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1. The Ship That Smuggled Opium: How a Legal Loophole Freed a Vessel and $13,000 in Penalties

   Judge Hanford rules that the steamer *Walla Walla* is not liable for contraband found in its cargo because the master lacked knowledge of the smuggling, setting a precedent for common carriers.

   Jan 20, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyTrue Crime

2. A House of Prayer for All the Nations

   In 1892, Seattle's Congregation Ohaveth Sholom dedicated the first Jewish synagogue in Washington, filling the new sanctuary at Seventh and Seneca with Jews and Gentiles and with sermons that insisted the building must be more than stone and gold.

   Sep 19, 1892The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King County

3. 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.

   Sep 26, 1872Puget Sound DispatchTerritorial University, Seattle, King County

4. The Great Hose Heist: How a Seattle Fire Department Was Almost Scammed by a New York Manufacturer

   A peculiar dispute over fire equipment reveals the cutthroat world of late-19th-century municipal procurement, where agents played cities against manufacturers and warrants were used as currency.

   Jan 26, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle Fire Department, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

5. Commencement Day at the University

   Frances E. Willard delivers an address on temperance and suffrage to a packed house at Seattle's Presbyterian Church.

   Jun 30, 1883Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerPresbyterian Church, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

6. The Forger Who Ordered Champagne to the Mansion of J. M. Colman

   For two weeks a smooth-talking stranger worked Front Street with forged order slips and a taste for the good stuff — until six bottles of champagne went to the wrong address.

   Jun 10, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyTrue Crime

7. 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.

   Jun 17, 1888The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

8. The Constitutional Right to Not Be Imprisoned for Debt

   When local merchants tried to jail a man for unpaid loans to prevent him from leaving town, a Seattle judge put the state’s progressive constitution to the test.

   Jan 18, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall

9. The Diamond Palace Jeweler Who Vanished With the Stock

   Simon Rumpf’s 'Diamond Palace' is placed in receivership after creditors allege he conspired to transfer his stock and then disappeared.

   Sep 1, 1894The Seattle Post-Intelligencer620 Second Avenue, SeattleFollow the Money · True Crime

10. The Boastful Prisoner Who Talked Himself Into Federal Custody

    Henry C. Grady came to Seattle to pay taxes on his Jackson Street lots and to deliver a mail-fraud suspect. P. C. Pomeroy had bragged his way out of an Oregon jail; the confession sent him straight to McNeil's Island.

    Mar 8, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerJackson Street, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust · True Crime

11. Debs’s Defense Tour Reaches Seattle as the Railroad Union Fights On

    A convicted strike leader says the American Railway Union is alive, announces a Eugene V. Debs lecture, and predicts the courts will reverse the contempt convictions.

    Mar 10, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyWork & Pay

12. The Unintended Cost of a Building Delay

    A construction dispute over the Gottstein Building leads to a rare courtroom victory for the defendants against a major contractor.

    Jan 7, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King County

13. The Nun on the Fire Escape

    A delirious man, a locked bedroom, and a nun’s desperate climb up a high-rise fire escape to deliver medicine.

    Jun 4, 1893The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyStrange But True

14. A Seattle Merchant Sold His Stock, Then Vanished — and His Creditors Want Him Back

    Simon Rumpf disappeared sometime after selling the Diamond Palace's goods to J. K. Basye & Co. Detectives are hunting Nuremberg, Honolulu, and a cache of missing merchandise they suspect never left the city.

    Sep 20, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyTrue Crime

15. The Search for the Girl Who Welcomed Villard

    A photograph of a young woman who delivered a welcoming address at the university grounds is sought by the wife of Henry Villard, prompting a city-wide search.

    Nov 6, 1887Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King County

16. The Governor’s Unacknowledged Son

    A condemned prisoner in the city jail delivers a final, shattering letter to the Governor, revealing a secret connection that exposes the cruel indifference of the ruling class.

    Feb 2, 1877The Daily IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · Scandal

17. The Day Women Lost the Vote in Washington

    A legal technicality regarding the wording of a territorial act effectively stripped Washington women of their hard-won voting rights in 1887.

    Feb 6, 1887Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerOlympia, Thurston CountyCity Hall

18. The Centennial That Saved Seattle: How 8,000 Souls Turned a Territorial Mist into a City

    On July 4, 1876, despite being late to statehood and lacking federal funding, Seattle’s pioneers pulled off a spectacle of flags, steamers, and speeches that proved the town was here to stay.

    Jul 8, 1876Puget Sound DispatchOccidental Square, Seattle, King CountyBoom & Bust · Strange But True

19. Tacoma's $1.75 Million Water Deal Went Bad—and Taxpayers Were Just Catching On

    A special dispatch from Tacoma reports that the city's purchase of the old water plant was sold on a false promise of mountain water, while a new bidder offers a cheaper gravity system.

    Jun 21, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerTacoma, Pierce CountyFollow the Money · City Hall

20. Roslyn Miners End a Three-Month Strike — and Return to the Pits at a 20 Percent Cut

    After a bitter walkout against the Northern Pacific Coal Company, the miners of Roslyn vote almost unanimously to accept reduced wages and go back to work — a surrender that some say was hastened when a handful of Black miners from Franklin were brought in to take their places.

    Aug 8, 1894The Seattle Post-IntelligencerRoslyn, Kittitas CountyWork & Pay

21. A Million-Dollar Land Grab and the Wife Left Behind

    Abandoned for ten years in Pennsylvania, Mrs. J. E. Jordan comes to Seattle's superior court to stop her husband from deeding away the community's real estate to a medicine company — and names the men who helped him do it.

    May 5, 1895The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyFollow the Money · Scandal

22. The Bread Wrapping War: Tacoma Women Take On City Hall

    With 1,500 club members, city doctors and a health inspector behind them, Tacoma women demand that bakery bread be wrapped—and that dogs be barred from groceries.

    Feb 15, 1909The Tacoma TimesTacoma, Pierce CountyCity Hall

23. The Man Who Wanted Only the Rich to Vote

    At the University of Washington’s first commencement, a visiting judge delivered a fiery address arguing that municipal government is like a railroad company: those without property should have no say in its management.

    May 26, 1882Seattle Daily Post-IntelligencerUniversity of Washington, Seattle, King CountyCity Hall

24. The Darkest Hour: Temperance Leader Declares Cause 'Dead' Amidst Political Corruption

    At the State Temperance Alliance meeting in Seattle, Rev. Clark Davis delivers a scathing indictment of the liquor industry's grip on politics and religion, while Rep. De Steiguer rallies support for Watson Squire.

    Jan 22, 1891The Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle, King CountyCity Hall · Nightlife

25. The Great Baking Powder Confidence Game

    A charismatic stranger swindled Spokane canvassers out of their commissions, leaving them with piles of product and no pay.

    Jan 6, 1904The Evening StatesmanSpokane, Spokane CountyTrue Crime

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