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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
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| 1884 | 2 |
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48 stories matching customari
- Seattle's New Plumbing Inspector Called His Kickbacks 'Customary'
Summoned before the aldermen over charges that he steered city work to a friendly iron works, John L. Sweeney admitted taking a percentage — and said every architect and plumber did the same.
- The Bear That Earned Its Salt
A traveling menagerie arrives in Pullman, offering a rare glimpse into the oddities of frontier entertainment and the community's skeptical gaze.
- Efficiency on the Waterfront
A clever engineering fix replaces a main mast in record time at the Seattle docks.
- Seattle Breaks San Francisco’s Trade Monopoly
High prices in California have opened the door for Seattle and Tacoma to secure the Honolulu grain trade.
- The Spokane Baseball Mutiny
When two ballplayers demanded early payment fearing the league was going bust, the team left them behind in the dust.
- A Medicine Man's Death, and a Debt Demanded in Blood
A Nisqually medicine man was killed after failing to cure children. Now his cousin says forty tribesmen will march on the Muckleshoot reservation for customary indemnity — or the killer and his kin may be killed.
- The Midnight Hazard on Front Street
A pedestrian falls into an open trench, highlighting the lack of basic safety measures in a growing, construction-heavy Seattle.
- The Judge and the Minstrel Show
When a visiting Chief Justice toured a Seattle courtroom in 1878, he was shocked by the advertisements for a traveling minstrel show plastered on the courthouse walls.
- Labor Volatility at the Railway Shops
Rumors of mass layoffs at the local railroad shops lead to a clarification about seasonal economic shifts.
- The Hat Social: An Economic Strategy for Easter
Highlands residents seek to curb the rising costs of fashion through a communal hat-trimming event.
- The Political Plumes of Washington Territory
A partisan battle over which political party actually deserves credit for the birth of Washington State.
- The Case for 'Made in Seattle' Ships
An 1877 editorial argues that Seattle’s abundant timber and cheap labor should make it a maritime powerhouse rather than a consumer of imported vessels.
- Councilors and the Cost of Progress
A standoff between property owners and council members over street grading reveals the deep entanglement of private business and city government.
- Fatal Blast on the Great Northern Line
A railroad construction explosion kills two Italian laborers and injures a third near Martin Creek, nearly sparking an ethnic confrontation between work crews.
- The Jailhouse Stabbing that Shocked Seattle
After a violent attempt to escape custody, a prisoner is left to suffer in a cell without his customary opium, as the city’s law enforcement cleans house.
- The Political Ring’s Tight Grip on Chehalis County
Aberdeen’s Republican convention devolved into a 'cut and dried' affair as local party bosses utilized proxies and backroom maneuvering to maintain control.
- The City's Sweeping Misjudgment
Seattle's street department decides that the best time to sweep streets is during a windstorm, leaving storefronts and pedestrians choked with debris.
- Legislature Honors Fallen General Isaac I. Stevens
Lawmakers declare a ten-day mourning period for the former Governor and Union General killed in the Civil War.
- Streetcar Workers Demand Open County Meetings
Seattle’s Street Railway Employes’ Union petitions the legislature to force county commissioners to do the public’s business in public, after years of closed-door executive sessions.
- The Chicken-Head Oath Was Not Used in This Seattle Courtroom
Chin Chew was acquitted of beating and robbing a fellow Chinese laborer, but the case is remembered for a judge's refusal to repeat a rival jurist's 'chicken oath' experiment.
- The Last Bell for the Class of '95
With the high school building closing, graduates held their final class-day exercises at the East Seattle hotel, marking the end of an era.
- The Narrow Escape of Aberdeen
A pre-dawn fire in a downtown barber shop threatened to raze the young city, but a swift response from the local hose company stopped the flames before they reached the business district.
- The Great Walkout: Soldiers Protest 'Pauperizing' Rules at Seattle Home
Sixty men leave the city's soldiers' home in a mass exodus, citing degrading permit requirements and harsh governance by Col. Leslie.
- The Annual Departure
As Chinese residents in Walla Walla plan their customary New Year return to their homeland, federal inspectors arrive to manage the complex certification process required to ensure their return to the United States.
- When Puget Sound Timber Built the World
In 1890, Seattle and Washington’s mills weren’t just fueling local growth—they were exporting millions of feet of fir to every corner of the globe.