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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 12 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 7 |
| 1887 | 8 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 10 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 10 |
| 1893 | 10 |
| 1894 | 17 |
| 1895 | 34 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
143 stories matching auditor
- The Justice of the Peace Who Sued for His Salary
A local judge successfully challenges the county auditor to secure his own paycheck, signaling a wider struggle over fiscal administration.
- The Auditor's Ledger: A Financial Scandal in Pioneer Seattle
When tax-payers demanded answers about vanishing funds, the county auditor offered only vague excuses—and a newspaper editor called for a total house cleaning.
- The Marriage License Court Battle
A young couple defeats parental interference in the local courts.
- The Great County Budget Squeeze of 1893
Facing a sudden economic downturn, the county board orders sweeping layoffs, but local auditors are digging in their heels.
- The Paperwork Error That Challenged Seattle’s Property Claims
A legal dispute over a real estate deed in 1885 reveals how bureaucratic technicalities—specifically a missing county seal—threatened the validity of early land titles in King County.
- King County Auditor Accused of Padding His Salary with Extra Jobs
A letter to the editor details how Auditor Frank Twichell drew extra pay as purchasing agent, building-fund agent, and legislative lobbyist—all while collecting his regular salary.
- The Tide Land Freeze: Ballard’s Waterfront Plats Go to Court
A judge restrains appraisers from filing supplemental tide-land plats as landowners, the state land commission and the county auditor fight over who controls the shore.
- The Fake Auditor of J. Pierpont Morgan
A Seattle hotel swindler successfully impersonates a corporate auditor to extract cash.
- The Business of Death in King County
A stark 1877 notice reveals how Washington Territory handled the burial of those who died in poverty.
- The Auditor's Ledger Scandal
After an investigation into King County's books, the county auditor is indicted for forgery following a chaotic attempt to clear the ledger before his term expired.
- The River Blockade
A standoff between the County Auditor and a local mill company reaches a breaking point over the Duwamish River.
- The Clerk Who Kept Her Marriage a Secret
A county auditor's office employee pulls off a stealthy holiday elopement, returning to her desk as a married woman without tipping off her colleagues.
- Spanning the Black River
As Seattle grew in 1877, the County Commissioners sought to replace a private ferry with a permanent crossing over the now-vanished Black River.
- The Price of Compassion in Pioneer Seattle
Before social safety nets, King County sought the lowest bidder to provide medical care, board, and lodging for the 'indigent poor.'
- The Auditor and the Sheriff: A Public Spat Over Corruption
In the lead-up to the 1876 election, a public war of words between King County's Auditor and former Sheriff exposes the messy, opaque, and highly questionable state of territorial bookkeeping.
- The Auditor’s Open Revolt
A defiant Seattle county official squares off against the city’s tax-paying elite, sparking a public war of words in the local press.
- Defending a Local Leader from Slander
The Post-Intelligencer defends L. H. Booth against accusations of financial corruption tied to his past work as a public official.
- Who Cares for the Poor in King County?
A call for sealed bids to provide housing and medical care for the county's indigent population in 1877.
- The Price of Poverty in Pioneer Seattle
King County officials put out a call for bids to house and feed the 'indigent poor,' treating human welfare as a municipal contract.
- County Officials Take Voluntary Pay Cuts to Weather Hard Times
With business stagnant and fees falling off, the auditor and clerk cut their own salaries. Commissioner Heaton wants the treasurer to follow.
- The New Tide-Flat Plat Put a Foundry in the Street
Seattle shore owners crowded the county auditor's office to see how a new Elliott Bay plat redrew their waterfront—and some found their improvements sitting on paper streets.
- The Changing of the Guard at the King County Courthouse
As a new Republican administration takes office in 1889, retiring officials hand over the keys to a bustling, rapidly growing county.
- The Price of Order: Seattle’s 1878 County Budget
A deep dive into the 1878 King County audit reveals a frontier government struggling to balance the books through liquor licenses, jail construction, and the high cost of local justice.
- The Ring of Corruption: How King County’s Auditor Hid the Books
A scathing editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch exposes Gardner Kellogg for refusing to explain thousands of dollars in missing county funds, accusing him of treating public office as private property.
- The Centennial Lottery Gamble
In 1876, the Washington Territorial Legislature authorized a public lottery to fund a wagon road across the Cascade Mountains, marking a desperate and creative approach to frontier infrastructure.