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55 stories matching farc
- 1889 Plan to Sell Washington’s Tide Lands
A scathing editorial from 1889 warns that the state's proposed policy for selling tide lands is a 'farce' designed to gift public waterfront to private speculators.
- A Screaming Farce at Pioneer Square
Proponents and opponents of a Seattle bond issue clash in a volatile open-air debate that devolves into name-calling and public disruption.
- The Price of Injustice: Seattle’s Jailhouse Debt
A messy legal arbitration reveals how King County’s jail construction spiraled into a financial debacle—and why the city's approach to housing prisoners remained a 'miserable farce.'
- The Ghost Legislature: How Congress Strangled Washington's Voice
In January 1893, the territorial assembly convened only to immediately adjourn because Washington had no federal funding for its own government. A local editorial decries this as a farce that leaves citizens paying taxes without representation.
- Railroad Lobbyists Left Grumbling in Olympia
A legislative meeting with railroad attorneys devolved into a farce when key senators failed to show, leaving the powerful corporation representatives dazed and empty-handed.
- A City Fed Up: Seattle Demands an End to the Fire Department Follies
Six years after the Great Fire, an exasperated editor says the wrangling over the fire department has become a farce — and warns the mayor, council and commission to settle it or step aside.
- Thrown Into a Saw at Colman's Mill — and the Law Looked the Other Way
When Peter Feeney attacked a Chinese coworker in a Seattle sawmill, the man's foot was mangled beyond repair. The justice of the peace declined to hold Feeney, the prosecutor dismissed the case, and the town's paper argued the injury was just an accident.
- The Seattle Armory Convention Fiasco of 1889
Chaos, ballot stuffing, and screaming matches marked a pivotal municipal nominating convention in the wake of the Great Seattle Fire.
- The Statehouse Heist
A political mob forcibly seizes company records from a government official in a Spokane hotel room.
- The Broken Promises of Washington Territory
James G. Swan argues that federal mismanagement and bureaucratic neglect are the true causes of unrest, urging the government to honor its treaty obligations to Indigenous nations.
- The False Deputy of the Snohomish River Bridge
A machinist strike in Everett turns into a legal farce when a 'special police officer' is revealed to be a hired gun without any official authority.
- The Fire Chief Who Ran for the Border
A telegram from British Columbia, a contested resignation, and a letter to the editor expose the perjury and naturalization fraud case that consumed Seattle City Hall.
- 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.
- The Strategic Sabotage of Sunday Closing Laws
When Wenatchee saloon owners were pressured to close on Sundays, the statewide Liquor Dealers’ Protective Association advised a calculated move: force every business in town to close, too, and wait for public frustration to boil over.
- Tragedy at the Powder Works
Corporate negligence leads to the deaths of nine young girls in Chehalis, fueling calls for labor accountability.
- The Deadly Farce of Frontier Justice
When a Whatcom jury ignored the law to acquit a man who murdered his wife and her lover, the press decried an epidemic of 'momentary insanity' defense.
- The $430,000 Question: King County's Treasurer Bond Fight
A taxpayers' committee demands commissioners reduce John Maple's bond and seat him as county treasurer, but the board says his sureties aren't worth the paper they're printed on.
- The Push for Idaho Territory
Residents in the eastern reaches of Washington Territory call for a split from Olympia, citing a government that is 'a supreme farce.'
- A Saloon Brawl, a Broken Back, and a Witness Who Fled Winlock
F. M. Frost's death was ruled accidental, but a missing witness's story says Henry Dabrainer bent him backward like a jackknife and snapped his spine.
- The Shadow Army of 1894
Across Washington, a mysterious paramilitary organization known as the 'Patriot Army' begins organizing, leaving observers to wonder if they are preparing for revolution or political theatre.
- A Gavel, a Roar, and a Populist Ticket Born in Chaos
King County's People's Party convention at Turner Hall turned into a shouting, proxy-fighting, faction-splitting marathon—and buried Dr. J. Eugene Jordan and Jack McDonald on the way to nominating a ticket.
- The Ballot-Box Stuffing of '92
When Tacoma's young reformers clashed with the political establishment, the result was a chaotic primary election featuring disappearing ballots, saloon-gang repeaters, and a hole in the ballot box.
- Senate Smothers Temperance Measure in Heated Legislative Battle
A key liquor-control bill meets its end in Olympia, with temperance advocates denouncing the replacement legislation as a toothless farce.
- The Great Horticultural Graft
A scathing editorial from The Ranch magazine accuses the state legislature of creating a bloated, ineffective bureaucracy under the guise of agricultural protection.
- The Great Northern Train Heist That Wasn't
A bungled opium bust and a wild chase through the woods turned an everyday commuter trip into a farce.
Also about this, in other words
- The Midnight Raid at the Butler Cafe
Police break up an impromptu faro game, but the dealer’s quick bail payment ensures the 'flyer' will soon resume.
- The Farcical Business of Assessing Land
A scathing look at state tax commissioners who fly through town to set property values based on faulty data.
- A Rate War Sinks the Farallon: Big Steamship Lines Squeeze Out an Independent
The steamer Farallon is pulled from the Seattle–San Francisco run after railroad-controlled steamship lines slash passenger and freight rates, forcing the independent operator to seek a new route to Yaquina Bay.
- Police Raid Faro Game at 'Siorah's Old Home'
Detectives arrest a dealer after breaking up a gambling operation in a Commercial Street saloon.