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110 stories matching tone

  1. The Great Hotel Heist That Wasn't: How Seattle’s Gamblers Were Fooled by a Fake Fortune

    A broken-down cardsharp named 'Splitcheck Jimmy' was tricked into stealing an envelope full of newspaper, only to be ambushed by actors in a staged robbery at the St. Denis Hotel.

    May 4, 1877The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyTrue Crime

  2. The Rat That Didn't Die: A Seattle Street Performer’s Electric Shock Gambit

    In a desperate bid to steal customers from a rival vendor on Commercial Street, an electricity salesman rigged a dead rat to a copper plate—only for the rodent to remain stubbornly lifeless.

    Mar 8, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountySnake Oil

  3. The Trickle-Down Fury of the Waterfront

    A brutal hierarchy on a Seattle steamboat illustrates the chaotic and abusive nature of labor relations in the 1889 maritime trade.

    Aug 16, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle Waterfront, Seattle, King CountyWork & Pay · Strange But True

  4. The Engineer Who Had the City by the Throat

    In a bitter 1909 standoff over Seattle’s waterworks, engineer Benezet Williams accused city officials of squeezing him into submission after they canceled his contract. The advisory board’s final offer left him with little choice but to walk away.

    Jan 29, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

  5. Inside the State Asylum at Steilacoom

    A rare, firsthand look at the daily operations, patient care, and humanitarian philosophy of the Washington State Asylum for the Insane.

    Sep 25, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerWestern State Hospital, Steilacoom, Pierce County

  6. The High Stakes 'Sing-Gamble' of the Cedar River

    For over 130 hours, tribes from the Black, Cedar, and Puyallup rivers engaged in an ancient, rhythmic gambling ritual near Renton, staking their entire winter's livelihood on the outcome.

    Feb 11, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerCedar River, Renton, King CountyNightlife

  7. The Shadow in Pioneer Square

    A young woman takes a stand against her husband’s gambling habit on the streets of late-19th-century Seattle.

    Nov 20, 1887Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerFirst Avenue, Seattle, King CountyScandal

  8. Canoeing the Queets: Promise and Dispossession on the Olympic Peninsula

    An 1892 travelogue celebrates homesteaders in the Queets River valley while arguing that Native hunters should be confined to the reservation.

    Sep 4, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerQueets, Grays Harbor CountyExclusion & Resistance

  9. The Lawyer Who Spoke 'Jargon' to Save a Man from Prison

    In a Tacoma courtroom in the early days of Washington state, Attorney Frank Clark stunned federal prosecutors by abandoning legalese for Chinook Jargon, winning the acquittal of a poor logger accused of stealing timber.

    Mar 16, 1899The Seattle StarTacoma, Pierce CountyStrange But True

  10. The Day Seattle Woke Up: A Traveler’s Rave Review of the 'Metropolitan' Future

    In July 1870, a San Francisco correspondent returns from a voyage down the coast and is stunned by the rapid transformation of his hometown into a booming commercial hub.

    Jul 24, 1876The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

  11. Sheriff Blocks 28 Miners From Landing — a Newspaper Calls Out the 'Chronic Pauper Hunter'

    In 1877, a steamboat captain brought 28 out-of-work miners from Victoria to Port Townsend. The sheriff said they were paupers and refused to let them off the boat. This Seattle editor wasn't having it.

    Mar 31, 1877Puget Sound DispatchPort Townsend, Jefferson CountyWork & Pay

  12. A High-Stakes Gamble at the Front Street Poker Table

    A desperate gambler nearly takes his own life after a losing streak in Seattle's underworld, only to be saved by a sudden twist of fortune.

    Oct 30, 1876The Daily IntelligencerFront Street, Seattle, King CountyNightlife

  13. The Fraud of the 'Write-Up': Seattle's Own Paper vs. The Boom Merchants

    An editorial in the *Seattle Post-Intelligencer* exposes the predatory practices of out-of-town agents selling glowing, inaccurate special editions to lure investors, arguing that the city’s own press is its truest advertisement.

    Jan 29, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyBoom & Bust

  14. The Ghost-Maker of Buffalo Gets Busted in Tacoma

    A traveling spiritualist promising to summon the dead is exposed as a charlatan after an electric battery—and a hysterical scene at a hotel—reveals her 'spirit' tricks.

    Sep 29, 1889The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountySnake Oil

  15. The Senator’s Homecoming: A City Roars for Watson Squire

    Thousands line the Seattle waterfront as the Bailey Gatzert steamer arrives, carrying newly re-elected U.S. Senator Watson C. Squire home from Olympia in a spontaneous ovation of cheers, champagne christenings, and civic pride.

    Jan 22, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

  16. The Sealers’ Rebellion at Neah Bay

    A rebellious maritime labor dispute unfolds at the edge of the Washington Territory, where independent seal hunters stand their ground against a heavy-handed federal agent.

    May 14, 1885Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerNeah Bay, Clallam CountyWork & Pay

  17. Sunday Statistics: The War for the Soul of Seattle's Youth

    Rev. Wallace Nutting takes a census of the city’s saloons and churches to prove the moral decay of young men in the West.

    Nov 21, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerPlymouth Congregational Church, Seattle, King CountyNightlife

  18. The Smooth Talker of Tacoma

    A persuasive con man leaves a trail of bamboozled businessmen and empty wallets.

    Jan 8, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyBoom & Bust · True Crime

  19. City Council Chaos in Ballard

    A legislative meeting descends into insults and empty chairs as councilmen walk out, leaving city business—and city paychecks—in limbo.

    Nov 23, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBallard, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

  20. The Bold Bid for a New Pacific Emporium

    Speculators and city-builders are betting millions on a new town at the mouth of the Columbia River, hoping to eclipse Portland and Victoria as the premier trading hub of the North.

    Mar 14, 1863Washington StandardIlwaco, Pacific CountyBoom & Bust

  21. Anti-Chinese Discrimination on the Sound

    A prominent merchant is insulted and denied service on a passenger steamer, exposing the growing intolerance of the era.

    Sep 13, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyExclusion & Resistance

  22. The Man Who Couldn't Sleep: A Murderer's Five-Year Nightmare Ends in Seattle

    William Devitt, a fugitive from a Pennsylvania railroad murder, surrenders to Seattle police after five years of wandering the South, claiming his conscience has finally caught up with him.

    Jun 6, 1876The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyTrue Crime

  23. Seattle’s Canal Demand Became a Political Trap

    At the 1892 Democratic state convention in Olympia, King County’s push for a Lake Washington ship canal collided with a Pierce County-led alliance—and James Hamilton Lewis’s gubernatorial hopes hung in the balance.

    Aug 24, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia Hotel, Olympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

  24. The Senatorial Deadlock Breaks

    A Spokane representative abandons his candidate, marking the turning point in a long, gridlocked legislative contest.

    Feb 5, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

  25. 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.

    Aug 10, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

Download all 110 as a spreadsheet (CSV)