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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
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| 1892 | 2 |
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| 1894 | 5 |
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20 stories matching decoy
- The Postal Inspector's Decoy Trap
A persistent postal investigator nabs two local lottery men after months of elaborate sting operations.
- The Decoy in the Rubbish Heap: How Tacoma Residents Outsmarted a Private Detective
When a notorious private eye attempted to frame two young express employees for a phantom theft, their friends staged an elaborate performance to expose his heavy-handed tactics.
- 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.
- Pay for a Job That Wasn't There: Seattle's Employment-Agency Scam
A city council committee heard workers describe paying fees to G.W. Crane's employment office and arriving to find no jobs, with agents accused of splitting fees with contractors.
- A Farmer Vanishes in the Night, and a Secret Order Is Blamed
Charles Gloystein was called from his Spokane County home at midnight. Weeks later all that has surfaced is his battered, bloody hat — and the editor points straight at the oath-bound Freemen's Silver Protective Federation.
- The Ghosting of J.C. Icebrook
A persistent suitor looking for a 'traveling companion' finds himself ensnared in a web of elaborate decoys set by a local woman and her clever brother.
- A Close Call in the Indian Wars
A survivor recounts the harrowing 1856 campaign and a near-death encounter along the banks of the Snake River.
- The Judge and the Skunk Hole
A local editor alleges that a Whitman County judge engaged in witness tampering, perjury, and attempted kidnapping to secure testimony in a personal vendetta.
- A Forged Plea Sent a Tacoma Woman to a Gig Harbor Road—and to Her Death
A letter claiming her sister was seriously ill drew Mrs. Henry Schulz to an isolated road near Gig Harbor. Days later, bloodhounds found her body, and suspicion settled on her son-in-law.
- The Streetcar Decoy Scam
When the local transit company tried to goose ridership by planting actors on the streetcars, Everett's working class saw right through the performance.
- A Governor's $1,000 Reward for a Missing Spokane County Farmer
Charles F. Gloystein vanished from his Mica home in July 1894. As neighbors whispered murder and Populists attacked his name, Washington's governor offered cash for his body and for his killers.
- The Tillicums' Trick: How a Political Machine Fooled Tacoma's Democrats
A secretive faction called the Tillicums manipulates primaries, places decoy tickets, and doles out patronage jobs to tighten its grip on Pierce County politics.
- The Wilds of the 'Lava Beds'
When an aggressive vagrant terrorized a Seattle officer with a chair, he fled into the darkness of the city's infamous 'Lava Beds' district—a place where the law struggled to follow.
- The End of the Road for a Timber Swindler
A notorious operator who preyed on hopeful settlers finally lands behind bars after a farmer refuses to be cheated.
- The Great Seattle Opium Double-Cross
A Victoria capitalist sues his smugglers for replacing high-grade opium with sawdust and molasses, revealing a bungled customs heist that captivated Seattle.
- A Hanging in the Armory: The Unpopular Corporal and the Men Who Stuffed His Uniform
Company E turned a grudge into theatre — an effigy rigged with an electric-light wire, a pair of odd-coloured glasses and a chalked gravestone — and a military court may follow.
- The Rampage of Mike the Monkey
A mischievous, dog-faced primate causes havoc in a Seattle lodging house, eventually earning himself a dungeon cell at the station.
- The Safe-Crackers of Princeton
After a string of brazen robberies in Princeton and Coulee City, detectives use decoys to bait a trap for the thieves.
- The Passionate Letters of a Skagit Rancher
A middle-aged man is arrested after his illicit love letters to a married woman in Illinois are discovered following her death.
- The Sting at a Puyallup Avenue Saloon
A trio of men are robbed of cash and a gold watch by a woman acting as a decoy in a local saloon.
Also about this, in other words
- The Counterfeiter’s Wife and the Stolen Life
A vengeful woman’s tip to the police exposes a counterfeit ring in Seattle, revealing the desperate life of a young man coerced into crime.
- The Geary Act in Port Angeles
A customs inspector initiates a crackdown under the Chinese Exclusion-era registration laws.
- The Mother-Son Counterfeiting Ring
A woman with a criminal past and her son are caught after operating a makeshift mint out of their homes in Des Moines and Tacoma.
- A Dramatic Arrest and a 'Whisky Fit' at the Police Station
A suspect arrested for jumping a boarding house bill and passing bogus checks collapses in his wife's arms while in police custody.
- Counterfeit Case Ends in Ink-Stained Chaos
A woman facing counterfeit charges turns a Tacoma courtroom into a battlefield, pelting the Secret Service chief with office supplies.
- Intercepted at Sea
Ten Chinese individuals, including a man carrying a valid certificate of residence, are being deported under the shadow of the Geary Act.
- The Bodega Saloon Heist
Two former A.D.T. messenger boys used their old badges to trick a saloon into handing over free liquor.
- The Great Nickel Counterfeit Bust
A local slot machine monopolist calls in the Secret Service to stop a gang from minting slugs to cheat his own gambling machines.