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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 6 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 1 |
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23 stories matching clumsi
- The Thief Who Stole a Watch and Then Returned It
A clumsy pickpocket at a Congregational picnic discovers that stealing from his neighbors isn't as rewarding as he expected.
- The Clumsy Forgery of a Political Appointment
Dr. Alfred N. Marion was amused to receive a fake appointment letter as deputy collector of customs, a prank aimed at Seattle's political circles.
- The Flour-Trail Burglar of Montesano
A clumsy thief’s attempt to pilfer supplies ended in a very literal trail of evidence.
- The Mysterious Disappearance of Banker Linus E. Post
After leaving his wife and daughter in Tacoma, a prominent banker vanishes to Europe under a cloud of financial mismanagement.
- The Logging Camp Fortune at the Bottom of the Bay
A logger's clumsy slip sends a mill company's entire payroll into the deep.
- The Stolen Name of the Mountain
A rare 1883 editorial lamenting the erasure of Indigenous names and the commodification of the landscape.
- A Close Call on Yesler Avenue
A fire sparked by a porter's clumsy accident in a saloon basement is extinguished by a quick-thinking fire commissioner before it could threaten the neighborhood.
- The Trial of the Jar Thieves
Three men face time in the penitentiary after confessing to a clumsy burglary at a local store.
- The Jailer Lost the Key
A murder trial in Kitsap County is stalled after a clumsy jailer heads downtown with the only key to the prisoner's cell.
- The Poker Con on the Anacortes Train
An unwary traveler loses twenty-five dollars to professional card sharps after a distraction at the window.
- The Potato Crisis of 1877
As Puget Sound farmers face crop failure from decades of neglect, editors call for a shift to the 'fine art' of fruit cultivation.
- The Clumsy Counterfeiter of Jackson Street
A man is caught red-handed trying to pass a crudely altered banknote in a local saloon.
- 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 Desperate Foraging of the Waterfront Four
When four men living in an abandoned Seattle shack ran out of supplies, they launched a clumsy, doomed heist—leading to a quick sentence and a warm bed behind bars.
- The Unlucky Runaways of Tacoma
Two young men who walked from Kalama to Tacoma seeking work instead find themselves behind bars after a clumsy theft from a local wood hauler.
- The Phantom Arsonist of Queen Anne Hill
A grand residence on Highland Drive vanishes in a blaze, leaving investigators to wonder if a spurned enemy, a clumsy painter, or a spontaneous chemical reaction fueled the inferno.
- Boss Bennett’s Moving Birthplace
A Tacoma political boss keeps relocating John H. McGraw’s birthplace—Bermuda one week, New Brunswick the next—as a Seattle paper cries foul in the 1892 governor’s race.
- The Day the 'Worst Boy' in Seattle Found His Voice
In an 1876 schoolhouse, a song about 'John Brown' acts as a social intervention to curb the disruptive behavior of a local child.
- The Road Less Traveled: Seattle’s Shameful Contrast with Victoria’s Fine Highways
In 1876, the local press lambasted King County’s broken road system, praising British Columbia’s turnpikes as a model for Seattle’s own stagnant development.
- Seven Votes Decide the Sheriff: Judge Langley Tosses Out Fraud Charges and Seats Van de Vanter
After a six-week ballot-by-ballot recount, a Seattle judge ruled that clumsy election officers could not disfranchise King County voters—and confirmed the Republican sheriff by a seven-vote margin.
- The Olympia Pianist Who Claimed Franz Liszt Taught Him Through a Window
A local musician known as the sage of Sherman Valley told a Tribune reporter that as a boy in Westphalia he stole piano lessons from the great Franz Liszt—until Liszt pulled him through the window and set him on his knee.
- Don't Bond the Valley to a Dry Ditch
A Wenatchee editor warns that a $100,000 Wright-law irrigation bond would repeat the Kennewick failure—leaving settlers with debt, abandoned orchards, and no water.
- Seattle's 1894 Election: Corruption, Fraud, and the Fight for City Hall
As voters head to the polls, the Post-Intelligencer unleashes a blistering attack on the Democratic administration, alleging graft, forgery, and a machine determined to hold power at any cost.