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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 15 |
| 1858 | 6 |
| 1859 | 9 |
| 1860 | 3 |
| 1861 | 8 |
| 1862 | 15 |
| 1863 | 9 |
| 1864 | 6 |
| 1865 | 2 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 30 |
| 1876 | 182 |
| 1877 | 166 |
| 1878 | 133 |
| 1879 | 11 |
| 1880 | 29 |
| 1882 | 30 |
| 1883 | 129 |
| 1884 | 64 |
| 1885 | 175 |
| 1886 | 92 |
| 1887 | 84 |
| 1888 | 115 |
| 1889 | 265 |
| 1890 | 56 |
| 1891 | 210 |
| 1892 | 484 |
| 1893 | 460 |
| 1894 | 338 |
| 1895 | 86 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 74 |
| 1900 | 13 |
| 1902 | 4 |
| 1903 | 137 |
| 1904 | 103 |
| 1905 | 8 |
| 1907 | 4 |
| 1909 | 107 |
| 1910 | 17 |
| 1911 | 12 |
| 1912 | 3 |
| 1914 | 20 |
| 1915 | 21 |
| 1916 | 51 |
| 1917 | 40 |
| 1918 | 6 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 14 |
| 1924 | 12 |
| 1925 | 8 |
3,871 stories matching hous
- The Missing Will That Would Have Given Seattle a Library
Henry Yesler's widow and two doctors are arrested, accused of burning a will that left the pioneer's fortune—and his mansion—to the city.
- A Sinking Buggy, a Borrowed Team, and a Reservation About to Open
In 1892 a newspaperman packed his wife and infant into a rickety buggy to cross the soon-to-open Colville Reservation, fording the Kettle River and leaning on Native families along the way.
- A Midnight Knock, a Hidden Fortune, and a Brutal Beating on Vashon Island
Two men demand an old rancher's money, bind and club him, then ransack his cabin for a cache of cash. Seattle police arrest a suspect—and then the victim's wife.
- The Murder Foretold: Three Japanese Laborers Held Without Bail
A witness testifies that one suspect predicted the killing hours in advance, and a bloody butcher knife is found in a kitchen wall. Three Japanese men are ordered held without bail for the murder of a Japanese boss near Christopher.
- The House on J Street: A Tenant’s Defiance
When Milton Spinning bought a house in Seattle for his own use, he didn't expect to find a stranger occupying it against his will.
- One Day Late: The Veto That May Hang a Man
A clerk's date stamp, a messenger who cannot recall which day he ran an errand, and a condemned Italian at Tacoma whose last chance at a new appeal may have expired in the paperwork.
- The Queen Anne Fire That Nearly Took Mrs. Geddes
A lamp explosion before dawn sent Professor Geddes into a smoke-filled house to rescue his unconscious wife.
- Seattle's Fire Chief Accused as the Council Wrestles a Telephone Franchise and a Paving Bill
Both houses of the city council meet late into the night: charges that Chief Hunt holds office under false pretenses, a twenty-five-year franchise for the Seattle Home Telephone Company, and a fight over who pays for the sick and injured.
- A Yesler Avenue Divorce Scandal Gets a Merciless Airing
Testimony closes in one of Seattle’s most notorious divorce cases, with Mary Steel cross-examined for hours and a money collector named Dugan on the defensive.
- The Mayor Fires Two Police Commissioners to Keep Blackchapel Shut
In a single day, Mayor Phelps removed two police commissioners, accused them of conspiring to protect a red-light district and oust Chief Rogers, and installed replacements before the House of Delegates could slow him down.
- Masked Vigilantes Hang a Convicted Murderer in Dayton Jail
James McPherson, convicted of murdering E. H. Cummins at New York Bar, was taken from the Dayton jail by masked men and hanged, despite a governor's reprieve and a new trial order.
- A Desperate Jump at the Spring Street Wharf
Deserted, drinking, and despondent, Kate Johnson tried to drown herself in Seattle harbor—then fought the men who pulled her out.
- The Bloody Hammer and the Brewer's Wife
Seattle prosecutors rest their murder case against Craemer after a courtroom day of fire, hidden gold, and a suspect whose hands shook at the sight of the weapon.
- The Bread and Butter Vote: How the Custom House Ring Rigged Port Townsend Politics
In a stunning display of patronage politics in September 1876, federal employees in Port Townsend marched in lockstep to defeat local opposition, proving that government jobs were still the ultimate political currency.
- The House That Blocked the Train
A standoff between a homeowner moving a house and the Everett street railway leads to suspended service and a tense municipal conflict.
- The 1893 Plan to Untangle Seattle’s Government
A powerful city official wanted a stronger mayor, a one-house council, and fewer commissions—arguments Seattle still has today.
- The Old Man’s Last Stand: A Father’s Flight from Greedy Heirs Ends in a Sheriff’s Chase
P.V. Thorpe, an elderly pioneer fleeing false rape accusations and property theft by his son and son-in-law, was arrested for carrying a revolver in Seattle—only to be vindicated when the truth about his family’s blackmail scheme came to light.
- A Missing Man, a Dead Wife, and a Sewing Machine Full of Money
Joseph Von Lingenau vanished after his wife died in childbirth. His friends fear murder; his neighbors remember a man coming apart.
- A Wall of Smoke and Flame Across Puget Sound
Forest fires from Hood Canal to the Nooksack Valley left dozens of families homeless in 1894, while smoke turned steamboat travel blind and daily life in Seattle into a gray haze.
- The Secret Courthouse Bond Deal Benton County Tried to Ram Through
Commissioners Clements and McNeill authorized $125,000 in bonds for a Prosser courthouse after a closed-door plan their own lawyer admitted was designed to keep taxpayers in the dark. A Kennewick lawsuit put the deal before Judge Grady.
- 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 Murder in the Bunkhouse North of Auburn
A young Japanese labor contractor was beaten and killed as he slept in a cabin on J.W. Nails's farm; a roommate was jailed while blood trails, a loaded musket and an opium pipe deepened the mystery.
- 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.
- A Suicide Attempt at the Columbia House—and a Landlord's Cold Comfort
Flora Sullivan, separated from her husband, took morphine in her room at Third and Columbia. She survived, but the paper made her despair a public story.
- A Church Scandal Erupts in a Seattle Libel Trial
M. H. Nichols stood accused of criminally libeling Presiding Elder T. B. Ford. The defense spent the day trading rumors, old grudges, and one complaint about the prosecutor's booming voice.