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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 2 |
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| 1895 | 2 |
| 1903 | 3 |
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25 stories matching dumb
- A Tinker's Alibi: How Tumwater Witnesses Overturned a Tacoma Murder Conviction
George Stowe was serving twenty years for shooting Enoch Crosby on a Tacoma street. Then residents of Tumwater swore they had watched him mend tinware miles away on the day of the murder.
- The Midnight Hotel Fire
A suspected incendiary targets a local hotel, only to be thwarted by staff before the flames reach the dining room.
- The Silence at the Vancouver Institution
A Walla Walla father challenges the state’s neglect of oral education methods for deaf children.
- The Lumber Barons Are Starving Themselves: Why Puget Sound Should Be Feeding Its Own Cows
A local editorial argues that Washington’s reliance on imported dairy is an economic absurdity, urging farmers to switch from beef to Devon and Jersey cattle to capitalize on our unique climate.
- The Pied Piper of Seattle: The Policeman Who Controlled Animals
Before Seattle became a sprawling metropolis, a local officer reportedly possessed a magnetic, inexplicable influence over stray dogs and wild creatures.
- The Captain’s Silence: A Seattle Court Rules on Brutality at Sea
In a landmark Admiralty case heard in Seattle in 1872, Judge Jacobs holds ship owner E.A. Nickels liable for the brutal beating of sailor Frank Griffin, establishing that a captain's failure to stop abuse is an endorsement of it.
- A Circular Saw Opened His Skull—and He Stayed Conscious
At the Stetson Post Mill on Commercial Street, engineer Horatio Stetson crawled under a rip-saw table to fix a belt. The saw caught his head, cutting through bone and into his brain, yet he never lost consciousness.
- The Vigilantes' Ghost: Seattle's Dark Secret in Two Maple Trees
A poem published in the *Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer* reveals the city’s foundational myth: that its current 'peaceable' order was bought with the blood of six men hanged by a secret committee when the law failed to act.
- 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.
- The Father Who Stopped a Play to Steal His Daughter
A wealthy Indianapolis patriarch tracks his romantic daughter to Seattle in 1876, only to find she has eloped with a lawyer and vanished into the West.
- The Ice Water Gambit: How a Seattle Drifter Was Framed for Theft
A local vagrant was doused in freezing water and coerced into a false confession by a cunning runner, only to be caught red-handed on Third Street.
- A Grassroots Effort for Education
Local parents in Walla Walla organize to hire a private instructor for their deaf children after finding state resources lacking.
- The Price of Silence: How Big Rail Controlled the Press
When the Northern Pacific Railroad forced a Spokane newspaper to drop its investigation into timber fraud, it exposed the industry's grip on the territory's news.
- Two Frozen Men Drowned Within Twenty Feet of a Rescue Line
The new Ballard schooner Lily and Maud broke up off Deception Island, and the crews of the Utopia and Justine could only watch.
- A Murder Near Auburn, a Suspect Who Almost Walked, and a Translator Called In
The killing of a Japanese man near Auburn left investigators with little cooperation and a suspect named Joe; a Japanese-born interpreter was brought in as officials waited for more evidence.
- The Silent Advocate for Labor
A deaf mute worker seeks a union shop, shaming non-union men with his commitment to organized labor.
- A Brutal Case of Animal Cruelty
A Richland rancher faces local justice after beating his horse until exhaustion.
- The Hidden Danger in the Sagebrush
As cases of rabies rise among local livestock and dogs, residents face the grim reality of a potential health crisis.
- The Mystery of the Silent Man
A deaf and mute man, unable to communicate, wanders the mill districts of Seattle, leaving local authorities perplexed and the public uneasy.
- The Walla Walla Wooden Leg Incident
A spectacular blaze in an Eastern Washington town ends with an unexpected, wooden-legged dance.
- The Power Fight at City Hall
Tacoma business owners demand a stay on new electric franchises, fearing a private monopoly over the city's municipal light plant.
- The Paper Blizzard That Ate Washington's Budget
A senate committee blames vague printing laws and verbose officials for a $52,000 deficit—and says thousands of reports are destined for the junk dealer.
- Gymnastics and Basketball at the YMCA
A local physical culture exhibition draws an enthusiastic crowd for tumbling, vaulting, and the sport of basketball.
- Local Outrage Over Animal Cruelty
A journalist’s beloved greyhound is maliciously shot, sparking a fierce editorial denunciation of the unknown perpetrator.
- The Balky Horse Defense
A local farmer fights back after being hauled into court over the treatment of his team.
Also about this, in other words
- The Misunderstood Drunk
A Seattle man is arrested as a 'desperate criminal,' only for the court to find he is suffering from delirium tremens.
- The Deaf Dodge
A local drunkard tries to outsmart a judge by faking deafness, only to be tripped up by the prospect of a free drink.
- The Unkindest Cut
A young boy's poignant question about inclusion and dignity sheds light on the treatment of people with disabilities in our community.
- The Clueless New Bailiff
A newly appointed municipal bailiff attempts to arrest a theatre owner using only a subpoena, only to be schooled on the law by the judge.
- The 'Smart' Grift: A Frontier Romance Scammer
A Chinese laborer attempts to use the legal system to recover money lost to a romantic swindler who promised marriage but disappeared with his cash.
- A Fatal Ride on the Grant Street Line
Jack Collins, a nurse at the poor farm, met an instant death after attempting to navigate the rails while intoxicated.
- The Blind Maestro and his Pullman Kid Band
A touching story of a blind conductor leading a boys' band in Pullman, destined for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
- The Con Man and the Widow
A crafty imposter poses as a weary veteran to swindle a charitable widow out of her supplies.