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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 4 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 7 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
32 stories matching frail
- Ida May Love Went to Sea as 'Dan McArdle'
A Whatcom newlywed walked out on her husband, her skirts and her name to serve seven weeks aboard the warship Monterey — and the Post-Intelligencer tracked her to a Leavenworth dance hall, where she was still talking about 'us boys.'
- The Coffin Captain: A Father, a Son, and the Wreck of the Lily and Maud
Ship carpenters warned Captain Robert Jack he was building his own coffin. Last Sunday night the frail schooner capsized in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the captain and his 23-year-old son went down with her.
- Bridge Collapse Kills Seven Great Northern Railroad Workers
A temporary construction span on the Wenatchee River failed under the weight of a heavy train, plunging workers sixty feet into the water.
- Adulterated Milk Crisis in Seattle
A child is dying in Seattle after consuming milk tainted with formaldehyde, sparking a potential murder investigation against a local dairyman.
- The Ghost of William Radloff
A Seattle poultry farmer appears to have staged his own death in a house fire to claim a $55,000 insurance payout, leaving investigators to wonder if the charred remains in the ruins were those of a stolen corpse.
- The Last-Second Injunction That Saved a Seattle Building From the Railroad
Judge Langley cleared the way for demolition, then a federal mortgage-holder's suit stopped the axes at the Colman block.
- She Divorced Her Husband, Married Him Again, and Had to Do It Twice
A Seattle judge grants Olive Blanche Rogerson her child, Kitsap land and a canceled mortgage after a remarriage that repeated the cruelty of an earlier Minnesota divorce.
- Fatal Fall from a Cascade Bridge
A young bridge builder falls thirty feet to his death on the Northern Pacific railroad line, leaving a grieving mother in Oak Harbor.
- Ice-Cut Canoe Tragedy on the River
A dark night and floating ice claim two lives near Langley in a failed river crossing.
- Who Left Four Men Clinging to the Buckeye?
When the steamer Buckeye swamped in Rosario Strait, survivors say Captain Hahn rowed ashore with the crew and never sent help back for the men freezing on the wreck.
- The Blaine Fisherman Who Pulled Seven People Out of the Water and Never Told Anyone
Hans Nielson is 24 years old, slight of build, and has saved seven lives in ten years — two in Denmark, five around Blaine — and calls each rescue a thing 'only incidental to the life of a water toiler.'
- Canoeing the Queets: Promise and Dispossession on the Olympic Peninsula
An 1892 travelogue celebrates homesteaders in the Queets River valley while arguing that Native hunters should be confined to the reservation.
- A Mother Jumped Into a Well to Save Her Baby
Near Green Lake, a toddler fell sixteen feet into a well. Her mother lowered a too-short ladder, dropped in after her, and revived the child before help arrived.
- A Forged Plea Sent a Tacoma Woman to a Gig Harbor Road—and to Her Death
A letter claiming her sister was seriously ill drew Mrs. Henry Schulz to an isolated road near Gig Harbor. Days later, bloodhounds found her body, and suspicion settled on her son-in-law.
- The Clerk Who Stole Everything to Run Away
A young Seattle clerk, blinded by a whirlwind romance at a Washington Street boarding house, betrayed his own mother to fund a desperate escape to San Francisco.
- The Home Front Witch Hunt
A Kennewick newspaper editorial demands the public 'sift' out neighbors who refuse to support the war effort.
- Three Drowned in the Columbia's Whirlpool
A Seattle official watched a small boat capsize near the mouth of the Methow, drowning two men and a woman in the roiling current.
- The Clallam Tragedy: A Honeymoon Cut Short
A husband watches helplessly as his bride vanishes into the stormy seas during the sinking of the SS Clallam in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
- The Water Took Her: A Canoe Accident at Seattle's Wharf, 1877
A canoe overturns in the dark beside Mechanics' Wharf. The others make it to shore—but the old woman slips away before anyone can save her.
- Vandals Wreck Indian Canoe
Youths on the Seattle waterfront destroy an Indigenous person's boat for sport.
- The Sudden Collapse of the Tacoma Savings Bank
A run on a local bank reveals the fragile economy of 1885 Tacoma as depositors rush to pull their funds before the doors shutter for good.
- The Tragedy at the Waterfront
A young Seattle woman's late-night walk leads to a fatal plunge into the bay, leaving behind a grieving husband and a city searching for answers.
- The Tragic Disappearance on Squak Lake
A Swedish homesteader vanishes in a small canoe, leaving behind a trail of mystery and a desperate search by the local sheriff.
- The Unmarked Funeral of a 'Prodigal Daughter'
A sympathetic account of a funeral service held in a Seattle brothel for a woman who died suddenly in 'terrible' circumstances.
- The Salvage of the Mississippi
After four months of struggle, wreckers are forced to dismantle the sunken collier piece by piece.
Also about this, in other words
- A Family's Desperate Winter
A local family faces extreme poverty and illness, highlighting the precarious nature of life in the territory.
- Mrs. Dine, Aging Teacher, Needs Community Support
An aging Seattle resident, who once helped build the foundations of the city, now struggles in penury—prompting a call for civic support.
- A Family Found in Desperate Straits
A sick, destitute family in Oakesdale is discovered in squalid conditions by a community member.
- Tragedy at the County Poor Farm
A patient suffering from typhoid fever leaps to his death from a third-story window.
- The Unlucky Bachelor of Seattle
A cautionary tale from the 1880s about the perils of marriage and the high-speed heartbreak of being a widower in a hurry.
- The Cynical Toll of Local Politics
A satirical diary of a man who wins a nomination for public office, only to be ruined by the exorbitant financial and social demands of his supporters.
- A Refuge for the City's Most Vulnerable
A modest home on Spring Street provides critical care for children whose parents have died or are unable to support them.
- An Elder Left to Suffer
A Native American elder, brutally assaulted at a local ranch, is left on an island without medical care by city and county officials.