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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 3 |
20 stories matching commit
- The Man Who Couldn't Sleep: A Murderer's Five-Year Nightmare Ends in Seattle
William Devitt, a fugitive from a Pennsylvania railroad murder, surrenders to Seattle police after five years of wandering the South, claiming his conscience has finally caught up with him.
- The Night the City Tried to Eat Itself: A Confidence Man’s Flight Through the Woods
In May 1877, a swindler stole cash from a saloon, fought off a citizen, and fled into the Seattle wilderness—only to be caught by an officer hiding among ruins at dawn.
- The Burglar Who Stole From Himself
A clever thief in Seattle pulls off a double deception: stealing from a store and then framing a Chinese employee for the crime.
- The Tragedy at No. 21 Nixons Street
A Puget Sound trader’s sudden descent into madness leaves a wife dead and himself in his blood on the floor of their attic home.
- The Tragic End of a Seattle Logger
After years of success followed by a swift decline in fortune, a once-prosperous logger faces the ruin of his livelihood and his mental health.
- The Jailhouse Serenade: Seattle’s Most Popular Prisoner Refuses Bail
Val Wildman, proprietor of the 'Vanity Fair' lottery, sits in King County Jail refusing to pay his fine. When friends and influential citizens gather outside to raise the money for his release, he turns them away—insisting his imprisonment is a matter of principle.
- The Man Who Thought He Was a Millionaire: A Seattle Mental Health Tragedy
In April 1877, a man wandering the streets of Seattle claimed his parents were murdered and he was retrieving buried fortune. After assaulting a stranger with a dagger, he was committed to an asylum.
- The Doctor’s Disappearing Act
A Sacramento physician abandons his wife, fakes his departure for Oregon, and is tracked to a Seattle hotel by the Chief of Police.
- The Ghost in the Photograph
A grieving man’s obsession with the afterlife leads him into the dark, hidden corners of 1876 Seattle—and to a tragic end.
- The Tragedy at Fourth Street: A Suicide in the Empire Mill Owner's Room
In a grim scene on October 2, 1876, Henry Bendel was found dead in his Seattle boarding house room, having taken his own life with a revolver. The incident highlights the precarious nature of business ownership in the young frontier town.
- The Unwelcome Swarm
As Seattle prepares for a railroad boom in 1880, the Chief of Police struggles to contain a surge in vagrancy and arson.
- The False Promises of the Arctic Gold Rush
An 1877 dispatch from Seattle warns local laborers that chasing get-rich-quick mining dreams in the North leads only to bankruptcy, while those who commit to farming the region’s soil build actual wealth.
- The Last Mission of the Pioneer Mother
A reflection on the life of Myra Eells, one of the first white women to cross the Rocky Mountains to bring the Gospel to the Pacific Northwest.
- Walla Walla Man Attempts Suicide; Gamblers Cheat Visitors
A tragic attempt at suicide in Walla Walla sheds light on the toll of addiction and the harsh realities of frontier life.
- The Tragic End of a Traveling Grifter
A notorious card shark is declared insane by the courts after a life spent deceiving folks from British Columbia to Virginia City.
- The Seattle Daily Intelligencer’s Panic Over 'The Vagrant Horde'
As property crime spiked in Portland, Seattle’s newspaper urged citizens to arm themselves and remain vigilant against a 'vagrant class' they believed was sweeping the Pacific Northwest.
- The Grasshopper Exodus: How a Plague in Nebraska is Filling Seattle's Streets
As locusts devour the Midwest, desperate farmers look to Washington Territory for salvation—and the *Intelligencer* sees an opportunity to boost settlement.
- The Most Decisive Juror in Seattle History
A disheveled, reluctant man is pulled from the street to serve on a murder jury, and he reaches a verdict before the trial even begins.
- The Ethics of the Sting
A century before modern debates on police entrapment, Washington courts were already grappling with the line between preventing crime and creating it.
- The Territorial Election: Defining Seattle’s Future in 1878
As Washington Territory eyes statehood, local papers urge a massive voter turnout to secure political clout and prove the region's population worth.