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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
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78 stories matching lament
- A Monument for the Lamented Coats
Indigenous communities gather at Puyallup to honor a leader with a grand memorial and traditional potlatch.
- A Jury Called the Franklin Mine Fire Arson. Thirty-Seven Miners Were Already Dead.
A coroner's jury found that someone deliberately set the fire that suffocated 37 workers in the Franklin mine. The only survivor described how one opened door and one stopped fan turned the gangway into a death trap.
- The Peavey Gang vs. The US Army
When federal troops tried to stop construction on the Puyallup reservation, Indigenous laborers and their allies literally rolled the government's attempts out of the way.
- The Day Washington Was Born: A City Holds Its Breath
As the nation celebrates statehood, Seattle gathers in a packed hall to hear speeches on liberty, land fraud, and the future of the 'Queen City.'
- The Seattle Armory Convention Fiasco of 1889
Chaos, ballot stuffing, and screaming matches marked a pivotal municipal nominating convention in the wake of the Great Seattle Fire.
- A Neighborhood Under Siege: The Fatal Feud of Fourth Street
A quiet funeral for Fred M. Hall masks a violent, month-long dispute between neighbors that ended in a fatal shooting and a town paralyzed by fear.
- After the Great Fire of 1889: Rebuilding a City from the Ashes
While Seattle recovers from a devastating conflagration, a citywide debate pits public safety and urban planning against private interests over the future layout of the business district.
- The Fight for Seattle’s Rail Future
In 1878, a local leader rallied Seattle to demand federal land reform and a railroad connection, decrying the influence of corporate interests over the prosperity of the Territory.
- When the Law Stops the City
A judicial ruling in Tacoma paralyzes street improvements, sparking a bitter feud between city officials and property owners.
- Seattle Packs a Theater to Mourn Frederick Douglass
A month after the great abolitionist's death, the city's Black community fills the Seattle Theater with music, prayer and eulogy — and hears him compared to Washington and Lincoln.
- Vigilante Justice Follows the Murder of a Pierce County Leader
A mass-meeting in Steilacoom formalizes the community's outrage over the vigilante killing of a citizen-slayer, reflecting deep distrust in the local courts.
- The Grave Robbers of Spokane Falls
A quiet cemetery south of town is disturbed by a bizarre act of desecration, leaving a grieving family and a mystified community.
- The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Stealing
A young Seattle serial runaway and horse thief, described as having the face of an 'innocent Sunday School' student, leaves a trail of abandoned farms and confused sheriffs across the White and Duwamish rivers.
- The Unbreakable Cycle of Juanita Blake
After weeks of prayer and reform attempts, a young woman acquitted of larceny heads straight back to the 'Blackchapel' district.
- A Minister’s Sharp Critique of City Hall’s 'Joinery'
Rev. Wallace Nutting takes the pulpit to call out bureaucratic waste, road-grading failures, and a lack of conscience in police enforcement.
- The Dignity of the Oyster Bar
A young woman, destitute after her father's death, finds that the labor market is far more welcoming than her former social circle.
- A Brutal Marriage Ends
After enduring months of physical abuse and a terrifying attempt on her life, Cora A. Newson is granted a divorce by Judge Lichtenberg.
- The Ghost of a Civic Dream: Seattle’s Lost City Hall
A century-old bequest for a grand municipal building sits unclaimed, as a local property owner laments the city's scattered, inefficient offices.
- The Skagit Harvest Strike of 1878
A radical field hand pens an open letter from the Skagit River flats, decrying a race to the bottom in wages and the 'swine-like' conditions imposed on labor.
- The Ferryman of the Dark River
An encounter on the waterfront reveals the quiet, lingering melancholy of a man reflecting on the 'old timey days' and the hard reality of post-slavery life.
- The Lonely Life of the Seattle Bachelor
A local writer laments the lack of respectable social outlets for unmarried men, arguing that the city’s saloons and variety shows offer nothing but 'hardening influences.'
- Seven-Cent Meals: Seattle's City Mission Fed Thousands in 1893
In November 1893, the Seattle City Mission served 3,049 free meals, provided 1,071 lodgings, and begged the city for underclothing as the depression deepened.
- The Coxeyites Descend on Spokane
Populist supporters and unemployed 'Industrial Army' marchers head toward Spokane, setting up a confrontation with the city's new leadership.
- Seattle’s Hotel Crunch: A City Desperate for Room
A reporter tours Seattle’s hotels in 1883 to see if the 'Queen City' can house the incoming tide of immigrants, only to find packed rooms and frustrated proprietors.
- The Shingle Mill Girls of Cosmopolis
A local lumber mill defies labor union expectations by hiring a crew of women, sparking both ridicule and admiration on the Pacific Coast.
Also about this, in other words
- The Typographer's Lament: A Plea for Better Penmanship
A frustrated newspaper printer turns to verse to protest the illegible handwriting of contributors, whose scribbles make the typesetter’s life a living hell.
- The Tragedy of a Lonely Life in Seattle
A man's desperate act of suicide on Commercial Street illuminates the harsh isolation and economic despair of Seattle’s early frontier days.
- A Heartrending Tragedy in Hereford Swamp
A father's desperate attempt to rescue his children from a falling tree results in a devastating loss of three lives.
- A Tragic Discovery in Port Townsend
A local grocer is found in a vacant lot with life-threatening wounds, leaving behind a letter indicating mental distress.
- Sixteen Paupers, a Clay-Bed Well, and a Farm Not Fit to Live On
County commissioners tour the county poor farm and find cracked fences, filthy bedding, horses bleeding on barbed wire and water unfit to drink. The old place will be sold, they say — but only if a poor farm is worth having at all.
- The Shoemaker Who Refused Charity
Charles Lett, a struggling shoemaker, worked at his bench until the very end, leaving behind a legacy of pride that challenged the city’s notions of poverty and 'divine providence.'
- The Orphan’s Plea: A Poem That Moved Seattle to Tears on Decoration Day
As the city honored Civil War dead with solemn processions and speeches, a young girl’s grief over her father’s unmarked grave brought the Grand Marshal to tears.
- A Heartbreak by the Snohomish River
A lonely local man is caught in a 'melancholy case' of unrequited love, spending his days watering a hitching post in a lovestruck daze.