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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 4 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
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| 1923 | 2 |
101 stories matching cancel
- State Court Rules Against Land Grabs in Ballard
The Washington Supreme Court finds that the Land Commissioner acted unlawfully when canceling private leases to clear way for the Lake Washington canal.
- The Shadowy Business of Land 'Jumpers'
A look at the corruption and speculation surrounding homestead land claims in Washington Territory, where the rules of pre-emption favored the well-connected over the actual settler.
- The Deserted Wife Who Saved Her Homestead
When a man abandoned his land and his spouse in Olympia, the government tried to invalidate her claim—until a steely legal battle proved her right to stay.
- The Union Veteran Who Sued the Railroad for a Million-Dollar Tacoma
Anthony P. Carr says Northern Pacific agents helped a claim-jumper steal his homestead. More than a thousand Tacoma lots—and the people living on them—depend on what the Supreme Court decides.
- The Auditor Who Paid Himself
A former Whitman County official cashed a cancelled warrant for his own campaign expenses years after he left office.
- The Great Tax Cleanup of 1904
Walla Walla commissioners initiate a massive effort to purge decades of uncollectable tax debt, including lingering railroad disputes.
- The Decades-Long Battle for the McAleer Tract Ends in Court
After years of tangled legal claims, Judge Hanford rules against the McAleer heirs, clearing the way for new development on a large, vacant stretch of land once visible from the old Lake Washington cable cars.
- A Homesteader, an Indian Agent and the Land at Lake Chelan
When a federal agent prepared to forcibly remove a homesteader from land newly allotted to Colville Indians, Judge Hanford drew a line: the eviction would have to go through the courts.
- The Engineer Who Had the City by the Throat
In a bitter 1909 standoff over Seattle’s waterworks, engineer Benezet Williams accused city officials of squeezing him into submission after they canceled his contract. The advisory board’s final offer left him with little choice but to walk away.
- A Landmark Ruling for Donation Land Claims
The federal government establishes a precedent for canceling land claims after a Puyallup Valley settler failed to live on his property.
- Her Wages Bought the House at Fourth and Plum. The Sheriff’s Deed Was Canceled.
Elizabeth Burkett turned a $700 gift into a hotel and a home. When a Pierce County judgment against her husband threatened it, a Thurston County judge traced the property back to her own labor.
- The Auditor and the Postage Stamp Heist
A political scandal unfolds as a former auditor tries to justify cashing a $120 county warrant he was previously ordered to destroy.
- The Newspaper Monopoly Holding Seattle Hostage
In 1887, the Post-Intelligencer exposed a 'printing ring' between rival newspapers that artificially inflated the cost of public contracts.
- The Calkins Hotel Despoiled
A real estate trust claims tenants of an East Seattle hotel are gutting the building and flooding its rooms in a scorched-earth dispute over a lease.
- The End of the Homestead Era in Walla Walla
Federal authorities are canceling land claims after a wave of fraudulent 'residency' filings in Franklin County.
- The Potato Patch Fraud
A federal investigation reveals that a 'homestead' in Everett was nothing more than a few spuds and a locked door.
- The Homesteader Who Beat the Railroad and the Land Company
A Tacoma land dispute turns on a settler's 1883 claim, a canceled filing, and the Northern Pacific's grant.
- The Speculative Homestead That Built Everett
A federal land office ruling exposes how a 'homestead' was actually a calculated land grab to secure the future site of a new industrial city.
- The Legal Battle Over Land Claims
Judge Hanford rules on a dispute between the Stimson Land Company and individual homesteaders, highlighting the complexities of federal land patent law.
- Under the Provost Marshal: Seattle’s Martial Law
When the city was placed under military rule during the anti-Chinese riots of 1886, residents faced a new, forced reality of curfews, passes, and armed sentries on every corner.
- The Dispossession of Josephine Hatch
A Snohomish widow, unable to speak English, sues a powerful land conglomerate for swindling her out of a multi-million dollar stake in the founding of Everett.
- Seattle's Chinese Community Resists Mandatory Registration
Local merchant groups and the Chinese Six Companies instruct laborers to defy the Geary Act until the Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality.
- Ballard’s Water Main Failures Lead to Block-Wide Inferno
A fire in an avenue saloon rapidly spiraled out of control when the local water system failed to provide enough pressure to fight the flames.
- Federal Land Ruling Paralyzes Yakima Valley
A new Department of the Interior circular abruptly halts all land filings in Yakima and Kittitas counties, invoking federal irrigation laws to freeze regional development.
- A Massive Land Grab Stalled: Seattle’s Northern Pacific Victory
A pivotal decision in Washington Territory nullifies a $125,000,000 corporate claim on public land, forcing a reckoning for the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Also about this, in other words
- The Subscriber’s Revenge
A reader cancels a decade-long subscription after the editor has the audacity to send a bill.
- One Day Late: The Veto That May Hang a Man
A clerk's date stamp, a messenger who cannot recall which day he ran an errand, and a condemned Italian at Tacoma whose last chance at a new appeal may have expired in the paperwork.
- The Last-Minute Change of Heart
After securing a ranch management position in California, a local resident abruptly cancels his move and his auction sale, deciding Kennewick looks 'awful good' after all.
- A Candid Letter Stalls Divorce
A husband’s bid for divorce hits a snag in Judge Shackleford’s court after his wife’s letter reveals marital incompatibility.
- 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.
- The City’s Costly Theatrical Blunder
A Seattle judge rules that the city cannot revoke a theater's license without refunding the operator's $1,000 fee.
- The Disappearing Spouse: A 19th Century Public Shaming
In an era before no-fault divorce, a Seattle husband took to the public press to publicly renounce his wife's debts and dictate his marital authority.
- An 1874 Public Shaming of a Missing Wife
A husband publishes a newspaper notice to strip his spouse of financial agency after she leaves their home.