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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 9 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 5 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1925 | 1 |
60 stories matching straw
- The Great Escape: Two Prisoners Vanish from Seattle’s Basement Jail
In a display of audacity and desperation, two men held on smuggling and liquor charges crawled through a torn-off board in a water closet to flee the U.S. Marshal’s improvised prison beneath the Clancy Building.
- The Tragedy of the Forgotten Pallet
Police discover the body of a man in a squalid Seattle boarding spot, highlighting the grim conditions faced by laborers in a rapidly growing, exclusionary city.
- The County’s Cold Shoulder: Seattle Bleeds for Indigent Sick
In April 1877, the City of Seattle faced a financial crisis as King County refused to pay medical bills for indigent patients, leaving local taxpayers to foot the bill for care that should have been shared.
- A Kingdom Waiting for Rails
In 1878, Eastern Washington farmers were literally building homes out of willow poles because the cost of shipping lumber across the Cascades was ruinous.
- The Price of Progress: Arson in the Shadow of the Opera House
When an old commercial building was moved to make way for Seattle's new Opera House, a firebug turned the vacated structure into a torch.
- Centenarian tribal elder killed by train in Spokane
A historic figure known as 'Indian Tom' is struck by a switch engine at a crossing.
- Business Leaders Corner Strawberry Farmers to Force Market Union
When sixty acres of berry crops remained unsigned for a new marketing cooperative, forty local business men took to the fields to persuade growers to join or face the economic consequences.
- A Massive Warehouse Blaze Leaves Yakima Scrambling
A fire of unknown origin at the Chappell & Cox warehouse caused significant damage to stored furniture, machinery, and agricultural goods.
- A Newspaper Editor's Silence in Court: The Lugrin Libel Trial
C. H. Lugrin, managing editor of the Seattle Telegraph, rested his defense without calling witnesses in a libel trial brought by Police Chief Rogers. The case now goes to the jury.
- The Tragedy of a Matrimonial Paper Marriage
A farmer is arrested after a horrific, confessed murder of his wife, a woman he met through a matrimonial advertisement just a year prior.
- The Yellow Glove Standoff on San Juan Island
When American informality faced British stiff-upper-lip formality in a frontier courtroom, a pair of gaudy kid gloves settled the diplomatic score.
- Federal Land Claims Struck Down in Seattle
Secretary Noble rejects a group of homestead applications in the Seattle district, potentially halting a syndicate's attempt to hoard thousands of acres.
- The Elderberry Wine Defense: How a Contested Election Collapsed in Laughter
Populists dropped their challenge to Commissioner Nickerson, but testimony in the sheriff and coroner contests turned up sailors voting under protest and a lunch bag of elderberry wine at a Franklin polling place.
- The Battle for North Yakima’s Future
As the territory prepared for statehood in 1889, land agents and local boosters scrambled to convince newcomers that North Yakima—not Ellensburg—was the region's inevitable capital.
- The Great Seattle Straw Hat Swindle
A smooth-talking grifter fleeced the crowds of Seattle by promising cheap hats, only to leave them holding handfuls of worthless paper.
- The Man Who Wouldn't Die: The Last Survivor of the Alamo Walks Among Us
A heroic frontiersman named Jimmy Kennon has resurfaced in Washington Territory, proving false reports of his death. He claims to be the sole survivor of the Battle of the Alamo and a legendary scout who once rescued a captive from Sioux hands.
- The Garbage Crisis: Seattle’s ‘Primitive’ Streets Demand a Permanent Solution
As the City Council debates the fate of the city's waste, officials warn that makeshift disposal methods are turning neighborhoods into health hazards and driving down property values.
- The Shadow Candidate
A political editorial argues that the People's Party candidate for Sheriff is merely a 'puppet' for a controversial newcomer.
- The Palouse Prosperity Boom
Whitman County farmers leave the 1893 credit panic behind as bank deposits shatter all previous records.
- The Wire War: Railroad vs. Telegraph
A legal standoff erupts between the Postal Telegraph Company and the Northern Pacific Railroad along the tracks between Tacoma and Kalama.
- The Lumber Barons Are Starving Themselves: Why Puget Sound Should Be Feeding Its Own Cows
A local editorial argues that Washington’s reliance on imported dairy is an economic absurdity, urging farmers to switch from beef to Devon and Jersey cattle to capitalize on our unique climate.
- The Strange Lottery of Seattle’s 1889 Democratic Primary
While Republicans held conventional district conventions to nominate candidates for the constitutional convention, Seattle’s Democrats opted for the 'novel' method of picking delegates by lottery.
- The Phantom Section Hands of the Northern Pacific
A roadmaster at Cle Elum is arrested for padding six railroad crews with fictitious workers—until a foreman’s conscience, and the auditors, caught up with him.
- The Hay Thief, the Bathtub, and the Shotgun Out of Repair
A Westside barn alarm turns into a comic opera of nightshirts, a borrowed shotgun and one stolen bale of hay.
- A Reader Says Smiles and Bows Won't Save Port Townsend
A letter to the editor takes aim at the sentimental notion that a town prospers on politeness alone, insisting that Port Townsend needs capital, labor and trade — not suave manners and boosterism.