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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 18 |
18 stories matching scheme
- Seattle’s Wire War: Why the City Can’t Wait for Electric Companies to Dig
As corporations drag their feet on burying overhead lines, a local editorial warns that procrastination is a corporate scheme to defeat the public will.
- 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 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 Whistle That Broke a Marriage: A Trainer’s Flight from His Own Scheme
When Alfred Nickella’s wife bought a police whistle to protect herself from his threats, the device backfired spectacularly, sending the horse trainer fleeing Seattle in haste.
- The Streetcar Stranglehold: Eastern Capitalists vs. Seattle’s Future
As a coalition of wealthy investors from the East seeks to monopolize Seattle’s street railway system with a 18-year franchise, local legal advisors warn that without it, the deal collapses—igniting a fierce debate over municipal ownership and corporate power.
- 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.
- 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 Empire Builders Eye the Sound
While Seattle citizens dream of a municipal mint and public halls, the Vanderbilt railroad syndicate plots a massive consolidation to dominate Pacific Northwest transit.
- 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 Sunday War in Seattle
A local Christian organization vows to shutter all saloons and theaters on the Sabbath, sparking a defiant clash over public pleasure and civic life.
- The Vanishing Mill: How Chicago Capital Was Driven Out of Vancouver by a City’s Defiant Stand
A Chicago millionaire’s plan to build a massive sawmill on an island in Vancouver, B.C., collapsed after local police and citizens physically evicted his workers. The fallout has sent the industrialist packing to Seattle, leaving behind political chaos and a debt of thousands to the Dominion government.
- The False Gold of 'Swiftwater' Bill
A legendary Klondike miner, once a symbol of immense wealth, is revealed to be a 'broken man' after a public charade of riches in the American West.
- 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 Gold Rush That Wasn't: Copper River’s ‘Sickness’ and the Lie of the Trail
A prospector returns from the Copper River country with a chilling warning: the gold is gone, the camps are sick, and the 'passage' to new fields is a myth.
- The Forty-Year Stranglehold: Seattle’s Streetcar Franchise Fight
As promoters push for a massive consolidation of the city's transit lines under a 40-year franchise, local editors warn that handing over public infrastructure to private syndicates is a dangerous gamble for a rapidly growing metropolis.
- 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.
- The Great Welcome: Seattle Plans a 'Rousing' Ovation for Returning War Heroes
Mayor Humes and city officials rally behind a public subscription to fund fireworks, banquets, and even a mock battle at Lake Washington to greet the Washington Volunteers returning from Manila.