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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 2 |
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| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 4 |
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| 1909 | 3 |
| 1918 | 1 |
40 stories matching madam
- The Vagabond Fortune-Teller: Seattle Arrests 'Madame Malla' for the Crime of Telling Futures
In May 1877, the city’s law enforcement decided that predicting the future was a crime against public order. They dragged 'Madame Malla' from her shop, citing vagrancy, despite her having done nothing but read palms.
- The Mother-in-Law’s Vengeance
A cantankerous encounter at the local recorder's office reveals a domestic dispute that turns violent, involving a skillet and a very narrow escape.
- The Widow’s Failed Suit and the Captain’s Steel Eye
A flirtatious widow attempts to trap a wealthy widower in marriage, but his razor-sharp wit and exacting standards send her packing.
- Abandoned and destitute, a woman accuses local fortune teller of exploitation
After collapsing on a Walla Walla street, a young woman details a coerced journey from Boise and a harrowing attempt to force her into sex work.
- The Clairvoyant and the Divorce Suit
A husband blames a local medium for his wife's refusal to return home, sparking a public denial from the accused.
- City Officials Expel 'Madame Pattie'
A palmist working out of a lodging house is ousted following allegations of involvement in illicit activities.
- The Astral Power Struggle
A Philadelphia mystic claims the late Madame Blavatsky’s spirit has hand-picked him as her successor, sparking a bitter schism within the Theosophical Society.
- The Hanford Farmer Who Wrote a Wartime Hit
C. F. Whaley of Ballygreen Farm penned the words to “Every Girl Who Has a Heart Loves a Soldier,” with music by Madame Schumann-Heink’s accompanist—and the profits went to the Red Cross.
- The Fortune Teller's Change of Heart
A local clairvoyant, weary of peddling fake love charms to desperate women, finds an unexpected path to a simpler life.
- The Midnight Disappearance of 'Madame' R
After pleading guilty to operating a house of ill-fame, a notorious Seattle figure known as 'Madame' R vanished from the city, leaving behind only the wrinkled traces of her former life.
- An Etiquette Dispute Over a Business Letter
A Walla Walla man takes deep offense at the formal address used in a professional letter to his wife, revealing the rigid social anxieties of the era.
- The Ghost in the Photograph
A grieving man’s obsession with the afterlife leads him into the dark, hidden corners of 1876 Seattle—and to a tragic end.
- The Judge and the City Attorney
A legal dispute between Municipal Judge Glasgow and City Attorney Fortson escalates toward contempt proceedings following disagreements over courtroom evidence.
- The Drunken Gentleman of Commercial Street
A tipsy passenger’s chaotic attempt to board a streetcar and his subsequent social performance in 1877 Seattle.
- The Mother Who Was Left Behind
A tragic railway accident reveals a painful divide between a social-climbing daughter and her neglected mother.
- The Secrets of Seattle’s Beauty Parlors
Behind the storefronts of 1889 Seattle, women entrepreneurs were building empires of vanity and wellness, one manicure at a time.
- The Circus Comes to Town: Montgomery’s Queen’s New Brings the 'Wonderful Kenebels' to Seattle
In October 1876, the largest and most brilliant circus company in the West descended upon Seattle, offering a night of acrobatics, animal acts, and high-flying daredevils for just one dollar.
- The Widow, the Prisoner, and a Near-Miss on Yesler Hill
Mrs. Harry L. Fraser demanded to face Paul Page, the man accused of killing her husband in a Northern Hotel barroom—while Page was being arraigned a few blocks away.
- The Plot to Rob Lou Graham
Police thwart a desperate plan by criminals to hold up the city's most famous madam for her diamonds.
- The Orting Tragedy: A Husband’s Despair and a Fortune-Teller’s Deceit
Edgar Kimball, a Mormon settler who moved his family from Utah to Tacoma in search of purity, was found dead from morphine overdose in Orting after years of marital strife and accusations of infidelity.
- The French Laundry War
When an abusive husband tried to have his wife and her assistant evicted and arrested, he found that the women of the 'French Laundry' weren't going down without a fight.
- A Miner’s Jealous Rage Left a Woman Dead in Roslyn
Rosa Baltimore surrendered without regret after shooting Sallie Turner; the 1894 press framed the killing around her work and reputation.
- The Mysterious Disappearance of the 'Captain'
A suave equestrian and fencing master vanishes from Portland, leaving behind a trail of unpaid debts and a bewildered society.
- The 'Pretty Widow' Conning the Coast
A charming socialite accused of swindling Seattle investors with worthless oil stocks awaits her day in court, leaving police convinced no jury will dare to convict her.
- The Trial of Lou Graham
A high-profile arrest of a prominent madam in 1891 Seattle ends abruptly when the city fails to prove its case in a spectacle of moral policing.
Also about this, in other words
- The Madam, the Capitalist, and the Broken Door
Lou Graham, who ran a South Fourth Street brothel, swore out a warrant against a wealthy Seattle capitalist after a drunken spree ended with a slap—and a quiet cover-up.
- The Uncharted Sphere of a Seattle Businesswoman
A local female shopkeeper in 1872 challenges the rigid gender expectations of the era through quiet, competent labor.
- A Seattle Preacher Tells Society Women They Are Marching Their Children to the Gallows
Preaching to women only on "Dying Mothers and Starving Children," Rev. M. A. Matthews calls society "the emptiness of emptiness" — and blames card parties, prizes and maternal neglect for juvenile crime.
- The Unseen Labor of a Male Housekeeper
A rare 1888 account reveals a 'male housekeeper' performing the exhaustive, often back-breaking daily labor typically expected of women, in a time when such roles were strictly gender-segregated.
- The Seattle Literary Club’s Debate on the Future of Womanhood
In an era of rapid transition, local voices gathered to debate whether women should practice law, medicine, or politics—or if they should be spared from the 'mire' of public life.
- The Unladylike Ballot
When women marched to the polls in Pasco, it sparked a local scandal that challenged traditional notions of 'respectability' and gender roles.
- The West's First Woman Police Officer
A daring new appointment brings a female officer onto the beat to clean up public behavior in her community.
- The Music-Hall Queen and Her Contract Husband
A Port Townsend performer known as "Shiner" says she will sue Frederick Macondray for divorce, brandishing love letters signed "My Dear Little Kid" and a marriage contract struck on Puget Sound.