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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 8 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 14 |
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342 stories matching blame
- The City Buried Its Own Mistake: Coroner’s Verdict Blames Seattle for Deadly Boiler Explosion
A coroner’s jury has issued a scathing indictment against the city of Seattle, its building inspectors, and a plumber for the negligence that led to a Tuesday night explosion. The verdict fixes blame on the municipality for allowing a dangerous steam heater beneath a public sidewalk without proper oversight.
- The Grant Street Crash: Who Killed the Passenger?
A deadly collision between a streetcar and a Northern Pacific train at Grant Street has sparked outrage. The Seattle Star argues that 'homebody' passengers are to blame for ignoring safety, while demanding accountability from the railway companies.
- The Deadly Cost of Lax Oversight on Puget Sound Steamers
A concerned correspondent challenges local authorities to address the criminal negligence allowing faulty boilers to threaten lives on our waters.
- The 'Pompous Autocrat' of the Sound
A Seattle newspaper lashes out at a revenue cutter captain who refused to aid a vessel in distress, claiming his uniform shouldn't be 'rubbed the wrong way.'
- The Sewer Blunder Heard 'Round Seattle
A multi-thousand dollar engineering failure exposes political cronyism and a laughable construction mistake on Front Street.
- The Skagit Power Debacle
Seattle's municipal power project sits millions over budget and years behind schedule, sparking a bitter blame game between city officials and contractors.
- The Price of Disunity
A local growers' association leader condemns farmers who bypass collective bargaining, warning that consigning produce to commission agents leads to market collapse.
- Fifty Murders, Not One Hanging: Seattle Puts Its Courts on Trial
A Post-Intelligencer editorial argues that endless technical appeals have made King County a place where killers walk free — and warns that the resulting public fury is the courts' own fault.
- A Missing Man, a Dead Wife, and a Sewing Machine Full of Money
Joseph Von Lingenau vanished after his wife died in childbirth. His friends fear murder; his neighbors remember a man coming apart.
- The Sheriff’s Bold Stand Against Mob Rule
A newly minted newspaper editor-sheriff argues that local complicity, not just law enforcement failures, fuels vigilante violence in Washington.
- The Vanishing of Charles Gloystein and the Secret Society That Armed a County
In 1894, a Spokane County man disappeared. Rumor blamed a secret Populist order, and neighbors began answering their doors with shotguns.
- The Tragic Death of Edith E. Ewing
A young woman’s suicide note is made public by her grieving father, sparking a somber reflection on the pressures of life in 1884 Seattle.
- Blandford Takes the Blame in City Flume Patent Suit
The Statesman accuses the city administration of forcing a contractor to take the fall for a costly legal infringement on a flume project.
- The Filthiest Place in Washington
A state health committee blames criminal negligence and unsanitary conditions for a deadly typhoid outbreak in North Yakima.
- A Streetcar Magnate Denies Bribery and Blames an Alderman's Grudge
Writing from St. Louis, Union Trunk Line president E. F. Wittler flatly denies offering Alderman J. Eugene Jordan $100 and a lifetime pass to stop fighting the line's Rainier Heights branch — and says Jordan told him he was only trying to 'get even with Lowman.'
- A Tacoma Shooting Unravels an Elopement
Albert McAchren shot his wife, tried to shoot her daughter, and turned the gun on himself. As she lingers, a friend describes the couple’s flight from Fidalgo.
- The City Council's Permissive Grift
A frustrated fire official reveals that Seattle's fire safety ordinances are being gutted by the very council members who passed them, as they issue private permits to bypass building restrictions.
- The Boy Who Stole a Horse to Earn His Keep
A 17-year-old’s desperate attempt to fund his future ends in jail, sparking a local debate on juvenile justice and the harsh realities of poverty in early Seattle.
- Washington’s Insurance Commissioner Fights Impeachment With 60 Pages and a Statute of Limitations
J. H. Schively answers all 26 articles with denials, jurisdictional objections, and a request to bar 17 senators — then points the blame at his predecessor.
- The Fallout of a Family Exile
A young woman fleeing the shame of an unplanned pregnancy from Walla Walla to Seattle turns her own uncle in to federal authorities, sparking a legal drama over accusations of 'obscene' letters.
- The Peril of the Open Sewer
A pedestrian’s fall into an unlit excavation leads to a three-way courtroom battle between the injured man, the city, and a railway company.
- The Cable Car That Dodged a Runaway Electric—and the Lawsuit That Followed
A Madison Street cable car narrowly avoided a speeding Third Street electric car in 1893; passenger E. K. Marvin won $1,000 after a second trial over his sprained ankle.
- A Costly Court House Proposal
A local property owner attempts to pressure King County into buying his bluff-top lot for an exorbitant price, despite the site's clear logistical flaws.
- A Denver Capitalist Wants to Foreclose - and Blames the Money Question
C. W. E. Griffith came to Seattle for a superior-court fight over the ground beneath the National Bank building at South Second and Yesler, then explained why liquidation beats denial.
- A Wave, Unbarricaded Doors, and the Wreck of the Buckeye
The wrecked steamer is found near Fairhaven as passengers blame the mate and a drowned Anacortes liquor dealer goes to the grave without an inquest.
Also about this, in other words
- The Blame Game on the Sound
A schooner and a steamer collided in the dark of Puget Sound; the court’s decision offers a rare look at the chaos of maritime navigation in 1893.
- The Weight of Responsibility: A Victorian Lesson for Snohomish Parents
In an 1877 editorial, a Snohomish observer argued that character was a hereditary and domestic inheritance, placing the burden of societal progress squarely on the shoulders of the home.
- The 'Not Responsible' Notice of 1876
In an era of restrictive domestic law, one Seattle man publicly disavows his wife's debts to protect his own assets.
- A Child’s Fall into a City Excavation
A young girl’s tumble into a construction pit sparks a damages lawsuit against an investment firm.
- The Deadly Pressure on Puget Sound Steamboat Captains
Shipbuilder John K. Barr argues that owners and agents, not sea conditions, are the real culprits behind marine disasters.
- Fatal Milk: The Formaldehyde Poisoning Scandal
A coroner's jury in Seattle finds local farmers and milkmen responsible for the death of an infant after poisonous additives are found in the dairy supply.
- A Costly Slip: The Sink That Flooded Pioneer Square
A plumber’s oversight at a dry goods shop leads to a deluge that ruins thousands of dollars in stock, exposing the fragility of Seattle’s burgeoning commercial district.
- An 1875 Public Shaming in Seattle
A husband publishes a newspaper notice to strip his wife of her financial agency after she leaves their home.