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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 33 |
33 stories matching set
- The Shingle Men’s Strike: How Local Manufacturers Tried to Crush a Union Before It Began
In May 1898, Seattle’s shingle mill owners gathered in the Chamber of Commerce to unanimously vote for a two-week shutdown and set fixed prices, effectively declaring war on labor organization.
- Death Reared Its Horrid Head: Steam Heater Explosion Kills Two Men in Downtown Seattle
A careless Japanese fireman left a boiler unattended at Second and Washington, causing a catastrophic explosion that killed one man instantly and mortally wounded another.
- The $12.50 Gold Rush: How a Railroad Rate War Flooded Seattle with Hope and Skepticism
As Canadian Pacific slashes fares to half the price of American lines, local merchants debate whether the coming wave of homeseekers will build the city or break it.
- Doctor Questions City's Smallpox Quarantine Delay
A health officer faces a public revolt after a suspected smallpox outbreak at a local mission leads to a tense standoff and accusations of official negligence.
- "That Ticket Has Blood on It": The Night Seattle Was Haunted by a Cursed Bill
A mysterious $5 bill with a death threat scribbled on the back sparked a city-wide panic and a frantic search for two young women who vanished into the night.
- 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 Fire Fiend Stalks Seattle's Waterfront
A witness spots a mysterious arsonist fleeing the Western Mill in a rowboat, stoking fears of a serial firebug terrorizing the city's timber industry.
- 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.
- The Great Puma Panic: How a Loose Cat and a Lucky Dog Sparked Chaos at Leschi Park
In the early days of Seattle's municipal parks, a puma escaped its cage, chased a terrier into a bear pit, and nearly cost the zookeeper his bones in a brawl that read like a cartoon.
- The Judge and the Tenderloin: A Seattle Courtroom Showdown
A Seattle judge loses his temper and issues contempt orders against local law enforcement and the prosecution during a chaotic hearing involving a robbery in the city’s notorious Tenderloin district.
- The Grand Ambitions of the Denny Hotel
After nine years of fits and starts, one of the largest hotels on the Pacific Coast is finally set to open its doors in Seattle.
- 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 Great Egg Heist: A Drunken Chase Ends in Laughter on Pike Street
When James Quinn grabbed a case of eggs near First Avenue, Officer Cameron gave chase with drawn revolver—only for the 'thief' to surrender with a request for a cigarette.
- The Haunted Cabin That Killed Twice
A Texas rancher’s murder mystery travels north to Washington, where a cowboy finds himself accused of killing his partner in the exact spot—and with the same knife—that vanished from a prosecutor's safe.
- The Bossburg Inferno: A Sawmill and Its Fortune Turned to Ash
In the early hours of April 28, a fire consumed H. S. Huffman’s sawmill and planer in Bossburg, Washington, destroying not just timber but the livelihoods of the community that depended on it.
- The Pit and the Claw: A Tacoma Man’s Terrifying Tale of Surviving a Bear Attack
Larsen describes the agony of being pinned in a bear trap, his arm crushed by the beast's jaws, and his desperate fight for survival in the woods near Schomaker.
- The Quarantine of Tacoma: When a Hotel Became a Prison for Railroad Workers
In April 1898, a single case of smallpox in a Tacoma hotel triggered a massive quarantine that stranded dozens of railroad employees and paralyzed the city's transit network.
- 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 War Department’s Secret List: Why Washington Was Ignored
A Montana Senator reveals that federal supply contracts are being diverted from Seattle to San Francisco due to 'unsatisfactory' local facilities and inflated railroad rates.
- God, Politics, and 'The World for Christ' in 1899 Seattle
At the turn of the century, the Christian Endeavor movement filled the Armory to demand political purity and global missions, setting the stage for moral fervor in local governance.
- The Madison Street Midnight Escape
A Seattle grocer skips town in the dead of night, leaving behind a shop full of unpaid bills and curious neighbors.
- The 'Top and Bottom' Sting
A traveler is swindled out of his savings by a gang of con artists on a Seattle sidewalk, sparking a city-wide police sweep.
- The Black Cat Hoodoo: How a Rodent and a Number Stopped Seattle’s Streetcars
When a black cat crossed the tracks and a streetcar number matched a fatal prophecy, Seattleites stopped riding—not because of safety, but because of superstition.
- The University’s $230,000 Gamble: New Dorms Rise Where the Race Track Once Roared
As Seattle prepares for its first university opening in the fall, Regents approve plans for massive brick dormitories on the edge of town, signaling a shift from frontier outpost to academic hub.
- The Pugilist and the Hercules: Seattle’s ‘Denver Ed’ Sets Sights on Giant Tom Costello
Local fighter 'Denver Ed' Smith prepares to step into the ring with a massive gunner from the USS Iowa, promising a fifteen-round bout that has the city buzzing.