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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 11 |
| 1893 | 6 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 6 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 3 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
74 stories matching unlock
- The Siege of the City Engineer’s Office
When an incoming engineer faced a stubborn incumbent, it took a locksmith, a drill, and a policeman to settle the power struggle.
- The Tragedy in the Shantytown
An elderly woman is beaten to death in her South Seattle home for a small cache of gold.
- The Skagit Jam: A War Against Nature for the Sake of Steam
Seattle businessmen and territorial officials unite to clear a massive logjam on the Skagit River, betting that removing the obstruction will unlock fertile farmland and restore vital steamboat navigation to the region.
- The Hatchet in the Room
A New Year's night assault at a Seattle boarding house leads to a suspicious man, a bloodied hat, and a neighborhood hunt.
- A Late Night Kitchen Intruder
A panicked homeowner summons the fire department and police, believing a burglar is loose in his house—only to find his own servant girl.
- The Ghostly Burglar of the Columbia House
Boarders at a downtown Seattle hotel were baffled by a mysterious thief who appeared to move through locked doors while they slept—only to have the landlady turn the blame back on them.
- A Life-Altering Elevator Accident at the Bank
A young student files a $25,000 lawsuit against the Seattle National Bank Building Company after a gruesome elevator accident leaves her permanently disfigured.
- The Jailer’s Eyes: A Daring Escape in Montesano
A desperate jailbreak in Grays Harbor County ends with a jailer sidelined by flea powder and a daring dash into the woods.
- The Fight for the Parker Precinct Bridge
Settlers appeal to county commissioners for a bridge across the Yakima River to unlock agricultural growth.
- Seattle Raises Half a Million for Its Canal—and the State Cheers
Citizens subscribed $511,000 toward the Lake Washington canal enterprise, a private subsidy that boosters promised would unlock millions in commercial development.
- Mining in the Skagit Wilderness
Prospector J. C. Rouse details the rugged reality of life at the headwaters of the Skagit, where miners hope for a railroad to unlock hidden silver.
- The Seattle Star’s Bold Prediction: Cable Cars, Real Estate Booms, and the 'Famine' of Housing
In March 1899, the city's leading paper championed new transit infrastructure as the key to unlocking a real estate boom, while simultaneously warning of a severe shortage of homes for newcomers.
- The Boy Who Only Wanted Ice Cream
A young boy's petty theft from a grocery store reveals a stark reality of neglected children in the city.
- The Man Who Wasn't: Tacoma’s Mysterious 'John Doe' and the Burglary That Never Was
Police Chief Fackler returns from Everett with a prisoner who fits the description of a local thief, but lacks the evidence to prove it. A tale of mistaken identity and urban anxiety in early 20th-century Tacoma.
- The Myth of the 'Frozen' Northwest
An 1877 dispatch to a San Francisco newspaper explains the 'warm belt' of air—the Japan Current—that kept Puget Sound from being a frozen wasteland.
- Midnight Intrusion at the County Jail
A night watchman thwarts a brazen break-in attempt at the Seattle jailhouse after a tense standoff.
- The Dream of a Shortcut to the World
A century and a half ago, Seattle boosters saw a Central American canal as the key to unlocking Washington’s timber wealth and connecting it to the globe.
- Jailbreak in Montesano
Two prisoners assault a deputy sheriff and escape into the woods, leaving the jailer senseless.
- The Midnight Feast and the Meerschaum Pipe
Two burglars ransacked a prominent Seattle home, paused for a multi-course meal, and were undone by an officer who spotted a stolen pipe in a pawn shop.
- Sacred Vessels Stolen from St. Mark's
Thieves desecrated the altar at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, leaving the sanctuary in ruins and stealing holy silver.
- The Dream of a Gateway to the Lakes
In 1892, Senator Watson Squire made a bold pitch to Congress for a ship canal connecting Puget Sound to Lakes Union and Washington, arguing it would be a strategic marvel for the U.S. Navy and the region’s commercial might.
- A Desperate Jailbreak in North Yakima
Two prisoners, one feigning insanity, brutally assaulted a Deputy Sheriff with a rock-filled burlap sling in a failed bid for freedom.
- The Burglar and the Midnight Yell
An Edgewater resident uses his voice to thwart a home intruder.
- The Unsolved Killing of Joseph Martin
A pioneer of Stevens County is found dead in his bed in a scene that suggests a deadly betrayal rather than the suicide police originally suspected.
- Twelve Days in Jail for a Drunken Woman—and the Men Who Walked Free
A Port Townsend letter protests a double standard after a woman is locked up for disorderly drinking while the town's inebriated men go unpunished.