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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 15 |
| 1892 | 16 |
31 stories matching wit
- A Tramp's Alibi: Thirty Tumwater Witnesses and a Murder Conviction Undone
A poor itinerant tinker was jailed for a Tacoma murder until residents of a small Thurston County hotel town swore he was miles away. The state Supreme Court ordered a new trial.
- A Horsewhipping on Fourth Street
Herman Ramm publicly thrashed Dan House with a blacksnake whip, drawing a crowd—and leaving the 'outrageous offense' unnamed.
- A Girl Is Dead, and Her 'Thompsonian' Healer Stands Charged Again
Clara Linton died a few days ago; now her father has sworn out a second manslaughter complaint against the botanical practitioner who treated her, and Justice Rathbun's courtroom is packed for the hearing.
- The Cowcatcher Lifted Her Into the Air, and Then They Took Her Home
An elderly Native woman walking the Northern Pacific tracks below town is swept up by the overland express — and walks away from it, carried off by her mother and son.
- Two Chinese Men Walk Free After a 'Hot and Bitter' Immigration Trial
Arrested by a federal inspector and tried since Saturday, Ah Get and Lou Kwong were released in Olympia after cross-examination exposed the government's case as legally empty.
- The “Dude” Candidate and the Murder Acquittals
A San Juan newspaper attacks aspiring governor “Dude” Lewis over two Whatcom County murder acquittals, warning that his sympathy for defendants could empty the state’s prisons.
- The Temperance Revival Sweeps Olympia
Francis Murphy, the famed temperance orator, packs the Methodist Church as residents line up to sign the pledge.
- 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.
- 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 Groom’s Armed Ultimatum
A wedding ceremony in Olympia was interrupted when the groom drew a six-shooter to prevent the minister from claiming the traditional first kiss.
- A Judge Ate Candy While a Man's Life Hung on the Verdict
The state supreme court overturns a Jefferson County murder conviction after Judge Sachs reads newspapers and passes sweets on the bench — and delivers a rebuke that is the longest opinion of the term.
- A Defaulting Treasurer’s Debt Finally Comes Due—for a Governor and His Bondsmen
A Seattle judge orders E. P. Ferry and other sureties to pay King County $29,143.60 plus years of interest for George D. Hill’s vanished public funds.
- The Westside Streetcar Line Starts Grading Toward Harrison Avenue
Olympia's new Westside Railway begins cutting a street approach and prepares to lay rails across the Port Townsend Southern tracks.
- A $5,000 Check and a Textbook Vote: the Supreme Court Says the Bribery Case Must Be Tried
Book agents accused of buying a state school-board vote with a five-thousand-dollar check get their indictment reinstated — and the case heads back to a Thurston County jury.
- The Death Rate Was Up. The Health Officer Blamed the Syringe.
In 1891 Olympia's health officer reported an unprecedented mortality spike—and pointed to morphine and cocaine injections, with young women said to be using them 'just for fun.'
- Olympia's Grand Washington's Birthday Celebration and Statehood Pride
A parade, a packed theater, and a speech linking Washington's legacy to the new state of Washington—Olympia celebrates February 22, 1892.
- 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.
- Two Miles Perched on the Lower Circle of a Rainbow
A Shelton legislator's private letter describing a steamer passage up Hammersley's Inlet becomes the best prose in the paper — a circle of prismatic color, starfish, glaciers and one awestruck captain.
- The Handmade Naphtha Car That Was Going to Revolutionize Olympia
At a stable on Puget and Third, George Marvin Savage's crew is building a one-off motor car—part streetcar, part joke—for Main Street.
- A Packed House Watches a Dying Cardinal Bring Down the Curse of Rome
Touring tragedian Keene fills the Olympia Theater with Bulwer's 'Richelieu' — and promises Shakespeare's Richard III for tonight, with 'but a few seats left.'
- A Schoolhouse Fight Over Who Builds Olympia
Local architects and mechanics cry foul after the school board quietly accepts a Tacoma-drawn plan for the new high school.
- Six Drowned and the Dead Looted: The Wreck of the Strathblane
Eyewitnesses described a fearful scene off North Beach as the iron ship Strathblane broke apart—farmers rode into the surf to save survivors while others rifled the dead.
- The Train That Didn't Whistle
A Seattle teamster loses a leg at a blind railroad crossing, and the Washington Supreme Court weighs whether his failure to stop and listen bars his claim against the Northern Pacific.
- A Tinker's Alibi: How Tumwater Witnesses Overturned a Tacoma Murder Conviction
George Stowe was serving twenty years for shooting Enoch Crosby on a Tacoma street. Then residents of Tumwater swore they had watched him mend tinware miles away on the day of the murder.
- The Court-Martial That Laughed Up Its Sleeve
In closed sessions at Olympia, Col. J. C. Haines faces charges of foul and abusive language—but his supporters say the fix is already in.