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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1902 | 19 |
19 stories
- The Art of Survival: A Spokane Woman’s Fight Against Her Husband’s Cruelty
In a case drawing attention from Hillyard to the city courts, Maud Coverly accuses her husband of starvation tactics and physical abuse, revealing the precarious legal standing of working women in 1902.
- The Great Anti-Union Combine: Spokane’s Elite Plot to Crush Labor
In November 1902, local merchants and manufacturers met in secret to form an 'Employers' Association,' aiming to present a united front against the growing power of labor unions.
- The 50-Year Marriage That Defied Poverty: A Spokane Woman’s Quest for Work
When a rural Washington couple faced ruin from debt and injury, the wife took a train to Spokane with nothing but her satchel and a fierce determination to earn her keep.
- The Mayor’s Labor Pact: How Organized Labor Bought Spokane’s City Hall
Mayor Byrne opens up about the 'organized labor' machine that secured his election and warns of a looming anti-Republican coalition in Washington State.
- The Boy Who Squirted Ammonia: A Spokane Youth’s Descent into Infamy
Officer Ike keeps a watchful eye on Tobias, the 'bad boy' of the Cineograph theater, after he becomes a fugitive from home and targets Japanese children with chemical pranks.
- The Scissors That Broke the Jail: A Spokane Prisoner’s Audacious Escape Attempt
Convicted hold-up man Harry Kelly nearly freed himself from the county dungeon using nothing but a rusty pair of scissors and sheer determination, leaving Sheriff Doust scrambling to find who supplied the tool.
- The Vagrant Preacher: An Elderly Man’s Desperate Plea for Dignity in Spokane
Paul Hoffman, a German Lutheran minister turned job-seeker, was arrested for vagrancy after collecting donations from churchgoers. In his cell, he wept as he recounted his fall from grace.
- The Great Railway Labor Trust: A Pre-Strike Reckoning in 1902
As railroad clerks and telegraphers joined forces with trade unionists in an ambitious new 'trust' of laborers, the era's major rail lines braced for a nationwide standoff.
- The Employer's Trap: Spokane Laborers Mock Plan to Union-Bust
As local merchants and manufacturers plot a new association to counter union power, Spokane’s labor leaders see through the scheme, citing stable wages and predicting failure.
- The Boycott of the 'Stage Irishman': Spokane’s Hibernians Take on Theater
In November 1902, a local committee from the Ancient Order of Hibernians launched an organized campaign to banish caricatures of the Irish race from Spokane stages, threatening boycotts against any theater company that dared to perform them.
- The Bunco King of Riverside Avenue
A Wisconsin farmer falls for a classic card-sharping trap in downtown Spokane, while local firemen demand more pay for shoveling coal.
- Five Years of Waiting: The Silver Rush That Never Was
Spokane’s mining elite face a bureaucratic delay that threatens to stall fortunes built on the promise of the Spokane Indian Reservation's mineral wealth.
- The Bread That Wouldn't Wrap: How Spokane’s Bakers Went on Strike Over a Label
In November 1902, a dispute over union rules and bread packaging sparked a walkout at the Quaker Bread Company, revealing the complex web of labor alliances in early 20th-century Spokane.
- The End of the Road for the 'Manitot' Bunco Ring
After weeks of shadowing, Spokane detectives cornered three notorious confidence men in a hotel room, closing the book on a string of swindles that had plagued the city.
- The Perilous Passage of the Spokane Rapids
A bold river captain finally conquers the treacherous Columbia rapids, signaling a new lifeline for the region’s isolated mining camps.
- The Auto Age Arrives: Spokane’s First Bid for Public Motor Transport
Promoter Fred T. Merrill eyes a site to launch the city's first public automobile line, signaling a shift from horse-drawn carriages to the roaring 20th century.
- The Horse That Stayed Out All Night: A Spokane Humane Case
Farmer C.G. Windsor claims his horse was neglected after being left at the Arlington Stables and driven to a club, but the law sees it differently.
- The Phantom Friends of Spokane: A Temperance Warning
An editorial in The Spokane Press warns that friendships forged over liquor are hollow illusions, citing William Makepeace Thackeray to argue that alcohol destroys genuine human connection.
- The Myth of the Wage-Earner’s Castle
A local advertisement claims that laborers in Spokane are buying beautiful new homes for less than rent. But is this a miracle of cooperation or a dangerous illusion?