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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 2 |
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| 1877 | 7 |
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| 1883 | 1 |
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172 stories matching bench
- The Silver Fight Waiting Inside Spokane’s Republican Convention
Nine Supreme Court hopefuls, three congressional candidates, and a free-silver bloc turn Washington’s 1894 state convention into a backroom brawl before it even opens.
- A Supreme Court Justice Denies He Bargained Away His Seat
Judge T. L. Stiles goes public to deny that he ever promised to step down so his friend Judge Pritchard could take the bench — and accuses a party operative of forcing him out of a race he had every right to enter.
- How an old mining ditch and a boulder patch became a $6,000 orchard
A correspondent's tour of the Methow valley and the benches above Pateros finds peaches by the boxcar, seven-pound carrots, and a warning that California land had already outrun the poor man.
- The Judge, the Revolver, and the Impeachment Petition
A former judge tells Olympia that Judge W. W. Langhorne drinks on the bench, bullies lawyers, and has threatened to shoot him — and asks the House to remove him.
- The Suicide Machine: An Olympia Pioneer's Meticulous Last Act
A 70-year-old bachelor rigged a gun, a bench and a string in his shed, left a note on a blackboard, and arranged his own death with chilling precision.
- The Political Price of a Brother’s Seat
Tacoma residents accuse Congressman F. W. Cushman of trading the city's federal bench appointment for his own brother's gain.
- The $15,000 Orchard Gamble on Newport's South Bench
An Iowa-backed land company buys a donkey engine, clears stumps and lays out Cedar Park lots, betting Newport's bench land can become fruit country.
- The Art of Student Management in 1876
Before high-tech school discipline, a Seattle professor resorted to canine bait and geometry to manage his unruly charges.
- A 1.5-Million-Acre Taking: The Colville Reservation Was About to Be Thrown Open
Federal officials and land agents anticipated a rush of white homesteaders into the southern half of the Colville Indian Reservation, framing Indigenous land as 'closed' and state growth as its natural destiny.
- Selling the Pend Oreille Valley as an Agricultural Eden
A booster’s tour of bench land, clover, and bumper potato crops—and why the railroad and Spokane cream market changed everything.
- The Political Club That Stood Up to a Partisan Purge
In 1885, a band of concerned citizens formed an 'independent' club to protect the judiciary from political interference, launching a defiant campaign to keep a respected judge on the bench.
- Governor Hay Wants to Appoint, Not Elect, Washington's Officers—This Labor Editor Says No
A proposal to make state offices appointive sparks a fierce defense of the direct primary and the people's right to choose their own officials.
- Who Decides Our Judges?
Lawyers in the legislature are moving to strip the public's right to nominate Supreme Court justices.
- The Ox-Yoke Judge Who Kept Olympia the Capital
O. C. Hewitt, Lincoln’s chief justice of Washington Territory and the father of Odd Fellowship in the state, died at 82 in East Tumwater after a frontier life that included burying massacre victims, winning a Supreme Court case, and saving Olympia’s capital status.
- The Yellow Glove Standoff on San Juan Island
When American informality faced British stiff-upper-lip formality in a frontier courtroom, a pair of gaudy kid gloves settled the diplomatic score.
- A Ninety-Foot Fall Down an Icy Mountain—and He Walked Away
William Wade tumbled down a steep incline in the Cascades while hunting mountain goats, bounding off icy benches before disappearing under a snowbank. He survived with bruises and a sprained ankle.
- One Judge for Two Counties: Seattle's Judge Osborn Wants the Bench Trimmed
A King County jurist tells the legislature that twenty-four superior judges for thirty-four counties is money badly spent — and that a judge handling Seattle's docket earns no more than one deciding farm boundary lines.
- The Judge Who Was Drunk on the Bench and Threatened to Fill a Man with Lead
A legislative committee in Olympia substantiates charges that Chehalis Judge W.W. Langhorne dismissed cases unread, threatened a man with a revolver, and traded court favors for political help.
- The Man Who Came Back from the Tundra with $1.8 Million
Nels Peterson sinks his fortune in a Yukon steamboat, hits rock bottom in Nome, then strikes it rich on a bench claim—arriving in Seattle with enough gold to buy a city block.
- The Judge Who Was Too High to Rule
Washington state legislators launch an impeachment investigation into a Spokane judge accused of being a 'morphine fiend' who presided over court while intoxicated.
- Embezzlement Charges Target Candidate for Supreme Bench
A political scandal erupts as accusations of financial impropriety in Arizona shadow a candidate's judicial run in Washington.
- The Constitutional Convention's Partisan Gridlock
Delegates in Olympia debate the structure of the state's future judiciary, clashing over judicial term limits, court size, and political representation.
- A Bank Scandal in Whateom
The Cashier of the First National Bank of Whateom faces a bench warrant over a $10,000 loan, allegedly secured with inflated land values.
- The Wright Trial Turns on a Fall in the Night
A brother's testimony and a missing state witness unsettle a Seattle assault-and-robbery case as the jury nears a verdict.
- The Water Wars of Ahtanum Creek
Forty-five farmers organize to protect their water rights against upstream diversion, signaling the beginning of a long-standing struggle for irrigation in the Yakima Valley.
Also about this, in other words
- The Bench Inspects the Horse
A judge takes an unconventional approach to a cruelty case, heading to the sidewalk to inspect an injured teamster's horse personally.
- The Politicization of the Bench
A critique of the growing trend to select judges based on their partisan alignment rather than their legal expertise.
- A Fairhaven Prize Fight
A boxing match between two 'heavyweights' is set for the Cas Theatre, promising a display of athletic skill rather than a slugfest.
- Taming the Bench Lands
Settlers in the Wenas Valley organize to bring irrigation to higher ground.
- The Unkindest Cut
A young boy's poignant question about inclusion and dignity sheds light on the treatment of people with disabilities in our community.
- A Sidewalk Brawl on Front Street
George Brackett and Capt. J. H. Bryant brawled on Front Street, traded throws, and were arrested.
- The Ethics of Prohibition and the 'Beastly' Public
An editorial critique of a prohibitionist’s sermon that labels the common public as cowardly and corrupt.
- The Kangaroo Court of the Seattle Jail
A young man from Pomeroy, arrested for seduction, faces a brutal initiation into the 'kangaroo court' of Seattle's county jail.