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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 4 |
| 1876 | 16 |
| 1877 | 13 |
| 1878 | 15 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 13 |
| 1884 | 6 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1888 | 11 |
| 1889 | 24 |
| 1891 | 13 |
| 1892 | 12 |
| 1893 | 22 |
| 1894 | 26 |
| 1895 | 33 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 6 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 9 |
| 1904 | 4 |
| 1908 | 3 |
| 1909 | 19 |
| 1910 | 2 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1914 | 2 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 5 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
289 stories matching descript
- The Hunter and the Runaway
A determined civilian investigator tracks a suspect across the West, certain he’s bagged a notorious fugitive, while the target sits in a Seattle jail cell for the minor crime of selling liquor to Indians.
- The Unlucky Lookalike
A man mistaken for a fugitive because of a shared physical trait files a $5,000 lawsuit for his false imprisonment.
- A Wooden Gun and a Jailbreak: The Hunt for Thomas Blanck
Nine prisoners escaped from the King County jail. Only three have been recaptured. The notorious Thomas Blanck is still at large, armed men guard the roads, and a woman's description may be the key.
- The Tax Collector’s Secret: How Seattle Officials Hid Debts to Profit from Advertising
A local newspaper exposes a scheme where the School District collector withheld tax information, forcing taxpayers to pay exorbitant advertising fees to clear liens they didn't know existed.
- The Tax Swindle: How Seattle’s Printer Defrauded His Neighbors
In 1872, the publisher of the *Puget Sound Dispatch* exposed a collusive scheme between local tax collectors and a rival newspaper to overcharge delinquent taxpayers for legal notices, sparking a bitter war of words in the territorial press.
- Who Owns the Shore? The Fight for Salmon Bay's Tide Flats
State land commissioners hear five contests over tide lands at Ballard, where railroads, mill companies and upland owners all claim the right to buy the waterfront.
- A Detective's Memory Lands a Fugitive
A Tacoma detective recognizes a wanted man while breaking up a saloon fight on Pacific Avenue.
- The Telegraph Operator Who Recognized the Face on the Wanted Circular
Escaped burglar Charley Williams is pulled off a Northern Pacific freight train at Leavenworth after a sharp-eyed operator matches him to a police photograph.
- The Fake Postal Inspector Who Robbed the Great Northern — and Got Away With Less Than $5
A bogus federal inspector bound two mail clerks, rifled registered pouches, and slipped off the Oriental Limited at Spokane, leaving Newport authorities to piece together a brazen, almost profitless heist.
- She Fought a Sailor in the Dark—and Helped Police Find Him by Morning
Mary Kriser, who ran a lodging house at South Second and Weller streets, was robbed and sexually assaulted in September 1894. A neighbor broke down a door, and police identified a suspect within ninety minutes.
- The $300,000 Push to Dig Seattle's Canal
Businessmen and volunteers canvass the city for subscriptions to the Lake Washington Waterway, promising the money will be raised by Saturday.
- The Raspberry Bush Manhunt
A teenage jewel peddler leads Everett police on a frantic chase through a private backyard.
- Twenty Votes for the Dike, One Against — and the Whole Election Thrown Out
Calispel Valley farmers voted 20 to 1 to create Diking District No. 2 at the New Hope school house. Then the opposition pointed out the notices had been posted only eight days — and the district collapsed before it ever levied a cent.
- 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 Land Grabbers of Snohomish: How Loggers Hoarded Tide Marshes
A local editorial exposes the speculative tactics of transient loggers who are buying up fertile river bottomlands for quick profit, leaving the valley's agricultural potential in limbo.
- The Bold Fish Market Heist
A local man is robbed of nearly $500 in a busy market, leaving police scrambling to track a group of elusive pickpockets.
- The Man Who Wasn't: Tacoma’s Mysterious 'John Doe' and the Burglary That Never Was
Police Chief Fackler returns from Everett with a prisoner who fits the description of a local thief, but lacks the evidence to prove it. A tale of mistaken identity and urban anxiety in early 20th-century Tacoma.
- The Art of the Vanishing Embezzler
A Los Angeles mill employee absconds with funds, hides out in Seattle under an alias, and stays one step ahead of the detectives in a city-wide cat-and-mouse game.
- The City’s Botched Annexation Plan
Seattle’s attempt to annex surrounding lands hits a legal wall after a drafting error excludes parts of Ballard by mistake.
- The Messy Business of Mapping the Waterfront
A state land commission discovers chaotic record-keeping that effectively clouded the titles to Jefferson County’s prime waterfront property.
- The Paperwork of Exclusion: Chinese Residents Ordered to Register
New federal rules land in Seattle requiring every Chinese resident to carry a photographic certificate of residence, sworn affidavits and a detailed physical description — the machinery of the Geary Act takes shape.
- The Forger Who Could Not Outrun the Telegraph
A determined sheriff tracks a cunning forger from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest by leveraging a new network of law enforcement telegrams.
- The Fugitive in the Mill
A murder suspect evades the law by slipping past witnesses in Sprague.
- A Crushed Finger Gave the Safecracker Away
A suspected Kent burglar was tracked to a Railroad Avenue cabin, where police found skeleton keys, drills and powder—then identified him by the crushed finger described in an old escape notice.
- Don't Bond the Valley to a Dry Ditch
A Wenatchee editor warns that a $100,000 Wright-law irrigation bond would repeat the Kennewick failure—leaving settlers with debt, abandoned orchards, and no water.
Also about this, in other words
- The City Council’s Perpetual Muddle
A failed attempt to sort out the city's chaotic tax records leaves property owners carrying the burden for their delinquent neighbors.
- The Con Artist's Tearful Pitch
A traveler uses a tragic tale of fire and loss to test the hospitality of a Seattle resident.
- The Human Cost of the Des Moines Boom
A tragic suicide in Tacoma exposes the devastating toll of speculative real estate schemes.
- Delinquent Tax Sales Nullified
A judicial decision wipes the slate clean for Hoquiam property owners, declaring tax liens expired.
- The State Tries to Soften the Panic for Delinquent Taxpayers
The Senate passes a bill remitting penalties and interest on delinquent 1893–94 taxes, citing “great financial stringency” and declaring an emergency.
- Abandoned and Destitute, a Migrant Wife Sues for Maintenance
A Seattle tailor's wife, recently arrived from Russia, petitions the court to freeze her husband's bank assets after he refuses to support her and their child.
- A Woman Defies Her Husband’s Attempts at Institutionalization
A Colfax woman successfully defends her sanity after her husband attempts to have her committed to an asylum.
- Fifteen Minutes to Confess: The Morphine Trial of Port Townsend's Captain De Lion
A former mayor, Chilean consul and dry-dock promoter worth half a million dollars sits in superior court while his emaciated wife describes a year of morphine, delusion and a pocket watch set on the table between them.