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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 27 |
| 1889 | 51 |
| 1891 | 28 |
| 1892 | 206 |
| 1893 | 224 |
| 1894 | 201 |
| 1895 | 161 |
898 stories
- Tacoma Bets Its Future on a Giant Interstate Fair
In August 1891, Governor McGraw urged every county to send exhibits as Tacoma raced to open a fair that promised to fill hotels, showcase the Northwest, and put the city on the map.
- The 10 Percent Rake-Off That Put Tacoma's Water Board on Trial
A job printer's testimony blows open an inquiry into the Tacoma Board of Public Works, where the president admits he knows little about running the city's water and electric plants—and a councilman asks if he has any shame.
- The Newspaper That Sent Thousands of Schoolchildren to the Fair
A Seattle paper turned a Tacoma exposition into a mass field trip—free steamers, free admission, and essay prizes for the children of Puget Sound.
- The Judge Turned Off Tacoma’s Water
An unpaid condemnation judgment gave one man the power to shut down the city’s creeks—and the fashionable North End faced a water famine.
- The Dead Land Commissioner and the Missing $22,000
A Northern Pacific audit turned up another unrecorded land payment—this one made through a Seattle agent—as suspicions deepened about the late Schulze's books.
- The Puyallup Reservation Goes on the Auction Block
In a Tacoma storefront, commissioners began selling off 1,000 acres of Puyallup Indian land — and a brick company snatched up the valuable clay first.
- A Missing Husband and a Disputed Insurance Claim
A Tacoma woman sues an insurance company for her husband's policy, but the company claims he faked his disappearance to escape domestic strife.
- Barristers Take the Field for Charity
Tacoma lawyers traded their robes for uniforms to play a baseball game for the benefit of the Roslyn miners.
- Plumbers’ Union Strikes Against Non-Union Apprentices
A standoff between Tacoma union workers and shop owners over hiring practices threatens to trigger a city-wide labor walkout.
- The Battle for Tacoma's Water
A complex struggle unfolds as private interests and the city council clash over a million-dollar water contract.
- Tragedy at the Humboldt House
A young immigrant worker loses her life in a horrific lamp explosion, highlighting the everyday dangers of domestic life in 1890s Tacoma.
- Tragedy at the Central Theater
A young man shoots a local actress before taking his own life in a violent act of obsession.
- A Grand Jury's Reluctance
Tacoma officials allege that a grand jury investigation into the 'water works steal' is a sham designed to protect corrupt councilmen.
- The Hotel Opium Haul
A mysterious guest leaves behind two massive trunks at a Tacoma hotel, only for customs officials to raid the room and uncover hundreds of pounds of contraband.
- Tragedy of a Tacoma Mother
Impoverished and struggling with health, a young Tacoma woman takes her own life, leaving behind three children.
- Tacoma’s Mayor Calls the Public Works Board a Political Machine
At a council investigation into the suspended light and water superintendent, Mayor Orr accused the public works president of running the department as a patronage operation—and talk turned to impeachment.
- Tacoma Opium Trial: An Accomplice’s Testimony Threatens W. H. Horr
Federal prosecutors in Tacoma rely on a confessed smuggler to convict W. H. Horr, a Portland opium dealer, in a case that exposes the Pacific Coast opium trade.
- Tacoma's Suspicious Fires—and a Fire Department That Couldn't Get Water
A wave of blazes on E Street and beyond leaves homes in ashes, a hose driver suspended, an alarm delayed, and the fire chief convinced tramps set the occupied houses alight.
- Tacoma Fights the Railroad for Its Own Waterfront
At a state land commission hearing, city officials and citizens demand a wider public harbor line to keep the Northern Pacific and Tacoma Land Company from controlling the waterway.
- The Tillicums' Trick: How a Political Machine Fooled Tacoma's Democrats
A secretive faction called the Tillicums manipulates primaries, places decoy tickets, and doles out patronage jobs to tighten its grip on Pierce County politics.
- Who Drew Tacoma's Harbor Lines? A New Affidavit Deepens the Tide-Land Fight
As Tacoma and the Northern Pacific fought over the waterfront, a witness swore he saw a Tacoma Land Company representative preparing the very maps the state used to fix the harbor line.
- Three Orphans and a Grave for Two: The Bratton Tragedy in Tacoma
Isaac H. Bratton killed his wife and then himself; within days a court appointed an administrator and a family friend sought guardianship of the couple's three children.
- The Last Stand of the David Haley: Wreckers Burn a Tacoma Landmark for Scrap
Seattle wreckers traveled to Puget Sound to strip the iron and copper from the historic shipwreck of the David Haley, destroying a local landmark in the process.
- The Opium Barrel That Shook Tacoma
A mislabeled shipment of 'sour krout' hides a fortune in smuggled drug, marking the largest seizure in the port's history.
- The Drunkard’s Fortune: Tacoma Bank Takes Over $1,100 from an Inebriate
In a stark display of 19th-century temperance law, Officer Frank Cavanagh has declared wealthy Tacoma man Michael Murphy legally incompetent due to alcoholism, depositing his cash into the bank for 'safekeeping.'