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1. Washington's Fourth Legislature Adjourns After a Marathon Final Day

   Lawmakers pass 53 bills, defeat a school-book trust, kill a Seattle-Tacoma bridewell, and bury woman suffrage for at least two years.

   Mar 15, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOld Capitol Building, Olympia, Thurston CountyFollow the Money · City Hall

2. Governor McGraw Says No to Cheap Textbooks and a Cascade Road

   Washington’s governor vetoes a state textbook scheme and a Naches Pass road appropriation, warning that both would waste public money—and that cheap books are not the same as good ones.

   Mar 24, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

3. The War Department Drafted the Newspaper Editor

   Washington picked the Courier-Reporter to run the national 'Smileage' coupon drive in the Kennewick district — and the high school's Senior Ten volunteered to sell the books at the Finley store and the Hover post office.

   Jan 24, 1918The Kennewick Courier-ReporterKennewick, Benton County

4. The State vs. the 'Gigantic Octopus': Washington Votes to Print Its Own Schoolbooks

   Olympia's senate passes a bill making Washington a textbook publisher, selling spellers and readers to children at cost to break the American Book Company's grip — 27 to 4.

   Mar 8, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyFollow the Money · City Hall

5. Seattle's Library Reopens — With a Fee for Taking Books Home

   After slashing salaries, trimming the light bill and a landlord's six months of free rent, the library commission reopens the doors under a 10-cent-a-month borrowing charge.

   Mar 15, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

6. Ten Cents a Month to Read: Seattle Votes to Put Its Library on the Payroll

   After a night of wrangling, the Board of Aldermen and the House of Delegates agree to spend $250 and charge adult borrowers a monthly fee to keep the circulating department open — over the objection that the city cannot afford it.

   Mar 12, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle City Hall, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

7. Seventy Percent of Washington's Schoolbooks Came From One Publisher

   A new textbook law forces Olympia to throw out most of the books Washington children use. One agent demanded a private hearing with the state board; the board opened the doors and he walked out.

   Jun 2, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyFollow the Money · City Hall

8. The Ledger Went Into the Furnace

   A Tacoma courtroom heard how 94 company books were burned on orders from the assignee—while stockholders testified that minutes were falsified and $42,000 had vanished.

   Apr 20, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyFollow the Money · True Crime

9. A Minister Takes a Geologist's Hammer to Genesis

   Rev. Napoleon Hoagland tells a packed hall that the rocks do not show six days of creation, and that reason — not an infallible book — is the believer's best authority.

   Oct 13, 1891The Olympia TribuneOlympia, Thurston CountyStrange But True

10. The Grocery Company That Cooked Its Own Books

    Tacoma Grocery Company’s president is accused of falsifying minute books and hiding assets from the receiver, creditors and stockholders.

    Apr 10, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyScandal

11. The Book Agent's Quick Exit

    A traveling book salesman avoids a long legal ordeal by pleading guilty and leaving town immediately.

    Apr 23, 1884Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · Strange But True

12. The Persistent Pest in the Parlor

    A classic 1878 dispatch on the 'improved' book agent who swears he never bothers anyone—right before being forcibly ejected into the street.

    Aug 14, 1878The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

13. The Judge Who Gambled Away His Office: Soderberg’s Dramatic Resignation

    After the grand jury returned five indictments for extortion and malfeasance in office, District Attorney Joseph Soderberg walked into court, tendered his resignation, and declared he would repay every illegal fee to the county treasury.

    Jun 14, 1888The Seattle Post-IntelligencerKing County Courthouse, SeattleCity Hall · True Crime

14. King County Hires Outside Auditors to Chase 'Dark Hints' in the Treasury

    Commissioners order a four-year examination of the treasurer's books, over the protest of the prosecuting attorney who wanted his own expert on the committee.

    Apr 20, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerKing County Courthouse, SeattleCity Hall · Scandal

15. The Art of the Con: How a Swindler Sold 'Rare' Books to Seattle’s Elite

    A clever grifter conned prominent Seattle society women into buying ordinary books at exorbitant markups by selling them on a false promise of exclusivity and 'easy' monthly payments.

    Jan 9, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerBallard, Seattle, King CountyTrue Crime

16. The Fight Over Who Gets to Count King County's Money

    County commissioners hire outside experts to comb the treasurer's books, brushing aside the prosecuting attorney's claim to the job.

    Apr 21, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerKing County Courthouse, SeattleCity Hall

17. Aberdeen’s First Library Begins as a 'Nest Egg'

    A modest collection of books and a donated office space mark the first steps toward a civic institution.

    Oct 15, 1891Aberdeen HeraldAberdeen, Grays Harbor County

18. The Feast of Lots: Seattle's Jewish Community Celebrates Purim with an Auction of Sacred Letters

    At the Hinckley block, the Orthodox congregation dedicated a new Torah scroll and auctioned off its letters to fund education.

    Mar 11, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

19. When Seattle's Library Ran Out of Money

    A $65 February appropriation against $400 in monthly expenses forces the library commission to close the circulating department and beg city council for relief.

    Mar 2, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

20. The Library Was Not a Luxury

    An 1895 editorial made the case that a free public library was civic infrastructure, not charity—and that starving it of funds betrayed the city's future.

    May 6, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

21. The Fire Chief Who Ran for the Border

    A telegram from British Columbia, a contested resignation, and a letter to the editor expose the perjury and naturalization fraud case that consumed Seattle City Hall.

    Feb 21, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle Fire Department, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall · Scandal

22. Seattle's Fugitive Fire Chief Says His Accusers Stole the Evidence

    A.B. Hunt, indicted for fraudulent naturalization papers, has disappeared—but allies say he is gathering proof that a stolen Canadian fire-company minute book was smuggled into Seattle to frame him.

    Feb 20, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle Fire Department headquarters, SeattleCity Hall · True Crime

23. The Sheriff’s Hammer: Snohomish’s Last Stand Against the 'Nuisance'

    In March 1877, Judge J.R. Lewis and the local Grand Jury launched a coordinated assault on vice, seizing brothels and fining operators, while simultaneously exposing corruption in county bonds.

    Mar 24, 1877The Northern StarSnohomish, Snohomish CountyCity Hall · Nightlife

24. The Dead Land Commissioner and the Missing $22,000

    A Northern Pacific audit turned up another unrecorded land payment—this one made through a Seattle agent—as suspicions deepened about the late Schulze's books.

    Apr 26, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyFollow the Money · Scandal

25. The Case of the Missing Territorial Library Books

    A government official alleges that a man named William Pickering purloined two packages of library books intended for public use.

    Jan 3, 1863Washington StandardOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall · True Crime

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