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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 2 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1895 | 6 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 3 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1909 | 1 |
42 stories matching harmless
- The Sad End of a Local Pet
A harmless land otter, kept as a mascot, was killed by an erratic local resident in a senseless act of cruelty.
- The Unwanted Guest of Providence Hospital
A 'harmless crank' in 1885 Seattle exposes the gaps in the city's social safety net.
- Liquor Dealers Organize to Capture City Council
A slim meeting at Columbia Hall reveals a saloon-backed push to elect Murphy and Grainger, as the liquor interests try to regain control after last year's defeat.
- The Gall and Wormwood of Olympia: Tacoma’s Defeat in the Senate Race
As Washington's first U.S. Senator is chosen in a bitter legislative battle, defeated candidate Calkins' supporters cry foul, while Jefferson County delegates secure the victory for Watson Squire.
- The Drunken Highway Shooting Near Kent
A senseless act of violence on a flooded country road leaves a stranger fighting for his life in a Seattle hospital.
- The Board of Health Weighed Closing Every School in Seattle
Scarlet fever was moving through the city's classrooms in May 1895, and the men who ran public health argued over whether to send thousands of children home for six weeks — and whether parents could be trusted to report the sickness at all.
- The Whistle That Broke a Marriage: A Trainer’s Flight from His Own Scheme
When Alfred Nickella’s wife bought a police whistle to protect herself from his threats, the device backfired spectacularly, sending the horse trainer fleeing Seattle in haste.
- The Opium Ring That Terrified the Sound
A dark-complexioned gentleman with a sloop and a mission is dismantling smuggling rings in Puget Sound, proving that federal authority was reaching even the remote corners of Washington Territory.
- The Unraveling of Lee Wa Poo
A Chinese man’s descent into mental distress in Renton ends in his arrest and public pathologization.
- The Hidden Anarchist Dens of Old Seattle
A reporter goes undercover into the city's dimly lit saloons to find the radicals, the red-eyed agitators, and the illicit literature that supposedly threatened the order of the growing town.
- The Jailhouse Gas Leak Incident
A young woman suffering from a mental health crisis dismantles jail plumbing in a desperate attempt to end her life.
- The Gentleman Burglars of Tacoma
A jewelry shop on a prominent street was emptied by thieves who posed as harmless customers.
- The Battle for the St. James Mission Land
Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln denies a church petition for land, sparking a debate over the government's military reservation boundaries in Vancouver.
- The Night a Belltown Real Estate Agent Fought Five Officers and Yelled 'Murder'
J.J. Middleton was taken from his home near Front and Virginia streets in a fit of violent insanity, convinced that a cabal at the post office was plotting to seize his property.
- A Tragic End at Sea
A sailor suffering from mental health crises committed suicide by fire while aboard the schooner Siimson.
- The Fur Company’s Land Empire Is Declared Public Domain
A letter from Washington City reports that the Hudson’s Bay and Puget Sound Agricultural companies’ territorial claims have been ruled forfeit, opening their Nisqually and Fort Vancouver lands to American survey and settlement.
- Who Gets to Rewrite Seattle's Charter — the Council or the People?
A crowded, argumentative hearing at City Hall: the Chamber of Commerce is accused of a 'somersault,' a lawyer sneers at 'the people,' and Dr. Ramsey answers a councilman with a line of Latin.
- The State Germ Lab in the Burke Block
Seattle's new bacteriological laboratory tested city water, hunted typhoid and tried to make diphtheria antitoxin—while its doctors covered the rent.
- The Bustle That Ambushed a Gentleman
A chivalrous attempt to help a lady on Main Street goes hilariously and disastrously wrong.
- The Fatal Dance of Washington's Ground Squirrels
Scientists at the state agricultural college tried to wipe out crop-destroying rodents with bacteria—and found a native plague that sent infected squirrels spinning until they dropped.
- The Man Who Demanded Ten Thousand Dollars from the Law
A local man convinced an electrical machine was ordering him to collect a massive payday from the county deputy.
- The Abandoned Souls of the North
Tragic reports from the Yukon reveal that ill gold-seekers are being expelled by Canadian authorities, leaving them to fend for themselves on American soil.
- Sabotage on the Coal Line
A dangerous attempt to derail a coal train near Seattle highlights the intense tensions surrounding the city's burgeoning industrial infrastructure.
- The Puppet Editor's Expensive Betrayal
A cautionary tale of a local 'figurehead' editor who was used by power brokers to spread libel, only to be abandoned when the lawsuits started arriving.
- The Blue Ribbon Reunion at the Union Depot
A young man waits nightly at the Seattle train station, searching for a stranger marked by a blue ribbon on her wrist.
Also about this, in other words
- Vigilantism in Wiser
A deputy sheriff takes three men into custody for the targeting of Chinese laborers.
- The Dangerous Habit of Ignoring Contagion
An 1886 editorial warns Seattle residents against the 'criminal' practice of visiting neighbors and public schools while carrying the germs of diphtheria and scarlet fever.
- The Deadly Consequences of 'Just for Fun'
A sobering editorial on how boys' thoughtless pranks—like stretching ropes across sidewalks or lighting dogs on fire—result in lifelong tragedy.
- The Silent Dangers of Seattle’s Early Boarding Houses
A 19th-century public health warning reveals the grim reality of sanitation in early Seattle, where overcrowded and poorly drained boarding houses became breeding grounds for typhoid fever.
- A Perilous Game on the Harbor
Local children are testing their luck by building makeshift rafts and navigating the harbor near the depot, to the growing alarm of local observers.
- Exposing the Opium Dens of Opera Alley
A local expose reveals that teenage messenger boys are being drawn into the city's opium dens and disreputable houses, triggering a promised police crackdown.
- The 'Baneful' Habit Griping Seattle's Youth
As cigarettes gained popularity among city boys, turn-of-the-century moralists and physicians in Seattle sounded the alarm, linking the 'sallow-faced' habit to everything from indigestion to moral decay.
- A Vicious Visitor in Town
An unknown local poisoner is targeting the town's dogs, causing alarm among residents.