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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 20 |
| 1889 | 22 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 30 |
| 1893 | 33 |
| 1894 | 38 |
| 1895 | 53 |
203 stories matching deed
- The Eight-Month Deed Deception
A Seattle couple sues to correct a property deed they allege was swapped after they had already agreed to terms.
- The Forged Deed of Law’s Addition
A legal battle over Seattle land titles leads to a rare court order impounding a suspicious document suspected of being forged in California.
- A Nephew, a Vault Key, and the Missing Deeds
B. F. Day says his nephew by marriage talked him into recording a deed in the younger man's name—then used a key to the safe-deposit box to make the proof of ownership disappear.
- The Forged Deed of Fairhaven
A landmark land title dispute is settled in court after the discovery of a printing date discrepancy.
- A Missing Deed, Twenty Years of Possession, and a Lot in Denny’s Lands
A Seattle quiet-title case turned on record deeds, an unrecorded sale, and two brick buildings—and the plaintiff won.
- The Deeds That Set Tacoma Speculating
When Tacoma Land Company deeds to railroad magnate Henry Villard hit the recorder’s office, rumors of a Northern Pacific power grab briefly set off a real-estate boom.
- The Ghost Deed: How a Secret Land Grab Stole Seattle’s Future
A legal battle erupts over Burke’s Second Addition after it is revealed that W.H. Bourn Sr. used a dying partner to hold title to prime land, leaving his estate vulnerable to fraud.
- He Burned the Deed to Prove His Love — Then Sold Her House for $1
A Tacoma wife says her husband coaxed her into signing away the family home, torched the paper to win her back, and secretly sold the property to his son.
- The Right-of-Way Racket: How One Man Tried to Sell Seattle's Waterfront Twice
A legal battle in King County reveals the chaotic land grabs of early Seattle, where a single deed could claim ownership of deep-water access rights across the entire waterfront.
- The Fire-Burned Tax Records
City Treasurer Krug struggles to process property deeds because the original delinquent tax rolls were lost in the Great Seattle Fire.
- The Relocation of the University of Washington
City Hall votes to deed away the original downtown campus to the state, paving the way for the University to move to its modern home.
- The Ghost of a Property Blunder
Years after a land sale to the federal government for a Seattle lighthouse, officials find a clerical error that threatens the entire title to the property.
- The Montana Mine Deception
A Seattle woman sues her husband to recover $42,000 in property after he allegedly tricked her into signing over her deeds for a fake mining venture.
- A Family Feud Over Property in North Seattle
A mother’s attempt to reclaim her house from her daughter ends in court, revealing a painful struggle over aging, dependency, and control.
- A Century of Title Confusion
A high-stakes legal battle begins to untangle property deeds in a neighborhood whose identity was lost in a clerical error.
- The Battle for the Harmon Estate
A legal dispute unfolds in North Seattle over an elderly woman’s property, a deed signed under suspicious circumstances, and a family legacy caught in the crossfire of elder care and inheritance.
- The Gold Medal of the Sea
Martha White of Copalis receives a federal gold medal for her heroic rescue of three drowning men.
- A Vashon Rancher's Bizarre Gift
A post-office clerk finds herself in an awkward position after a regular patron deeds her five acres of his property.
- The Seattle Land Rush of 1889
A weekly log of deeds and transactions reveals the frenzied pace of development, speculation, and shifting property lines in pre-statehood Seattle.
- The Deed Was Too Generous: Yesler's Estate Sues to Take Back a Slice of Seattle
A forgotten 1892 complaint by Seattle's founding figure is revived by his administrators, who say a mutual mistake gave away too much of the Yesler donation claim.
- Seattle Deeds Top $29,000 in a Single Day
Public records from July 1888 detail a frantic wave of property transfers, capturing the speculative fever that defined the city's early expansion.
- A Wife Says Her Husband Tried to Shoot Her—Then Altered the Deed
Rachel McDonald's divorce suit describes years of cruelty, a terrifying revolver threat, and a scheme to erase her name from their Ravenna property.
- The King of the Timber Land Jumpers
A self-confessed fraudster who stole 70,000 acres of Washington timber land turns on his former syndicate partners.
- The Eight-Foot Property War
A couple sues the Madison Street Cable Railway Company, claiming their power-house was built on land the transit giant didn't own.
- The Railroad Land Agent Who Pocketed the Payments
A Northern Pacific receiver says a dead Tacoma land agent kept buyers' installments for years, leaving them with receipts but no deeds — and a loss that could reach $250,000.
Also about this, in other words
- The Drummer’s Deed: A Tale of Lost Blocks and Mutual Recrimination
A traveling salesman thought he’d scored a bargain on Seattle real estate, only to discover his deed was for the wrong lot—and his seller had no idea either.
- The Forger Who Could Not Outrun the Telegraph
A determined sheriff tracks a cunning forger from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest by leveraging a new network of law enforcement telegrams.
- The Preacher, the Deed, and the Burning House
A small-town minister's affair with a married parishioner ends in arson, a whitewash trial, and an effigy swinging from an electric light pole in the heart of Oakesdale.