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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 21 |
21 stories matching less
- 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 Seattle Council Mandates a Living Wage for Streetcar Workers
A new city ordinance sets a minimum hourly wage of 25 cents for streetcar crews, capping a heated debate over labor protections in municipal transit franchises.
- The Salmon Kings: How Chicago Money Bought the Pacific Northwest
A new syndicate of financiers and cannery owners has seized control of Puget Sound’s salmon industry, paying 'fabulous' prices that are driving up costs for local processors and concentrating wealth in distant boardrooms.
- The Invisible Killer in Your Milk: Seattle’s Health Officer Warns of Tuberculosis Cows
With consumption rates soaring and no dedicated veterinary inspector on staff, local officials admit the city is dangerously unprepared to stop diseased cattle from entering the food supply.
- The Glass Blower’s Death Sentence: How Machinery Turned a Skilled Trade into a Fast Track to the Grave
In Washington state, glass blowers are earning less and dying younger as machines replace men. A union president tells an industrial commission that the 'pace that kills' has turned a once-respectable craft into a brutal struggle for survival.
- The City That Forgot How to Ride: Seattle’s Battle for Short-Term Streetcar Franchises
In May 1899, the Seattle Star warned that granting long-term monopolies to street railway companies would leave the city trapped with obsolete technology and inflated prices. The paper argued fiercely for short-term grants to keep corporations accountable—a debate that echoes in today’s transit infrastructure battles.
- 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 Night They Were Left in the Brush: A Highway Robbery on Third Avenue
Two desperate men held up three victims at gunpoint near the Union Trunk Hotel, binding them in the cold wet brush while a fourth escaped. One victim’s wife walked within twenty feet of the scene, unaware her husband was lying bound nearby.
- 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 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 Phantom Arsonist of Queen Anne Hill
A grand residence on Highland Drive vanishes in a blaze, leaving investigators to wonder if a spurned enemy, a clumsy painter, or a spontaneous chemical reaction fueled the inferno.
- The Price of a Circus: Seattle Council Fights Over 'Rubbing It All' for Big Top
In 1903, the City Council clashed over licensing fees for Ringling Bros., with one councilman arguing that theatrical companies already take enough money from the public.
- The City That Forgot Its Own Port: Seattle’s Fight for Military Logistics
In 1903, local officials and business leaders railed against the War Department’s decision to route troops bound for the Philippines through San Francisco instead of Puget Sound, arguing that geography and economic destiny were being ignored by distant bureaucrats.
- The Rain-Soaked Fourth: Seattle's 1899 Celebration
A persistent storm could not dampen the spirits of thousands as Seattle paraded through muddy streets, celebrated the anniversary of Manila, and grappled with the 'reckless debauchery' of a damp Fourth of July.
- The Iron-Molded Suit: When Tailors Pressed Clothes Onto Your Body
A bizarre new fashion trend in Seattle has women wrapping themselves in hot irons to 'mold' their suits into shape.
- An Overqualified Bookkeeper Answers a $3-a-Week Ad
A desperate job-seeker responds to a measly $3-a-week bookkeeping ad with a resume that includes everything from peanut roasting to dog-ear clipping.
- 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 Great Seattle Streetcar Standoff
A proposed deal for a unified street railway system in Seattle hits a wall as Boston-based investors reject municipal demands for fair wages and affordable fares.
- Tragedy in a Tin of Pills
When a toddler in a historic Washington town mistook medicinal pills for candy, a medical error turned into a heartbreak that echoed across the community.
- The 'Servant Girl' Stigma: A Century-Old Labor Crisis
An editorial from 1899 examines why American women shun domestic service in favor of office work, even when domestic positions offer higher stability.
- 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.