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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 8 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 4 |
| 1895 | 1 |
19 stories matching ablaz
- Suspicious Arson at the Central Hotel
A long-vacant hotel in Sprague is found soaked in coal oil and set ablaze, leading to the arrest of its owner.
- A Close Call at Salmon Bay
A church picnic takes a turn for the terrifying when a woman's dress catches fire near the water.
- Inferno at the Spokane Falls
Four mills destroyed and workers missing after a massive industrial fire consumes the riverfront.
- A Close Call on Washington Street
A carpenter’s spilled lamp sets a roof ablaze, only for an alert officer to stop the fire with a well-aimed kick.
- The Waterfront's First Industry Ends in Smoke
An abandoned barrel factory, once a symbol of Seattle's early industrial ambition, was destroyed by a fire lit by local children looking to warm up after a swim.
- Snohomish's Standard Mill Goes Up in Flames
A boiler-side fire consumes the Loggie Bros. mill and its lumber, threatening a town payroll already strained by strike.
- Walla Walla Devastated by Lower Main Street Blaze
A massive fire wipes out a half-block of wooden buildings, revealing the city's total lack of adequate firefighting equipment.
- The Corpse in the Chicken Yard
A bungled insurance swindle in 1890s Seattle turns grisly when an amateur conspiracy, a stolen body, and a coded German letter unravel in a courtroom inquest.
- Tragedy in North Seattle: A Father’s Desperate Attempt to Save His Children
After a midnight fire engulfs their home, a grieving father is left to mourn three young children, sparking a local relief effort among neighbors.
- The Night Cheney Burned to the Ground
A pre-dawn fire decimated half of Cheney’s business district, leaving city officials to suspect arson as the town vowed to rise again from the ashes.
- A Desperate Escape on Commercial Street
A Russian immigrant narrowly survives a lodging house fire that authorities suspect was sparked by coal oil.
- The Brick Boom: Snohomish Plans Two New Structures as Capital Floods In
While Seattle grows, its northern neighbor is laying the groundwork for a commercial renaissance with major real estate transfers and ambitious construction plans.
- The Price of Living on the Hill
A Queen Anne home burns to cinders while the fire department struggles to reach the summit, sparking a civic row over missing infrastructure.
- The Queen Anne Fire That Nearly Took Mrs. Geddes
A lamp explosion before dawn sent Professor Geddes into a smoke-filled house to rescue his unconscious wife.
- The Slaughterhouse Inferno
A mysterious fire at a Seattle-area slaughterhouse leads to a harrowing escape as a man risks his life to release trapped livestock amidst a blaze that threatened the neighboring Union Stockyards.
- The Pride of Mount Vernon Went Up in Smoke
A $20,000 shingle mill — the finest on Puget Sound — burned to the ground in a single afternoon, throwing sixty men out of work and leaving a receiver and a Seattle mortgage house to sort through the ashes.
- The Senator Who Stood on the Train
In the dead of night, a torch-lit mob marched through Spokane to greet U.S. Senator Warren G. Squire. But as he stepped onto the platform to deliver his victory speech, the rails betrayed him: the train pulled away before he could finish, leaving only his voice echoing into the dark.
- The Hammer in the Kitchen
A killer waited until the men left for a labor-hall meeting, then entered a Seattle house, beat Mrs. Miller and her baby to death, looted a valise, and set the place ablaze.
- Smoke So Thick You Could Not See a Block: The August the Sound Went Dark
Forest and peat fires from Lynden to Wilkeson filled Puget Sound with smoke in late August 1894. Seattle's weather observer promised rain within thirty-six hours, and Whatcom County counted its losses.