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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 4 |
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1859 | 3 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1862 | 4 |
| 1863 | 3 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 10 |
| 1876 | 56 |
| 1877 | 55 |
| 1878 | 16 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1880 | 12 |
| 1882 | 8 |
| 1883 | 70 |
| 1884 | 19 |
| 1885 | 56 |
| 1886 | 36 |
| 1887 | 38 |
| 1888 | 35 |
| 1889 | 90 |
| 1890 | 17 |
| 1891 | 60 |
| 1892 | 212 |
| 1893 | 184 |
| 1894 | 173 |
| 1895 | 155 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1898 | 6 |
| 1899 | 45 |
| 1900 | 7 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 82 |
| 1904 | 66 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 17 |
| 1909 | 88 |
| 1910 | 16 |
| 1911 | 12 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 14 |
| 1915 | 14 |
| 1916 | 18 |
| 1917 | 10 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 7 |
| 1924 | 6 |
| 1925 | 3 |
| 1928 | 3 |
| 1929 | 1 |
1,750 stories matching death
- A Remarkably Low Death Rate—and Nowhere to Put the Fever Cases
Seattle's health officer reports 467 deaths in 1894, credits sewers for cutting typhoid, and asks for a small hospital for diphtheria and scarlet fever.
- 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.
- The Captain's Last Step on a Dark Anacortes Wharf
A wrongful-death suit against the Oregon Improvement Company turns on an unlit slip, a fatal fall, and whether the wharf was dangerously built.
- The Missing Will That Would Have Given Seattle a Library
Henry Yesler's widow and two doctors are arrested, accused of burning a will that left the pioneer's fortune—and his mansion—to the city.
- The Last Chapter at 1344 C Street
After her abusive husband hanged himself in the Tacoma city jail, a Swedish-born woman shot herself—and the policeman who had tried to save her stayed at her bedside until the end.
- A Funeral with Flowers, a Minister—and No Mourners
Vina Kelly's funeral became a public spectacle when her family failed to appear. Then the coroner's post-mortem answered a rumored pregnancy and found pneumonia.
- A Girl Died in a Magnetic Healer’s Home. Her Father Was Kept Outside.
Vina Kelly, 14, died at her brother-in-law’s West Street practice. The coroner ordered an inquest after conflicting death reports and a father’s late-night grief.
- A Missing Man, a Dead Wife, and a Sewing Machine Full of Money
Joseph Von Lingenau vanished after his wife died in childbirth. His friends fear murder; his neighbors remember a man coming apart.
- The Mysterious Death of Abe Gross
A 28-year-old Tacoma dry-goods partner was found shot through the mouth in his bed. His brother's grief, a coroner's open verdict, and a city's disbelief turned a private tragedy into a public mystery.
- The Death Rate Was Up. The Health Officer Blamed the Syringe.
In 1891 Olympia's health officer reported an unprecedented mortality spike—and pointed to morphine and cocaine injections, with young women said to be using them 'just for fun.'
- The Seattle Editor Who Worked Himself to Death in a Bathroom
George H. Heilbron, editor-in-chief of the Post-Intelligencer, was only 38 when apoplexy killed him at his Cherry Street home. His doctor blamed years of nervous exhaustion from overwork.
- A Jury Called the Franklin Mine Fire Arson. Thirty-Seven Miners Were Already Dead.
A coroner's jury found that someone deliberately set the fire that suffocated 37 workers in the Franklin mine. The only survivor described how one opened door and one stopped fan turned the gangway into a death trap.
- The Company Blamed the Dead Miner
After thirty-five men died in the Franklin mine, the Oregon Improvement Company answered a widow's lawsuit by saying her husband assumed the risk—and should have run sooner.
- Twenty-Three Miners Died in a Nearly Undamaged Mine
Inspector Edmunds told a Seattle paper that the Blue Canyon explosion was one of the strangest disasters he had ever seen: the mine was barely damaged, yet 23 men were dead, most killed by concussion and gas.
- The Kicked Coffin and the Girl With Two Names
A reporter's accidental kick led Seattle authorities to a body first identified as Myrtle Cook, then as Emily Hall - an Englishwoman whose death at a private lying-in hospital ended with arrests and a Birmingham minister's letters.
- The Last Breath in Walla Walla: A Mother’s Collapse as Her Son Faces the Gallows
In May 1888, John Ham was sentenced to death for murder in Washington Territory. His mother, Mrs. Pyle, broke down in court, while their co-conspirator fled the state, leaving the family to face the ultimate penalty.
- Hanged on a Doubt: Washington Territory's First White Execution
When John Thompson was hanged in Seattle in 1877, many believed he was guilty of manslaughter, not murder. The Dispatch made the case that the law had taken a life it should have spared.
- The Sudden Death of Editor James Madison Adams
A leading Yakima journalist collapses while attempting to secure his tenement, marking the end of a life defined by political combat and the fight for the Yakima Valley.
- The Tragic Lynching of 'Big Bob' on the Swinomish Reservation
Four men murdered a tribal healer, driven by the enduring power of traditional superstition against the encroachment of modern colonial law.
- A Rancher Found on the Riverbank—and a Family That Suspected Murder
Thomas Johnston was found dead near Blueslide in December 1908. A justice's inquest blamed exposure; his relatives demanded a second look, and a postmortem found no broken neck.
- Sixty Armed Men Took the Jail at Dayton
A convicted murderer was hauled out of the Columbia County jail and strangled from a rope in the public square — the coroner's jury named no killers, and the local editor scolded lynch law while calling the mob 'cool and systematic.'
- A Morphine Death at the Concord House
Allan McDonald, a Toronto-born piano player struggling with morphine, was found dead in a Seattle rooming house with a jealous letter beside him and 85 cents in his pocket.
- Sudden Death of a Civic Leader: Seattle Mourns George H. Heilbron
A prominent newspaperman's unexpected passing prompts a sermon on mortality, a city funeral, and closed banks.
- The Railroad Land Agent Who Chose Death Over Ruin
Paul Schulze, the Northern Pacific’s former land agent and a promoter of Tacoma streetcars and Yakima irrigation, shot himself as receivers took over his enterprises.
- A Saloon Brawl, a Broken Back, and a Witness Who Fled Winlock
F. M. Frost's death was ruled accidental, but a missing witness's story says Henry Dabrainer bent him backward like a jackknife and snapped his spine.
Also about this, in other words
- A Marriage Cut Short by Tragedy
A young bride dies suddenly on her second wedding anniversary, triggering a callous rumor mill that the press quickly works to correct.
- The New Rules of Mortality
Aberdeen codifies the role of the health officer in managing public sanitation and mandatory reporting for every birth and death.
- The Detective’s Final Cough
An encounter between a sheriff and a detective ends in a quiet death, sparking a controversy over heart disease and allegations of abuse.
- The Grim Calculus of Tragedy
An 1888 editorial attempts to rank the world's most catastrophic events, reflecting the era's fixation on measuring the scale of human loss.
- The Untimely Death of a Spiritualist's Patient
A coroner investigates a woman's death after she was treated by a spiritualist practicing in the Kline & Rosenberg building.
- Death the Price of a Job
A brutal internal railroad memo reveals that safety rules were meant for legal protection, while speed was the only metric that mattered for keeping a job.
- A Tragic Burial at Sea
While working the lumber trade, a crew member falls from the rigging to his death, leaving his comrades to mourn him in the middle of the Pacific.
- The Tragic End of a Forgotten Life
A young, disabled woman dies in Seattle after surviving a life of exploitation at the hands of 'charitable' organizations.