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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
24 stories matching coil
- The Electric Robe Wars: A Spokane Doctor’s Patent Battle in Walla Walla
Two physicians engage in a public spat over who invented the 'electric bath robe,' turning a local newspaper's letters page into a courtroom for medical innovation.
- The Perilous Bathing of the Seattle Snake-House
A keeper's routine bath for his serpents turns into a life-or-death struggle when a 14-foot boa constrictor decides to coil around his leg.
- The Man Who Wouldn't Die: A Suicide Attempt in Olympia
In a grim display of resilience, a man named June Hickey survived a lethal dose of antimony in an Olympia hotel last week, defying the finality of his own design.
- The Unscripted Tragedy at Yesler's Hall
A young child’s refusal to follow the script during a dramatic performance forces the lead actor to lower the curtain on the show.
- Tragedy on the Colville Reservation
A mother returns to find her child dead after leaving the baby unattended near a tree.
- Tragedy Strikes the Monticello
A fireman dies following a boiler explosion, sparking questions about the safety of marine engine design on Puget Sound.
- A Seven-Ton Crushing on Mill Street
A laborer’s insistence on helping a heavy team leads to a gruesome injury in the heart of 1876 Seattle.
- White Bluffs Water Crisis Averted
A burnt-out water pump motor that threatened local orchards was repaired in record time by a Pasco electrical firm.
- The Curious Treasures of a Local Thief
Police clear out a sprawling collection of stolen property, ranging from hydraulic equipment to jeweler's tools, found at the home of a man named Albert Lombard.
- The Miracle of the Magnetized Spikes
A visiting electrical engineer stuns a packed Plymouth Congregational Church with a massive 5,000-candlepower lamp and a demonstration of magnetic force.
- 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 Struggle for Wider Wheels on Seattle Streets
As plank roads replaced muddy paths in 1885 Seattle, a push for heavy-duty wagon tires highlighted the city's growing pains with infrastructure.
- The 1889 Dream of Instantaneous Picture Transmission
A Seattle man claims to have invented an electrical device capable of sending handwritten notes and drawings over telegraph wires at the speed of a pen, promising to revolutionize newspaper journalism.
- The Midnight Alarm at Pioneer Place
A construction mishap at the Yesler block causes a spectacular electrical failure and a city-wide false alarm.
- A Deadly Current on the Skykomish
A young man, already mourning a family tragedy, meets a fatal end after a rescue attempt turns into a river disaster.
- The Dogfish Gold Rush on San Juan Island
Before tourism, local entrepreneurs on San Juan Island sought their fortune in the 'stinking' but profitable trade of extracting oil from thousands of dogfish caught in the sound.
- The Iron Horse Comes to Tacoma
Thousands gather at the waterfront in 1887 to witness the arrival of the first direct Northern Pacific train from the East, marking a new era of connectivity for the Pacific Northwest.
- The Cowboy of Elliott Bay
A Spokane journalist turns cowboy on the open water, lassoing a fleeing deer from the deck of a Puget Sound steamer.
- The Fight for Life in the Depths
A harrowing, vivid account of a fisherman's life-or-death struggle against a giant cephalopod, reprinted from Victor Hugo's 'Toilers of the Sea' in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- Trapped on the Columbia River Ice
A bank cashier and his stage coach driver find themselves stranded on shifting ice flows until an Indigenous horseman orchestrates a daring rescue.
- Newport's Telephone Revolution: A 600-Line Exchange Built for Growth
A Wisconsin telephone man bought out the old exchange, discarded it, and spent $11,000 to give Newport one of the most modern switchboards in the Northwest.
- Work for a Meal: The Salvation Army’s ‘Elevator’ Opens in Seattle
The Salvation Army opened a combined shelter, soup kitchen and workshop near Third and South Second, offering hundreds of meals and 130 beds—provided able-bodied men earned their keep.
- The Tumbleweed That Threatened Washington's Wheat
In 1898, a state agricultural professor traced an invasive Russian thistle to railway yards and warned that Yakima County was already infested.
- The Wig and the Wire: How a Tacoma Newspaper Owner Tried to Destroy a Judge
In the sensational Wickersham trial of 1889, prosecutor R.P. Radebaugh’s own past and his alleged conspiracy to frame Judge Wickersham for 'immorality' were laid bare in court.