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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1885 | 5 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 5 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 17 |
| 1893 | 10 |
| 1894 | 11 |
| 1895 | 10 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 6 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1929 | 1 |
92 stories matching deceiv
- State Cracks Down on Deceptive Dairy Practices
Food Commissioner McDonald orders grocers to pull or label condensed milk artificially colored to suggest higher butterfat content.
- The Lawyer Who Sold Out the Settlers
A local editorial exposes future President James Garfield’s role as a corporate attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad, accusing him of betraying Washington Territory homesteaders to protect railroad land holdings.
- A Dead Man’s Name on the Payroll
A Walla Walla ex-employee files twenty charges against L. T. Erwin, accusing the Yakima Indian agent of fraud, perjury, and turning the agency into a private larder.
- The Tragedy at the Roslyn Slope
A devastating gas explosion in the Roslyn mines claims forty-three lives, leaving a town in mourning and a company under scrutiny.
- The Mugwump’s Ledger: How Seattle’s Territorial Secretary Gamed the Law Printing Contract
A fierce editorial exposes Secretary Owings for delaying the publication of territorial laws to favor a cronies’ printing bid, while padding the bill with 40 pages of his own party platform.
- The Sawdust in Your Spice Cabinet
A Seattle newspaper exposé from 1888 reveals that the city's food supply was being systemically poisoned by greed, with sawdust in spices and grease in butter.
- The Bogus 'Happy Valley' Real Estate Scam
A swindler in Fairhaven has been selling plots in a 'Happy Valley' addition that exists only on paper and a mountain.
- The Forgotten Heir of Everett
A legal battle pits an Indigenous heir against local titans in the fight for the heart of a burgeoning city.
- The Whatcom Widow Who Bought the Coffin Before the Death
A five-times-married former Whatcom County first lady is back in the news—and old suspicions about her commissioner husband’s death at Steilacoom have followed her east.
- They Promised Clean Bunks and Good Food. The Sailors Knew Better.
At a longshoremen's meeting in Tacoma, a delegate described how ship's officers lured landsmen aboard with false promises — and told of a sailor who drowned swimming for shore rather than sail on the Henry Failing.
- The Land Grab That Built Tacoma: How the Northern Pacific Railroad Stole Millions of Acres
A furious editorial in the Seattle Star exposes the Northern Pacific Railroad’s scheme to misappropriate public lands for a private coal line, arguing that the company is using legal loopholes to steal from settlers in King and Snohomish counties.
- 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 Great Cigar-Maker Swindle
A labor organizer lured 200 workers to Seattle with promises of steady jobs in California, only to abandon them penniless after pocketing their displacement costs.
- The Great Seattle Theater Con: A Swindler’s Exit
A smooth-talking promoter claiming to represent an opera company flees Seattle under the cover of night, leaving behind a baffled police guard and a nearly empty safe.
- The Hidden Slavery of Whitechapel
An official investigation reveals a system of debt bondage and coercion trapping Japanese women in Seattle's waterfront districts.
- The Collapse of the Merchants' National
Tacoma bank officials indicted on charges of false entry and 'straw paper' schemes amid a brutal city-wide financial rivalry.
- Seattle's 1894 Election: Corruption, Fraud, and the Fight for City Hall
As voters head to the polls, the Post-Intelligencer unleashes a blistering attack on the Democratic administration, alleging graft, forgery, and a machine determined to hold power at any cost.
- The Body in the Box: A Political Murder Haunts Spokane County
Charles F. Gloystein crossed the Freeman's Protective Silver Federation and disappeared. Now his neighbors are offering a $1,000 reward—not for a killer, but for the body.
- A 'Beast' in the Courtroom Says Only 'Not a Word'
McGee, convicted of assaulting his wife with intent to murder, drew ten years in Walla Walla—but his appeal kept him in the King County jail while Seattle read about his courtroom act.
- Ida May Love Went to Sea as 'Dan McArdle'
A Whatcom newlywed walked out on her husband, her skirts and her name to serve seven weeks aboard the warship Monterey — and the Post-Intelligencer tracked her to a Leavenworth dance hall, where she was still talking about 'us boys.'
- He Loved Her Too Much to Marry Her
Adam Gehm, a Bavarian logger working in Carbonado, shot himself in a Seattle lodging house after confessing to a friend that illness left him unable to provide for the woman he loved. He had tried once before.
- A Settler's Plea for Too-e-pi-ti
An old Pierce County resident says a white man, Jim Riley, shot an Indigenous man without cause—and asks voters not to let the case die.
- The Filipino Answer to a Labor Organizer’s Exclusion Demand
In 1929, Seattle’s Filipino Forum took on the Central Labor Council’s campaign to bar Filipino workers—and dismantled the racist case line by line.
- The Conductors' Deception and the Streetcar Showdown
A bigamous electric car conductor is chased through the streets of Seattle by two women he had convinced he was their husband.
- The Jail-Breaking Charlatan of Seattle
A notorious criminal uses a fake pardon and a religious disguise to walk right out of the county jail.
Also about this, in other words
- The Decalcomania Confidence Man
A group of Seattle women expose a predatory art instructor who used a 'transfer work' scam to swindle local households.
- The Counterfeiter Caught in the Act
Dr. J. S. Methvin, an aspiring counterfeiter, is apprehended after escaping from federal marshals in South Park, claiming he was set up by a partner.
- A Counterfeiter's Dramatic Courtroom Scandal
Dr. J. B. Methvin, on trial for counterfeiting, faced high drama in court as his current 'wife'—who had left her husband and children in Texas to elope with him—flew into a rage at the testimony.
- The Lonely Sentinel of Deception Pass
Federal authorities place a single, ill-equipped sailor on Smith's Island to guard against opium and immigrant smuggling.
- The Tailor-Made Confidence Man
A clever grifter leaves a trail of unpaid bills and stolen suits across North Seattle.