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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 10 |
| 1886 | 4 |
| 1887 | 4 |
25 stories matching simpl
- The Forgotten Safety Practice of 1885
A century and a half before GPS trackers, a Snohomish County editor offered a simple, low-tech solution for the perennial heartbreak of a lost child: use indelible ink.
- The Perils of the 'Hill' for Seattle's Early Commuters
Before the city's regrades and paved arterial roads, a simple trip across the hill was a matter of survival, as a horse-drawn buggy accident reminds us.
- The Great Liquor Debate of 1886
As Seattle teetered on the edge of a new era, citizens prepared for a pivotal June vote to determine the future of the local liquor trade.
- The Power of Education at the University
A local minister delivers a sermon to graduates, arguing that knowledge and moral discipline are the foundations of both the individual and the republic.
- The Great Seattle Church Lottery Scandal
Local merchants clash with church committees over a raffle scheme that allegedly inflated prices and exploited their goodwill.
- The 'Seedy' Runner Who Was More Than He Seemed
A stranger arriving in Seattle claimed ignorance of foot-racing rules, only to reveal himself as a skilled athlete in disguise.
- The Price of Independence
A fiery retort from the Post-Intelligencer defending Seattle's civic spirit against charges of anti-railroad agitation.
- The Struggle for Labor's Worth
As telegraphers across the country walk off the job, the local press debates the morality of corporate monopolies versus the rights of the individual laborer.
- The Licensing Dispute on Madison Street
A fiery editorial challenge to city officials regarding the selective enforcement of business and liquor licenses in 1885 Seattle.
- The Clergyman and the Con Men
A visiting clergyman outwits a band of Seattle 'bunko steerers' who tried to trap him in a gambling game at a local church-adjacent hideout.
- The Tragic End of William Hill
The body of a Scottish laborer is discovered floating near the Seattle city front, leaving behind a simple will and a recommendation from a Victoria hotel.
- The Express Driver's Abandonment: A Frontier Scandal
A local expressman faces public condemnation after seducing two young women in northern settlements and fleeing town with his family's savings.
- The Price of a Day's Pay: Seattle’s 1887 Labor Brokers
A deep dive into the predatory practices of late 19th-century employment agencies that thrived on the desperation of transient laborers.
- The Unseen Crime Wave in Early Seattle
A local report exposes how the Seattle police force in the late 1880s suppressed news of burglaries to keep them out of the papers, hoping to solve the crimes quietly—with disastrous, ineffective results.
- The Political Campaign Against Chinese Labor in 1886
A local representative’s fiery defense of anti-Chinese exclusionary policies, detailing the economic anxieties that gripped Seattle workers during the late 19th century.
- The Man Who Walked the Entire Union
A formerly enslaved man recounts his epic, cross-country trek to the Puget Sound, fueled by a simple curiosity to see the nation for himself.
- The Olympia Scandal: A Town’s Moral Reckoning
A prominent local official’s public affair with a woman known as Mrs. Birdie Maxwell ruptures his household and sparks a criminal trial that captivates the community.
- The Price of Reckless Fire in the Forest
A searing editorial from 1886 lambasts the 'gross and inexcusable carelessness' of campers and railroads that leave Washington’s timberlands in ashes.
- The Ladies Relief Society Takes Charge of Seattle's Poor
Founded by a group of determined women to combat rising destitution, the society shifts from simple charity to a systematic, organized model of social support.
- The Privatization of Seattle's Waterfront
The Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad declares exclusive ownership over tide lands south of King Street, locking the public out of the harbor.
- The Clam Bake That Defined a City
When a visiting delegation of Midwesterners arrived in 1886, Seattle citizens didn't just host them—they illuminated the hills and threw a massive communal feast on the Sound.
- The Tragedy of William Hatton: A Lost Soul in Seattle
A man’s desperate struggle with opium and poverty ends in the cold waters of Seattle’s harbor.
- The Saloonkeeper Who Struck It Rich
Before becoming a California mining titan, John Mackay kept a humble saloon on the corner of 12th and Main in Seattle.
- The Railroad Draws a Line in the Mud: Seattle's Tidelands Declared Off-Limits
In a public notice, the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad Company claims every foot of Elliott Bay shore south of King Street — wet sand, deep water and all — and warns the public to keep off without written permission.
- The Bachelor of South Lake and the One-Dollar Fine
A territorial dispute over a fence escalated into a shooting and a lake-dunking, leading to an unlikely legal entanglement for an elderly hermit.