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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 5 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 8 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 8 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 4 |
| 1889 | 11 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 9 |
| 1892 | 13 |
| 1893 | 13 |
| 1894 | 25 |
| 1895 | 22 |
| 1898 | 3 |
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| 1904 | 3 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1928 | 1 |
173 stories matching laugh
- The Wickersham Scandal: A Judge’s Honor on Trial
In a Tacoma courtroom that captivated the Pacific Northwest, Miss Brantner takes the stand for days, detailing alleged improprieties with Probate Judge Wickersham. The trial exposes a web of land fraud, cocaine use, and social climbing, culminating in a judge’s furious rebuke of a laughing crowd.
- The Poet-Waiter Who Drowned in Seattle Harbor
C. W. Chantrell came from a noble French family and carried a love poem in his pocket. He died broke, alcoholic, and alone on the steamer Idaho—and Seattle's coroner called it an accident.
- The Engineer’s Ash-Box Ghost: A Tale of New Year’s Eve Peril
In a column dated October 1870, the Seattle Daily Intelligencer reprints a harrowing tale from an old engineer about surviving a wreck by hiding under his locomotive's ash pan during a blizzard.
- City Council Faces Voter Backlash
Everett council members are accused of ignoring neighborhood ward clubs and killing a streetcar ordinance, a move that may seal their political fate.
- 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.'
- Ida May Love Went to Sea as 'Dan McArdle'
A Whatcom newlywed walked out on her husband, her skirts and her name to serve seven weeks aboard the warship Monterey — and the Post-Intelligencer tracked her to a Leavenworth dance hall, where she was still talking about 'us boys.'
- 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 Prickly Pear That Changed a Life: How a Boy’s Prank in Iowa Sent Him to Seattle
A local resident reveals the bizarre chain of events that led him from an Iowa farm to the Pacific Northwest, starting with a screwdriver and a pair of boots.
- 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.
- The Court-Martial That Laughed Up Its Sleeve
In closed sessions at Olympia, Col. J. C. Haines faces charges of foul and abusive language—but his supporters say the fix is already in.
- Seattle’s Japanese Neighbors Answer the Call of War
In August 1894, Japanese residents packed a Jefferson Street hall to send money, flour and volunteers to the First Sino-Japanese War—while Chinese Seattleites predicted Japan’s defeat.
- The Newspaper Owner Who Disavowed His Own Editorial
Francis Murphy reads L.S.J. Hunt’s letter to a Seattle crowd, disowning the Post-Intelligencer’s anti-temperance editorial and sending $200 for the cause.
- The Electric Gate: An Olympia Father Declares War on Front-Gate Courting
A gadget-minded Eastside householder wires his front gate to deliver a jolt to lally-gagging sweethearts — and proves it first on an unwitting dog and a cabbage-loving cow.
- Forty-Three Old Soldiers at Orting — and the Olympia Women Furnishing Their Rooms
The state soldiers' home that legislators once laughed at now shelters 43 Civil War veterans, and cities across Washington are racing to outfit their quarters — Olympia's Relief Corps is fitting up an 'Olympia room.'
- The Judge Who Was Only 'Sober as a Judge'
A legendary anecdote from the Seattle police court where a witness’s inadvertent insult revealed the bench's own notorious reputation for intoxication.
- The Tin-Can Alarm Clock Prank That Sent a Spokane Sleeper Racing Downtown at 1:30 A.M.
A prominent citizen rigged a string-and-tin-can wake-up call with the night watchman. Local pranksters pulled the string first—and he dressed and ran for a train that wasn't leaving.
- The Hanged Corporal: A Seattle Guard Company Investigates Its Own Effigy Prank
Officers admitted the facts but called it a practical joke—then promised to punish the men who strung up Corporal J. E. Boyer in effigy.
- The Great Lemonade Deception
A courting couple tries to trick one another in the dark, but a mischievous brother gets the last laugh.
- The Horseshoe Curse: A 1880 Seattle Fable of Fortune
In the pages of the Seattle Intelligencer, a cautionary rhyme warns that even the smallest superstitions can wreak havoc on a settler’s homestead.
- The Senator Who Wanted to Cut Off Every Chinese Man's Queue — and Jail Him
After Chinese cooks boycotted his Tacoma spice business, a state senator proposed fining and jailing any Chinese man who wore a queue, with state agents sent out to shear them.
- The Chief's Daughter in the Shadow of the City Named for Her Father
A San Francisco Chronicle correspondent visits Princess Angeline in her Seattle shack and finds the city proudly carving her father's face on a new business block while his daughter lives on charity.
- Indigenous Opposition to the Squire Bill
Jonas Stannup warns against the theft of tribal land by government commissioners, citing the suspicious nature of the 'Squire bill'.
- The Last Laugh of Charles Nordstrom
As the Seattle Star reports on May 15, 1899, condemned murderer Charles Nordstrom sits in his cell, seemingly indifferent to the death warrant signed that morning. While the legal machinery grinds toward his execution for the murder of a police officer, one man’s sarcastic smile and contemptuous silence speak louder than any final prayer.
- The Man Who Laughed Through the Flames: A Snohomish Tragedy of Love and Loss
When a gas leak ignited his home in Fruitland, Washington, Chandler Chandler didn't run for safety—he shielded his wife from the blast. His subsequent conversation with the doctor reveals a stoicism that defies belief.
- The Suicide of H. A. Ray: A Seattle Man’s Tragic End Amidst Scandal and Debt
Prominent waterworks official takes his own life in Chicago after financial ruin and a complex romantic entanglement with a woman he claimed was his sister.
Also about this, in other words
- Primary Meeting Erupts in Laughter
A political primary meeting takes a humorous turn when a physician makes a pointed jab at the judiciary.
- The Last Laugh on the Tariff: A Farmer’s Satirical Roast of McKinley
In a December 1890 edition of the Aberdeen Herald, a poem titled 'Better Than a Gold Mine' mocks President-elect William McKinley’s protectionist policies with biting wit.
- A Dramatic Arrest and a 'Whisky Fit' at the Police Station
A suspect arrested for jumping a boarding house bill and passing bogus checks collapses in his wife's arms while in police custody.
- The Deaf Dodge
A local drunkard tries to outsmart a judge by faking deafness, only to be tripped up by the prospect of a free drink.
- The 'Witty' Baritone of Olympia
A skeptical newspaper editorial skewers a local social columnist for romanticizing a drunken political gathering at the state capital.
- The Heckler Who Fell Flat
A political agitator's attempt to disrupt a Seattle campaign rally on Pioneer Place ends in a literal tumble.
- The Bathtub Comedy That Saved the Day
A struggling young couple in a Seattle play find their only salvation in a piece of furniture that isn't quite what it seems.
- An Eccentric Prisoner's Optimistic Dance
A man awaiting sentencing in a local court baffles reporters by dancing a jig and promising a champagne celebration upon his release.