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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1889 | 7 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
22 stories matching befallen
- Fifteen Believed Dead After Gas Blast Turns Roslyn Mine Shaft Into a Furnace
A Sunday explosion at the Northwestern Improvement Company’s Mine No. 4 ignites a roaring underground fire, cuts off pumps and water, and threatens Washington’s coal supply.
- The Sewer Scandal: Seattle Engineer Fired for Refusing Corrupt Bricks
A political machine ousts City Engineer R.H. Thomson to bypass safety standards, sparking fears of city infrastructure collapse.
- After the Great Fire of 1889: Rebuilding a City from the Ashes
While Seattle recovers from a devastating conflagration, a citywide debate pits public safety and urban planning against private interests over the future layout of the business district.
- Tragedy in Tacoma: The Sudden Collapse of a New Building
A newly constructed building on Tacoma Avenue falls, leaving the community reeling and survivors in critical condition.
- The Great Seattle Fire: A Call to Rebuild
In the shadow of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, a local editor calls for unity, resilience, and an end to public complaining as the city begins the monumental task of reconstruction.
- The Price of Disaster: Seattle’s Post-Fire Rent Gouging
Landlords are accused of doubling rents on business and housing, turning the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 into a predatory profit machine.
- Seattle Rallies for the Franklin Mine's Widows and Orphans
A newspaper fund drive, a Madison Park benefit and Black community organizers push relief past $275 for the families of miners killed in the Franklin disaster.
- His House Burned, Then He Vanished in a Stranger's Boat
A well-to-do Whidbey Island beach farmer lost his home to fire at dawn — then was last seen rowing off with an unknown man, and has not been heard from since.
- The Card Sharps Who Picked the Wrong Captain—and Sailed to Peru
Two Seattle gamblers went to Port Townsend to fleece the master of the British ship Dimsdale. He found out, shanghaied them both, and set sail for Callao.
- The Narrow Escape on Whidbey Island
A quiet Sunday trip to church turns to tragedy for the Kellogg family after a pair of startled horses wreck their wagon in a field of stumps.
- A Dangerous Journey Home from Church
A quiet Sunday excursion in Snohomish takes a terrifying turn when a startled team of horses crashes, leaving a daughter critically injured.
- Three Deaths Down the Shaft: A Seattle Reader Demands Elevator Reform
After yet another fatal plunge in the Seattle National Bank building, a correspondent catalogs a decade of elevator disasters and calls on the city council to require inside doors before the cages can move.
- Three Children Dead in a Week: Diphtheria Stalks a Legislator's Family
Called home from the legislature by a telegram, Hon. Joseph Foster buries three children in a single week as his wife lies gravely ill with the same disease.
- After the Great Fire: Seattle Extends a Hand to Ellensburg
Fresh from the ashes of its own catastrophic blaze, Seattle offers sympathy and aid to a sister city devastated by fire.
- Rising from the Ashes: How Seattle Met Its Great Fire
A look back at the resilience of the local business class in the immediate, charred aftermath of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire.
- The Collapse of the Moxee Bridge
County commissioners prepare to sue the Pacific Bridge Company following the failure of the Moxee span.
- The Lost Cook of Lowell
A camp cook vanished from the logging woods near Snohomish, leaving behind his belongings and fueling local rumors of desertion or death.
- The Vanishing Grocer of Garfield
A local merchant leaves on a routine business trip to Spokane and vanishes, leaving his family and neighbors in a state of growing alarm.
- Fire Consumes Ranch Home Near Lenora
A family narrowly escapes a blaze that destroyed their home and belongings, including cash found later in the ashes.
- The Smallpox Panic of 1876
Busy-bodies spread false rumors of a smallpox outbreak in Seattle, prompting a swift rebuttal from the local physician.
- The Marsh That Could Feed a City: Snohomish’s Hidden Goldmine
A detailed survey of the vast wetlands between Snohomish and the Skykomish River reveals thousands of acres of fertile land, drained by new ditches and accessible by scow, waiting for developers to turn swamp into wealth.
- The Grim Calculus of Tragedy
An 1888 editorial attempts to rank the world's most catastrophic events, reflecting the era's fixation on measuring the scale of human loss.