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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 30 |
| 1877 | 21 |
| 1878 | 6 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 9 |
| 1882 | 6 |
| 1883 | 18 |
| 1884 | 9 |
| 1885 | 22 |
| 1886 | 17 |
| 1887 | 10 |
| 1888 | 12 |
| 1889 | 30 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 11 |
| 1892 | 55 |
| 1893 | 46 |
| 1894 | 67 |
| 1895 | 88 |
| 1899 | 18 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 7 |
| 1904 | 3 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
| 1929 | 1 |
500 stories matching help
- Seattle Rallies for the Franklin Mine's Widows and Orphans
A newspaper fund drive, a Madison Park benefit and Black community organizers push relief past $275 for the families of miners killed in the Franklin disaster.
- The Price of Poverty in 1877 Seattle
When the County Commissioners opened a new poor house, they explicitly designed it as a workhouse to deter the 'dissolute class' from seeking public assistance.
- She Fought a Sailor in the Dark—and Helped Police Find Him by Morning
Mary Kriser, who ran a lodging house at South Second and Weller streets, was robbed and sexually assaulted in September 1894. A neighbor broke down a door, and police identified a suspect within ninety minutes.
- The Jealousy That Shut Down a Shop: A Seattle Woman’s Fight for Livelihood
In 1888, a Seattle lumber shop owner saw her business destroyed not by market forces, but by the petty sabotage of her customers' wives. Her story reveals the fragile economic existence of women in the frontier city.
- The Great Divide: The Fight for a Mountain Rail Link
As the population of Western Washington booms in 1882, Seattle residents grow tired of paying for infrastructure projects while Eastern Washington neighbors demand the work for free.
- The Employment Agents Who Sold Phantom Jobs
Seattle's labor commissioner wants City Hall to crack down on agents who charge workers for jobs that don't exist—or pay them in worthless due bills.
- The Restaurant Labor War
A local restaurant owner’s political ambitions are challenged by the White Cooks and Waiters' Union over allegations of wage-slashing and exploitation.
- Tragedy at the Portage: The Frozen Waters of Lake Union
A young immigrant worker drowns in the icy canal connecting Seattle's lakes, leaving his brother to mourn in a community built on the promise of infrastructure development.
- Inside the 'Hell Hole': Life for the Unemployed in 1893
An anonymous laborer provides a harrowing account of the brutal conditions and daily struggle for survival in Seattle's winter saloons.
- The Great Political Tickling: How Daniel Bugley Outwitted Seattle’s Beriah Brown
A fiery editorial in the *Snohomish Sun* exposes a political alliance between two rival editors, accusing them of using religious fervor as a cover for partisan maneuvering.
- A Montana Millionaire's Secret Seattle Wedding
Hugh F. Galen, a wealthy Helena mine owner and politician, secretly married schoolteacher Laura B. Tague at a Seattle church, then slipped away to California—leaving friends in Montana to plan a reception.
- Seattle's $100,000 Night: The Armory Meeting That Sold the Ship Canal
Boosters packed the Armory in 1895 and pledged a fortune for locks and bridges on a Lake Washington canal—payable only after a ship made the passage from Elliott Bay.
- Seattle Gives New York Millionaires Another Year to Fix Yesler Avenue
A council committee lets the cable road off the hook while riders wade through mud—and a stockholder accuses City Hall of standing in with railroads.
- 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.
- The Tragedy of a Deserted Mother on the Seattle Waterfront
A young woman, abandoned by an abusive husband, finds herself destitute and desperate for passage back home to Portland.
- The Courtroom Scream
A witness in a railroad injury trial lets out a blood-curdling set of shrieks from a locked room, sending the entire Federal Court into a panic.
- Seven-Cent Meals: Seattle's City Mission Fed Thousands in 1893
In November 1893, the Seattle City Mission served 3,049 free meals, provided 1,071 lodgings, and begged the city for underclothing as the depression deepened.
- The Man Who Sold Seattle's World's Fair
With the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition struggling for attention, newspaperman James A. Wood made every outgoing letter a billboard and helped draw nearly four million visitors.
- The Bridge That Broke a Boiler Maker
William Murray was never a soldier, but helping Union troops hold a West Virginia bridge cost him a leg — and, thirty years later, his life in Seattle.
- An Umbrella Lesson on Pike Street
A mother tracks her son to a saloon to force him home, wielding her umbrella in a public display of motherly discipline.
- The Unbuilt Railroad That Was Meant to Change Seattle Forever
In 1882, Seattle business leaders were desperate for a direct rail connection to Walla Walla, believing their city’s future prosperity hinged on punching a line through the Snoqualmie Pass.
- The City That Built Itself: Seattle’s 1876 Bet on Railroads and Real Estate
While Portland urges unity to secure a transcontinental line, Seattle’s council quietly reshapes the city’s physical landscape—lowering street grades and paving sidewalks—betting that infrastructure will drive the boom.
- Trapped on the Tide: Two Boys Stranded in a Waterfront Shack
While the city went about its business, two boys were left to drift into danger—and nearly starved in silence.
- The Canal That Would Invent South Seattle
At meetings in Georgetown and River Park, property owners pledged land, cash, and labor to a waterway scheme they promised would drain the Duwamish and turn tide flats into gold.
- The Final Tribute to a Pioneer Missionary
Seattle mourns Rev. Cushing Eells, the missionary and educator who helped secure the Washington Territory for America, as he is laid to rest at Lake View Cemetery.
Also about this, in other words
- The Art of Getting Helped
A clever traveler tricks two impatient men into doing the labor he was too tired to finish.
- The Domestic Help Crisis of 1891
As the Pacific Northwest boomed, the P-I warned that a 'growing distaste' for housework among the working class threatened to turn the domestic service shortage into a bigger issue than currency reform.
- The Struggle for Household Help at the Turn of the Century
A Seattle employer recounts the candid, often frustrating process of interviewing domestic workers in 1900.
- An Unusual Act of Honesty
A struggling immigrant who received public assistance returns every penny, plus a donation for others in need.
- 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.
- The Need for Mutual Aid on the Streetcars
As Seattle's transit lines expand, workers form a relief association to protect themselves against the high-risk reality of the job.
- A Child's Plea for Help
A three-year-old girl leads an officer to a locked room to rescue her mother from an abusive husband.