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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 12 |
| 1878 | 5 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 11 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 6 |
| 1886 | 9 |
| 1887 | 9 |
| 1888 | 6 |
| 1889 | 33 |
| 1890 | 5 |
| 1891 | 17 |
| 1892 | 60 |
| 1893 | 61 |
| 1894 | 63 |
| 1895 | 50 |
| 1897 | 3 |
| 1898 | 9 |
| 1899 | 5 |
| 1900 | 3 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 29 |
| 1904 | 23 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1907 | 3 |
| 1908 | 8 |
| 1909 | 36 |
| 1910 | 6 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 7 |
| 1915 | 8 |
| 1916 | 7 |
| 1917 | 7 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 4 |
| 1924 | 7 |
| 1925 | 1 |
547 stories matching check
- The Minister's Daughter and the $300 Check
Winifred Moter — adopted as an infant by Rev. R. C. Moter — is jailed in Spokane on a forgery charge, and Newport weighs its sympathy for the parents against the wreck of a young life.
- The $1,000 'Good Faith' Check That Became a Prisoner of Its Own Terms
Seattle’s streetcar pioneers petition the City Council to return their forfeited deposit, arguing the project stalled due to circumstances beyond their control. The paper argues they have no moral right to reclaim the money.
- The Cowboy Who Cashed His Own Checks
A visiting cowboy passed about $100 in forged Frye-Bruhn checks across Seattle saloons, then caught the steamer Kingston before the warrant could catch him.
- The Laborer Who Wasn't
A clever con man successfully targets Tacoma merchants by impersonating a well-known local contractor and paying with forged checks.
- The Shipbuilder Who Wasn't: A Swindler’s Bogus Checks and a Wife’s Shame
Captain John E. Higgins arrives in Seattle posing as a respected Bath, Maine shipbuilder, only to be exposed by Harbor Police Officer Metzler after cashing forged checks on local merchants.
- A Forged Check Leads to a Hotel-Room Arrest
A bogus $7.50 check at a Columbia Street drugstore unravels into cocaine, morphine and a man who may have been the "Henry" on the signature.
- The Man Who Robbed Seattle's Fire Relief Fund Walked Out of Prison on Friday
Five years after the great fire of 1889 turned Seattle to ash, the secretary trusted to hand out relief money — an inspector who forged checks to invented men — finished his sentence and went free, his full take never known.
- The $40 Forgery That Fooled Seattle’s Hardware Elite
A dashing stranger with a dark mustache and bare chest walks into W.P. Boyd & Co., flashes a forged check from the Seattle Hardware Company, and vanishes with $40 in cash—leaving behind only a single typo that saves the victim from total ruin.
- The Imaginary Mine of Seattle's Would-Be Count of Monte Cristo
A charming elderly German claimed a Mexican mine, a California ranch and a German inheritance—then paid for gifts with checks no Seattle bank would honor.
- The Supreme Court Rules Against Gambling Debts
A Spokane County case sets a new precedent: checks used for gambling losses are legally void, even if passed to third parties.
- The Forged Check and the Third-Story Leap
J. R. Seeley tried to cash a check bearing another man's name, then fled across the college campus and out a third-story dormitory window. His father is searching for him in Moscow.
- The Opium Ring and the Floating Body: A Seattle Murder Mystery
When Abner Abbott’s body was found in the tide flats, suspicion fell on a smuggling ring. Was he silenced for knowing too much about a $400 check from China?
- Insurance Agent Vanishes After Passing Spurious Checks
A smooth-talking insurance agent charms his way through Seattle's business community before disappearing with premiums and bad checks.
- The Customs Inspector with a Paper Trail
How a Seattle customs official’s history of corruption and confession led to a suspicious opium smuggling sting.
- The Unlucky Forger of Prescott
A small-time fraud artist meets a swift end to his career after failing to convince local merchants of his math.
- The City’s ‘Rubber’ Checks Are Finally Good as Gold
After years of city employees losing money to brokers by discounting city warrants, the Mayor forces a policy of redemption at par value.
- The Gray-Haired Con Man Who Left Newport's Saloons Holding Bad Paper
Posing as a copper-company man with money in local banks, William Andrew cashed worthless checks across Newport and Sandpoint—then vanished before anyone could collect.
- The Hatchet-Faced Forger of the Palouse
A dapper swindler left a trail of bad checks and discarded lard across eastern Washington, fooling local business owners with a bank punch and a smile.
- The Daring Heist at Martin Creek
A storekeeper recounts how three masked men held up his business in a daring robbery that shocked the county.
- The Power Struggle Over Pavement
Tacoma's city council faces internal deadlock as officials fight over who gets to countersign checks and which material should pave the city streets.
- City Laborers Find Relief at the Bank
Mayor Phelps intervenes to stop the exploitation of city laborers by 'scrip buyers' who were charging fees to cash municipal pay checks.
- A Wall of Flame at Newport's Doorstep
Wind-driven fires jump trenches in the Pend Oreille timber country, threatening Scott's Addition and costing ranchers and mills thousands in cordwood and logs.
- The 'Line-Man' Forger of 1891
A young con artist dressed as a weary lineman successfully swindled several Seattle clothing stores and a saloon before vanishing into the night.
- The Midnight Watch Transfer That Split a Seattle Courtroom
A judge dissolved an injunction against J.K. Basye & Co. but kept a receiver in place after a night-time removal of goods from Simon Rumpf's watch store.
- The Rogue of Seattle
A serial con artist who targeted the generous, leaving friends to pay his debts.
Also about this, in other words
- The Bank-Issued Currency of 1893
Facing a national economic panic, Seattle merchants and bankers agree to honor certified checks as local tender to keep the hop harvest moving.
- A Forged Check and a Clean Getaway
A discharged Tobin camp laborer signed his former boss’s name, cashed the check in Newport, and vanished before the bank caught on.
- Legislative Crackdown on 'Bar-Check' Fraud
A new proposal in the state house seeks to hold saloon-keepers accountable for cashing checks for intoxicated patrons, a practice contributing to high forgery rates.
- The Check Passers: Seattle Sheriff Breaks Up a Coastwide Confidence Ring
Four alleged ringleaders—including a man known to police in three cities and a woman wanted in Everett for a jail break—are arrested in Seattle.
- A $5,000 Check and a Textbook Vote: the Supreme Court Says the Bribery Case Must Be Tried
Book agents accused of buying a state school-board vote with a five-thousand-dollar check get their indictment reinstated — and the case heads back to a Thurston County jury.
- A $56 Check Sends a Housekeeper to Prison for Up to 14 Years
Mrs. Maybelle Coitrell, desperate for work, forged a Spokane millionaire's name—and drew a sentence that outweighed the theft many times over.
- The Bookkeeper Who Played Lawyer
A former insurance company clerk, accused of forgery, stunned the King County courtroom by ditching his defense counsel to argue his own case.
- The Health Movement of 1923
Washington State launches a campaign to convince residents that an annual check-up is as essential as a regular dental visit.