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142 stories matching clever
- The Man from Mexico Comes to Town: Wenatchee’s New Theater Opens with Star-Studded Fanfare
As the city celebrates its new cultural landmark, the Watson Stock Company arrives to perform 'The Man from Mexico,' promising a week of high drama and comedy that rivals Seattle's biggest hits.
- The Great Jailbreak of 1886
After being convicted of a sensational local murder, a Seattle man pulled off a daring escape from the county jail by using clever DIY tools.
- The Poet-Waiter Who Drowned in Seattle Harbor
C. W. Chantrell came from a noble French family and carried a love poem in his pocket. He died broke, alcoholic, and alone on the steamer Idaho—and Seattle's coroner called it an accident.
- The Great Port Angeles Gold Scam
How a clever land boomer used fake gold coins to manufacture excitement and swindle investors in the late 1880s.
- A Forged Passage: The Counterfeit Papers That Nearly Smuggled Chinese Immigrants Into Seattle
A ring selling near-perfect imitation government certificates was caught trying to land Chinese immigrants at Tacoma, Seattle and Port Townsend — and the customs collector was not impressed by their craftsmanship.
- The Art of the Con: How a Swindler Sold 'Rare' Books to Seattle’s Elite
A clever grifter conned prominent Seattle society women into buying ordinary books at exorbitant markups by selling them on a false promise of exclusivity and 'easy' monthly payments.
- The Con Man Who Wore a Partner's Identity
A clever grifter posed as a prominent Seattle businessman to swindle New York merchants, leaving local partners to clean up the mess.
- The Miracle Inning at Tacoma
Down by nine runs, the Seattle baseball squad defied the odds with a legendary eleven-run outburst in a single inning against Tacoma.
- The Post Office Con-Artist
Authorities warn merchants of a sophisticated swindler operating across Washington by altering post office money orders.
- 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 Criminal Circus Follows the Big Top
Tacoma police brace for an influx of organized pickpockets and burglars trailing the Ringling Bros. circus.
- The Traveling Salesman’s Clever Ruse
A skeptical livery stable owner meets his match in a traveling drummer who refuses to pay for his own horse.
- The Bold Smuggler of the 'Ina'
A Victoria-based steamer brazenly docks at the city landing in broad daylight to coal up, while its captain blurs his ship's identity to evade detection.
- The Con Man Who Sold the Seattle Circus
A clever swindler fleeced the city's elite by selling them on imaginary contracts for a Ringling Brothers circus that was never coming to town.
- The Great Telephone Wars of Tacoma
A rival phone company manager staged a bizarre arrest of his competitor to derail a franchise bid—only for the plot to unravel at the police station.
- The Cedar River Siege: How a Power Mogul Tried to Steal Seattle’s Water
Seattle Star exposes the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company’s dirty game: using fake environmental panic to block municipal water rights and crush competition.
- The Power Struggle for Seattle’s Future
As the city council investigates the Cedar River water rights dispute, a fierce corporate war erupts between the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company and the Union Electric Company, threatening to monopolize the region's energy supply.
- The Mystery of the Murdered Man's Two Wives
A shocking revelation in the case of C. C. Grant suggests the victim may have been a bigamist, or perhaps the victim of a clever fraud.
- A Wooden Pistol Emptied the King County Jail
Thomas Blanck, awaiting appeal for murder, locked the night jailer in a cell and walked out with eight other prisoners—armed with a black wooden fake.
- Smelter Workers Robbed at Gunpoint
Nine men and one woman were held up by masked bandits near the Tacoma Smelter on payday night, but clever victims managed to hide their cash.
- The Professor and the Stewardess
A Vashon Island college professor was physically confronted on a steamer by a former employee over accusations of theft.
- Chloroform Burglary on Queen Anne
A young woman fends off an intruder who attempted to drug her in her own bedroom.
- Roslyn Miners End a Three-Month Strike — and Return to the Pits at a 20 Percent Cut
After a bitter walkout against the Northern Pacific Coal Company, the miners of Roslyn vote almost unanimously to accept reduced wages and go back to work — a surrender that some say was hastened when a handful of Black miners from Franklin were brought in to take their places.
- The Regents Park Mystery
A contractor was found murdered in a thicket, his body showing signs of a struggle and an attempt at concealment.
- The Ghosting of J.C. Icebrook
A persistent suitor looking for a 'traveling companion' finds himself ensnared in a web of elaborate decoys set by a local woman and her clever brother.
Also about this, in other words
- The 'Smart' Grift: A Frontier Romance Scammer
A Chinese laborer attempts to use the legal system to recover money lost to a romantic swindler who promised marriage but disappeared with his cash.
- Vigilantism in Wiser
A deputy sheriff takes three men into custody for the targeting of Chinese laborers.
- A Boy’s Quick Thinking Saves the May Creek Trestle
When a youth discovered a blaze on a high railway bridge, his rapid response prevented a catastrophe for the incoming train.
- The Clueless New Bailiff
A newly appointed municipal bailiff attempts to arrest a theatre owner using only a subpoena, only to be schooled on the law by the judge.
- An Eccentric Prisoner's Optimistic Dance
A man awaiting sentencing in a local court baffles reporters by dancing a jig and promising a champagne celebration upon his release.
- A Dangerous Practical Joke
A man is hospitalized after a prank turns into a violent confrontation, landing his three attackers in legal trouble.
- Old Yank, the Sequim Inventor Who Rigged His Counter to Sting Thieves
A correspondent visits Professor Watkins of Sequim Prairie, an eccentric mechanic whose inventions ranged from a needle-spring burglar trap to a wooden mowing machine and a windmill made to grind the prairie's wheat.
- The Jailbreak That Almost Toppled the Penitentiary
A clever prisoner uses his talent for locksmithing to craft duplicate keys, nearly sparking a mass escape at the Walla Walla prison.