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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 5 |
9 stories matching lock
- The Jailbreak at the Thurston County Courthouse
A prisoner awaiting trial for larceny makes a daring escape from the county jail, leaving authorities scrambling.
- Jailed for a Malicious Complaint, Freed by the State Supreme Court
A Pierce County jury found George Locke not guilty and decided his accuser, Leonard Permstick, had complained maliciously. The court ordered Permstick to pay $275.85 in costs or stay in jail—until the Washington Supreme Court ruled the commitment void.
- The council met in secret to dig itself out of the hole it dug
A closed-door caucus of Olympia's aldermen wrestles with the bond debt their own street work created — then adjourns for drinks, with the press locked out.
- Olympia's Fresh-Water Harbor Dream, Before Seattle's Ship Canal
In 1892, as Northern Pacific lobbyists pushed a Lake Washington ship canal for Seattle, Olympia argued it already had a cheaper place for a sheltered fresh-water basin—between Third Street and Tumwater.
- The Sewer Plan That Imagined a City of 200,000
Engineer J. S. Camp presented Olympia’s council with a tide-powered reservoir and automatic flush tanks, a system meant to grow with the capital city.
- Spokane Taxpayers Revolt Before the Bonds Come Due
After selling $1.2 million in bonds, Spokane's council kept planning improvements. Property owners talked injunctions and credit, and the Ledger saw a lesson for every taxpayer.
- Who Should Keep Olympia's Money?
On the eve of the 1891 municipal election, a dozen anonymous Olympians argued over the city treasurer's race, a regular nominee, a new brick block, and a saloonkeeper's ten-dollar joke.
- He Kept a Dead Man's Skull as a Souvenir — and the Paper Printed the Story
Writing from North Yakima in 1892, Milburn G. Wills recalls the 1855 volunteer campaign that broke the Yakama resistance — the forced marches, the starving commands, the men shot beside him, and the trophy he carried home.
- Olympia’s Booster Year: Brick, Bridges and a 50,000-Person Promise
As 1891 closed, the capital city counted $3 million in new buildings, a record bridge, electric lights and new rail lines — and predicted 50,000 residents within a decade.