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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 5 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 2 |
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23 stories matching chisel
- A $23.25 Haul and a Very Patient Safe-Cracker
Burglars peeled a window, drilled the door and chiseled the combination at A. C. Fry's produce store on the Seattle waterfront.
- Home Burglarized While Family Attends Church
A bold break-in at a Seattle residence highlights a spike in property crime.
- The Burglar Who Knew the Layout
A gambler is arrested after allegedly breaking into a boarding house and cleaning out trunks with a chisel.
- Sunday Sabbath Burglary on University Street
A resident returns home from church to find his house ransacked and sixty dollars missing.
- The Case of the Altered Ford
A stolen car abandoned near the ferry crossing reveals a trail of tampered serial numbers and missing license plates.
- Safe Cracked in Kapowsin Timber Raid
Thieves target the North Timber company, escaping with revolvers and a steel box full of negotiable paper.
- A Shootout on Front Street
An attempted arrest of two suspected thieves ends in a violent exchange of gunfire near the waterfront.
- A Runaway Horse, Two Fence Splinters, and a Hotelkeeper’s Fearless Daughter
Mary Eirby is gravely hurt near Fort Steilacoom—the same woman who once held a robber at gunpoint in her father’s hotel.
- The Vanished Prize
A glass jar filled with cash, intended for a public guessing contest at a downtown shop, was plucked from a storefront window in a clever, late-night heist.
- The Great Jailbreak Attempt of 1888
A desperate group of prisoners, including a local forger and a pair of Vancouver burglars, came within thirty minutes of freedom before being thwarted by a vigilant guard.
- The Trial of the Torture Chamber Dentist
A Seattle woman takes her dentist to court, claiming his efforts to fit a set of false teeth were physically abusive and useless.
- Caught Red-Handed: A Midnight Grocery Heist
A burglar's attempt to crack open a downtown Seattle grocery store was thwarted by an alert clerk sleeping just upstairs.
- The Tragedy of the Bark 'Kamehameha'
A lone survivor of a shipwreck off Cape Flattery arrives in Steilacoom, providing harrowing details of a vessel lost with fifteen passengers aboard.
- The Salvage of the Mississippi
After four months of struggle, wreckers are forced to dismantle the sunken collier piece by piece.
- The 'Chisel' Game: How Seattle's Working Class Fought Labor Exploitation
A scathing report from 1887 reveals the corrupt 'ticket' system that allowed middlemen to siphon wages from laborers—a century-old echo of modern gig-economy wage theft.
- The Oriole Mine Strikes Pay Dirt
After months of development in the Metaline camp, the Oriole mine prepares to ship high-grade lead and silver ore.
- The Jailbreak of the Electrician Who Sabotaged the City's Power
After serving months in prison for destroying the Seattle Electric Light Company’s equipment, a disgruntled former employee walked out of the mill in borrowed clothes.
- The Concordia Beer Hall Heist
A cool-headed band of thieves broke into a Seattle saloon, cracked the safe, and held an impromptu dinner party with stolen beer and cigars before vanishing.
- Two Miles Perched on the Lower Circle of a Rainbow
A Shelton legislator's private letter describing a steamer passage up Hammersley's Inlet becomes the best prose in the paper — a circle of prismatic color, starfish, glaciers and one awestruck captain.
- Seattle’s First Great Street: How Denny Hill Became Front Street
In March 1877, the city is racing to finish the brutal grading of Front Street, transforming a muddy slope into Seattle’s first grand thoroughfare.
- The Judge Who Ejected His Own Lawyer: A Tacoma Courtroom Meltdown
In a bizarre turn of events at the Thurston County Courthouse, Presiding Judge Laurence silenced defense counsel Bronston and refused to hear the prisoner's testimony, leaving John Halson to face burglary charges in silence.
- A Spyglass in the Cascades: How a Ten-Man Tacoma Posse Foiled a Northern Pacific Train Robbery
An informer, three weeks of hiding in the mountains, and a masked gang waiting on the tracks near Cle Elum — the trap was set for Friday night and it worked.
- The Burglar Who Wanted a Razor Before Walla Walla
Richard H. Ford, a self-styled 'famous burglar' with a morphine habit, was shipped off to the state penitentiary—after begging for a shave and trying to dig through the jail floor.