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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
18 stories matching memorandum
- The Nameless Man in the Snow
A railroad worker is killed in the deep drifts near Leavenworth, leaving behind only a name he likely invented and a slip of paper with a California address.
- The Eight-Hour Day Battle in 1887
Washington territorial legislators spar over radical new labor laws, including mandates for an eight-hour workday and the end of company-scrip payment systems.
- The River's Grimmer Harvest
A railroad worker is discovered drowned in the Yakima River, leaving behind only five cents and a trail of labor records from across the West.
- The Trial of the City Treasurer
Adolph Krug faces a marathon legal battle over allegations of misused city funds during a high-stakes embezzlement trial in 1894.
- A Tragic End on the Tide Flats
The body of a missing drayman is discovered by a switchman in the mud near the Northern Pacific tracks.
- A Shoemaker's Carefully Planned Farewell at the Grand Hotel
Carl Eggert, despondent over his wife's death and his son's suicide, shot himself in a Tacoma hotel after leaving detailed notes, money for the cleanup, and instructions to wait until morning.
- The Ghost of a Shipwrecked Log
A bottle washed ashore at Cape Flattery brings a message from a ship doomed by fire, while a local business turns the tragedy into a strange marketing stunt.
- The Right-of-Way Racket: How One Man Tried to Sell Seattle's Waterfront Twice
A legal battle in King County reveals the chaotic land grabs of early Seattle, where a single deed could claim ownership of deep-water access rights across the entire waterfront.
- The Jailbreak That Failed at Lake Union
A failed escape attempt by three young prisoners leaves a jailer with a gun, a missing saw, and a mystery about who was smuggling tools to the jailbirds.
- The Great Legislative Mess of 1877
A scathing editorial reveals how Washington Territory lawmakers spent their time sight-seeing instead of legislating, resulting in a chaotic pile of 'undigested' laws.
- A Seattle Merchant Sold His Stock, Then Vanished — and His Creditors Want Him Back
Simon Rumpf disappeared sometime after selling the Diamond Palace's goods to J. K. Basye & Co. Detectives are hunting Nuremberg, Honolulu, and a cache of missing merchandise they suspect never left the city.
- The Man Who Vanished Into the Fog: A Barber’s Final Journey
Coroner Cross and Dr. Root piece together the identity of a decomposed body found near Salmon Bay, linking it to a boarder at the Commercial Hotel who may have taken his own life with morphine.
- The Riverboat Captain Who Was Everyone’s Personal Errands Boy
Before the age of reliable logistics, the Snohomish riverboat captain was the community’s unofficial delivery service, tasked with everything from baby shoes to engine parts.
- The Shipbuilder Who Wasn't: A Swindler’s Bogus Checks and a Wife’s Shame
Captain John E. Higgins arrives in Seattle posing as a respected Bath, Maine shipbuilder, only to be exposed by Harbor Police Officer Metzler after cashing forged checks on local merchants.
- A Seven-Day Ordeal at Sea: The City of Panama Limps into Port Townsend
A midnight collision with a lumber schooner, a hurricane off the Oregon coast, and a pointed comparison to the steamer Pacific — which went down with more than 200 souls aboard.
- The 'Other' America: How Seattle's Elite Feared the 'Unassimilable' Masses
A January 1889 federal report on immigration warns that new arrivals are too different to become citizens, fueling calls for exclusion just as Seattle prepares for its own explosive growth.
- A Correspondent Reports on the Nez Perce Conflict
Writing from Olympia in 1877, a local correspondent describes Nez Perce leaders’ refusal to relocate and the surprise attack that sparked a war many understood as a defense of home.
- The Treasurer Who Vanished, Then Wrote Home From Puget Sound
An Iowa county official disappeared in the 1870s. After his death, his family gathered at the Olympia Hotel to settle an estate—and letters revealed a hidden life, a bank failure, and a real-estate boom he hoped would make restitution possible.
Also about this, in other words
- The Scandal of the Anti-Wallace Telegram
A political storm erupts as local figures scramble to disown a telegram sent to the President, exposing a fractured front against Wallace.