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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1903 | 18 |
| 1904 | 788 |
| 1907 | 7 |
| 1909 | 716 |
1,529 stories
- The High School Garroter
A fifteen-year-old high school student is in custody after confessing to a series of violent street robberies in Tacoma.
- Race Riot Erupts in Opera Alley
A domestic dispute over smoke turns into a mob confrontation between a Black household and local Italian residents.
- Three Thousand Boosters Eat, Cheer, and Rebrand Tacoma
One night in February 1909: 3,000 boosters packed the armory, picked a new city slogan — 'You'll Like Tacoma' — and got sermons on land, liquor, and who should own the tide flats.
- A Shoemaker's Carefully Planned Farewell at the Grand Hotel
Carl Eggert, despondent over his wife's death and his son's suicide, shot himself in a Tacoma hotel after leaving detailed notes, money for the cleanup, and instructions to wait until morning.
- The Mysterious Burial on South O Street
A workman clearing land in Tacoma stumbled upon a bizarre scene: a well-dressed young man on a bicycle burying an infant in a shallow grave.
- Police Purge Streets of Sandberg District Women
City police launch a targeted campaign to round up and banish marginalized women from Tacoma's downtown.
- The Guggenheim-Morgan Industrial Play for Tacoma
A proposed $20 million expansion of the Tacoma smelter and a new fleet of ships aim to cement a copper monopoly on the Pacific coast.
- Every Hospital Turned Him Away, So the Health Officer Decided to Open One Himself
A contagious patient with nowhere to go, a council that won't pay its bills, and a health commissioner who dug up a forgotten ordinance and stopped asking permission.
- The Price of a Transit Franchise
Tacoma’s City Council strikes a bargain for new railway depots in Old Town and the Narrows, bartering city streets for future development.
- Tacoma Grand Jury Indicts Mayor and Officials Over 'Social Evil' District
A sweeping probe into city vice and municipal corruption concludes with calls for reform and the indictment of the mayor.
- The Science of 'Degeneracy' in the Courtroom
Tacoma experts describe the dubious medical pseudoscience used to argue insanity and 'degeneracy' in high-stakes murder trials.
- The Saloon Keepers' Political Machine
Local liquor interests meet at Eagles' Hall to strategize against a mayor who shuttered dance halls and cracked down on 'sporting women.'
- Minors Found Inside Tacoma’s Notorious 'Vile Resorts'
A legal battle to shutter saloons and dance halls reveals that children were regularly witnessing and participating in the city's 'wide open' nightlife.
- Sewage Crisis Plagues Tacoma's East Side
The filling of tide flats has caused a sewer to back up, creating a public health nightmare for hundreds of factory workers.
- An Investigation into the Filth at Clover Creek
A reporter takes a trip to the Parkland outskirts to document the raw sewage, pigsties, and animal waste contaminating the city's water source.
- The Unfiltered Reality of Tacoma’s Water
An exposé reveals that the city's water supply flume runs through backyards and cesspools, gathering filth before reaching the tap.
- The Great Tacoma Freeze of 1909
A record-breaking cold wave and gale-force winds rattle the city, freezing pipes and sending houseboats adrift.
- Shocking Lawsuit Filed Over Faulty Electrical Socket
A local mother sues for $20,045 after her six-year-old son was paralyzed by an electrical jolt from a home light fixture.
- City Wins Long Battle Over Northern Pacific Land
Tacoma secures major property concessions worth half a million dollars after a two-year fight with the railroad.
- Grand Jury Digs Into the Restricted District
A secret investigation into local vice and government corruption begins, with former inhabitants of Tacoma's restricted district called to testify.
- The Disappearing Developer
A local real estate operator vanishes, leaving behind a trail of dishonored checks, uncompleted houses, and angry creditors across Tacoma.
- Shot by a Rejected Lover, Mabel Thorp Is Mending at St. Joseph's
Two days after Ernest Grant shot her and then drank acid to kill himself, the young Tacoma woman is healing fast — the bullet wound, the paper reports, is nearly closed, but the shock is another matter.
- One Punch in a Tacoma Saloon, and Three Days Later a Man Was Dead
A Seattle commercial traveler needled a dog, then a bartender. He walked the streets with a fractured skull for three days before he finally asked for a hospital — and his last coherent claim was that he'd been sandbagged.
- He Kept a $5,000 Reward Posted for His Missing Wife. Then He Drank Himself to Death.
Christine Nelson stepped into a New York hotel room in October and was never seen again. Her husband spent a fortune and two trips East searching — and died this morning at St. Joseph's.
- Smelter Workers Robbed at Gunpoint
Nine men and one woman were held up by masked bandits near the Tacoma Smelter on payday night, but clever victims managed to hide their cash.