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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 29 |
| 1892 | 5 |
34 stories matching might
- 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.
- 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 Governor's White Elephant and a Newspaper Deal
A proposed $2,500 purchase of the Daily Olympian sets off talk of a King County power play, a governor's relief, and a political machine in the making.
- A Wife's Testimony Was Enough: Supreme Court Reverses Divorce Denial
The Washington Supreme Court ruled that a wife's own account of cruelty and habitual drunkenness could justify a divorce, reversing a lower court that had dismissed Nellie Lee's case.
- The Engineer Who Says Olympia Stiffed Him for Sewer Plans
A civil engineer hired to draft Olympia’s sewers says the city accepted his $700 bid, starved him of data, then canceled his contract and paid another man $1,500 for plans he calls a public nuisance.
- The Case for Naming an Olympia Street After Judge Hewitt
A memorial sermon for a territorial judge becomes a plea to carve his name into Olympia's street map—and a meditation on what makes a public life worth remembering.
- 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.
- 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 Governor's Telegram: How the Militia Was Called Out to the King County Coal Fields
Colonel J. C. Haines lays out the paper trail behind the 1891 deployment of National Guard troops to the coal towns of Gilman and Franklin — and the labor war that nearly became a dawn battle.
- 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.
- Liquor Dealers Organize to Capture City Council
A slim meeting at Columbia Hall reveals a saloon-backed push to elect Murphy and Grainger, as the liquor interests try to regain control after last year's defeat.
- The People’s Ticket: Olympia’s 1891 Caucus Revolt
A printed slate handed out at the door, a mayor booed as 'defeated,' and a second-ward protest meeting: the fight over who would control Olympia's city nominations.
- A Customs House Boss and the Fight to Run Washington
A federal deputy collector resigns in Seattle and accuses the custom house crowd of building a machine for Senator Squire.
- The $4-an-Acre Shoreline Fight
Olympia’s Tribune rebuts a Spokane paper’s claim that Washington tide lands were being handed away for a pittance—and asks whether Governor Ferry must share the blame.
- The Hotel Fire That Nearly Stayed Out of the Paper
When a blaze at the Olympia Hotel drew a sensational headline, the lessee asked the Tribune to spike the story. The paper refused—and used the fight to demand fire escapes and safer ash storage.
- The Colonel, the Adjutant-General, and the Olympia Hotel Lobby
A state militia court-martial adjourns without deciding whether Colonel Haines was a civilian or a soldier when he assaulted Adjutant-General O’Brien—prompting a newspaper suggestion that O’Brien wear a baseball mask.
- The Newspaper Owner Who Disavowed His Own Editorial
Francis Murphy reads L.S.J. Hunt’s letter to a Seattle crowd, disowning the Post-Intelligencer’s anti-temperance editorial and sending $200 for the cause.
- A 'Godsend' on Fourth Street: Olympia's Mothers Furnish a Room to Keep the Boys Out of the Saloons
In a hard-times autumn, the women's auxiliary of the new Young Men's Christian Association canvassed the town for chairs, papers and games — and promised the doors at 406 Fourth Street would open December 1.
- Orting’s New Soldiers’ Home Is Running on 47 Cents a Day
Forty-six veterans—including a father who lost three sons at Antietam—are already living at the state’s new home, which needs a federal per-resident allowance and a library.
- A Saw Blade, a Slipped Foot, and a Surgeon's Race to Save a Worker's Arm
A worker's foot slipped against a circular saw, severing the artery and nerve in his right arm; doctors ligated the artery and stitched the nerve.
- The Churchgoer With a Murder Warrant Waiting
For three years, Sprague knew R. J. Howard as a trusted young man and Methodist probationer. Then a Lincoln County sheriff walked into Lewis' store and called him by another name.
- A Hard Day at the Coal Depot Ends in Paralysis for One of Olympia's Oldest Citizens
A prominent Olympian collapses after a day of heavy work in the rain; doctors prescribe quiet as visitors crowd St. Peter's Hospital.
- A Quack, a $125 Bill, and a Prosecution That Cost the County More Than It Recovered
A Thurston County letter-writer asks why commissioners and the county attorney spent the public's money to convict an irregular doctor over a small bill — and got nothing back.
- 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.
- Edison's Noiseless Motor and the Race to Put Olympia on Rails
Two Edison men pitch a single-reduction streetcar motor to Olympia's electric company, promising rails by the Fourth of July—if property holders cooperate on subsidies.