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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 9 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
17 stories matching smith
- The Bullet That Traveled Half a Mile
A quiet morning in Seattle turns into a medical mystery when a stray bullet from a distant rifle finds a local man in his own shop.
- The River’s Toll on the Timber Trade
A sudden freshet on the White River washes away over 150,000 feet of logs, devastating local lumber operators and scattering timber as far as Smith’s Cove.
- Midnight Intrusion at the County Jail
A night watchman thwarts a brazen break-in attempt at the Seattle jailhouse after a tense standoff.
- The City Marshal’s War on Dogs
In October 1876, Seattle’s law enforcement launched a crackdown on stray animals, rounding up six dogs and giving owners a grim ultimatum: pay the fine or watch their pets executed.
- The Cattle Drive Through Seven Feet of Snow
Defying winter, a determined group of drovers successfully pushed fifty head of cattle through the Snoqualmie Pass, a feat never before recorded this early in the year.
- The Displacement of Chinese Women in Early Seattle
Local courts and newspapers in 1876 actively campaigned to criminalize and drive out Seattle's Chinese community, viewing their presence as a blight on property values.
- The Shadow Ledger: Seattle’s Monthly Arrest List
A raw, unfiltered tally of twenty-nine arrests made in June 1878 exposes the policing of Seattle’s streets—where poverty, Indigeneity, and ethnic status shaped the reach of the law.
- The Lost Cook of Lowell
A camp cook vanished from the logging woods near Snohomish, leaving behind his belongings and fueling local rumors of desertion or death.
- The Unsung Heroes of the Fire Line
When the flames rose, a small team of steamboat captains rushed into the fray to save Seattle's firefighting equipment, a vital act of civic solidarity in the 1870s.
- The Curious Case of the Missing Canary
A yellow bird with a black top-knot goes missing on Third Street, sparking a small-town hunt in the heart of 1876 Seattle.
- The Search for a Missing Horse
A classic 1876 plea for the return of a stolen or wandered animal highlights the reliance on equine transit in pioneer-era Seattle.
- The City's Cruel Moral Crusade
While Seattle’s leadership touted its own 'progress,' a wave of arrests and displacement targeted the city's Chinese population and the vulnerable on the margins of society.
- The Bank That Ate Seven Men: A Collapse in the Blue Point Claim
In a gruesome industrial accident on April 13, 1877, a bank of earth at the Blue Point mine in Smartsville buried seven miners alive and wounded six more, halting business for miles around.
- The Shadowy Business of Patent Medicines
A cynical drug clerk reveals the grisly truth behind 'medical' concoctions and the dangerous incompetence of the pharmacy trade in 1880s Seattle.
- The Lumber Mistake: Why Seattle's Founders Chose the Bay
A local businessman argues that the early sawmills on the White River are doomed by geography, championing the waterfront as the true hub for Seattle's industrial growth.
- The Steamboat Race for the White River
As farmers in the White River valley struggle to move their produce to market, two rival steamboat captains rush to launch new, shallow-draft vessels to dominate the river trade.
- 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.