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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1890 | 3 |
| 1891 | 3 |
| 1892 | 7 |
| 1893 | 8 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1903 | 5 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 5 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1914 | 2 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
| 1917 | 1 |
55 stories matching hobo
- Vigilante Justice in Cle Elum
Citizens in Cle Elum adopt a brutal method of 'dealing with obstreperous hobos' using whips.
- The Seattle Election Telegrams: When Political Operatives Ran the Show
Leaked ciphers from 1892 reveal a scheme where out-of-town 'detectives' and thugs were imported to manipulate local elections and manufacture scandals.
- The Midnight Rail Raid in Kennewick
Law enforcement turns a routine freight train inspection into a high-speed chase, leaving hoboes running for their lives.
- The Wild 1892 Election Day Riot in Seattle’s First Ward
While Seattle’s municipal election saw a decisive shift in power, the ballot boxes were guarded by brawls, rumors of illegal ‘hobo’ voters, and street-side skirmishes that nearly turned deadly.
- The Great 1910 Census Padding Scandal
Across Washington state, towns are inflating their populations with ghosts, hobos, and unborn children to secure their status.
- Bandits Take the Newport Train and Vanish Into the Night
A mail car is rifled near Hillyard, a frightened hobo raises the alarm, and a $3,000 reward turns up nothing.
- A Nighttime Intimidation at Dreamland Park
The proprietor's wife turns the tables on two would-be robbers, prompting a new era of vigilance at the local attraction.
- The Sheriff’s Frustration with Aberdeen’s Courts
A local officer vents his rage at the judicial system after a robbery investigation falls apart.
- The False Solution to Homelessness
A radical critique of the 1909 railroad industry's plan to solve unemployment by mass imprisonment.
- Seattle's Election Was Supposed to Draw 8,000. Then the Fraud Reports Started.
With 10,841 names on the rolls, officials expected a big vote—but blank registration certificates were circulating, and Tacoma police found Seattle papers on men arrested as hobos.
- A Hobo's Waving Coat, and Three Slides That Shut the Line North of Newport
A landslide near Scotia derails a Great Northern freight — saved from worse by a tramp flagging the crew with his coat — while two more slides in the Morrissey cut strand the night passenger and keep Newport passengers in local hotels until morning.
- The Butter Bandits of West Street
A bold group of petty thieves used a sophisticated 'sampling' scheme to systematically loot Seattle merchants.
- The Hobo 'Capitalist' Who Ran Palouse on Credit
A smooth-talking Swiss convinced butchers, brewers and saloon men to hand over shops and goods — some $1,200 worth — on the promise of a fortune still sitting back in Switzerland.
- The City's Woodpile Punishment
Tacoma’s city council introduces a new mandatory labor program for prisoners, forcing them to supply city hall’s heat.
- The Great Balfour Dock Pie Heist
A group of hungry laborers were left with nothing but their pride when two men made off with their dessert, ignoring everything but the pastries.
- Tacoma’s Water War: A City Divided Over Private Utility Buyout
A heated municipal battle erupts as citizens protest the proposed purchase of a private water plant, fearing corruption and an exorbitant price tag.
- The Boodle Battle: Political Corruption and Vagrancy in Tacoma
As local politicians fight for control of city offices, Tacoma's Populists take aim at 'boodlers' and the importation of vagrants to influence local elections.
- 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.
- The Wealthy Tramp of the Waterfront
A disheveled rancher found sleeping on the Seattle waterfront was revealed to be carrying a small fortune, catching local police and confidence men by surprise.
- The River Crossing: Why Our Youth Choose Pasco
A local editor criticizes Kennewick's lack of public recreation, arguing that if the town doesn't provide a place for youth to play, they will inevitably cross the river to find it.
- Brutal Robbery at the Chicago Restaurant
A local restaurant owner was found unconscious and severely beaten after a targeted assault in his own home.
- The Sheriff Deputized a Killer to Keep the Peace at a Seattle Primary
A Republican primary in Seattle's First Ward turned into a street fight between the sheriff's men and city police—and the Post-Intelligencer laid the blame squarely on Sheriff Woolery.
- Work for a Meal: The Salvation Army’s ‘Elevator’ Opens in Seattle
The Salvation Army opened a combined shelter, soup kitchen and workshop near Third and South Second, offering hundreds of meals and 130 beds—provided able-bodied men earned their keep.
- The macabre post-mortem of a sideshow giant
After a circus performer died in Ellensburg, local authorities and doctors went to gruesome lengths to extract profit from his corpse.
- 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.
Also about this, in other words
- The Lumbermen Who Worshipped a Black Cat
Seattle initiates into the Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, a new fraternal society for lumbermen, complete with black robes, mock titles and a banquet.
- Workplace Injury in Richland
A construction supervisor faces weeks on crutches after a hoisting accident.
- The Sad Collapse of the Traveling Show
After years of bringing entertainment to Spokane, a promoter’s carnival empire crumbles into a heap of legal seizures and rheumatism.
- The Great Hoquiam Bear Hunt
A group of local hunters brings home a bear, but nobody can agree on who actually landed the shot.
- The Skater Who Lost a Leg on the Sound
A steamboat mate's broken leg at Port George leads to amputation, a Seattle hospital bed, and a purse raised by his fellow boatmen.
- Locksmiths Needed for Failed Jailbreak
Six inmates in Whatcom were so eager to escape they jammed their own cell locks shut, requiring a blacksmith to cut them loose for breakfast.
- A Tragic Fourth of July on the Hoquiam River
A celebratory weekend ends in the drowning of a local man after a boating accident.
- The Bear on the Hoquiam Trail
A hunting party encounters a formidable bear while tracking game, resulting in a fierce struggle and the eventual demise of the animal.