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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 65 |
65 stories matching ask
- A Desperate Search for a Missing Seattle Boy
A seven-year-old child vanishes from his home on Second Avenue, sparking a plea for information.
- The Woman Who Swore on Dynamite: A Spokane Courtroom Shock
In a rare moment of courtroom gravity, a female defendant in Spokane was asked to place her hand on dynamite instead of the Bible for her oath—leaving the room in profound silence.
- The Man Who Asked to Be Arrested: A Tacoma Town’s Battle for Its Soul
In a bizarre legal maneuver to force a court ruling on city limits, a resident of the newly excluded district deliberately broke water pipes and allowed himself to be taken into custody.
- The Only Safe Trust: Chauncy M. Depew’s Warning to Seattle Investors
Railroad magnate and former Senator Chauncy Depew tells a Seattle audience that the government must regulate trusts, predicting that 'rotten' companies will fail while others are placed on a proper basis.
- The Feathered Truce: How Seattle High School Girls Promised to Save Birds
In a rare moment of progressive activism in 1900, students at Livingston Avenue High School pledged to stop decorating their hats with the plumage of songbirds, responding to a plea from a local ornithology advocate.
- The Mayor Demands a Day in Court
Mayor Nickeus of Tacoma bypasses judicial delays to demand an immediate trial on bribery charges.
- The Industrial Grasp on Public Space
A Seattle business owner petitions to close a city block to make room for his growing lumber factory, sparking a debate on private gain versus public infrastructure.
- The Siege of Rock Island Navy Yard
When labor organizers were barred from a meeting with the base commandant, the union workers didn't just back down—they launched a campaign to have him removed from command.
- The Tragedy at Yesler Way: A Lawyer’s Death and a Woman’s Despair
In May 1904, prominent Seattle lawyer J. Wile was fatally shot by Miss Burke, who then took her own life in a rooming house near the waterfront.
- The Constable Who Preached Instead of Punched
In a small Washington town, one officer’s radical experiment in restorative justice is turning criminals into church members—and neighbors are taking notice.
- The Price of a Commuter's Collision
After a devastating streetcar accident in downtown Seattle, a victim sues the transit company for $10,000 in damages.
- The Franchise Fight: Seattle’s Battle for Control of the Streets
As the Corporation Committee prepares to report on the street railway franchise, a fierce debate erupts over whether the city should sell its public assets to private developers for 40 years or keep them in public hands.
- The City’s Missing Depot: A Railway Power Struggle
When the Seattle Star reached out to the Canadian Pacific Railway, they found the railroad giant had no interest in building a union station in the city.
- The Streetcar Stranglehold: Eastern Capitalists vs. Seattle’s Future
As a coalition of wealthy investors from the East seeks to monopolize Seattle’s street railway system with a 18-year franchise, local legal advisors warn that without it, the deal collapses—igniting a fierce debate over municipal ownership and corporate power.
- The Fight for a Living Wage on Seattle's Streetcars
Facing a massive consolidation of rail companies, Seattle transit workers organize to demand a guaranteed minimum wage.
- The Sudden Vanishing of the Union’s Trusted Bookkeeper
A local labor official disappears, leaving behind a mysterious accounting gap and an unanswered question of financial impropriety.
- The Rent Trap: Why Seattle's Business District Is Running Out of Room
As the city booms post-fire, merchants find themselves priced out of First Avenue, forced to migrate up Third and beyond in a desperate search for affordable space.
- The Sawmill Strike That Never Happened
When mill workers in Seattle banded together for a small wage increase, they didn't need to walk out to get it.
- The Horseless City
Seattle businessmen begin the race to bring the 'new motor machines' to the city's steep streets.
- The Great Walkout: Soldiers Protest 'Pauperizing' Rules at Seattle Home
Sixty men leave the city's soldiers' home in a mass exodus, citing degrading permit requirements and harsh governance by Col. Leslie.
- The Price of Healing: Seattle’s 1899 'Medical Trust' Controversy
When the Seattle Star exposed a secret fee schedule used by local doctors to set prices, the city’s medical establishment pushed back, sparking a fierce debate over whether health care was a public right or a protected monopoly.
- The 'Top and Bottom' Sting
A traveler is swindled out of his savings by a gang of con artists on a Seattle sidewalk, sparking a city-wide police sweep.
- The Great Retail Panic of 1900
Facing a glut of inventory and the pressure of a 'flood-tide' of retail competition, a major Seattle department store launched a desperate, city-wide clearance event to move stock.
- The Vanishing Agent: Duncan Inverarity’s Flight from Justice
A trusted local savings bank agent absconds with $1,500, leaving Seattle to evade arrest in Victoria.
- The Salvation Army’s Yellow Band Warning: A Seattle Scam Exposed
Adjutant Nelson of the regular Salvation Army steps into The Seattle Star to warn citizens that 'God's Regular Army' is a fraudulent group soliciting donations under false pretenses.