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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1911 | 1 |
25 stories matching gavel
- The Trial of Judge Sachs: A Legislature in Uproar
Tensions boiled over at the Capitol as legislators and lawyers clashed in a dramatic, gavel-pounding removal proceeding against a sitting judge.
- The Mayor's Gavel Clashes with Councilman Hedges
A power struggle in Everett's City Hall turns theatrical as the mayor attempts to silence a council member by calling in the police.
- The Bankruptcy Fire Sale of 1891
A failed clothing enterprise on the corner of 2nd and Washington puts its remaining stock under the gavel as the assignee clears the shelves.
- The Stray Horse of Fourth and Terrace
A mysterious black mare, unclaimed and alone, faces the gavel at a police-led auction in downtown Seattle.
- The Senatorial Deadlock Breaks
A Spokane representative abandons his candidate, marking the turning point in a long, gridlocked legislative contest.
- The Speaker’s Gavel Clash
In the Territorial House, a subtle procedural error leads to a public confrontation over how legislation is truly passed.
- The Prohibitionists' Cold Water Jubilee
Temperance advocates marked Washington's birthday with a sober banquet in Seattle, raising hundreds for their cause.
- The Populist Rebellion at Ranke's Hall
In a rowdy and defiant county convention, the People’s Party rejects fusion with mainstream Democrats, pushing a radical platform of state-owned mines and anti-monopoly reforms.
- The Price of Failure on the Duwamish
As Seattle grew, a wave of court-ordered property auctions flooded the local papers, displacing families and settling debt with the cold finality of the sheriff’s gavel.
- The Price of Panic: Seattle's 1878 Foreclosure Wave
A legal notice detailing the seizure of property in Seattle and King County reveals a landscape defined by debt, land disputes, and the brutal finality of the Sheriff’s gavel.
- The Struggle for the Speaker’s Gavel
Legislative chaos in Olympia as Republicans deadlock over the speakership, threatening to delay the inauguration of the new state government.
- The Defaulting Treasurer’s Last Stand
Seattle’s city treasurer, Adolph Krug, is sentenced to seven years of hard labor, capping a dramatic trial marked by desperate legal maneuvering to invalidate the city's charter.
- The courtroom theatrics of the Tacoma Railway & Power trial
A witness and an attorney trade insults in court while a $10,000 lawsuit for assault turns into a chaotic spectacle.
- The Justice vs. The Saloons
When the County Prosecutor refused to enforce Sunday closing laws, a Seattle Justice of the Peace stepped in to seize the gavel and threaten mass arrests.
- Seattle Rallies Against Chinese Labor at the Standard Theater
An overflow crowd packs the Standard Theater to demand the total exclusion of Chinese laborers and the termination of the Burlingame Treaty, revealing the deep economic anxieties of the era.
- The Sheriff’s Gavel: A King County Land Auction in the Shadow of the Gold Rush
In August 1876, Seattle’s legal system was already grinding out foreclosures on massive land claims, signaling that the territory’s boom would be built on debt and dispossession.
- The Great Hall Swells: Democrats Gather for Their First Convention
A torrent of humanity floods the exposition hall as the national Democratic party begins its proceedings, with New York delegates plotting their strategic withdrawal.
- The Sheriff’s Gavel: Seattle Land Auctioned to Pay a Debt
In October 1876, King County Sheriff L.V. Wyckoff prepared to sell 160 acres of land in front of the courthouse to satisfy a judgment against Duncan Dewar, illustrating the harsh realities of property law in early Seattle.
- The Sheriff’s Gavel: A King County Farm Vanishes at Auction
In October 1876, Duncan Dewar lost 160 acres of prime land in Seattle to satisfy a $300 debt. The legal machinery of the young territory was grinding away, turning homes and fields into line items.
- The Sheriff’s Gavel: Two Families Lose Their Homes in Snohomish
In March 1877, the Snohomish County Sheriff seized and scheduled the sale of real estate for two different local families to satisfy court judgments, marking a stark moment in the territory's early legal history.
- Spokane's Council Narrowly Votes to Dry Out Variety Theaters
After a three-hour hearing, aldermen voted 9–6 to ban liquor in variety theaters—pitting ministers and reformers against theater managers and nearly 3,000 petitioners.
- A Clawhammer, a Tin Whistle, and a Judge Fight: Tacoma’s Wild 1894 Convention
Pierce County Republicans met in Tacoma to endorse Judge Pritchard for the Supreme Court. By 2 a.m. they had doused the lights, blown a tin whistle, and adjourned without deciding.
- The Newspaper Letter That Nearly Started a Fight in the Washington Senate
With the U.S. Senate election deadlocked in Olympia, a Pierce County senator read a rival’s letter aloud — and the chamber erupted over money, lobbyists, and borrowed favors.
- 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.
- Washington's Fourth Legislature Adjourns After a Marathon Final Day
Lawmakers pass 53 bills, defeat a school-book trust, kill a Seattle-Tacoma bridewell, and bury woman suffrage for at least two years.
Also about this, in other words
- City Hall Refuses to Rewrite Its Own Rulebook — and Dares the Supreme Court to Decide
Seattle's council rejects the freeholders' petition for a new city charter, declaring the enabling law unconstitutional, and offers to bankroll a test case all the way to Olympia.
- The Fight for an Independent Judiciary
A skeptical look at a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow the legislature to pack the state supreme court.