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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 5 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 13 |
34 stories matching undersign
- The Real Estate Auction That Built Seattle’s First Suburbs
In March 1889, just months after the Great Fire devastated downtown, executors of James Crawford’s estate sold off dozens of city lots in a public auction at Occidental Square. These parcels would become the foundation for neighborhoods like Judkins and Bellevue.
- The Bachelor’s Secret Society of Black Diamond
In the coal-mining town of Black Diamond, a secret society of men sought to preserve their solitude—until one member was caught walking a beautiful woman home from church.
- A Jury Called the Franklin Mine Fire Arson. Thirty-Seven Miners Were Already Dead.
A coroner's jury found that someone deliberately set the fire that suffocated 37 workers in the Franklin mine. The only survivor described how one opened door and one stopped fan turned the gangway into a death trap.
- The Dynamite Fiend of Oilman: A Lynch Mob’s Tragic Mistake
When a violent feud in King County’s coal fields ended in a massacre, the community turned to vigilante justice. But when they hanged the wrong man, the real killer walked free.
- Seattle Waterfront Owners Organize Against 'Ram's Horn' Right-of-Way
In 1892, Seattle property owners launched a crusade against the Northern Pacific Railroad to stop a monopolistic expansion of track rights that threatened to strangle the city's commerce.
- Franklin Miners Blast Calls for a New Disaster Investigation
After 37 men died in the Franklin mine explosion, 152 miners signed resolutions defending the coroner's verdict and accusing outside agitators of exploiting their grief.
- Two Men Sick, the Town Unwarned: Snohomish Turns on Its Health Officer
Smallpox cases sat undeclared for days while friends visited and a brother walked the streets — until fifty businessmen telegraphed Olympia demanding the state take over.
- Hop Growers Pledge Their 'Word and Honor' to Pay Pickers Less
With the hop market collapsing in the summer of 1894, growers from ten Puget Sound counties met at Puyallup and fixed a single price for picking — 65 to 75 cents a box, down from the dollar they had promised. Ezra Meeker, the valley's biggest grower, said out loud what the resolution implied: the pickers had no seat at the table.
- St. Louis Money Was Ready—If Seattle Guaranteed the Canal
In 1895, a citizens' committee moved to raise a public subsidy for locks, bridges and right-of-way so a $7 million tide-flat and canal scheme could begin.
- The Mayor Clears the Room: Phelps Fires a Fire Commissioner and Stares Down a Coup
When Fire Commissioner Masel and two allies tried to break Chief Allen on a trumped-up morals charge, Mayor Phelps suspended Masel for not being a freeholder — and the three commissioners walked out into the night.
- Before the Tide Lands Sold, Seattle Had to Erase Its Own Streets
Property owners rushed the City Council to vacate old street lines across Elliott Bay tide lands before a May 13 purchase deadline—or risk tangled titles and lost waterfront.
- Seattle High School Students Petition for Their Right to Learn
After the school board abolished the city's high school, students and volunteer teachers showed up to class anyway, refusing to let their education end.
- Farmers Take Flood Control Into Their Own Hands
Facing constant inundation and corporate inaction, local valley farmers plan to bypass the existing canal system.
- A Senate Seat, a 'Boodle' Cry, and Two Rival Caucus Calls
With the legislature barely organized, Republicans war over who should go to Washington—accusations of bribes, a strange 'binding' caucus call, and candidates angling for the prize.
- The Great Tacoma License Revolt: Mayor vs. The People Over Harry Morgan’s Saloon
In a dramatic showdown at City Hall, the Tacoma Common Council voted to revoke the liquor and theater license of Harry Morgan, sparking petitions from both sides and accusations of bribery involving the *Tacoma Daily Bulletin*. But did the city really win?
- The Fading Mineral Palace
Citizens petition to remove the aging, unsightly 'Mineral Palace' from Pioneer Place.
- The Squatter-Citizens of Port Angeles
Before Port Angeles was fully incorporated, a determined association of residents occupied government land to force federal recognition and protect their homes from wealthy speculators.
- The Body in the Hen House: An Unidentified Murder Near Eagle Harbor
A well-dressed stranger was found half-burned in an abandoned Kitsap County farmhouse, with only spectacles, a corkscrew, and a torn newspaper to say who he was.
- A City Rallies for Its Miners: The Franklin Disaster Relief Fund
Seattle workers, unions, and businesses dig deep for families of miners killed in the Franklin mine explosion, pushing the relief fund past $1,000.
- The Slaughterhouse Stench South Seattle Blamed for Scarlet Fever
As an epidemic closed the schools, residents near Grant Street petitioned the board of health to remove stockyards and slaughterhouses they said were breeding disease on the tide flats.
- Student Riot at Pullman Agricultural College
A group of Pullman citizens and regents condemn students who pelted visiting officials with eggs and mud while defending their outgoing president.
- The Price of 'The Reform Administration'
A juror protests the Seattle municipal court's practice of fining sex workers as a de facto monthly licensing scheme.
- The Caucus That Wouldn't End: Olympia's 1895 Senate Deadlock
Republicans balloted again and again in a stormy Olympia caucus, while Spokane businessmen and Union veterans warned that nominating John L. Wilson would wreck the party in Eastern Washington.
- Seattle Goes Door to Door to Dig Its Canal
Volunteers bank nearly $28,000 in a single day, pushing the $800,000 Lake Washington Waterway fund close to its goal — with everyone from banks to hardware clerks chipping in.
- Spare Land for Hard Times: Seattle's Pingree Plan
Seattle's Pingree Plan offered vacant land to indigent families for a season's cultivation—on a contract that gave them crops but no claim to the ground.
Also about this, in other words
- The Shadow Over the County Poor Farm
A newly impaneled grand jury is tasked with investigating grave charges of corruption and misconduct at the King County almshouse.
- The Treasurer’s Shadow
A local businessman on trial for graft testifies that he wasn't exploiting the city treasury, but merely acting as a 'friend' by borrowing city money at interest.