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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1915 | 1 |
18 stories matching joker
- Legislative 'Joker' Stalls Protections for Women Workers
A new law aiming to limit work hours for female employees includes a loophole that may render it entirely toothless.
- The Telephone Dust Prank
A creative hoax in a small town fooled local housewives into wrapping their telephones in rags to 'blow out the dust.'
- The Day Seattle Stood Still: A Sunday of Sobriety and Silence
In November 1876, the city’s saloons closed their doors for a rare day of peace, while the newspaper editor noted with relief that there were no fights to report.
- An April Fool’s Joke Gone Wrong
A local office prank involving 'hard-boiled' eggs and croton oil turns into a bitter lesson in Seattle workplace etiquette.
- The Tragedian and the Seventy-Cent Bill
A famous actor finds himself haunted by a small, unpaid restaurant check that follows him across the country like a bad omen.
- The Price of a Prank on the Seattle Frontier
A late-night practical joke almost turns fatal when a nervous citizen, conditioned by the rough-and-tumble reality of the city, nearly draws his pistol on a group of teenagers.
- The Tacoma Taxpayer’s Fight Against ‘Fake’ Legislative Wedges
Citizens and labor organizations organize against city officials accused of manipulating tax laws and misusing municipal funds for private gain.
- The High Price of Bacon
A local packing manager pushes back against rumors that Seattle’s market is driving up the cost of smoked meats.
- The Beat Cop's Bad Joke
A police officer on Queen Anne hill faces suspension after fabricating a robbery report as a 'joke'—much to the chagrin of city leadership.
- The Cigar-Box Bomb That Came in the Mail for Gertie Spicer
A Washington woman suspected a prank, set the package on the sidewalk and opened it with a stick—just before it exploded and shook the buildings.
- A Crepe-Draped Cleveland and the Custom-House Deal
Port Townsend Democrats gather amid patronage bargains, a sacrificed ally, and a prank that put the president's portrait in mourning.
- John L. Sullivan's Seattle Takeover
When the world’s heavyweight champion brought his traveling theatrical troupe to town, the city went into a frenzy of gawking, impersonations, and mass hysteria.
- The Cold Truth at City Hall
A winter coal shortage brings a parade of desperate applicants to a city official who doles out fuel with a mix of bureaucratic cruelty and casual dismissals.
- The Great Northern Train Heist That Wasn't
A bungled opium bust and a wild chase through the woods turned an everyday commuter trip into a farce.
- Cheers, Hisses and a Canal: The Night Tacoma Cheered the Ditch It Was Told Would Ruin It
At a packed Republican mass-meeting in Germania Hall, speaker after speaker dared the crowd to believe the Lake Washington canal would destroy Tacoma — and the crowd roared back that it would not.
- The Land Office Money That Never Reached the Books
Register Isaac W. Smith accuses Receiver Selucius Garfielde of holding land-claim payments on private deposit and refusing to account for them—an 1861 public audit fight in Washington Territory.
- Spokane Falls Fires Back at the Boom-Sayers
A Walla Walla society paper printed a traveler's claim that Spokane Falls was a real-estate humbug at its zenith. The Falls' editor answered with population figures, water power, and an invitation to tour the new bridge.
- 651 Bills, 13 Laws: Inside Olympia's Frantic Last Two Weeks
A deadlocked local-option fight, a women's eight-hour bill that ended in fisticuffs, and a marriage law barring 'drunkards' and the 'feeble-minded' — the 1909 legislature's chaotic home stretch.