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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 16 |
| 1894 | 16 |
| 1895 | 3 |
40 stories matching lien
- The $3 Million Scheme to Turn Seattle's Tide Flats into Dry Land
A private company plans to dredge the Duwamish and fill Elliott Bay's mudflats — paid not in cash but in land and liens — while St. Louis money waits to see the ground before it bets.
- The Law That Vanished Overnight
When a new legislative act replaced the state's logger's lien law, it inadvertently vaporized the legal standing of workers fighting for their unpaid wages.
- New Law Empowers Workers to Claim Liens
A significant legislative act passes, allowing laborers and material providers to secure their pay through property liens.
- The Judge Who Warned Seattle Not to Sell Its Waterfront to a Canal Company
In 1894, Judge John J. McGilvra urged Congress to build the Lake Washington Ship Canal and warned that a private company's tideflat scheme would put tolls on the water and enrich speculators at public expense.
- The Logger’s Right to be Paid
A landmark Supreme Court decision upholds the right of loggers to place liens on timber they harvested, shielding laborers from corporate efforts to dodge payroll.
- Logging Camp Cook Sues for Back Pay
After cooking for a crew and cutting 140,000 feet of timber, a camp cook files a lien on the logs themselves to recover his unpaid wages.
- A Revolver at Her Ear: Mary Steel's Third Fight for a Divorce
Mary Steel's third divorce suit against David H. Steel laid bare a bitter fight over $49,000 in Seattle and Montana property—and allegations of violence, control and intimidation.
- The Grading Debt That Never Was
A judge rules that Seattle property owners don't have to pay for street improvements that the city never actually finished.
- The Diamond Palace Jeweler Who Vanished With the Stock
Simon Rumpf’s 'Diamond Palace' is placed in receivership after creditors allege he conspired to transfer his stock and then disappeared.
- The Ship That Smuggled Opium: How a Legal Loophole Freed a Vessel and $13,000 in Penalties
Judge Hanford rules that the steamer *Walla Walla* is not liable for contraband found in its cargo because the master lacked knowledge of the smuggling, setting a precedent for common carriers.
- The Great Tax Delinquency Scramble
A new revenue law threatens to wipe out old tax liens, forcing officials to chase down thousands of property owners to clear the county books before the November deadline.
- A Cabinet Pick Sparks a Land War in Whitman County
Fifty-six farmers south of Colfax protested Hoke Smith’s appointment as interior secretary, saying the Northern Pacific was taking title to land they had settled and cultivated.
- The Mill That Vanished Before Its Workers Got Paid
Kent mill hands won wage liens, then found the company's assets allegedly shifted to a new corporation—and the sheriff returning 'No property found.'
- The Ghost of the Tug Mystic
After being run down by a larger ship and sitting on the bottom of Puget Sound for months, the tug Mystic becomes the subject of a legal tug-of-war.
- The Fight to Protect Seattle’s Builders from Disappearing Contractors
In 1891, local lawmakers drafted a landmark lien law to ensure workers and suppliers were paid even when contractors fled with the money.
- An Indigenous Man Challenges a Broken Contract
A legal dispute over a fishing net reveals the tension between Indigenous property rights and the courts.
- The Great Canal Scheme Blocked
A judge strikes down a law that would have allowed private contractors to dig the Lake Washington canal and seize tide lands for profit.
- Guilty in Two Minutes: The Bunko Man With a Revolver in His Past
Knowlton, alias 'Robert George,' was convicted of swindling an Aberdeen banker with two copper bars sold as gold—then prosecutors unpacked a record that included a murdered minister and a courtroom shooting.
- 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 Unfinished Street
Property owners battle the city over a tax assessment for a street that was never built.
- The Wage Theft That Shook the Front Street Cable Line
Thirteen teamsters and laborers sue the city's transit company and a contractor for unpaid wages, exposing the precarious financial lives of Seattle’s working class in the early 1900s.
- The Bank President and the Cashier’s Scuffle
A power struggle at the Seattle Dime Savings bank leads to a public street fight over the company vault.
- Children Fight to Reclaim Property Sold by Their Father
After their mother died, the heirs of the Wist estate allege their father illegally sold their share of family lands to local investors.
- Fire Scare in Everett
A hardware store blaze threatened to consume a full city block of frame buildings.
- The Broadway Grade Grift
A contractor runs off without paying his workers, leaving the city in a bind over who gets the final payment.