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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 3 |
18 stories matching attach
- The Vanishing Manager: A Theater Troupe Left High and Dry in Victoria
George Rogers, manager of Seattle’s Vanity Troupe, absconded to San Francisco after promising to meet his actors in Port Townsend, leaving creditors to seize the company's furniture.
- The Rules of the Game: How Seattle's First Lawyers Codified the Fight for Land
When the Washington Territorial legislature overhauled the rules of civil procedure, they essentially wrote the blueprint for how Seattle’s developers and land speculators would battle over the city’s footprint for decades to come.
- The 'Witty' Baritone of Olympia
A skeptical newspaper editorial skewers a local social columnist for romanticizing a drunken political gathering at the state capital.
- The Dog Who Fought the Thief: Seattle’s Mastiff vs. The Ring
A loyal mastiff in Seattle discovered a burglar's bloody trail but refused to name names, leaving locals to wonder if the 'ring' would silence him before fall.
- The Devil-Fish of Port Orchard
A local fisherman's harrowing encounter with a tentacled beast off the coast of Kitsap County.
- The Unfortunate Travels of an 'Imperial' Grifter
A self-proclaimed Russian noble finds that Seattle hospitality—and the local church choir—has its limits when his 'aristocratic' habits turn out to be nothing more than petty fraud.
- The $350 Fine That Stopped a Ship: Smuggling and Sovereignty on the Strait
In July 1876, the schooner Superior was seized by U.S. authorities for entering Victoria without clearance, sparking a legal battle over customs laws and the volatile border between Washington Territory and British Columbia.
- A Near-Fatal Trestle Accident Sparks Anti-Chinese Sentiment
A worker fell from the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad trestle into the bay, drawing attention to the precarious labor conditions and rising xenophobia of 1877 Seattle.
- The Legal Scramble for a Seattle Property Claim
A standard legal notice in the Seattle Weekly Intelligencer reveals the tense, high-stakes nature of territorial property disputes in 1880.
- Seattle’s First Brush with the Future
When an agent from Portland brought a pair of telephones to town, residents gathered at Yesler’s Hall to hear voices and music traveling eight miles through thin air.
- The Abandoned Wife of Seattle's Founder
Dr. David S. Maynard claimed 640 acres in Seattle, then secretly divorced his wife of 24 years to marry another—a legal battle that exposed the heartless machinations of the city's early days.
- The Business of Veterans' Benefits in 1880s Seattle
An advertisement for a local attorney reveals the complex bureaucracy of settling Civil War military land claims and homestead rights for pioneers in the Washington Territory.
- The Shadowy Business of Land 'Jumpers'
A look at the corruption and speculation surrounding homestead land claims in Washington Territory, where the rules of pre-emption favored the well-connected over the actual settler.
- The Industrial Revolution of the Puget Sound Frontier
Two local inventors debut a massive, horse-powered stump-pulling machine, promising to clear vast swaths of Washington timberland for a fraction of the cost.
- The 'Folly' of Tacoma: A Steamboat Traveler’s Skeptical Report
An 1876 visitor finds the new city of Tacoma lacking and highlights the tragic loss of local boys at sea.
- How Washington Territory's Public Printing Became a Corrupt Political Perk
A Seattle editor rails against the patronage and fraud in the territory's printing contracts, revealing that one printer paid Secretary Smith $2,000 for the appointment.
- Hanged on a Doubt: Washington Territory's First White Execution
When John Thompson was hanged in Seattle in 1877, many believed he was guilty of manslaughter, not murder. The Dispatch made the case that the law had taken a life it should have spared.
- The Last Word from the Dispatch: A Veteran Editor’s Farewell and a New Era Begins
In October 1876, the *Puget Sound Dispatch* underwent a significant leadership change. The outgoing editor, Bebia Brown, penned a reflective valedictory on his five-year tenure, while incoming editor Thomas B. Merry outlined his vision for Seattle’s future, pledging support for statehood and local industry.