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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 23 |
23 stories matching clear
- The Ice That Crushed a Man: A Frightful Death on White Pass
Louis Wrick was clearing ice near the summit of the White Pass when a massive block gave way, pinning him beneath tons of frozen weight. Another worker survived; Wrick did not.
- 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.
- 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 Klondike Hangover: When Thousands of Prospectors Got Stuck in Seattle
Fresh off the gold fields, prospectors and tourists have flooded Seattle’s hotels and lodging houses, leading to a seasonal 'nuisance' of revelry and joblessness in the city center.
- The Grant Street Crash: Who Killed the Passenger?
A deadly collision between a streetcar and a Northern Pacific train at Grant Street has sparked outrage. The Seattle Star argues that 'homebody' passengers are to blame for ignoring safety, while demanding accountability from the railway companies.
- The $100-Acre Garden: How Puyallup’s ‘Rich Farming’ Made Landlords Rich and Farmers Poor
In the fertile valleys of Tacoma County, land speculators from Philadelphia are buying up prime soil for $150 an acre, turning subsistence farming into a high-stakes real estate game.
- The College That Could Have Been: Seattle’s Bid to Steal Whitworth
As Tacoma and Seattle compete for the relocation of Whitworth College, local boosters scramble to offer land and cash, revealing a fierce battle for civic prestige in the early 1900s.
- 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 Branding of a Child in a Seattle Blacksmith Shop
A young boy, terrorized and silent, comes home with a 'fiery red' brand scorched into his body, allegedly by three men at a local forge.
- The Day Farmers Blew Up a Dam
In a bold act of agrarian rebellion on the Fourth of July, Stuck River farmers used dynamite to destroy the White River dam, draining the muck and reclaiming their land.
- The Great Washington Enrolment Error: How a Senate Amendment Slipped Into a Harbor Bill
A clerical mistake in the final printing of a river and harbor bill has inserted a controversial $10 million amendment intended for Galveston into legislation for Seattle's Elliott Bay, sparking threats of filibuster and legal chaos.
- The Iron Molder’s Attack on Main Street
A young Seattle woman narrowly survives a brutal assault by her stepfather, who attempted to force muriatic acid down her throat before fleeing the city.
- 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 Moonshiner’s Crusade: A Local Man Offers to Lead a Private Army Against the Spanish
Arthur T. Abernethy, a Seattle resident with deep ties to Southern Appalachia, has proposed an audacious plan to President McKinley: recruit fierce moonshiners from North Carolina and Tennessee to crush the rebellion in the Philippines.
- The Last Stand of Denny’s Old Home: A Seattle Landmark Consumed by Fire
One of the city's oldest structures, a cedar-built house on Second Avenue, was reduced to ashes early this morning. The blaze, sparked by a fallen lamp in the room of a shoe company employee, claimed the home of Mrs. Kali Palmer and her children, who barely escaped through the roof.
- The Great Puma Panic: How a Loose Cat and a Lucky Dog Sparked Chaos at Leschi Park
In the early days of Seattle's municipal parks, a puma escaped its cage, chased a terrier into a bear pit, and nearly cost the zookeeper his bones in a brawl that read like a cartoon.
- The Day the Kingston Died: A Steamship Collision and the Pilot’s Tale
Pilot Gatter recounts the terrifying moments when the steamer Glenogle collided with the passenger liner Kingston in Puget Sound, sending hundreds of feet of steel into the water.
- The City’s Wallet vs. The Streetcar Barons: Seattle Votes on Who Owns the Rails
As fares rise and corporate power grows, Seattle councilmen debate a radical idea: municipal ownership of street railways to save taxpayers millions.
- The Man Who Jumped the Fence: A Tale of Love, Debt, and Disappearance
A Seattle man recounts a twenty-year-old mystery involving an English defaulter who fled to Australia, married his way out of disgrace, and left behind only a letter and a fortune.
- The Cedar River Siege: How a Power Mogul Tried to Steal Seattle’s Water
Seattle Star exposes the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company’s dirty game: using fake environmental panic to block municipal water rights and crush competition.
- The Bear That Wasn't: Seattle’s War Department Scandal
A federal court of inquiry clears the city of corruption but exposes a bizarre military blunder involving refrigerated beef and embalmed meat during the Spanish-American War.
- The Seattle Star’s Local Beat: A Robber’s $20, a Funeral, and the Yellow Peril Panic
While New York burns in wire copy, Seattle deals with petty theft, local funerals, and a debunked rumor of an Alaskan battle.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.