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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
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| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
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| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 4 |
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97 stories matching flash
- A Bolt Out of a Clear Sky Passes Inches From a Sleeping Man
Lightning hits the flagpole of the Walla Walla Athletic Club on West Alder at seven in the morning, tears a hole in the roof, rips an American flag down through the building — and leaves manager S. S. Bettman untouched in his bed.
- Hail, Snow, Thunder and a Shock Down the Telephone Wire
For two and a half hours Seattle gets a storm almost no climate can produce — and a businessman on Second Street gets knocked against the door by lightning on the line.
- The Iron Flash: How Spokane Fell for a Railroad
In a daring midnight maneuver that bypassed local obstructionists, the Oregon and Washington Territory railroad laid its tracks through downtown Spokane in a single night, turning a political standoff into a civic celebration.
- The Iron Horse Comes to Tacoma
Thousands gather at the waterfront in 1887 to witness the arrival of the first direct Northern Pacific train from the East, marking a new era of connectivity for the Pacific Northwest.
- Lightning Strikes North Seattle
A severe thunderstorm in July 1885 brought dramatic electrical damage to homes and businesses in North Seattle, setting off fires and injuring a local resident.
- Bothell Shingle Mill Destroyed in Flash Fire
Nearly two million shingles lost in a blaze that erupted in the upper story of a local mill; bridge and office narrowly saved.
- The Boy Who Played with Fire: A Seattle Tragedy on Hart Avenue
A young boy’s fatal experiment with powder and a lit candle has left his family in mourning and the neighborhood in shock.
- A Flash at the Switchboard: Tacoma's Veteran Electrician Killed by 2,000 Volts
Peter Peterson, six years with the city light station, grabbed two live plugs at once. He was dead before doctors could even attempt a revival.
- The Night a Bullet Whistled Through the Vice President’s Window
A brush with political assassination in Seattle's past—revealed only after the danger had passed.
- Fifty Turns on the Shaft: A Foundry Apprentice's Miraculous Escape
Nineteen-year-old Charles Meydenbauer was caught in the shafting at Moran's foundry, spun fifty times twenty feet above the floor—and lived to describe it.
- Safe-Crackers Raid Local Steam Laundry
A band of robbers broke into the Tacoma Steam Laundry, held two employees at gunpoint, and used nitroglycerine to blast open the safe.
- Under Fire on the Way to Spokane: Seattle's Militia Rode Into a Rail War
Col. Joseph Green's detachment returns from Spokane after escorting a mutinied company through burned bridges, ambushes and striker country—and the city turns out to cheer.
- The Day Washington Was Born: A City Holds Its Breath
As the nation celebrates statehood, Seattle gathers in a packed hall to hear speeches on liberty, land fraud, and the future of the 'Queen City.'
- The Night a Streetcar Powerhouse Fire Left Half of Seattle Dark
A pre-dawn blaze at Fifth and Pine gutted the Consolidated Street Railway plant, destroyed nearly all its cars and dynamos, crippled three lines, and blacked out everything north of Pike Street.
- 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.
- The Miracle of Anacortes: A City Built in a Year
How a dense forest on Fidalgo Island transformed into a booming railway terminus and industrial hub in less than twelve months.
- A Wall of Smoke and Flame Across Puget Sound
Forest fires from Hood Canal to the Nooksack Valley left dozens of families homeless in 1894, while smoke turned steamboat travel blind and daily life in Seattle into a gray haze.
- The Wooden Revolver That Freed Ten Prisoners
Thomas Blanck held a jailer hostage with a carved fake gun, emptied the King County jail, and vanished into Seattle's streets.
- Dam Break Triggers Flash Flood in Snohomish
A failed dam at Blackman's Lake sent a torrent of water into the heart of town, caving in streets and flooding basements.
- The 50-Year Marriage That Defied Poverty: A Spokane Woman’s Quest for Work
When a rural Washington couple faced ruin from debt and injury, the wife took a train to Spokane with nothing but her satchel and a fierce determination to earn her keep.
- A Desperate Leap at Commercial Wharf
After an unemployed teamster jumped into the water, a crowd on the wharf pooled their money to help him, despite authorities questioning his sanity.
- A Candlelit Verdict in the Murphy Homicide Trial
Electric lights failed in the King County courthouse during instructions, casting a long shadow over the trial of James Murphy.
- The Tragedy of a Lonely Laborer
A Norwegian laborer, recently arrived in Port Townsend with a large sum of money, commits a desperate act of self-strangulation while in city jail.
- The Tragic Cost of the Miner's Den
In a remote mining camp, a man’s hard-earned savings and life are lost in a sudden, violent encounter with card sharps.
- She Sued Him for $10,000—Then Married Him Before Trial
A long-running Woodinville breach-of-promise case collapsed when a minister, a widow and a reluctant bachelor slipped out of the courthouse and came back married.
Also about this, in other words
- The Brutal Price of Circus Fame
A young acrobat is removed from his performers' care after enduring systemic abuse in the name of show business.
- A Local Prophet’s Wild Vision of 1940s Kennewick
In a satirical speech to the Woman's Club, A. R. Gardner imagined a future where Kennewick harnessed its notorious windstorms and turned river sand into a global glass empire.
- A Threat at the Newsroom
After the Press-Times demanded an investigation into those who profited from the city treasury scandal, one of the implicated businessmen stormed the office with a threat of violence.
- The Smoke and Mirrors of Aberdeen's Variety Halls
A skeptical journalist pulls back the curtain on the 'Human Electricians' and fire-eaters captivating local audiences with chemical tricks.
- The Tinderbox Downtown
A small chimney fire at a local tin shop narrowly avoids tragedy, sparking a community call to clear flammable debris from Seattle's rooftops.
- A Near-Fatal Jolt at the Haystack
A routine day of farm repairs turned into a brush with death when a derrick cable made contact with a power line near Finley.
- A Cable Car Derailment on Madison Street
A dangerously packed cable car hurtles off its tracks while heading toward the West Street turntable, leaving passengers scrambling for safety.
- A Sudden Storm and a Frightened Team
A lightning strike and a team of horses lead to a harrowing accident for a mother and her young son.