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69 stories matching elli
- The Night Fourth Street Lit Up: Ellis's Furniture Warehouse Burns
A fire breaks out above a frame warehouse after ten o'clock, the east side of the city glows, and firemen haul chairs and mattresses into the street until the heat drives them back.
- A Murder Plot on Puget Sound and a Sickbed Betrayal
A boat captain says two young 'timber buyers' planned to shoot him and rob an Admiralty Head rancher. The same circle of suspects is accused of robbing a sarsaparilla agent while he lay delirious in a Seattle hotel.
- Olympia’s new broom factory wants to sweep the market — and keep it local
A carload of broom corn and machinery is due from Chicago, and George W. Ellis promises three jobs and brooms made on Main Street.
- The Price of a Violent Temper
A town roughneck learns the limits of his reach after an unprovoked assault on a farmer in downtown Colfax.
- Tacoma's Women Take On the Bakers Over Wrapped Bread
A committee of pure-food reformers and a dozen bakers squared off before the city council's health committee over an ordinance requiring bread be wrapped — with more than 1,000 women enlisted behind the fight.
- The Auditor's Office Feud
A public spat between the Yakima Herald and Auditor Myron R. Ellis over the hiring of partisan clerks and the outsourcing of county printing contracts.
- The $70,000 Rebellion: Olympia Refuses to Pay Its Railroad Bill
Northern Pacific missed its promised deadlines, so the citizens who pledged land and cash to bring the line to town decided the contract was void—and headed to court.
- The Tight Race for Yakima Auditor
A surprise victory in the recent election turns on last-minute accusations and local political tension.
- The Tragic End of the Steamer Ellis
A sternwheeler plying the waters between Seattle and Sidney is lost to fire, leaving a captain with a total loss and few answers.
- The Railroad That Ran to Nobody: Tacoma's Lake Park Line in Ownership Limbo
Union Pacific bought the ten-mile line to Lake Park and American Lake, but its earnings are now being kept while the receiver sends back no instructions.
- The Schoolyard War Over Scarlet Fever
Seattle's health board tried to close two schools. Principals resisted, police made arrests, and pupils turned a fire hose on the law.
- The Great Stuck River Jam: A Battle Over Water and Land
In a tense standoff on the White River, Pierce County cattlemen illegally dammed the waterway to protect their pastures, forcing King County officials to ride out with Winchester rifles to avert a violent conflict.
- The Mysterious Death of Abe Gross
A 28-year-old Tacoma dry-goods partner was found shot through the mouth in his bed. His brother's grief, a coroner's open verdict, and a city's disbelief turned a private tragedy into a public mystery.
- A Deckhand’s Wife Arrives in Seattle to Find Him Dead
Thomas Smith was scalded when a steamer boiler pipe burst. He died at Providence Hospital just as his wife reached Seattle from Sidney.
- The Great Carp Distribution of 1885
A federal fish car arrived in Seattle from Washington D.C., sparking a city-wide frenzy as residents rushed to claim their share of a new, 'hardy' species.
- The Looming Gate: Labor and the Fear of the Canal
As the opening of the Panama Canal approached, the Everett Trades Council lobbied for strict immigration restrictions, fearing a flood of 'undesirables' into Pacific ports.
- City Council Settles Deadly Runaway Claim
A tragic workplace accident leads to a $750 settlement after the city is sued for the death of an employee.
- The Paper Town in the Canyon
Speculators filed a plat for 'National Park City,' a townsite consisting of 1,960 lots, some located on a sheer, uninhabitable basaltic mountain.
- Live Steam in the Firebox: A Deckhand's Terrible Scalding
Thomas Smith was thrown into the bow of the steamer Ellis when a boiler pipe burst; he begged that his ill wife not read the news.
- The Courthouse Standoff
A local treasurer defies a court order to pay city school warrants, deepening a long-running legal feud over the Tourist Hotel site.
- The Crusade for Wrapped Bread
Tacoma women take on the bakers' association to mandate sanitary packaging.
- A Tenant's Barn, a Landlord's Lot, and a Judge's Line
Judge Robinson ruled that a contractor's lien for an unpaid Olympia livery stable could reach the building and leasehold—but not the owner's land.
- Extension of Time for Land Settlement
A new congressional act provides crucial relief for settlers on former Northern Pacific land grants along the Columbia River.
- City Hall Threatens to Cancel Paving and Bridge Contracts
Tacoma’s City Attorney warns that unfinished public works contracts on Pacific Avenue and the Puyallup River bridge may be nullified.
- The Butcher's Close Shave
A drunken patron at the local butcher shop turned violent, leading to a physical altercation with the proprietor.