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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 17 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 6 |
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| 1882 | 8 |
| 1883 | 13 |
| 1884 | 8 |
| 1885 | 9 |
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| 1889 | 24 |
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461 stories matching incid
- Under Fire on the Way to Spokane: Seattle's Militia Rode Into a Rail War
Col. Joseph Green's detachment returns from Spokane after escorting a mutinied company through burned bridges, ambushes and striker country—and the city turns out to cheer.
- Hanged on a Doubt: Washington Territory's First White Execution
When John Thompson was hanged in Seattle in 1877, many believed he was guilty of manslaughter, not murder. The Dispatch made the case that the law had taken a life it should have spared.
- The Northern Hotel Shooting: A Gambler’s Self-Defense Trial
Paul J. Page stands trial for killing Harry Fraser over a dice game at the Northern Hotel, while his lawyers drag the dead man’s gambling life into court.
- 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.
- Troops Take the Yards as Seattle Braces for the Great Railroad Strike
Regular artillery, deputy marshals and a nervous militia dig in across the city — even hauling the state's rifles up to the university for safekeeping — as the 1894 Pullman boycott reaches Puget Sound.
- The Man Who Took the Bribe to Expose It
Representative Metcalfe’s daring sting operation against Senatorial corruption has turned him into a hero for reformers and a target for powerful enemies.
- The Six Who Vanished: Tacoma’s Senatorial Scandal and the Art of Political Silence
In the wake of a bitter Washington State Senate race, the six key allies of defeated candidate Judge Calkins have disappeared from public view, leaving behind a trail of bribery allegations and a furious debate over whether the election was stolen or won by superior strategy.
- The Night Federal Agents Made Chinatown Show Its Papers
A certificate sweep through Wa Chong’s rooms broke up card games and opium pipes and netted one man accused of lying in a deportation case.
- Debs Comes to Seattle, Fresh From Jail, and Tells the Crowd How He Got Six Months
A thousand workingmen meet the Pullman strike leader at the boat landing, march him through town, and pack the Seattle theater to hear him name the real conspirators.
- Three Thousand Boosters Eat, Cheer, and Rebrand Tacoma
One night in February 1909: 3,000 boosters packed the armory, picked a new city slogan — 'You'll Like Tacoma' — and got sermons on land, liquor, and who should own the tide flats.
- Patriotic Policing of the Home Front
A Kennewick teacher resigns under pressure after wearing a Red Cross sweater, sparking a community-wide investigation into her loyalty during the Great War.
- The Boy Who Vanished Into the Dirt
A contractor’s chilling account of a six-year-old who fell into an open trench and was buried alive—only to be dug out just in time.
- The Day the Sloop Fired on a Federal Cutter
In 1860, twenty-four Port Townsend citizens chartered a sloop to save $5 on fares to Olympia. When intercepted by a revenue cutter, their captain opened fire with a brass howitzer—only to discover he’d just threatened the U.S. government.
- The City That Wasn't: Seattle’s First Real Estate Scam
In April 1876, a man named Charles Smith claimed to own the entire town of Seattle and tried to sell it to investors. The local press exposed him as a fraud, but his audacity reveals how fragile the young city's land titles were.
- The Day Seattle Rode the Rails to Lake Union
In 1872, the completion of the Seattle Coal Company’s railway from the waterfront to the lake offered a thrilling, soot-stained excursion for a city eager to join the industrial age.
- The Shell That Survived the Fire: A Seattle Man’s Close Call with a Civil War Artifact
An eccentric local resident discovers a live cannonball in his firewood, leading to a terrifying explosion that sends him tumbling down a hillside.
- The Ghost of a Bullet
A Civil War veteran finds a long-forgotten piece of shrapnel finally working its way out of his body twenty years after the battle.
- Holiday Violence Flares on Jackson Street
Two separate cutting incidents in the early hours of Christmas morning left two men severely wounded, as police hunt for a missing suspect.
- The Night Guard Who Got Arrested for Guarding the Courthouse
Mike Driscoll was hired to watch the Benton County courthouse after a suspiciously overheated stove. Prosser’s night policeman took his gun, and the prosecuting attorney had him fined for carrying a concealed weapon.
- The Northern Pacific Offers Strikers a Last Chance—With Strings Attached
General Manager Kendrick says former employees can reapply after the Pullman strike, but only if they were not leaders or agitators—and they will rank behind the men hired to replace them.
- Bridging the Divide: The Quest to Unite Washington Territory
In 1882, residents and leaders were grappling with the geographic and cultural chasm between the rugged, booming Puget Sound and the burgeoning Eastern Washington region.
- The Senator’s Farewell: Mrs. Squire’s Lobby Battle and a Pledge to 'All the People'
As Watson Squire prepares to leave Seattle for Washington D.C., his wife recounts the chaotic reality of their election victory at the Olympia hotel, while he pledges impartial service to the entire state.
- A Hanging in the Armory: The Unpopular Corporal and the Men Who Stuffed His Uniform
Company E turned a grudge into theatre — an effigy rigged with an electric-light wire, a pair of odd-coloured glasses and a chalked gravestone — and a military court may follow.
- The Day Tacoma Painted Itself Blue, White and Yellow
A mile-long parade, camels, a captive elk and a senator's electric button opened the Interstate Fair in a burst of Northwest boosterism.
- The Diva’s Relic: When a Sacred Charm Held Up a Seattle Opera
A superstitious cantatrice once refused to perform because she’d lost a piece of the True Cross—forcing her manager to hunt through trunks until the curtain rose.
Also about this, in other words
- A Silent Health Crisis in the Classroom
A survey of White Bluffs schools reveals widespread goitre among children, prompting a state-led push for iodine treatment.
- A Medicine Man's Death, and a Debt Demanded in Blood
A Nisqually medicine man was killed after failing to cure children. Now his cousin says forty tribesmen will march on the Muckleshoot reservation for customary indemnity — or the killer and his kin may be killed.