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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 6 |
| 1889 | 10 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 8 |
| 1893 | 15 |
| 1894 | 16 |
| 1895 | 13 |
71 stories matching couldn
- The Brutal Efficiency of the Newsboy's Union
When the newsboys couldn't keep order during their meeting on Yesler Wharf, the president and his officers resorted to canes to restore discipline.
- The Strange Confession of Henry Lattimore
After the murder of C. Grant in a Tacoma boarding house, a 19-year-old drifter with a 'straightforward' story was captured by rail workers and police.
- The Midnight Poker Raid on Jackson Street
Police break up a late-night game in a saloon, arresting seven men who couldn't afford to bail themselves out.
- Baseball Disgust at Madison Street Park
Seattle's home team suffers a humiliating loss to Portland, with local fans calling for the benching of star players.
- The Tax Bill Seattle Couldn't Defend
Kate Evans wins a default judgment over an illegal Twelfth Street grade assessment, exposing a $75,000 civic liability as the abandoned improvement heads back to the Supreme Court.
- The Hill That Fire Engines Couldn't Climb
Queen Anne residents were left defenseless when firefighters struggled to navigate the neighborhood’s steep, unpaved streets during a house fire.
- When the Hills Tried to Wash Away the Railroad
A series of massive landslides repeatedly blocked the Seattle & Montana tracks, forcing a superintendent into the muck and halting all rail traffic between Seattle and Everett.
- The Jailer’s Mysterious Absence
A police inquiry into the escape of a prisoner who slipped away while his guard was supposedly busy with locksmiths.
- The Hustlers Defeat Spokane in Dominant League Performance
A clean fielding game and a home run from Charlie Irwin secure a victory for Seattle in the pennant race.
- A Fatal Cocktail on Pike Street
A railroad foreman, suffering from heavy drinking and paranoid delusions about his son, takes his own life in a downtown boarding house.
- The Clearing of 'Whitescapel'
Prominent citizens argue that a new Great Northern depot will sanitize a notorious South Seattle slum.
- The Brewery Strike of 1889
Workers at a Seattle factory walk off the job, demanding the right to keep the beer flowing during their shift.
- The Paperwork That Couldn’t Save Chung We Long
A Seattle federal commissioner orders a Chinese laborer deported after testimony places him in Victoria, exposing the impossible “continuous residence” rules of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
- Clallam County Elected Her. The Court Said a Woman Couldn’t Serve.
Ella Guptill won the race for county school superintendent, but a Port Angeles judge ruled that Washington law barred women from holding office—setting up an appeal.
- The Street That Couldn't Be Finished
Property owners on Deeatnr Street face losing their homes to the city treasurer over an unfinished grading project that the city legally cannot complete.
- The Price of Target Practice
A local captain faces bureaucratic hurdles and pointless costs when requesting simple supplies for his militia unit.
- The Jailbreaker Who Couldn't Leave Town
After escaping the county jail, a determined prisoner hid in a shack on the Duwamish riverbank for four days, only to be found huddled under a bed.
- The Miracle Pill That Saved a Patient
A desperate physician recounts how, after failing to save a dying patient, he turned to 'sugar pills' in a moment of pure professional panic.
- The Failed Insurance Fire
A tenant narrowly escapes a fire set by an arsonist owner who couldn't collect insurance on an empty house.
- A False Accusation and a Jump into the Sound
After being falsely accused of theft and facing a chaotic night at a Seattle dance hall, a woman driven to despair is saved by an unlikely guardian.
- The Case of the Missing Two Hundred
A cable-splicer out on a drinking spree accuses his companions of lifting his life savings in a downtown hack.
- The Rancher and the Charred Remains
When a successful Seattle chicken rancher is found burned to death in his home, a local detective follows a trail of missing money, mining stocks, and a suspicious 'friend' to uncover a grim murder mystery.
- The Baron Who Couldn't Speak a Word: How Two German Nobles Found Home in Aberdeen
In January 1902, two German barons arrived in Washington state with no English and a fortune to spend. While one settled near Chehalis, the other’s brief stop in Seattle revealed the city's growing cosmopolitan charm—and its linguistic barriers.
- A Seattle Editor's Jail Sentence—and His Gallows Joke
C. H. Lugrin of the Telegram got three months and a $500 fine for criminal libel against Police Chief Bolton Rogers. He appealed—and joked that the judge couldn't hang him.
- A Temperance Minister Refuses to Preach Prohibition—or Hate
At Tacoma’s interstate temperance congress, Rev. Dean Richmond Babbitt urges patient education and rejects the A.P.A., drawing fire from fellow reformers.