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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 37 |
37 stories matching refus
- A Waterfront Brawl Over a Knife
When a sailor from the USS Iowa gets slashed in a street quarrel, he refuses to press charges against his shipmate.
- The Bear That Bit Back: Deputy Collector’s Narrow Escape from Tax-Collecting Felines
In a bizarre twist of frontier justice in Toledo, Washington, two tame bears were unleashed on a deputy revenue collector after their Italian owner refused to pay taxes.
- The Eight-Day Juror Walkout
After eight days on a murder trial, a group of Tacoma jurors refused their meager $1-a-day pay, protesting the economic injustice of the state's compensation laws.
- The Siege of Rock Island Navy Yard
When labor organizers were barred from a meeting with the base commandant, the union workers didn't just back down—they launched a campaign to have him removed from command.
- The Widow’s Gamble: A Seattle Man’s Death in Alaska Triggers a Federal Insurance Battle
Mrs. By H. Rietson sues the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company for the payout on her husband Archie C. Rietson, who perished with 13 others when the steamer Jessie sank in the Kuskokwim River last June. The company refuses to pay until his death is positively proven.
- A Domestic Dispute Escalates to Official Intervention
A mother locks her son out of the house, prompting a police response in Seattle.
- The Seattle Shakedown: A Klondiker’s Lost Fortune
Fresh from the gold fields, a miner’s life savings vanish in an instant at a local hotel, exposing a web of downtown con men.
- The Mesmerist’s Web: How Two Wives Defied Police to Free a Seattle Scandal
Charles Woodruff, the city's most notorious mesmerist and alleged bigamist, remains behind bars not because of lack of evidence, but because his former wives refuse to testify against him.
- The Dry Dock Dispute: Seattle Fights for Its Maritime Future
When the War Department refuses to send warships to Puget Sound for repairs, local leaders accuse Washington D.C. of ignoring Seattle’s strategic value in favor of San Francisco.
- 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 Pickpocket of South Third Avenue
A notorious local grifter lands back in jail after a dance invitation turns into an attempted robbery in a downtown Seattle saloon.
- The Blackmail Artist of Seattle
A man attempts to extort cash from his former employer by sending letters from behind bars, only to find himself trapped by the very schemes he designed.
- 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 Neighborhood Vigilante Cat of Howard Avenue
An aggressive, property-owning tomcat is terrorizing the chicken coops of Seattle, prompting fed-up neighbors to organize a vigilante committee.
- The Tailor's Revolt: Seattle Shops Defy Union Wages
As the local tailors' strike enters its second week with shops shuttered, merchants import labor from abroad to break the union, sparking fears of violent confrontation.
- 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.
- The Policeman, the Whiskey, and the Sober Pigeons
A Seattle officer's attempt to trap church-dwelling pigeons using liquor-soaked corn ended in a hilariously humiliating failure when the birds refused to lose their composure.
- 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.
- The Man Who Vanished: A Railroad Agent’s Embezzlement and Flight
Charles Dickson, former freight agent for the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company in Tacoma, absconded with company funds after gambling them away in local saloons, leaving a massive debt and a warrant for his arrest.
- The Justice vs. The Saloons
When the County Prosecutor refused to enforce Sunday closing laws, a Seattle Justice of the Peace stepped in to seize the gavel and threaten mass arrests.
- 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 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 Ghost Ship of Schwabacher Dock
A schooner that spent months idling in Seattle’s waterfront suddenly departed on a mysterious voyage, leaving local shipping men baffled and its owner tight-lipped about its destination.
- 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 Fighting Bulldog of the Navy Departs
Amid steam whistles and cheering crowds, the battleship USS Iowa successfully navigated the Port Orchard dry dock, proving the facility’s superiority over its East Coast rivals.