A residential fire on Eleventh Street in Aberdeen spirals into a local crisis when faulty equipment and a lack of unified command prevent the fire department from saving two houses.
- The Wild Cow That Ran Amok: Seattle’s First Public Menace
A runaway bovine terrorized the streets of Pioneer Square before being shot dead, sparking a bizarre legal battle over who owned the carcass and whether rotten beef could be sold to unsuspecting diners.
- The Terminal City That Died on Grays Harbor
A St. Paul syndicate graded streets, cleared forest and built a mile-long wharf for a railroad boomtown that never got its railroad. Only two families are left, living on clams.
- Tacoma’s Power Vote: The Times Calls Out the Trust
On the eve of a city election, The Tacoma Times urges a vote for the municipal Nisqually power project and accuses the private power interests of a campaign of falsehood.