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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 84 |
84 stories matching call
- The Hello Girls of Seattle: Inside the City’s First Telephone Exchange
A rare architectural tour reveals the inner workings of the new Bell Building on Third Avenue, where thirty young women manage the city's voice network through a complex web of wires and switchboards.
- Seattle’s City Council Rejects Public Power in Favor of Private Monopoly
In a decisive vote that prioritized corporate interests over municipal control, Seattle leaders refused to condemn the city's water supply, effectively handing power to private developers.
- A Seattle Streetcar Killing Sparks Calls for Lynching
A labor dispute turns violent in the streets of Seattle, nearly triggering a riot outside a trolley line's offices.
- The Acid Attack That Shook Seattle: A Woman’s Face Destroyed by Jealousy
Mrs. M.K. McVean is blind and critically injured after an unknown assailant threw vitriol in her face, sparking a bizarre chain of events involving mailed candy and a jealous rival.
- The Unwanted Devotion of 'The Indian Kid'
A popular actress at a Seattle theater seeks police protection from a fan whose obsession escalated from flowery letters to threats of suicide and murder.
- The Eight-Hour Work Day Comes to Seattle Municipal Contracts
In June 1899, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution mandating that all municipal contractors must limit their employees to an eight-hour work day.
- 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.
- The Great Alaska Rate War: Seattle’s Shipping Barons Draw the Line
Local steamship companies unite to defy British Columbia carriers, threatening a destructive fare war from Seattle to the Klondike goldfields.
- The Case of the Disappearing Diamond
A waitress at a local union kitchen accuses her suitor of petit larceny after a romantic outing results in a missing gem.
- The Judge Bans Messenger Boys from Seattle's Vice District
Declaring an end to the era of 'errand boys' carrying notes and parcels into houses of ill-repute, a local judge mandates a crackdown on child labor in the red-light district.
- The Great Nude Debate: When Seattle’s Church Ladies Tried to Save Their Living Pictures
A fundraising gala at Christ Episcopal Church descended into moral panic when vestrymen declared 'living pictures' (nude art) too scandalous for the pulpit, forcing a cancellation that left donors furious and ladies defiant.
- The Monument to the Fallen: Olympia’s Call to Honor Washington’s War Dead
A committee of eleven civic leaders has launched a campaign to erect a permanent memorial at the state capital for the volunteers who died in the Spanish-American and Philippine wars, arguing that their sacrifice demands an enduring tribute.
- Seattle Bookkeeper Ad Draws One Absurdly Overqualified Applicant
A desperate job seeker responds to a meager help-wanted ad with a resume that puts modern multitasking to shame.
- The Granite War: Why Seattle’s Federal Building Might Not Use Washington Stone
A federal contract for San Francisco's new courthouse has sparked outrage in Seattle. The lowest bidder proposed using granite from the Puget Sound region, but California lobbyists are pushing to force the use of local stone, raising questions about patriotism versus free enterprise.
- The Man Who Cut Off His Own Foot
Desperate and denied by surgeons, a young Washington man performs a self-amputation with a pocketknife to save his life.
- The Church Fair Scandal: When Seattle’s Clergy Played Prank on a Congregation
A reverend and his colleagues turned a charity fundraiser into an elaborate joke, dressing two women in 'shabbily' clothes to perform a 'Irish spectacle'—only for the punchline to backfire spectacularly.
- The Lumber Barons’ Ultimatum: 'No Treaty Without Tariff Protection'
In a packed Tacoma hall in June 1904, Seattle’s top timber executives drew a hard line with Senator Fairbanks: if the U.S. wants a trade deal with Canada, it must keep lumber tariffs high—or lose the Pacific Northwest’s economic backbone.
- Seattle Citizens Plot to Block Monopoly: Injunction Threatened Over 40-Year Streetcar Franchise
A coalition of concerned citizens is mobilizing against the city council's potential grant of a forty-year monopoly to the Seattle Railway Company, warning that legal action will follow if the charter is violated.
- The Girl Who Fought Back: A Chippie’s Cane Meets His Cane
When a fruit inspector’s daughter was harassed on Columbia Street, her father didn’t just call the police—he delivered a lesson in justice that left the harasser running for his life.
- The Bid to Bring Whitworth College to Seattle
A committee from the Chamber of Commerce scrambled to secure land donations in 1899 to woo Whitworth College to relocate, pitting Seattle neighborhoods against Tacoma’s industrial waterfront.
- The Gambling Den Dilemma: Why Seattle’s Top Detective Fought the Ban on Vice
When City Council shut down gambling houses to clean up the streets, Detective Corbett warned that vice wouldn't disappear—it would just scatter and hide.
- The Great Seattle Housing Shortage: Capital Calls for Action
As the city prepares for an influx of eastern investors and federal funds, local real estate agents report a desperate scramble for medium-sized homes, with rents soaring and supply critically low.
- The Mystery of the Smalley House Fires
A suspicious string of blazes on Queen Anne Hill has residents calling for a new fire station.
- The Match That Killed: A Seattle Woman’s Desperate End
Maggie Borchers, 30, died in agony after ingesting sulfur matches because her family had locked away all other means of suicide.
- A Banker’s Private Fleet for Returning Soldiers
When the government failed to bring Washington's volunteers home from the Philippine-American War, a local multi-millionaire stepped in to charter ships for their return to Puget Sound.