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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 242 |
| 1892 | 226 |
468 stories
- The Temperance Hall With a Deed That Wouldn't Let Go
A judge voids a ruling on the Good Templars' Columbia Street property, reopening a fight over a free library, a moral clause, and which court had the power to decide.
- A Medical Board Member’s $100 Ghost Bill
Dr. Minkler told Thurston County he had paid two Centralia doctors for help. They said they never got the money — and a legal technicality kept the case alive only as a threat of removal.
- Separated at Three, Reunited at Sixty on a Centralia Train Platform
A famous Boston preacher changing trains in Centralia asks a stranger his name — and finds the brother his family had not heard from in more than fifty years.
- The council met in secret to dig itself out of the hole it dug
A closed-door caucus of Olympia's aldermen wrestles with the bond debt their own street work created — then adjourns for drinks, with the press locked out.
- A Late-Night Arrival, a Smuggling Scare, and a Quiet Release
Customs inspectors detained five Chinese passengers who came ashore from the steamer Gatzert, but a local merchant's word and a records check left them free to go.
- The Minister, the Miracle Cure, and Olympia's War on Drink
Rev. Napoleon Hoagland preached "salvation by science" at Tacoma Hall, touting Dr. Keeley's famous remedy for alcoholism and urging Olympia to raise money so the poor could be treated too.
- Ten Strangers at the Tunnel: Is the Union Pacific Coming Back to Olympia?
A corps of engineers has been quietly pacing the unfinished Tumwater tunnel, refusing to say who sent them or what they want — while heavy rain eats away at the abandoned work.
- The Keeley Cure Comes to Olympia
Olympia's Keeley Institute promises release from drink, and the Tribune opens a discreet charity fund for patients who cannot pay.
- A Mountain Fell Into the Columbia
Twin earthquakes rattle Oregon and the Yakima agency — and old settlers recall 1874, when sixty-four shocks tore a mountainside into the great river and buried Chief Wapato John's ranch.
- The Jail Was Out of Level
Fred Neuffer was due in court for embezzlement. Instead, Olympia’s county jail became the scene of a strange one-man investigation into whether the floor itself was crooked.
- Workingmen Open a People’s Forum—and Hear That Olympia Sits on a Volcano
Two hundred residents packed Columbia Hall for the first of a series of public-question meetings, where speakers warned of hard times and one declared the city was on the edge of an eruption.
- The Streetcar Builder Who Refused to Buy His Own Right of Way
J. R. Chaplin tells Olympia's council that asking his Westside Railway to purchase Block 48 would insult the enterprise promising the city its first mile of track.
- Unemployment and Drink: A Death at Tacoma’s Palace Lodging House
P. N. Taylor, out of work and struggling with liquor, cut his throat beside his wife at Eleventh Street and Tacoma Avenue; he died three hours later.
- The $150 Lot That Became a $150,000 Block
A Seattle pioneer cashes out a Second Street property he held through fire and rebuilding, offering a simple recipe for fortune: buy early and hold on.
- The Colonel, the Adjutant-General, and the Olympia Hotel Lobby
A state militia court-martial adjourns without deciding whether Colonel Haines was a civilian or a soldier when he assaulted Adjutant-General O’Brien—prompting a newspaper suggestion that O’Brien wear a baseball mask.
- Tacoma's Fire Chief and Driver Crash on Their Way to a Blaze
A small house fire on Hood Street led to a collision at Pacific Avenue that cost driver H. M. Packenham his arm and left Chief Lillis with a possible brain injury.
- A Gold Cure Too Late for Robert J. Walker
A nephew of James G. Blaine dies in a Tacoma hospital, and the Olympia Tribune wonders whether a dubious 'bichloride of gold' treatment could have saved him.
- Mount Baker Wakes: Smoke, a New Rent, and an Earthquake at Dawn
Smoke rises a thousand feet from the Twin Sisters and Mount Baker, a fresh quarter-mile crack opens in the mountain, and a predawn shock rattles Whatcom County residents.
- The Bucket Brigade That Saved a Block
Two brothers woke to smoke and falling embers in a Third Street lodging house, then doused the roof fire before the department could even join the fight.
- Mossbackism in Olympia: The Club, the Hotel and the Saloon Men
Board of Trade members proposed folding the Washington Club into the Olympia Hotel to settle liquor complaints and give the board a cash stake—then the club's defenders blamed saloon keepers and 'picayune politicians.'
- The Town Where Horses Wore Wooden Shoes
La Conner grew slowly on a rocky knoll in the Skagit delta, diked its tidal flats, and shipped out hay by the ton—while its horses clumped through spring mud in wooden moccasins.
- The Apple Trees That Sailed From England in a Sea Captain's Cabin
Seeds saved from a farewell dinner in 1833 were planted at Fort Nisqually and grew into the finest apple trees north of the Columbia. Now an editor wants Tacoma to move them to a park before the squirrels of Rosston are their only company.
- The Reporter in the Belfry: A School Scandal Ends in Resignation and a Rope Slide
A closed-door investigation at Olympia's Collegiate Institute ended with a professor's resignation and two students dismissed—and a newspaperman who tried to eavesdrop from above.
- The Handmade Naphtha Car That Was Going to Revolutionize Olympia
At a stable on Puget and Third, George Marvin Savage's crew is building a one-off motor car—part streetcar, part joke—for Main Street.
- Defective Brick in the Courthouse? The Former Superintendent Says Yes
Former superintendent W. A. Rogers says the county courthouse contains defective brick that can be crushed by hand, disputing the county attorney's claim that only the architecture is at fault.