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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 3 |
13 stories matching hostag
- A Hostage Standoff on the First Road
A historical account of the 1858 construction of Whatcom County’s first road, involving an armed confrontation with Indigenous locals.
- The Hostage Crisis of the Teanaway Woods
A territorial dispute over two Japanese women in North Yakima turns violent, forcing a desperate appeal for help in Seattle.
- The Collapse of the Hop Corner
Ezra Meeker breaks a massive market manipulation scheme that threatened to hold Pacific Coast hop farmers hostage.
- The Bank Clerk Who Stole a Quarter-Million to Prove a Point
A bank employee holds his own employer's cash hostage to force a change in labor relations and banking ethics.
- The Boarding-House Ransom
When a sailor fell deathly ill in Tacoma, his boarding-house proprietor held him hostage, hoping to claim the dying man's life savings as an exorbitant medical bill.
- The Mother, the Boarding House, and the Hostage Baby
A mother is forced to involve the police when a boarding-house keeper attempts to hold her four-year-old son as collateral for an unpaid debt.
- The Contract Squabble that Held Seattle Baseball Hostage
In 1891, the Pacific Northwest League’s amateur-professional status was in disarray, and a tug-of-war over star player Abner Powell became a litmus test for Seattle's rising civic pride.
- A Mill Owner Held Hostage by His Own Unpaid Crew
When John Tuilock threatened to shut his Rainier shingle mill without paying his hands, the men seized him, marched him back, and forced him to write checks at the point of their anger — until a deputy sheriff rode to the rescue.
- The Bank Robbers' Wild Escape in Ellensburg
Two notorious robbers jailed in Ellensburg staged a daring jailbreak, shot a local boy, and held a family hostage during a chaotic afternoon standoff.
- The Price of a City’s Future: Yesler’s Corner
A single landowner held Seattle’s urban development hostage, forcing the city council to choose between private property rights and the public good.
- A Landlord, a Seized Trunk, and a Lady Left in Her Shift
After months on the run, a Populist orator is arrested at a poultry show for holding a tenant's only clothes hostage over unpaid rent.
- The Roadhouse in the Woods That Kept Its Women in Debt
A raid between the coal towns of Wilkeson and Carbonado exposed a liquor-and-gambling dive where miners were fleeced and women said their clothes were held hostage for debts.
- The Wooden Revolver That Freed Ten Prisoners
Thomas Blanck held a jailer hostage with a carved fake gun, emptied the King County jail, and vanished into Seattle's streets.