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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 6 |
| 1892 | 13 |
| 1893 | 7 |
| 1894 | 15 |
| 1895 | 9 |
53 stories matching wrap
- A Newborn Found in a Basket Under a Tacoma Cemetery Bridge
A coroner's grim morning in 1895: an abandoned infant discovered in Oakland Cemetery, wrapped in a lady's undervest and calico, with no clue to its mother.
- The Inside Job at MacDougall & Southwick
A trusted department manager is arrested after he is caught pocketing cash from a customer sale.
- The Tragedy at Virginia Street
A grisly discovery on the Seattle waterfront exposes the hidden desperation of 1889.
- A Literal Piece of Evidence
A Tacoma man presented his own severed nose to the police court following a brawl over a woman.
- The Mother Who Ran Through Burning Oil
A lamp explosion trapped two boys in a Whatcom kitchen; their mother rushed through flames to save them and was badly burned.
- The Vashon Island Opium Cache
Customs inspectors spend a day spading up an orchard on Vashon Island to recover a large stash of smuggled opium.
- The Forbidden Book That Survived the Fire
A rare, centuries-old volume of Martin Luther’s 'Table Talk' was miraculously salvaged from the ashes of the Great Seattle Fire, having been smuggled across the ocean and hidden away by generations to escape religious persecution.
- The Fiery End of the City of Stanwood
A stern-wheel steamer, once a vital link for the Skagit River trade, is reduced to a smoking wreck after a fire breaks out at Port Susan.
- A Crushed Finger Gave the Safecracker Away
A suspected Kent burglar was tracked to a Railroad Avenue cabin, where police found skeleton keys, drills and powder—then identified him by the crushed finger described in an old escape notice.
- The Tragedy at the Stetson-Post Mill
A three-week-old boy was discovered floating in Seattle’s waters, a stark and somber reminder of the hidden precarity and desperation in the city’s frontier industrial era.
- The Pride of the Sound Lost to Fire
Seattle’s fastest steamer, the Flyer, is reduced to a charred hull in a spectacular midnight harbor blaze.
- The Cabin Murder and the Fear of a Mob
An Italian stonecutter on trial for his life recounts a desperate struggle on Mercer Island that left his employer dead.
- The Ballard City Hall Meltdown
A local council meeting descends into chaos as officials trade corruption accusations and threats of physical violence.
- The Great Blizzard of 1892
A historic ten-inch snowfall paralyzes Seattle's transit systems, forces school closures, and creates an eerie, blanketed stillness across Western Washington.
- The Great Funeral of the Dead Man's Flats
Seattle prepares for a bizarre civic spectacle: a mass burial of thousands of dead men in a reclaimed swamp, complete with a parade and a $5 entry fee.
- A Backyard Tragedy in Ballard
A young girl is severely burned while playing near a rubbish fire during spring cleaning.
- The City's Sweeping Misjudgment
Seattle's street department decides that the best time to sweep streets is during a windstorm, leaving storefronts and pedestrians choked with debris.
- The Tragic Wreck of the Leonor
Survivors and debris on the coast near La Push tell a harrowing story of a ship lost to the jagged rocks during a gale.
- The Mystery of the Lake Union Infant
While swimming in Lake Union, a group of boys discovered the remains of an infant, sparking a desperate search for a woman seen acting suspiciously weeks earlier.
- Lice Threaten the Hop and Apple Crop, and the State Says Spray Now
Washington's horticulture board warns that leaf lice are spreading fast in Western Washington and issues a detailed spraying recipe before the harvest is lost.
- The Electric Quack of the Arlington Hotel
An elderly traveler narrowly escapes a predatory ‘doctor’ who attempted to encase her in ‘electric’ metal shields under the guise of a miracle cure.
- The Butcher and the Counterfeiter
A young salesman tries to pass bogus gold at a local market, only to be outsmarted by a quick-thinking shopkeeper.
- The Cabin on the Woods
A remote Clallam County murder is solved when a mysterious note arrives at the sheriff's office.
- The Woman on the Yesler Dock
Despondent and alone, a woman stepped to the edge of the Yesler dock ready to drown herself — until the first officer of the steamer State of Washington caught her in his arms.
- Death at the Neah Bay Cable Crossing
A cable car over the Neah Bay river snapped mid-crossing, killing a prominent attorney as horrified passengers looked on.