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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 7 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 5 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1889 | 6 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 14 |
| 1893 | 8 |
| 1894 | 11 |
| 1895 | 15 |
| 1899 | 3 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 9 |
| 1904 | 7 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1917 | 1 |
107 stories matching helpless
- Diver Paralyzed After Deep-Sea Shift
A professional diver working to clear the Seattle harbor is left paralyzed from the shoulders down after repeated descents.
- Brutality Uncovered at the Soldiers' Home
Following an investigation, the state board of control fires a hospital steward accused of subjecting elderly, vulnerable veterans to inhuman conditions.
- The Town Takes a Stand Against Domestic Abuse
Forty-three women in Olympia sign a resolution formally denouncing a local man for his history of violence against his wife and children.
- An Oar Snaps, a Boat Drifts, and a Rancher Nearly Freezes to Death
Henry Schultzie left Cusick by boat, but a broken oar left him helpless in the current. The Brown brothers spotted him hours later, lying in the bottom of the boat with both feet already frozen.
- 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.
- A City Council, a Bank, and a $15,000 Blackmail Charge
Tacoma's council demanded that the Ledger prove its bribery allegations in person. The paper refused, calling the council unfit to investigate itself—while the Tacoma News denied that a local bank had been shaken down for $15,000.
- The Keeley Cure Comes to Olympia
Olympia's Keeley Institute promises release from drink, and the Tribune opens a discreet charity fund for patients who cannot pay.
- An Eccentric Pioneer Found Alone and Helpless
After marrying a much younger woman and deeding away his property in a scandal that made local news, a reclusive tailor has been found paralyzed in his home.
- Two Dollars a Head: Seattle's Labor Commissioner Takes On the Employment Agencies
Charged with running the city's free employment office as a union errand boy, Commissioner John Lamb answers that the private agencies have been selling men jobs that do not exist.
- The Balloon Dreams of 1889
While aeronauts of the late 19th century insisted that aerial travel was the future, Seattle residents remained skeptical of the 'helpless' hot air ships.
- The Hidden Cruelty of Early Seattle
A visit to a Chinatown tenement reveals a harrowing reality of human suffering, sparking a volatile debate over labor, poverty, and local morality.
- A Leap from the Window at 1718 Madison
Assistant city electrician E.C. Buckley barely escaped a brutal assault after his landlord, driven by baseless jealousy, armed himself and hunted him down.
- A Ballard Family's Desperate Winter: Five Children Crying for Bread
A sick father, a dying mother, and five hungry children in Salmon Bay Park. A stranger's dollar is all they have.
- They Would Rather Grow Than Beg: Seattle’s Unemployed Turned Vacant Lots Into Potato Patches
In the depression year of 1893, nearly 200 Seattle men—most with families—were given free seed, tools and borrowed city lots through the Pingree plan and the Co-operative Industrial Society.
- The Ghost of Conconully
The Okanogan county seat was reduced to smoldering ruins in just two hours, leaving only the courthouse and schoolhouse standing.
- Thirty-Seven Dead at Franklin: Seattle Rallies for the Widows of a Mine Disaster
A day after an explosion killed thirty-seven coal miners in the Franklin pit, the Post-Intelligencer opens a relief fund for the widows and orphans left behind — pleading with readers that the miners' own generosity cannot stretch far enough.
- The Vigilantes' Ghost: Seattle's Dark Secret in Two Maple Trees
A poem published in the *Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer* reveals the city’s foundational myth: that its current 'peaceable' order was bought with the blood of six men hanged by a secret committee when the law failed to act.
- The Coal Creek Massacre: A Coroner’s Inquest into the Battle Between Knights of Labor and Mine Owners
In January 1890, Seattle Sheriff Cochrane deployed militia to Newcastle to suppress a miners' strike. When a riot erupted at Coal Creek, one man was killed and ten arrested. The subsequent coroner's inquest revealed a chaotic scene where union men claimed self-defense against armed mine owners, while the sheriff dismissed the Knights of Labor as 'too excitable.'
- The Vigilantes’ Bones: Seattle Dug Up Its Most Notorious Lynching
Thirteen years after a mob hanged three men on James Street, a county doctor exhumed their skeletons for anatomy students— ropes, necktie and all.
- A Dismissed Complaint, Then a Woodshed Ambush in Tacoma
Maggie Kornder had charged Mike Pfeifle with threatening her. A judge let the case go; days later, the rejected suitor hid in her employer's woodshed and shot her before turning the gun on himself.
- Firefighters Helpless as Hydrant Fails
A major blaze destroys a local mattress factory and blacksmith shop as faulty infrastructure prevents emergency response.
- A High-Speed Rescue on the Streets of Oroville
When a runaway horse endangered a child in the heart of town, a man bypassed the mob to execute a daring automotive rescue.
- Vigilante Sentiment Grows After Sunday Violence
A wave of fights and assaults by 'tramps and toughs' on Harris Street leaves the town calling for better policing.
- Puyallup Tribe Reclaims Agency Over Their Land
Defying federal 'red tape' and the Wilson Bill, the Puyallup Tribe organizes their own land company to handle railroad right-of-way construction on their own terms.
- The Hero of the Ferndale Disaster
When the British bark Ferndale went down in a freezing storm off the Washington coast, one local woman braved the surf to save the lives of three sailors.
Also about this, in other words
- The Desperate Plea of a Crippled Sailor
A man smashes a streetcar window to force the city to provide him with basic care.
- A Family Found in Desperate Straits
A sick, destitute family in Oakesdale is discovered in squalid conditions by a community member.
- A Family's Desperate Winter
A local family faces extreme poverty and illness, highlighting the precarious nature of life in the territory.
- The Desperate Plea of a Hungry Man
A homeless worker chooses jail over starvation after failing to find employment in Seattle.
- A Desperate Act at the Wharf
A man in deep distress throws himself beneath a moving train in Seattle, sparking a harrowing public rescue.
- A Desperate Plea for Mercy in a Madison Street Assault
Despite the emotional pleas of a wife attempting to protect her husband, the victim of a brutal assault refuses to drop charges.
- A Desperate Act at the St. Elmo
A Seattle electrician is hospitalized in Vancouver after a suicide attempt follows significant gambling losses.
- The Tragic End of a Forgotten Life
A young, disabled woman dies in Seattle after surviving a life of exploitation at the hands of 'charitable' organizations.