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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 1 |
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21 stories matching blair
- The Senator Who Saw Woman Suffrage as the Only Cure for a Dying Republic
In February 1889, Senator Blair introduced a constitutional amendment to grant women the vote, arguing that the denial of this right was an injustice equal to slavery and the only thing saving the nation from ruin.
- The Pilot Who Dropped Dead at the Helm
A seasoned navigator suffers a fatal stroke while guiding a British ship through the Golden Gate, only for the crew to be extorted by a tugboat captain who demands an 'exorbitant' fee to save them.
- Deep Harbor, Shallow Anchors
A legal battle breaks out between two ships after a collision in Tacoma harbor reveals the dangers of local seafaring infrastructure.
- Burning Oil, a Shattered Shanty, and a Logger Who Threw Two Men to Safety
Chester LaChapelle rescued his cousin and a roommate after a gasoline stove exploded near Kapowsin, sacrificing his own face and hands to the flames.
- The Price of Reckless Growth
When Lewis County hit its constitutional debt limit, local officials were left holding worthless warrants—a sharp reminder of the pitfalls of municipal overreach in 1891.
- Two Hours Adrift on a Capsized Skiff
After a sudden squall capsized their small boat on the way to Seattle, two young sailors survived hours clinging to the keel in the frigid waters of Puget Sound.
- The Tragic Wreck of the Ferndale
Twenty men perished when the British iron bark Ferndale was driven onto the beach near Grays Harbor during the most violent storm ever recorded on the Washington coast.
- The Tragic End of the Ferndale
A British bark shattered by Grays Harbor breakers leaves sixteen dead, but a local woman's bravery saves three survivors from the surf.
- Fatal Poisoning in the Reservation
A Yakima Indian dies instantly after consuming lemon extract laced with strychnine, prompting a medical investigation.
- The Railway vs. The Town: A Forcible Relocation in Yakima
When the Northern Pacific Railroad tried to bypass the original town of Yakima to force residents and businesses to relocate to a new site, the citizens formed a committee to resist—and were met with cold corporate indifference.
- The Secretive Coal King of Seattle
James M. Colman is quietly opening the McCallister mine, signaling a new industrial play near Renton.
- The First Gold-Cure Club in Washington
At Olympia's Keeley Institute, former patients formed the state's first Bi-chloride of Gold Club—part mutual-aid society, part fundraising engine for poor alcoholics who could not afford the cure.
- A Coal Town Crawls Back From the Fire That Entombed Forty Miners
Six months after the Coal Creek disaster, a reporter follows Newcastle's superintendent a thousand feet underground into the new mine the company is racing to make bigger than the one it lost.
- A Tragic End Near Addy
A nineteen-year-old woman dies by suicide years after a forced annulment of her marriage, highlighting the societal pressures of the era.
- The Ship That Tore Its Own Bow Off: A Seattle Coal Vessel Lost to the Gale
In January 1877, the 1,200-ton ship *Commodore* was driven ashore at Cape Flattery in a ferocious storm. The crew survived, but the vessel—owned by local Port Ludlow resident Arthur Phinney and valued at $20,000—was destroyed.
- The Tinderbox of the Waterfront: Fire Chief Warns of Seattle’s Oil-Fueled Doom
Chief Collins warns that Standard Oil’s wooden warehouses along the waterfront are a 'match away' from destroying the city, while overcrowded lodging houses threaten the poor with similar fates.
- The City’s Missing Vote
Seattle’s ambition to modernize was stalled in 1892 when a legal technicality regarding the Ninth Ward annexation invalidated $135,000 in city bonds, exposing the messy reality of rapid municipal expansion.
- A Close Call in the Kitchen
A man’s attempt to dry his dynamite in a kitchen oven ends in a deafening, structure-leveling blast.
- A Terrifying Buggy Ride in Elma
A quiet Sunday excursion turned into a medical emergency when a runaway horse left a local man severely injured.
- Loose Handbills Nearly Cause a Runaway—And a Housewife Demands Action
A carelessly scattered pile of posters sends a horse bolting through Olympia, prompting a letter to the editor calling for a city ordinance to keep the streets clean.
- The Victorian Era's Original 'Manosphere' Rant
A satirical lecture from 1879 captures the era's obsession with policing women's appearances and the absurdity of 'social performance' in the Pacific Northwest.
Also about this, in other words
- A Premature Blast Tore Apart 'Lead' Long's Face Near Metaline
A miner known across the district was badly hurt at the Wake Up Jim prospect when a blast went off early, and details were slow to reach Newport.
- The Newcastle Mine Riot
A bitter dispute over a 'breast' of coal at the Newcastle mines escalated into a violent confrontation between the Miners’ Union and the Knights of Labor, leaving one man dead and many injured.
- Fatal Quarrel in a Mining Camp
A love triangle between Newcastle miners ends in a shooting death.
- A Silent Tragedy at Newcastle Mine
A deaf miner is struck and killed by a coal train while his companion, hoping to join him, arrives at the depot to hear the news.
- Blood in the Newcastle Mines
A violent, years-long boundary dispute between neighboring miners at the Newcastle coal fields spills into the open when a man is ambushed and hurled down a steep bank.
- A Gold-Headed Cane for the Man Who Stayed on the Phone in a Burning Mine
Newcastle honored C.C. Anderson, who kept giving orders to trapped miners as the roof burned above him.
- The Senatorial Candidate and the Canal
Ole Hanson brings his fiery brand of politics to the Kennewick Commercial Club, debating the Panama Canal's toll exemption.
- The Political Gossip That Almost Toppled a Judge
In an era of vicious party-line journalism, a Seattle editor defends his local officials against accusations of being 'copper-heads' and 'carpet-baggers,' echoing today’s heated partisan discourse.