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113 stories matching harsh
- A Seattle Pastor on Trial: 'Attentions' to Another Woman, Harsh Words at Home, and a Public Rebuke
In 1877, the Presbytery of Puget Sound spent six days in Seattle deciding whether Rev. E. P. Dunning had crossed the line with another woman and mistreated his wife — then publicly reproved him and urged him to guard his conduct.
- The Great 'Commonweal' Trek Across the Cascades
Striking workers and the unemployed navigate a treacherous path from Seattle and Tacoma toward Washington D.C., clashing with deputy marshals and local authorities along the Northern Pacific tracks.
- The Exclusion of 1888
A new federal law mandates harsh restrictions and identification requirements for Chinese laborers, forcing them to exit and enter through only six designated ports, including Port Townsend.
- New Federal Law Targets Chinese Residents
A harsh new congressional act forces Chinese laborers to prove their identity and secure certificates of residency or face deportation and hard labor.
- The Soldier Who Missed: Why Seattle Is Rooting for a Court-Martialed Hero
Sergeant Mason’s attempt to assassinate the man who killed Garfield has turned him from a mutineer into a martyr, sparking petitions and subscriptions across the Pacific Northwest.
- The Strange Disappearance of John Steele
A Seattle man is lured to a Canadian steamer under the pretense of work, only to be held captive and told he is a deserter from the British army.
- Seattle's Legal Elite Debate the 'Chinese Question'
A resolution passed by the King County Bar Association sparks a sharp public dispute regarding the legitimacy of martial law and the anti-Chinese expulsion period.
- The Struggle for Industry in Fairhaven
A local Chamber of Commerce defends its record against editorial attacks, citing structural economic barriers and the legacy of broken 'boom' promises.
- The Poet-Waiter Who Drowned in Seattle Harbor
C. W. Chantrell came from a noble French family and carried a love poem in his pocket. He died broke, alcoholic, and alone on the steamer Idaho—and Seattle's coroner called it an accident.
- The Great Yakima River Fish War
Local leaders are locked in a standoff with the state government over salmon rights during food shortages.
- The Bachelor of South Lake and the One-Dollar Fine
A territorial dispute over a fence escalated into a shooting and a lake-dunking, leading to an unlikely legal entanglement for an elderly hermit.
- The 'Bullpen' at the Roslyn Mines
When the Northern Pacific Railroad imported scab labor to break a strike in 1888, the local Democratic convention issued a blistering condemnation of the 'armed police' used to coerce workers.
- The Collapse of a Railroad Empire
A classic story of overreach, mismanagement, and the harsh realities of the market as Jay Gould maneuvers to seize the Union Pacific during the Baring Brothers financial crisis.
- The Shadowy 'Dynamiters' and the Seattle Employment Crisis
While international fears of dynamite conspiracies gripped 1885, a local Seattle employment agency quietly documented the harsh reality of thousands of men out of work, desperate, and struggling in the wake of an ironworks decline.
- The Deportation Trap
A Seattle man is ordered out of the country after an accidental admission in court exposes him to the harsh realities of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
- The Elopement That Gripped Whatcom
When a thirteen-year-old girl ran away with a suitor, the resulting pursuit and public scandal exposed the harsh limits of autonomy and safety for youth in the 1890s.
- The Tragedy of a Ballard Shack
A destitute family in Ballard faces the loss of multiple children and a dying mother, revealing the harsh reality of poverty on the city's outskirts.
- Seattle's Hunger Crisis of 1894
The City Mission details the exhausting labor of local charity work during the harsh winter, struggling to feed the 'destitute' while fending off public criticism.
- The Fight to Break the Northern Pacific Monopoly
A fiery editorial argues that Congress must reclaim millions of acres of 'unearned' land granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad to save the future of Washington Territory.
- Cheaper to Ship Wheat to Liverpool Than to Seattle: An Inland Empire Farmer's Case Against the Railroads
A Whitman County grower tells the Post-Intelligencer that Palouse wheat can be raised for about 30 cents a bushel — and sent 16,000 miles to England for less than the railroad charges to haul it 400 miles to the Sound.
- The Brutality of T. W. Glasgow
After Olympia women organized against his domestic violence, a local man attempts a public defense, calling his wife 'deranged' and denying the physical abuse that witnesses reported.
- Search Ends for Missing Teen; 'Globe Hotel' Hanger-on Arrested
The disappearance of 16-year-old Norma Hoyt is solved after she is located in a Vancouver brothel with a man known in Tacoma's red-light district.
- The Tragedy on X Street: A Local Sawyer Takes His Own Life Over Mounting Debt
A desperate father ends his life after being hounded by creditors, highlighting the harsh economic realities faced by Tacoma's working class.
- Tragedy in the Woods Near Sedro
A Chinese immigrant dies from exposure while attempting to enter the country, his story emerging only after his death.
- Workers Denounce 'Grave Yard' Shift Exploitation
A group of laborers describe the harsh conditions and broken promises of the municipal work gangs during a period of widespread unemployment.
Also about this, in other words
- The Fight Against Classroom Brutality
After the conviction of two teachers for beating a student in Chewelah, the P-I condemns corporal punishment as a 'relic of a dolorous age.'
- The Price of a Violent Temper
A town roughneck learns the limits of his reach after an unprovoked assault on a farmer in downtown Colfax.
- The Brutality Aboard the Challenger
A captain escapes conviction, but his mates are sentenced for systematic cruelty against seamen.
- A Brutal Case of Animal Cruelty
A Richland rancher faces local justice after beating his horse until exhaustion.
- Brutal Assault Outside City Hall
A man is left in a stupor after a vicious attack by a suspect who claims his victim stole his wages while he slept in the immigrant house.
- Brutal Attack on Seattle Gas Worker
A workman assaulted by a gang of drunken sailors in front of a local hotel, marking a tense night in the city's rougher quarters.
- Brutal Assault Leaves Wallula Rancher Fighting for Life
A stranger’s unprovoked attack with a jagged beer bottle has left a rancher in critical condition, shocking the Pasco community.
- The Hard Pan Tax Dispute
A small-town legal battle in Anacortes reveals how railroad companies and local governments clashed over the definition of 'rock' to dodge municipal assessments.