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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 58 |
58 stories matching question
- The Struggle for a Seattle World's Fair
Promoters for a Seattle exposition are already hitting walls as they debate locations and worry about the structural integrity of the Armory Hall.
- 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 Horseless City
Seattle businessmen begin the race to bring the 'new motor machines' to the city's steep streets.
- 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.
- The Tragic End of Cora Moss: An Orphan’s Suicide After Assault
A young woman from the outskirts of Seattle took her own life after being assaulted by a man who subsequently fled the scene, leaving behind only grief and unanswered questions.
- The City Judge Outlaws the 'Good Luck' Machines
A Seattle municipal court ruling draws a firm line between gambling and trade, declaring machines that pay out in 'trade checks' to be illegal.
- The Color Line at the Temple: Seattle’s Masonic Order Faces National Backlash
As the Grand Lodge of Washington convenes at the Masonic Temple to debate racial segregation in its ranks, telegrams from across the country reveal a deep national fracture over 'Negro Masonry.'
- The Right to Remain: A Victory in Federal Court
Judge Hanford rules that a Japanese laborer cannot be deported as a 'pauper' by immigration inspectors, asserting a right to due process.
- 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 Day the City Council Abandoned Seattle for Cedar Lake
In a bizarre twist of municipal governance, Mayor Curry, Comptroller Parry, and Engineer Thompson fled downtown to inspect water pollution at Frankson’s Cedar Lake, leaving the city’s daily operations in limbo.
- 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 Burglar Who Hid Evidence in His Shoes
Detectives tracking a prolific Seattle house-breaker finally cornered him in a Second Avenue drug store, discovering a curious stash of keys hidden in his footwear.
- The Tragedy of the State Asylum
A grim tally of patient deaths at the Washington State asylum sparks questions about the treatment of vulnerable populations committed from King County.
- The Janitor Who Was a Cop: How One Man’s Brutal Discipline Was Legalized by Law
In a landmark ruling for school safety and corporal punishment, a Seattle janitor is acquitted of child abuse charges after proving he was sworn in as a special police officer.
- The Backroom Shuffle: Seattle’s Underground Gambling Revival
As the century turns, whispers circulate through the city that the illicit gaming houses are preparing to reopen, fueled by rumors of local political complacency.
- The Day Seattle Died (And Didn’t): A Telegraphic Blunder
A faulty cable connection and a panicked operator convinced the world that local industrialist John Sherman had passed away. The resulting obituary was so lavish it nearly became his own biography.
- 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 Gold Rush That Never Was: Seattle’s First Wave of Klondike Dreamers
As the first steamers arrive from the Yukon with empty hands and full cargo holds, Seattleites prepare to follow them north, unaware that the gold rush is already over.
- 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.
- The Weatherman’s Excuse: 'We Have No Stations on the Ocean'
Seattle's official meteorologist defends his inaccurate forecasts by blaming the lack of coastal observation posts and the unpredictable nature of Pacific storms.
- 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.
- The Odd Fellows' Tug-of-War Over Permanence
Members of the Odd Fellows gather in Tacoma to debate moving their Grand Lodge headquarters to Seattle, highlighting a long-standing regional rivalry.
- Seattle’s Legal Education Begins: Board Votes to Establish Law Department
In a decisive move at the University of Washington, regents approve the creation of a law school, marking a pivotal step in the institution's academic maturity.
- The Day Seattle Ran Out of Room for a Presidential Candidate
When William Jennings Bryan announced a campaign stop in Seattle in 1900, local organizers realized the city had no venue large enough for the massive crowds—so they considered pitching a giant tent.
- 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.