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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 1 |
11 stories matching key
- The Great Jailbreak of 1878
Five inmates, including a man held for attempted murder, escaped a Seattle jail using a key hand-crafted over six weeks.
- The Engine House Was Locked—and the Janitor Was at Church
When two fires broke out in Seattle's Chinese quarter, the engine house was locked and the janitor held the key. Bystanders put out the flames—and the paper demanded a fire department overhaul.
- The Political Mess of 1880
A biting, satirical critique of the factions coalescing around the Republican party's nominee, James A. Garfield.
- The Siege at the St. Charles Hotel
A young woman recounts a harrowing night of confinement after a local man tricked her into his room, only to be met with a public denial and claims of 'blackmailing.'
- The Olympia Safe Heist and the Culture of Corruption
A government agent discovered a $39,000 deficit in the Olympia sub-treasury, only for the missing funds to vanish entirely after the agent allegedly returned control to the defaulting official.
- The Scandal That Shook Seattle: The Arrest of Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin
In November 1872, two women were jailed for 'obscenity' after sending publications to a prominent broker. Their arrest sparked a frenzy in the young city, drawing crowds and highlighting the clash between radical feminism and Victorian morality.
- The Midnight Escape from the King County Jail
When four inmates mysteriously vanished from their cells, the local authorities were left baffled and scrambling to track them down along the muddy roads of old Seattle.
- The Price of Secrecy in the Puyallup Coal Fields
When a contractor is jailed for contempt, the future of a key territorial infrastructure project hangs in the balance.
- The Pioneer Struggle to Fund Washington's Common Schools
An 1877 legislative session in Olympia debates selling off University lands to fund the territory's school districts, highlighting the precarious nature of public education in the early days of the Washington Territory.
- The Seattle-Tacoma Rivalry Began with Petty Insults
While Tacoma boosters once mocked Seattle’s 'niggardly' natural gifts, the Dispatch fired back with a masterclass in civic trash-talk.
- The Man Who Slept in a Law Office Window
A destitute former resident of Chimacum is found crawling into a Seattle law office window, claiming he has nowhere else to go.