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53 stories matching ceiling
- The Great Escape Attempt at the King County Jail
A desperate dig through the ceiling of a Seattle jail cell ends with the sheriff turning fire hoses on the inmates to quell the chaos.
- Gambling Debt and Ceiling Signals
A high-stakes poker cheat gets caught when his victim shoots through the floor.
- The Night a Gilded Age Mansion Lit the Road to Its Own Party
In 1894, Horace and Susan Henry welcomed nearly 200 guests to their new showpiece house above Lake Union—then sent them home by special streetcar under a private line of electric lights.
- A Bullet Between Brothers
A shot fired from the darkness of a Yesler Avenue street at night narrowly missed two brothers standing in their upstairs home.
- A House of Prayer for All the Nations
In 1892, Seattle's Congregation Ohaveth Sholom dedicated the first Jewish synagogue in Washington, filling the new sanctuary at Seventh and Seneca with Jews and Gentiles and with sermons that insisted the building must be more than stone and gold.
- A Fatal Mistake in the Bernice Building
A man looking for an office on the sixth floor instead steps into a fatal accident on the fifth.
- A Close Call in the Cleaning Room
A gasoline explosion at a Kennewick dry-cleaning shop reminds residents of the dangers lurking in their businesses.
- The City’s Debt Ceiling Crisis of 1892
Facing a massive backlog of unpaid warrants and legal judgments, Seattle's city council puts a multi-million dollar bond package to a city-wide vote to stave off municipal insolvency.
- The Great Telephone Switchboard Fire
A tangled mess of high-voltage arc light wires sends fireworks cascading through the central telephone exchange, nearly incinerating the entire plant.
- A Night of Exchange at the Baptist Chinese Mission
A rare 1891 cultural exchange took place at the Baptist mission, featuring speeches and a feast that aimed to bridge racial divides through education.
- The Northwest Lumber Cartel Forms in Tacoma
Major mill owners from across the Puget Sound region organize to stabilize prices and set standard grades for timber.
- Gambler shot in Snohomish street row
A night patrolman fired on a man who attacked him with a rolling pin after a rowdy disturbance near the local saloon.
- Tragedy on the Tracks: A Night of Horror
A train derailment near Seattle leaves passengers trapped in the wreckage as a fire begins to spread through the cars.
- The Girl Who Broke the Glass Ceiling at Whitman College
In 1903, Miss Worthington became the first woman to run for an executive office in the Associated Students, challenging a male-dominated political machine.
- The Struggle for a Proper Stage
A popular movement takes off to build Seattle its first dedicated grand opera house as performers complain about the city’s cramped, inadequate venues.
- Arson Attempt at Bellingham Bay Sun
A suspicious candle-in-oil setup is discovered in a Fairhaven newspaper office, raising questions about insurance fraud.
- The Old Union Flag
A group of Seattle schoolboys preparing for a dance discovered a historic, weather-beaten Union flag—triggering a local effort to preserve the banner that once flew over the Civil War-era Union League.
- John L. Sullivan's Seattle Takeover
When the world’s heavyweight champion brought his traveling theatrical troupe to town, the city went into a frenzy of gawking, impersonations, and mass hysteria.
- A Norwegian Teamster's Last Will: Despair, Disease, and a Sweetheart Left Behind
Fred Syvrud, a 36-year-old teamster, took his own life in a Seattle boarding house, leaving his property to a woman in Norway and blaming an incurable disease.
- The Ghost That Wasn't There
A nervous homeowner fires a shotgun at his own shadow, hospitalizing his son-in-law in the chaos.
- The Bucket Brigade That Saved a Block
Two brothers woke to smoke and falling embers in a Third Street lodging house, then doused the roof fire before the department could even join the fight.
- The Mystery of the Smalley House Fires
A suspicious string of blazes on Queen Anne Hill has residents calling for a new fire station.
- A Ghastly Industrial Tragedy at Westport
A sawmill accident on the lower Columbia claims the life of a British immigrant.
- The Courthouse That Built Itself
As Seattle transitioned from a frontier lumber outpost into a formal city, the County Commissioners finally took the 'bull by the horns' to replace scattered offices with a grand civic monument.
- Down the Dark Drift: A Tour of Seattle’s Coal Mines
In December 1876, a reporter takes readers on an arduous journey from Lake Union to Newcastle to witness the grueling labor and industrial scale of Puget Sound's most vital industry.