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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
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86 stories matching conceiv
- The Gall and Wormwood of Olympia: Tacoma’s Defeat in the Senate Race
As Washington's first U.S. Senator is chosen in a bitter legislative battle, defeated candidate Calkins' supporters cry foul, while Jefferson County delegates secure the victory for Watson Squire.
- The Governor’s Secret Gift to Seattle’s Newsboys
A surprise act of philanthropy transformed the cold winter of 1887 for Seattle’s most vulnerable young workers.
- A Freethinker Takes On the Pulpit in Olympia
At Liberal Hall, P. D. Moore answers a minister’s sermon on law with a call for a religion of nature, reason, and good conduct rather than wrath and dogma.
- Mayor Yesler Calls for Calm Amid Rising Anti-Chinese Sentiment
Facing mounting pressure and threats of violence, the Mayor of Seattle summons citizens to address the growing anti-Chinese agitation.
- The Shadow Over Seattle's Waterfront
As the anti-Chinese movement spreads through the Pacific Northwest, agitators in Seattle and Tacoma organize a campaign of expulsion, claiming the city's prosperity is at risk.
- A Mob Hanged Two Men at the Courthouse. Then the State Argued Over the Bill.
After Hill and Parker were lynched in Colfax, Attorney General W. C. Jones ruled that the county need not pay for a coroner's inquest—and said the real hunt for the mob belonged to a grand jury.
- Rising from the Ashes: The Great Seattle Fire of 1888
While the downtown core smoldered, Seattle citizens gathered in the courthouse—lit by tallow dips—to demand a modern city of brick and stone, rejecting makeshift wooden shacks and dreaming of a reconstructed metropolis.
- The Grand Plan to Reshape Seattle
A St. Louis investment group arrives to back Eugene Semple’s ambitious vision of a ship canal and the filling of the tide flats.
- The Dynamite Fiend of Oilman: A Lynch Mob’s Tragic Mistake
When a violent feud in King County’s coal fields ended in a massacre, the community turned to vigilante justice. But when they hanged the wrong man, the real killer walked free.
- The Dynamite Murder of Tacoma: A Mob’s Verdict
In the early hours of January 1890, a Tacoma man was dragged from jail and hanged by a vigilante mob for blowing up a house and killing a sleeping family. The Seattle press offers a chilling reflection on whether such 'swift justice' is ever truly justified.
- The Man Who Took the Bribe to Expose It
Representative Metcalfe’s daring sting operation against Senatorial corruption has turned him into a hero for reformers and a target for powerful enemies.
- The Bonfire of the Vanities on Occidental Square
Months after a jubilant, torch-lit victory party in Seattle, the city’s new power-brokers were left holding the bag as lawlessness and economic despair gripped the town.
- The Gospel-Ship Scam on Puget Sound
How a pious Olympia minister raised international funds to build a missionary vessel, only to pivot it into a lucrative towboat business.
- Seattle’s 1895 Co-op Where 150 Unemployed Men Ate for 7 Cents a Day
At a Belltown barracks, unemployed single men pooled their wages, submitted to military-style rules and fed an average of 150 people daily for about 7 cents each.
- Eugene Debs Brings the Railroad War to Seattle—and Dares His Enemy to Debate
At a packed Armory, the American Railway Union leader accuses a railroad manager of bribery and corruption, challenging him to a public forum and a $1,000 charitable wager.
- Two Plans, One Spring, and a $25,000 Holdup
Walla Walla's council will let voters choose between a $191,000 pipeline up Mill Creek and a cheaper gravity system at Thomas Springs — but the editor suspects a land speculation scheme is baked into the ballot question.
- The Courthouse Contract Benton County Couldn't Swallow
Commissioners Clements and McNeill let a courthouse contract and issued a warrant without advertising for bids. A judge said they were within the law; the Courier-Reporter said the taxpayers would remember.
- The Great Escape: Two Prisoners Vanish from Seattle’s Basement Jail
In a display of audacity and desperation, two men held on smuggling and liquor charges crawled through a torn-off board in a water closet to flee the U.S. Marshal’s improvised prison beneath the Clancy Building.
- Seattle Wined and Dined the Legislature to Sell the Ship Canal
In February 1893, city leaders invited every state lawmaker to Seattle at city expense—then walked them to the Lake Washington portage to argue for county bonds and a canal.
- The War Over the Desert Water
An irrigation landowner at White Bluffs vows a 'fight to a finish' against corporate power companies for reneging on water contracts.
- The 175-Pound Ghost That Fought Back
A skeptic grabbed a séance spirit, discovered a 175-pound man under the gauze, and touched off a fistfight in a Fremont parlor.
- The Patent Medicine Suicide Hoax
A supposed farewell note found on Yesler Wharf turns out to be a clever, cynical advertisement for a health elixir.
- The Squatter-Citizens of Port Angeles
Before Port Angeles was fully incorporated, a determined association of residents occupied government land to force federal recognition and protect their homes from wealthy speculators.
- The Comedian’s Shadow
A veteran actor watches from the wings as his son eclipses his own fading career on the Seattle stage.
- A Rockefeller Tells Seattle It Is Destined to Be the New York of the Pacific
Visiting Cleveland iron magnate F. Rockefeller—brother of John D.—says the harbor beats New York's and the ore is right here, if only the city will manufacture instead of import and steer clear of the boomers who killed Wichita.
Also about this, in other words
- A Forced Marriage in the Courtroom
A judge in Pierce County lectured a man on 'conjugal obligations' and forced him to marry the woman he was accused of seducing after a scandal involving his community’s traditional marriage practices.
- A Case of Reasonable Doubt
Salvador Pecani, once sentenced to hang for a brutal crime, is set free after the Supreme Court rules the evidence against him purely circumstantial.
- The Stolen Sunday Best
A university student's religious profession wasn't enough to curb his envy for his roommate's wardrobe.
- A Kennewick Gold Medal
The Church Manufacturing Company wins global recognition at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, proving the Columbia River Valley's potential.
- The Pioneer Argument Against Prohibition
An 1854 speech by legislator Mr. Chenoweth argues that legal coercion is a poor substitute for individual morality in the fight against intemperance.
- The Vanishing Proprietor of the People's Theater
A court case against John Considine exposes a shell game at the People's Theater, where a mysterious owner named 'J.J. Clark' remains conspicuously absent.
- Winter Carnival Comes to Conconully
The county seat prepares for its first-ever winter sports festival, featuring ice races, skating, and the crowning of a carnival queen.
- A Woman Defies Her Husband’s Attempts at Institutionalization
A Colfax woman successfully defends her sanity after her husband attempts to have her committed to an asylum.