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89 stories matching willi
- The Final Appeals of a Condemned Man
Charles Nordstrom, facing execution for the Cedar Mountain murder, launches a last-ditch legal battle involving Swedish support and a high-stakes Supreme Court challenge.
- 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.
- A Desperate Escape from Cruelty
A Seattle dressmaker seeks legal protection from her abusive husband after he breaks into her home to harass her.
- The 'Three-Dollar' Libel Suit
A Tacoma police captain sues the local newspaper for $10,000, alleging they falsely accused him of gambling, bribery, and corruption.
- The Price of 'Immorality' in 1891 Seattle
When the city council targeted a saloon keeper for moral failure, the debate exposed deep divisions over class, race, and selective enforcement of the law.
- The Tragic Cost of Playing in the Seattle Clay
A makeshift fort at the edge of the city became a tomb when a riverbank collapsed, claiming the life of a young boy.
- The Boomtown Race: Puyallup Stakes its Future on Banking
As the population surges, local business leaders in Puyallup rush to establish a formal financial institution, mirroring the rapid civic growth of late 19th-century Washington.
- Close Call with a Cougar in Orting
Two children playing near the Carbon River were nearly snatched by a massive cougar before a quick-thinking visitor intervened.
- A Runaway Boy Found on the Frontier
A fourteen-year-old runaway, fleeing cruelty in Roslyn, finds temporary refuge with a kindly rancher after being cast off a train.
- Betrayed by the Pianist: A Night at the Dove Dance Hall
After a laborer was drugged and robbed in a dance hall, the perpetrators were undone not by the police, but by the vengeful testimony of a woman scorned.
- Embezzling banker flees to parts unknown
A former Island County bank cashier accused of stealing nearly $15,000 has skipped town, leaving his legal defense behind.
- A Forged Plea Sent a Tacoma Woman to a Gig Harbor Road—and to Her Death
A letter claiming her sister was seriously ill drew Mrs. Henry Schulz to an isolated road near Gig Harbor. Days later, bloodhounds found her body, and suspicion settled on her son-in-law.
- The Great Balfour Dock Pie Heist
A group of hungry laborers were left with nothing but their pride when two men made off with their dessert, ignoring everything but the pastries.
- A Sailor's $27,000 Lawsuit Against a Brutal Captain
Emil Grundstrom says he was beaten, starved, and crippled aboard the ship Willie Rosenfeld—now he's taking the captain and owners to court.
- A Fierce Windstorm Batters Tacoma
An unusual east-northeast gale shakes the bluff, topples chimneys, and sends ships drifting across the harbor.
- The Great Grass Heist: Wenatchee’s Park Finally Opens Its Gates
After months of enforcement by City Marshal Pete Wheeler, the town’s new two-acre green space is officially open to all—free of charge and free of fear.
- A Wooden Pistol Emptied the King County Jail
Thomas Blanck, awaiting appeal for murder, locked the night jailer in a cell and walked out with eight other prisoners—armed with a black wooden fake.
- The Final Voyage of the Wildwood
A steamship captain recounts the harrowing night his vessel burned to the water’s edge while docked at Olympia.
- The Ball Club Breaks Up and the Boys Scatter for Winter
Seattle's professional nine pockets its benefit-game proceeds, cancels the barnstorming trip east, and dissolves — leaving a dozen players to find work from Butte to Omaha.
- The Supreme Court Says Willie Holmes Must Hang
A Franklin coal-town killing on pay day, a jailbreak during the Jerry Sherry escape, and a last appeal that dies on technicalities — the state's highest court affirms the death sentence for a young Black miner.
- The 'Folly' of Tacoma: A Steamboat Traveler’s Skeptical Report
An 1876 visitor finds the new city of Tacoma lacking and highlights the tragic loss of local boys at sea.
- The Man Who Bought His Last Meal with Strychnine
A carpenter checks into a Seattle boarding house, complains of abdominal pain, and dies by suicide in Room 23—leaving behind a diary entry that reads like a ghost story.
- The Man Who Spent Like a Lord—and Might Have Been Nobody
A mysterious newcomer at Seattle’s Northern Hotel flashed gold and convinced much of the lobby he was Lord Sholto Douglas, brother of Oscar Wilde’s lover—until a skeptic began asking questions.
- The Last Laugh of 'Old Si': A Black Veteran's Take on War and Wages in Pioneer Seattle
In a rare moment of candid journalism from 1877, the *Daily Intelligencer* sits down with 'Old Si,' a local African American man who served as a Union soldier. His unvarnished take on racial loyalty, wages, and the upcoming Centennial Exposition reveals the complex social fabric of early Seattle.
- A Hospital Takes Shape in a Rented Building
A charitable board leases the Avon building near Cedar Street and calls on churchwomen to furnish and oversee Seattle’s new general hospital.