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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1883 | 18 |
| 1884 | 8 |
26 stories matching act
- A Brutal Attack on a Prisoner
An Indigenous man held in the Spokane jail is shot through the bars by an unknown assailant in a cowardly act of violence.
- The Stolen Petition That Could Have Split Spokane County
In 1883, a push to carve a new county out of Spokane turned ugly when a 350-name petition vanished from a Howard Street law office.
- Spokane Cuts Itself a New County — and Expects the Courthouse
The Territorial legislature carves a new county out of Spokane, placing Spokane Falls near its center. The town is 'exceedingly happy,' and already counting on the county seat, the land office, and the records that come with them.
- Spokane Falls Denounces the Legislator Who Would Keep the County Whole
At Cannon's Hall, citizens passed resolutions demanding that the Territorial Legislature ignore Jacob Stitzel and split Spokane County in two.
- The Train That Ate the School Walk
Northern Pacific freights parked across Howard Street force Spokane children to scramble around cars, and the paper wants City Hall to act.
- A Party Boss Overreaches: Barlow Tries to Hand-Pick Washington Territory's Delegates
The territorial Republican chairman moves to appoint delegates to the national convention himself, and the Spokane Falls press calls it unprecedented gall.
- The Grave Robbers of Spokane Falls
A quiet cemetery south of town is disturbed by a bizarre act of desecration, leaving a grieving family and a mystified community.
- The Cheney War Scare
A false alarm regarding an Indigenous uprising sends the town of Cheney into a panicked frenzy.
- A Threshing Machine Tragedy
A farm worker suffers a horrific injury after falling into a threshing machine near Spokane.
- The Night the Jay Rial Company Insulted Spokane Falls
A packed house at Cannon's Hall got a mangled 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' — and the local critic did not hold back.
- The Marshal Who Wouldn't Let Go
A fugitive wanted in Cheney for robbing the sheriff's own office is caught at the Spokane depot—after a very undignified struggle.
- Spokane Falls Council Tackles Charter, Cash, and a Dead Horse
In August 1883, the Spokane Falls City Council met to discuss a new city charter, unpaid bills, street assessments, and the problem of a dead horse. The meeting offers a glimpse into the challenges of a growing frontier town.
- A New City Charter Would Let Spokane Bill You for Water Whether You Use It or Not
Council Bill No. 77 would hand the city sweeping power over water works — including the right to tax any lot that merely fronts a water main, used or not, and to charge a tenant's bill to the landlord.
- The Tin-Can Alarm Clock Prank That Sent a Spokane Sleeper Racing Downtown at 1:30 A.M.
A prominent citizen rigged a string-and-tin-can wake-up call with the night watchman. Local pranksters pulled the string first—and he dressed and ran for a train that wasn't leaving.
- The Railroad That Built the Town Now Charges It Tribute
Spokane Falls merchants discover the Northern Pacific has quietly raised freight rates 50 to 150 percent — to fatten Portland at the inland towns' expense.
- The Case for Washington Statehood
A San Francisco paper argues Washington Territory has the population, wealth and schools to join the Union — and urges Congress to admit it.
- Drawing the Lines of a New City
A called council meeting in September 1883 redrew Spokane Falls’s boundaries, split it into four wards, and argued over who would elect the city’s officers.
- Forget the Mines — Grab the Land, the Paper Urges
As thousands stampede toward the Coeur d'Alene diggings, the Review argues the real fortune is in the free government land around Spokane Falls, and that the window is closing fast.
- Sixty Armed Men Took the Jail at Dayton
A convicted murderer was hauled out of the Columbia County jail and strangled from a rope in the public square — the coroner's jury named no killers, and the local editor scolded lynch law while calling the mob 'cool and systematic.'
- A Petition Vanishes and the Fight to Carve Up Spokane County Turns Nasty
As Olympia weighs a bill to split off the new 'Sprague County,' Spokane Falls editors cry foul over a petition with 300 names that disappeared from an office — and defend a rival editor accused of inventing the theft.
- Spokane Falls Finally Gets Water Works
After years of relying on water carriers and wells, the city council grants a franchise to two newcomers to build a water system, promising fire protection and an end to the water famine.
- Spokane's Board of Trade Fights to Save the Northern Pacific Land Grant
In February 1884, Spokane Falls merchants rallied against a Congressional bill that would forfeit the railroad's land grant — and with it, they feared, the town's entire future.
- The Train They Hoped Would Stop: Spokane's Bid for the Last-Spike Spotlight
A mass meeting at Cannon's Hall appointed a committee to welcome President Villard's Northern Pacific excursion and make sure the editorial train lingered long enough to see the falls.
- The Boomer Who Lied About the Gold Fields
Spokane Falls' paper takes a Minnesota editor to task for a wildly inaccurate account of the Coeur d'Alene mines — and in doing so lays bare the whole machinery of Western town-site hype.
- The Man Who Survived Thirteen Doctors
A patient's wry, furious account of his bout with spinal meningitis — and the horse-doctor who killed a servant girl with a morphine syringe — skewers the medical profession of his day.