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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1876 | 7 |
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| 1882 | 1 |
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| 1888 | 4 |
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95 stories matching butler
- A Million-Dollar Land Grab and the Wife Left Behind
Abandoned for ten years in Pennsylvania, Mrs. J. E. Jordan comes to Seattle's superior court to stop her husband from deeding away the community's real estate to a medicine company — and names the men who helped him do it.
- The Pastor Who Traded His Pulpit
Dr. T.W. Butler, a prominent Seattle minister, prepares to abandon Methodism for a new life in the Congregational Church.
- The Butler Block’s Grand Transformation
A landmark Seattle office building is set to undergo a massive renovation to become the city's premier hotel.
- The $150 Lot That Became a $150,000 Block
A Seattle pioneer cashes out a Second Street property he held through fire and rebuilding, offering a simple recipe for fortune: buy early and hold on.
- The Saloon Wars: How Seattle’s Council Killed the Fight to Ban Bars from Residential Streets
In a heated March 1904 council meeting, reformers fought to keep saloons off streets where wives and children walked. The measure failed, revealing deep corruption and the powerful grip of liquor interests on city government.
- The Price of a Shoddy Crossing
A railroad conductor is killed in a derailment caused by an improperly filled track crossing.
- The Hanging Party That Wasn't: Puget Sound's First Murder Arrest
A retired sailor recalls the day a ship's crew nearly lynched a stevedore at Port Blakely—and the strange reunion that followed years later.
- The Opium Thief of Port Townsend
A worker entrusted with thousands in opium decides to sell the cargo and flee, setting off a frantic, brief escape that ends in a Seattle jail cell.
- The Transformation of the Butler Block
A historic Seattle landmark is being converted into a modern hotel, promising the latest in electric light and steam heat.
- A Senate Candidate Brings Home the Bacon
Congressman John L. Wilson stops at Seattle's Butler Hotel to tout federal money for Washington—and admit he wants the Senate seat.
- Steamboat Service Stalls Hay Shipments
An Oregon hay buyer finds local river transportation unreliable, threatening the viability of Kennewick's agricultural trade.
- The Sudden Death of a Beloved Seattle Physician
Dr. E. L. Smith, a pillar of the Seattle medical community and veteran of the National Guard, dies unexpectedly in his sleep at the Butler Hotel.
- The Mayor’s Gambit: Humes Defers to Council as Seattle Sweeps Away Its Gambling dens
In a rare moment of unified reform, the City Council has ordered the closure of all gambling houses and restricted saloons in the business district. Mayor Humes, citing legal ambiguity over the saloon ordinance but promising strict enforcement against lotteries, leaves the fate of Seattle’s vice industry to the police chief.
- The Bell in the Woods: How Seattle Built Its First University
A 34-year anniversary feature on the Territorial University: 48 laborers, $2-a-day wages, lumber from Port Blakely, and an old bell that warned ships in fog and rang for hangings.
- The Missing Payday at the First Seattle Railroad
Workers on the nascent Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad staged a walkout after a payroll error left them empty-handed.
- Wan Lee Answers Lawsuit From Former Laundry Partner
After twenty years in business together, the laundry proprietor denies hoarding profits and says he has offered his former partner the books and the business.
- Gambling in the Shadows of the Butler Hotel
Police seize a worn-out craps table, but the high-stakes games continue unabated.
- She Fell Into Puget Sound and Woke to Fishermen at Dawn
An 18-year-old hotel guest went shell hunting near Smith Cove, slipped between the logs, and spent a rainy night unconscious on the beach before two fishermen found her.
- A House Lifted Off Its Foundations and Floated Out Into the Lake
After five days of rain, Lake Cushman rose to record heights — eight feet deep on the hotel floor — and carried one man's house bodily across the clearing into the water.
- The Safe-Crackers of Princeton
After a string of brazen robberies in Princeton and Coulee City, detectives use decoys to bait a trap for the thieves.
- Wenatchee Growers Told a Railroad: Give Us Water and We'll Fill Your Freight Cars
A delegation of Wenatchee Valley orchardists met Great Northern officials at Seattle's Hotel Butler to argue that irrigation—not mines or timber—would turn eastern Washington into a freight-producing countryside.
- The Deed Was Too Generous: Yesler's Estate Sues to Take Back a Slice of Seattle
A forgotten 1892 complaint by Seattle's founding figure is revived by his administrators, who say a mutual mistake gave away too much of the Yesler donation claim.
- The Grandest Affair of the Year: Knights Templar and Eastern Star Unite for New Year's Eve
Seattle’s elite gathered at Commandery No. 10 for a lavish installation ceremony, complete with Indian impersonations, sword presentations, and a feast that lasted until dawn.
- Streetcar Accident on Temperance Street
A local gardener suffers a severe injury after falling beneath the wheels of a Seattle cable car.
- The Midnight Raid at the Butler Cafe
Police break up an impromptu faro game, but the dealer’s quick bail payment ensures the 'flyer' will soon resume.
Also about this, in other words
- The Bachelor's Defiant Defense
A long-time squatter proves his sanity after his sister and brother-in-law attempt to seize his property by branding him 'crazy'.
- The Conman of the Grand Pacific
A hotelier’s prank turns into a headline as a fake British investor tricks a local reporter.
- The Horse, the Furniture, and the Sumner Theft
An abandoned horse and a cache of furniture tie a Sumner arrest to a grand-larceny investigation.
- Heavy Snows Collapse Buildings in Gray's Harbor City
A winter storm brings devastation to the new townsite, demolishing a two-story hotel that never saw a guest.
- A Brawl at the Baldwin Hotel
Pro wrestler Clarence Whistler and a member of John L. Sullivan’s traveling entourage clash in a drunken tavern confrontation.
- A Wharfside Standoff Over a Sewing Machine
A passenger aboard a steamer bound for Alaska attempted to physically resist a constable serving an attachment writ for a debt owed to the Singer Sewing Machine Company.
- Mill Worker Attempts Suicide Amid Personal Despair
A Tacoma mill employee remains in critical condition after a desperate act brought on by his wife's absence.
- A Memory of the Battle of Seattle
An early settler and former U.S. Marshal reflects on the 'battle-scarred' house he occupied during the 1856 Indian attack on Seattle.