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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 4 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
33 stories matching mattress
- Firefighters Helpless as Hydrant Fails
A major blaze destroys a local mattress factory and blacksmith shop as faulty infrastructure prevents emergency response.
- The Fugitive in the Mattress
A desperate man attempting to flee Seattle justice is apprehended by a persistent sheriff after being discovered hiding inside a pile of bedding aboard a steamship.
- Late-Night Blaze Nearly Consumes Third Avenue Shop
A swift response by Seattle firefighters prevents a major conflagration at a secondhand goods store.
- The Excelsior Boom: How Puyallup Turned Wood into Bedding
A nascent industry in the 1870s aimed to replace imported hair for mattresses with locally milled cottonwood shavings.
- Waterfront Mattress Factory Destroyed by Fire
A late-night blaze gutted the George S. Lenders Bedding Company plant, causing $6,000 in damages.
- The Mattress They Took From the Children
A teamster's hospital stay turned a $136 loan into a chattel-mortgage seizure—and a lawsuit over the mattress his children slept on.
- A Locked Furniture Store and a Mattress Fire in Colville
Citizens broke in to haul out furniture while smoke filled the upper floors of M. C. Kelly's store; the blaze was stopped, but the damage outpaced the insurance.
- Furniture Factory Nearly Lost to Waterfront Fire
Firefighters battle a stubborn blaze beneath the old Mechanics' Wharf after flames broke out under a newly opened mattress and furniture factory.
- The 1878 Housing Squeeze
Before the skyline, Seattleites were already scrambling to find affordable bedding and basic household furnishings to survive the cold.
- The Pioneer Discount Marketplace of Seattle
In an era of high prices, the Seattle Variety Store promised relief by flooding the local market with affordable, second-hand household goods.
- A Close Call in the Kitchen
A man’s attempt to dry his dynamite in a kitchen oven ends in a deafening, structure-leveling blast.
- The Hidden Cost of a Good Night's Rest
In 1877 Seattle, a local merchant’s advertisement reveals the bustling, precarious trade in second-hand bedding and the struggle to furnish a frontier home.
- Death in the Wyoming Saloon
A logger is found dead in a basement barroom after a night of heavy drinking, raising questions about his final hours.
- The Second-Hand Sleep Economy
Before the age of big-box furniture, T.P. Freeman’s 'Variety Store' turned reclaimed bedding into a thriving trade in 1870s Seattle.
- Walla Walla's Year of Fire
The local fire department reports a record-breaking 104 alarms for the year, including three major blazes that leveled local businesses.
- Redirecting the River: Reclaiming the Stuck Valley
Pierce County engineers cut a new channel through the Stuck River to drain 2,000 acres of farmland and end the cycle of sand-choked floods.
- A Lodging House Dispute Turns Criminal
A domestic fallout at a Third Street boarding house leads to accusations of furniture theft and violent harassment.
- The Night Fourth Street Lit Up: Ellis's Furniture Warehouse Burns
A fire breaks out above a frame warehouse after ten o'clock, the east side of the city glows, and firemen haul chairs and mattresses into the street until the heat drives them back.
- The Day Seattle’s Firefighters Forgot the Engine
A narrow escape on Mill Street in 1876 reveals how quickly a small fire could consume the wooden city—and how unprepared the new volunteer company was.
- The Forgotten Souls of the County Poor Farm
A rare, unflinching account of the grim conditions inside Seattle’s makeshift county asylum, where the elderly and infirm were left to languish on hard wooden planks.
- The Shadow in the Long Grass
A community in Tacoma is on edge after the discovery of a makeshift bed in a meadow leads residents to believe a fugitive murderer is living among them.
- The Ghostly Note of Joe Davis
After his wife’s death in Oregon, a man jailed in Seattle took his own life in his prison cell, leaving behind a haunting, misspelled confession that claimed they had died for each other.
- Suspicious Boarding House Fire Under Investigation
A fire discovered in a Seventh Street boarding house basement, complete with kerosene-soaked bedding and abandoned documents, suggests a deliberate attempt at arson.
- The Porpoise and the Cow: A Nautical Disaster in Tacoma
A schooner, a one-eyed cow, and a cargo-hoisting gone horribly wrong—a day on the Tacoma waterfront that ended in broken bunks and a damp bovine.
- The Hidden Hoard of Seattle's Recluse
When two elderly men were found dead in a filthy, squalid room, a subsequent search revealed a small fortune stashed in bedposts and rags.