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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 6 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1880 | 1 |
11 stories matching smooth
- The Great Seattle Straw Hat Swindle
A smooth-talking grifter fleeced the crowds of Seattle by promising cheap hats, only to leave them holding handfuls of worthless paper.
- The Muddy Arteries of Early Seattle
Decades before modern paving, Seattle’s civic leaders struggled to build a passable road to the Renton coal mines, leaving thousands of settlers and farmers stranded in the mire.
- The Con Artist’s Benevolent Hustle
A smooth-talking stranger visits a Seattle tobacco shop, spins a yarn about a tragedy at sea, and leaves with more than just a sympathy donation.
- The Perilous Climb of St. Peter's Lantern
A daredevil’s afternoon of ‘roof climbing’ in 1876 Seattle turns into a life-or-death struggle when a simple stunt leaves him dangling a hundred feet above the pavement.
- The Miracle Doctor of Fall City
A smooth-talking grifter conned the countryside with fake cures and a borrowed horse, only to vanish into thin air.
- The Perilous Slopes of Columbia Street
A teenage student’s sledding accident sparks a local warning about the dangers of winter recreation on Seattle’s steepest hills.
- The Day Love Defied the Justice of the Peace
A justice office in Seattle becomes a battleground for romance when an angry father-in-law attempts to stop a wedding, only to be thwarted by police and a determined couple.
- The Day the Earth Shook: Seattle Ship Launches Amidst Pacific Tremors
While the bark Forest Queen was battered by an earthquake at sea, local shipwrights celebrated the launch of a new vessel in Port Ludlow, marking a moment of resilience and growth for Washington Territory.
- The Professor’s Last Trick: Clara Baldwin’s Final Spiritualist Spectacle
In a packed hall in Seattle, the renowned medium Clara Baldwin performed her final show before departing for Portland, captivating the audience with 'wonderful bat' illusions and binding herself in chains to prove her powers were real.
- The Failed Toothpick Empire of Merrihew
A classic tale of a get-rich-quick scheme gone wrong, where a man's attempt to corner the national market on thorns turned his farmland into an impassable fortress.
- The Schoolhouse That Wasn't: Seattle’s Bureaucratic Battle Over Public Education
In 1877, a local dispute over the construction of a new school in Helltown reveals the early struggles of civic infrastructure and the tension between taxpayer demands and administrative delay.