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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 26 |
26 stories matching objection
- The Cake-Walk Controversy: When Morality Met Modernity in Bellevue
A local violinist’s moral objection to a high school charity dance nearly sparked a riot, dividing the town between tradition and progress.
- 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 Ice King’s Plot: How a Monopoly Would Have Starved Seattle of Cold
A Chicago-based trust is buying up ice companies across the nation to control prices. In Washington, experts warn that consolidating dozens of competing delivery wagons into a single fleet will leave thousands of local workers unemployed.
- The Vigilante Committee: Tacoma's Desperate War on Crime
In March 1902, Tacoma’s elite formed a secret society sworn to kill without mercy after police failed to stop a wave of robberies and murders.
- The Birth of the Seattle Stock Exchange
Promoters establish a new financial hub on the corner of First and Spring, promising a 'pure' exchange for the benefit of the city rather than the few.
- 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 Saloon Ordinance and the 'Back Door' Scandal
Seattle City Council members clash over zoning laws for liquor licenses, with accusations of bribery and political maneuvering threatening to shut down saloons in key districts.
- The Great Dry Crusade: Seattle’s Religious Leaders Unite to Close the Saloons
In a packed meeting at the First M.E. Church, clergy and temperance advocates organized a new anti-saloon league, aiming to dismantle the liquor trade through moral pressure rather than just legislation.
- Saloon Owner Attacks Longshoreman as Crowd Watches
After a longshoreman shattered a saloon mirror, proprietor Dan McNamara beat him in the street while about thirty bystanders failed to intervene.
- 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 Forgotten Wives of the Front
While the nation cheered the return of soldiers from the Philippines, the women left behind in Seattle organized to secure the future of the volunteers.
- The Man Who Hated the Number 13
A Seattle resident petitions city commissioners to change his house number because he believes the digit brings bad luck to his family.
- The People’s Franchise: Seattle Rises Against the Streetcar Monopoly
In June 1899, hundreds of citizens packed Armory Hall to declare 'No More Franchises,' demanding that the city council stop selling off public rights-of-way to private railway companies without voter approval.
- The Mediums' Trust: When Seattle's Spiritualists Tried to Fix Their Prices
A secret meeting of clairvoyants and mediums ended in failure as new arrivals undercut their rates, proving that even the spirit world is subject to market forces.
- 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 Saloon Wars: How Seattle’s Council Killed the Fight to Ban Bars from Residential Streets
In a heated March 1904 council meeting, reformers fought to keep saloons off streets where wives and children walked. The measure failed, revealing deep corruption and the powerful grip of liquor interests on city government.
- The Treasurer Who Vanished: A Seattle Fraud Case
John Dougherty, treasurer of the Pacific Coast Steamers' Association, was arrested in San Francisco after a four-day flight from Seattle. The case highlights early 20th-century corporate accountability and the reach of cross-border law enforcement.
- 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.
- The Divine Healer Who Buried Himself Alive: A Seattle Cult Leader’s Resurrection Claim
Rev. O. M. Schlatte, known as 'Schlatte the Divine Healer,' claims to have risen from a 40-day burial in the desert after fasting and praying for God's guidance. Now back in town, he asserts his authority over the famous 'Healer' of Kansas and prepares to resume his ministry.
- The Great Wire War: How Seattle’s Electric Giants Tried to Buy Their Way Out of the Underground
When the City Council threatened to bury power lines underground, Union Electric and Consumers’ Electric screamed ruin. But the real drama wasn't the wires—it was the council dodging a crowd of gamblers and churchgoers demanding saloon closures.
- Love vs. Father: The Seattle Elopation That Defied a Kentucky Patriarch
When her fiancé’s train was late and her father sent a telegram to stop the wedding, a spirited young woman from Louisville chose love over obedience in downtown Seattle.
- The Lawyer Who Spoke 'Jargon' to Save a Man from Prison
In a Tacoma courtroom in the early days of Washington state, Attorney Frank Clark stunned federal prosecutors by abandoning legalese for Chinook Jargon, winning the acquittal of a poor logger accused of stealing timber.
- The Hall That Never Was: Seattle’s $1 Million Dream for a Convention Center
In 1908, prominent businessmen and editors rallied to build a massive exposition hall to rival San Francisco, but the project stalled in debate over public funding versus private capital.
- Jim Hill’s Kanopolis Bluff: A Railway Empire in the Making
Great Northern President James J. Hill is quietly surveying a route through the Kanopolis Valley, sparking rumors that he intends to build up the area into a major hub rather than just passing through.
- The Iron Leviathan Meets the Excursionists: A Day on Puget Sound
When the USS Iowa arrived in Port Orchard, local dignitaries and chamber of commerce members boarded a steamer to greet the battleship, leading to a dramatic encounter in the fog and a cordial invitation to a banquet.