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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 2 |
11 stories matching trap
- Trapped in the Cascade Whiteout
A harrowing survival story from the brutal winter of 1880, where a Whatcom County Sheriff and his child narrowly escaped a lethal snowstorm.
- The Automatic Suitor-Smacker
A fed-up father builds a booby-trapped gate to drive away his daughters' persistent suitors, turning a domestic headache into a mechanical triumph.
- The Mail Carrier's Perilous Muck
A routine trek between Mukilteo and Priest's Point nearly turns deadly for a mail carrier trapped in the marsh.
- The Great Escape at Port Madison
A convicted murderer slips past a guard and vanishes into the thick brush, sparking a frantic island-wide manhunt.
- The Confidence Man of Washington Street
A grifter exploited local tensions to con Chinese merchants out of $600 under the guise of buying off a prosecutor.
- The Widow’s Pension Legal Trap
A woman finds her pension rights threatened by the complex, shifting definitions of marriage under 19th-century law.
- The Captain's Final Voyage
A maritime tragedy in Seattle, as a hardened ship captain finds faith and a peaceful end following the sudden, harrowing loss of his wife.
- The Church That Leased Its Own Hypocrisy
In 1876 Seattle, a wealthy Presbyterian congregation found itself trapped by its own real estate deals, forced to collect rent from two saloons operating directly beneath their prayer hall.
- The True Cost of a Store Tab in 1872 Seattle
A young couple's struggle with 'monthly accounts' reveals how merchant credit traps were the predatory debt cycles of the 19th century.
- The Collector’s Trap: A Seattle Customs Scandal
A clever merchant’s attempt to recoup a fine through a legislative loophole backfires, leaving him out $500 in an era of federal bureaucracy.
- The Taxation Trap: How Seattle’s Liquor Licenses Were Feeding the County, Not the City
In 1876, a territorial newspaper railed against a fiscal injustice: Seattle taxpayers were footing the bill for policing and street maintenance, while the county kept the revenue from liquor licenses sold within city limits.