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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 3 |
| 1863 | 3 |
| 1871 | 8 |
| 1872 | 110 |
| 1876 | 536 |
| 1877 | 378 |
| 1878 | 279 |
| 1879 | 15 |
| 1880 | 134 |
| 1882 | 98 |
| 1883 | 511 |
| 1884 | 326 |
| 1885 | 566 |
| 1886 | 361 |
| 1887 | 327 |
| 1888 | 314 |
| 1889 | 800 |
| 1890 | 11 |
| 1891 | 340 |
| 1892 | 1,332 |
| 1893 | 1,606 |
| 1894 | 1,246 |
| 1895 | 1,087 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 9 |
| 1898 | 21 |
| 1899 | 366 |
| 1900 | 6 |
| 1902 | 6 |
| 1903 | 153 |
| 1904 | 71 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 76 |
| 1910 | 26 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 5 |
| 1916 | 28 |
| 1917 | 10 |
| 1923 | 9 |
| 1924 | 12 |
| 1925 | 3 |
| 1928 | 14 |
| 1929 | 17 |
11,240 stories
- 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.
- A Customs House Boss and the Fight to Run Washington
A federal deputy collector resigns in Seattle and accuses the custom house crowd of building a machine for Senator Squire.
- Pioneering the Snoqualmie Pass Road
Citizens of King County organize to build a wagon road across the Cascades, raising over a thousand dollars to bridge the wilderness.
- 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 Ghost Town of a Pioneer's Dream
A German immigrant spends decades waiting for his Puget Sound homestead to become a metropolis, only to see the boom vanish as quickly as it arrived.
- 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.
- Deported for Being Poor: A Seattle Mother and Her U.S.-Born Children Ordered to Canada
A young woman who married a British subject, separated after a quarrel, and was deemed likely to become a public charge is turned over by the juvenile court for deportation—along with her two American-born children.
- The Phantom Wheat That Fooled Seattle's Banks
A forger sold bankers on warehouse certificates for Ritzville wheat—and walked away with tens of thousands before the paper trail caught up with him.
- The Sheriff Under Arrest
In a bizarre legal tangle, the King County coroner arrests the sheriff for failing to enforce slot machine laws.
- 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.
- He Chose the Saw
Caught in the feed rolls of a Seattle mill, O. Lepper saw only one way out — and fed his own arm into the blade.
- 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.
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