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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 314 |
| 1889 | 785 |
| 1891 | 328 |
| 1892 | 1,308 |
| 1893 | 1,604 |
| 1894 | 1,246 |
| 1895 | 1,087 |
6,672 stories
- The Editor and the Chief
The editor of the Seattle Telegraph is charged with criminal libel after publishing a scathing exposé on the police chief's alleged protection of gambling dens.
- A Deckhand’s Wife Arrives in Seattle to Find Him Dead
Thomas Smith was scalded when a steamer boiler pipe burst. He died at Providence Hospital just as his wife reached Seattle from Sidney.
- The Fifty-Year Streetcar Bargain
Seattle's house of delegates spent a night haggling over Fred Sander's railway franchise—how much rent, how often, and whether Seattle-made steel could be required.
- A Dispatcher's 'Lap Order' Sent Two Freight Trains Head-On Near Orting
A single mistake on a foggy single-track line killed engineer Louis U. Harmon and critically injured fireman Edward F. Martin—and left the dispatcher waiting helplessly for the crash.
- Seven Months at Sea: The State of Maine’s Ordeal
The State of Maine left New York in July 1892 and reached Seattle 201 days later, her crew disabled by saltwater boils, her water spoiled, and her captain forced to beat men to the pumps.
- Tacoma Beats the Electric Company in Court and Keeps Selling Cheap Light
A Pierce County judge ruled the city may supply its own electricity — and that the private Commercial Electric Light Company has no right to shut down a competitor whose prices are simply too low for it to match.
- The Diamond Palace Jeweler Who Vanished With the Stock
Simon Rumpf’s 'Diamond Palace' is placed in receivership after creditors allege he conspired to transfer his stock and then disappeared.
- Guilty in Two Minutes: The Bunko Man With a Revolver in His Past
Knowlton, alias 'Robert George,' was convicted of swindling an Aberdeen banker with two copper bars sold as gold—then prosecutors unpacked a record that included a murdered minister and a courtroom shooting.
- Chinese Residents Ordered to Register—Or Face Deportation
Federal notices circulating in Seattle warned Chinese laborers that they must produce photographs and a credible witness to obtain certificates of residence under the Geary law.
- The Man Accused of Starting the Great Seattle Fire Gets a New Trial—and Denies He Did It
J. W. Tollman, convicted of robbing a butcher, wins a new trial; he also confronts the old rumor that he knocked over the glue pot that burned Seattle in 1889.
- Fireboat or No Fireboat: Insurers Threaten a 25% Rate Hike
Underwriters tell the city to staff its fireboat properly or watch waterfront insurance premiums jump a quarter.
- The Mayor Moves to Shut the Dives and Gambling Rooms
A sweeping message from the mayor demands that the council revoke the licenses of saloons and music halls where girls sell liquor and gamblers run their games—passed in full by the aldermen even as auditors report a $27,000 hole in the street-improvement funds.
- The Ladder Gave Way: A Conductor’s Leg and the Railroad’s Defense
Michael J. Fitzmaurice was hauling gravel when a caboose ladder threw him under the train. He lost his leg at the knee and sued Great Northern for $29,500.
- The One-Ton Ring That Bore Three Tons—and Left a Worker Paralyzed
Thomas O’Leary was repairing the City of Kingston when a bad iron ring gave way. He sued for $2,500, bedridden from the chest down, as doctors called him a cripple for life.
- Six Daughters, a Washing Tub, and a Drunkard’s Uncollectible Debt
A Ballard mother won a divorce and $1,000 in alimony after years of violence and drinking — but the judgment was worth little unless her husband actually paid.
- Five Years in Black: A Widow's Suit for a Captain Lost on a Dark Gangplank
Eliza Hill takes the Oregon Improvement Company to federal court for $50,000 over the death of her one-armed husband, who fell between a pier and a steamship at Anacortes.
- Tax Delay Threatens Seattle's First Great Paving Program
A new revenue law lets property owners postpone half their taxes until November, and the road fund is so short that the city may stop accepting new street-improvement petitions.
- A Saloon Killing, a 42-Hour Jury, and a Second Conviction
James Murphy is convicted again of shooting Fritz Dawe in the old Copper Chief saloon — but his lawyers vow the verdict will not stand.
- The Express Company Accused Him of Stealing $3,000—Now He Wants $10,000
Charles Squires says Northern Pacific Express officials locked him in a hotel room, threatened arrest, and fired him over a missing gold sack without ever charging him.
- A First Day at Moran Bros. Ends Under a Cogwheel
Sherman Scott, out of work and newly hired, was helping hoist pumps for a government dry dock when a donkey engine caught his foot. His coworkers raised money for his family.
- She Divorced Her Husband, Married Him Again, and Had to Do It Twice
A Seattle judge grants Olive Blanche Rogerson her child, Kitsap land and a canceled mortgage after a remarriage that repeated the cruelty of an earlier Minnesota divorce.
- One Man a Car and Twenty-Five Miles an Hour: Labor Demands the Streetcars Keep Their Bargain
The Western Central Labor Union charges Seattle's trolley companies with running unsafe, understaffed cars — and the council gives them twenty days to comply or forfeit their franchises.
- A Divorce, a Vanished Lawyer, and a Plot to Hide the Property
Ella J. Nance says her husband and his brother conspired to put their community property beyond her reach—and her attorney has disappeared with her fee.
- A Hospital for the Poor, Not the Pauper House: Seattle General Prepares to Open
The Seattle General Hospital will open June 15 in the leased Avon house on Front Street, offering free treatment to the needy and a training school for nurses—backed by a women's auxiliary that has already raised funds through lunchrooms.
- The Seattle Grocer Who Died Chasing Central American Trade
J. E. Chilberg clawed back from a fire, a failed corporation and a panic to build a Puget Sound steamship trade with Guatemala — then went down with the foundering Colima on the voyage that was supposed to secure it.