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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 12 |
| 1892 | 9 |
21 stories matching exist
- Washington Took Their Votes. These Women Want Them Back.
Meeting at Tacoma Hall, the Equal Suffrage Association thanks the state supreme court, calls the loss of the ballot an 'outrage' that 'became national in character,' and appeals to the manhood of Washington's men.
- When Olympia Was a Navy Port
A veteran recalls the 1871 visit of the USS Saranac, a time when Tacoma did not yet exist.
- A Sailor’s Memory of the 1841 Fourth of July
Before Seattle, Tacoma, or Olympia existed, the Wilkes Expedition celebrated Independence Day on the prairies near Fort Nisqually with a roasted ox and brass howitzers.
- The School Law That Existed Only in the Enrolled Bill
A $3,700 school-fund dispute in Spokane exposed a legislative clerk's error—and left Washington's superintendent asking whether the enrolled bill or the journals were law.
- The Healing Lake That Hid a Walking Fish
On the Columbia plateau near Spokane lies a strange saline lake with no inlet and no outlet — credited with curing rheumatism, foaming like soap in the wind, and home to an axolotl that fooled the naturalists.
- The City Was Broke. The Paper Wanted the Mayor and Council to Quit.
With Olympia's finances in a muddle and a bond election already doomed by irregularities, the Tribune pressed Mayor Kerr and three councilmen to resign early so the newly elected government could take charge.
- The Judge Who Refused to Step Aside
In Thurston County court, Judge Robinson denies a change of venue in the Minkler case, rejecting claims that county prejudice or a newspaper feud had compromised him.
- A Seattle Election Was Decided by Charter Procedure—and the Supreme Court Let It Stand
The state Supreme Court upheld amendments that cut Seattle’s house of delegates to one member per ward, dooming V. P. Wiesemnal’s bid to take a seat under the old rules.
- Olympia Debates How Far the Law Should Reach Into a Man's Glass
At Liberal Hall, the Unity Club argued the limits of temperance legislation — whether the state may police private drinking or only the liquor traffic itself.
- The State Is Broke: Why Olympia Needs an Emergency Legislature
A supreme court ruling on university lands has left Washington's brand-new state government without money to pay its own debts — and the Olympia Tribune argues the legislature must be hauled back to the capital before the state's credit collapses.
- The Preacher Who Saw Revolution Coming
In an 1892 lecture at the Unitarian church, Rev. W. E. Copeland warned that labor unrest and inequality were about to remake society—and maybe religion itself.
- The Governor, the Corporations, and the Session He Wouldn't Call
A leaked cabinet meeting shows Governor Ferry weighing an extra legislative session against the wrath of corporations—and his own officials split over whether the state can wait.
- Olympia to Boston: 'The Athens of the Northwest' Makes Its Case
A Unitarian minister's letter to Eastern readers insists that the capital city, older than Seattle or Tacoma, is no backwater — and that the whole Sound country is bound to Boston by blood and history.
- The Blind Doctor’s Lethal Prescription
Dr. William Campbell, a blind pioneer and one of Olympia’s oldest residents, was charged with manslaughter after a 14-year-old epileptic girl died under his lobelia-and-capsicum treatment. A justice set bail at $2,000 and sent the case to the January superior court term.
- The Court Let Harbor Lines Reach Beyond the City Limits
Washington’s Supreme Court reversed a lower court and held that harbor-line commissioners had jurisdiction in front of incorporated towns like Ballard, not just cities—then sent the case back to be dismissed.
- The Taxpayer Who Couldn’t Sue the State
Washington’s Supreme Court dismisses the Agricultural College case, ruling that a private resident cannot halt state spending in equity—only the attorney general can.
- Olympia's New Council Hands 'Boss' Sickels the Purse Strings
The new city council takes office, gives Boss Sickels the powerful ways-and-means chair, and confronts a railroad-blocked sewer, a fire department asking for more hydrants and alarm boxes, and a thin city treasury.
- The Treasurer Who Vanished, Then Wrote Home From Puget Sound
An Iowa county official disappeared in the 1870s. After his death, his family gathered at the Olympia Hotel to settle an estate—and letters revealed a hidden life, a bank failure, and a real-estate boom he hoped would make restitution possible.
- The Letter That Asked: Is Olympia's Street-Tax Ordinance Even Legal?
A citizen signing himself 'Marius' argues that the city's method of charging property owners for street paving and grading violates due process — and warns that if the assessments collapse in court, every taxpayer in town will pay for it.
- The Minister, the Miracle Cure, and Olympia's War on Drink
Rev. Napoleon Hoagland preached "salvation by science" at Tacoma Hall, touting Dr. Keeley's famous remedy for alcoholism and urging Olympia to raise money so the poor could be treated too.
- The $275,000 Plan to Dredge Olympia Into a Deep-Water Port
In 1892, a federal engineer proposed cutting a 12-foot channel through two miles of tide flats so ocean steamers could reach Fourth Street. The price tag was $275,000—and a bet on Olympia’s future.