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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1925 | 1 |
20 stories matching feign
- The Wife-Slasher Who Tried to Play Insane—and the Seattle Jury That Didn’t Buy It
McGee feigned madness so badly that the jury convicted him on the first ballot. A Steilacoom asylum doctor explained why three months of observation found no insanity—only a terrified wife.
- A Desperate Jailbreak in North Yakima
Two prisoners, one feigning insanity, brutally assaulted a Deputy Sheriff with a rock-filled burlap sling in a failed bid for freedom.
- The Bachelor's Ruse: A Victorian Love Game in Seattle
A lonely Seattle bachelor attempts to 'test' his ward’s character through a series of elaborate, scholarly letters, only to find himself the one being studied.
- The Jailhouse Performance of an Insanity Faker
A man accused of horse theft attempts a desperate, bumbling ruse to avoid trial by feigning madness, only to be caught plotting his escape with stolen keys.
- The $500 Vote: How a Spokane Judge’s Bribery Plot Exposed Seattle’s Political Rot
In the winter of 1903, Washington’s legislature was paralyzed by a scandal involving bribed senators and a desperate governor. When Representative Metcalfe revealed he was paid to vote for Judge Calkins, the resulting investigation tore through Olympia’s elite, revealing a web of corruption that threatened to define the state’s young democracy.
- A 'Beast' in the Courtroom Says Only 'Not a Word'
McGee, convicted of assaulting his wife with intent to murder, drew ten years in Walla Walla—but his appeal kept him in the King County jail while Seattle read about his courtroom act.
- The Escape of 'Big Nose Pete'
A notorious Chicago burglar makes a narrow escape from a Seattle detective after an intense foot chase through a downtown saloon.
- The Doctor’s Thief Caught by the Landlady
A bold sneak thief invades a medical office, but meets his match in a persistent woman who hunts him down across the city.
- The Cheese Factory Swindle
A Wisconsin cheesemaker looking for opportunity in White Bluffs becomes the target of a classic Seattle bunco scheme.
- The Real Estate Swindler Who Fooled Seattle
A smooth-talking con artist masquerading as an 'Eastern capitalist' swindled multiple Seattle banks by weaving himself into the city's booming real estate market.
- The Delegate’s Missing Work
A Seattle newspaper calls out the territory’s Washington D.C. representative for feigning ignorance about a local land rights petition.
- The Waterfront Heist and the Chief’s Clever Ruse
A notorious 'beach-comber' terrorized Beacon Hill and Fremont, hiding stolen silverware in the mud under a dock until a detective’s staged ruse cracked the case.
- Deputy Lincoln Dilley Survives Jail Escape Attack
Deputy-Sheriff Lincoln Dilley survived severe head cuts after two prisoners attacked him during an escape attempt at the county jail, then drew his revolver and locked them in their cell.
- A Scandalous Escape and Elopement in Tacoma
A prominent Tacoma man's affair with his friend's schoolmate ends in a bizarre jailhouse arrest after a botched elopement involving the man's own child.
- The Blue Glass Cure: A Barber’s Quackery and a Seattle Elder’s Rage
In March 1877, an elderly Black man named Uncle Dan nearly came to blows with a white barber over a ridiculous 'medical' treatment involving blue window panes and sunlight.
- The Struggle for the Promised Land of Washington Territory
While Washington pioneers clamored for the development of government-held land to build a state, political gamesmanship in Washington, D.C. left the local economy in limbo.
- The Centennial Call: Snohomish Citizens Urged to Claim Their History
As the nation prepares for the 1876 Independence Day celebration, local leaders in Snohomish argue that the county must stop waiting for Seattle or other larger towns to represent them. Instead, they propose a unified county-wide gathering to preserve the region's unique settlement history.
- The Terror of Northern Wisconsin Found in Seattle
A dangerous outlaw, responsible for a train robbery, is tracked to a quiet Seattle neighborhood and captured just as he prepares to flee to a logging camp.
- The Funeral Grifter of North Yakima
An undertaker is conned out of five dollars by a man feigning the grief of a widower.
- The Aristocratic Goose of Seattle
A satirical fable from the 1880 Seattle Daily Intelligencer offers a sharp critique of status-seeking and the folly of high-society marriages.
Also about this, in other words
- A Dramatic Arrest and a 'Whisky Fit' at the Police Station
A suspect arrested for jumping a boarding house bill and passing bogus checks collapses in his wife's arms while in police custody.
- The Shadowy Business of Proxy Voting
Local political observers call out the 'proxy convention' system for allowing unelected outsiders to hijack political representation.
- A Prisoner’s Descent Into Delusion in Everett
A man awaiting extradition for murder in the Everett jail claims to be under a 'divine' sentence, prompting local officials to question his sanity.
- The Colonel, the Adjutant-General, and the Olympia Hotel Lobby
A state militia court-martial adjourns without deciding whether Colonel Haines was a civilian or a soldier when he assaulted Adjutant-General O’Brien—prompting a newspaper suggestion that O’Brien wear a baseball mask.
- The Political Pudding of the Washington Legislature
How local party bosses in the late 1880s traded speakerships and senate seats in smoke-filled backrooms to secure personal power.
- The Sheriff’s Shabby Costume: A Prisoner’s Trick to Escape the Penitentiary
In a bizarre twist of early Washington Territory justice, a sheriff attempted to smuggle a prisoner into the territorial penitentiary by disguising him in shabby clothes. The trick failed, but not before the warden made a memorable quip.
- The Political Shapeshifting of Colonel Winston
A vitriolic profile of Colonel Patrick Henry Winston and his transition from Republican federal attorney to Populist firebrand.
- The Great Impersonator: Vivian Takes Seattle by Storm
In August 1872, the 'Grammatical Comic Impersonator' Chas. Vivian captivated the Pacific Northwest with his vocal mimicry and costume changes, performing alongside a dancer from the Paris Opera.