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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 7 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 5 |
43 stories matching damon
- The Pioneer Pastor Who Counted Seattle's Weddings and Funerals
Rev. John F. Damon arrived in 1869 and spent a quarter-century marrying and burying Seattle—often without enough in return to cover his car fare.
- A Compassionate Life Cut Short by Smallpox
A dedicated social worker dies after contracting the disease while visiting a local house of charity.
- Left Stranded on the Beach
A holiday picnic party at Damon's Point turns into a moonlight vigil when their boat fails to appear.
- The Grandest Affair of the Year: Knights Templar and Eastern Star Unite for New Year's Eve
Seattle’s elite gathered at Commandery No. 10 for a lavish installation ceremony, complete with Indian impersonations, sword presentations, and a feast that lasted until dawn.
- The Great Seattle Fire Erased Our Roots
An early record of Seattle’s vanished architecture and the displacement of its first churches following the devastating 1889 fire.
- A Monster Rally Against Rome: Nativists Pack the Seattle Armory
Anti-Catholic secret societies and the American Protective Association fill the Armory to protest 'papal interference' in American politics and to promise a fight at the ballot box.
- The Treasurer They Refused to Seat
A thousand men packed Seattle's Armory to demand that John W. Maple take office as county treasurer, threatening a tax strike against King County commissioners — until a collection plate emptied the room.
- The Persistent Challenge to King County’s Treasurer
After multiple successful re-elections, Captain George D. Hill faced a legal challenge from an opponent who argued his military commission made him ineligible for the office.
- A Community's Last Act for a Murdered Man
When immigrant Julius Scherbring was killed for his meager savings, his German countrymen stepped in to ensure he received a proper burial rather than a pauper’s grave.
- He Chose the Altar Over the Jail Cell
A seduction warrant, a midnight minister, and a groom who nearly changed his mind.
- Trapped by the Tide on the Road to Queets
In 1892, poet Herbert Bashford joined a camping party for a walk up Washington’s wild Olympic coast—and found the rising tide more dangerous than any highwayman.
- The Pastor Broke Down: Seattle Buries the Pioneer Who Built Its Reform School
A crowded North Seattle church, a room full of old pioneers, and a eulogy so affecting that the minister — a friend since 1849 — had to stop and compose himself.
- The Final Voyage of the Yacht Gertrude
A well-known local pleasure craft is lost after being blown off its anchor during a storm and wrecked on the weather beach.
- A Mountain of Coffins: Franklin Buries Its Miners
After a mine fire killed 37 men, the coal town of Franklin held a day of funerals—five graves at Black Diamond, three Italian miners on a hillside, and widows whose grief doctors feared would kill them.
- A Hero Betrayed by Paperwork
A local Indigenous hero, renowned for saving shipwrecked crews, faces the loss of his homestead due to a bureaucratic failure.
- The Last Voyage of Arthur Phinney: A Fleet of Steamers Bids Farewell to a Pioneer
In June 1877, the death of Port Ludlow founder Arthur Phinney triggered an unprecedented maritime funeral procession on Puget Sound, uniting rival steamship lines and hundreds of mourners in a tribute to a man who championed labor and community.
- The City Bids Farewell to Its Founding Father
Thousands of mourners, from pioneers to laborers, gathered at the Yesler mansion to honor the man who built Seattle’s first mill and served as its patron.
- Tragedy in the Surf: Survey Lieutenant Drowns
A routine mission to erect a coastal signal turns fatal for a U.S. Coast Survey officer and four sailors at the mouth of Joe Creek.
- Tragedy in the Stetson-Post Row
Three travelers en route to Snohomish perished in a fire, their bodies found huddled together in an attempted escape.
- A City Rallies for Its Miners: The Franklin Disaster Relief Fund
Seattle workers, unions, and businesses dig deep for families of miners killed in the Franklin mine explosion, pushing the relief fund past $1,000.
- A Missing Lawyer, a $350 Deed, and the North Olympia Land Scheme
With Attorney D. P. Ballard absent, Olympia lawyers are tracing suspicious transfers in a platted addition—land already sold to dozens of owners, now used as security for a $4,000 mortgage.
- The County Treasurer’s Double-Dipping Scandal
A local editor challenges a powerful official for illegally holding two offices, exposing a web of political favoritism in the Grand Jury room.
- The Brotherhood of the Burned Hotel
A Seattle Knight of Pythias shares a stirring tale of camaraderie and sacrifice in the aftermath of a fatal fire, framing friendship as a radical, life-saving act in a city grappling with rapid change.
- The First Teachers’ Institute: A Battle for Seattle’s Soul
In September 1872, the Territory’s top educators gathered in Seattle to debate everything from corporal punishment to the role of women in teaching, laying the groundwork for public education in Washington.
- The Cashier, the Milliner, and the Missing Payroll
A Seattle steamboat cashier leaves his post—and a significant sum of company money—to elope with a milliner, triggering a city-wide sensation.
Also about this, in other words
- A Wedding Night Tragedy on Front Street
A festive family gathering in early Seattle turned into a scene of grief after a father’s sudden medical emergency overshadowed his daughter's marriage.
- A Father Arrives After a Policeman Is Shot
The father of a young clerk accused of shooting a Seattle policeman comes to town, hires counsel, and blames liquor for his son's fall.
- Tragedy Strikes on the Seattle Stage
A classic production of Romeo and Juliet takes a gruesome turn when a sword thrust during a duel leaves a performer blind.
- The Reverend’s Unholy Reputation
A former San Francisco pastor arrives in Washington to lecture on 'morality' while dodging local rumors of scandalous affairs.
- Fatal Stabbing at the Pioneer Hotel
A tavern dispute in Sultan turns deadly as a rancher kills a hotel proprietor following an election day argument.
- The Smooth Talker of Tacoma
A persuasive con man leaves a trail of bamboozled businessmen and empty wallets.
- The Minister’s Son
A young theological student follows in his father's footsteps, receiving his license to preach before the Presbytery of Puget Sound.
- A Barber’s Last Walk: No Work, No Way Home, and a Family Left Behind
D. D. Vail left his Clallam County home looking for work. When he found none, he told his wife he would walk back—then took laudanum, hoping a $2,000 insurance policy would do more for his family than he could.