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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
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| 1877 | 4 |
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248 stories matching messag
- The Governor Tells Olympia to Tighten Its Belt
In 1895, Governor McGraw used his message to demand retrenchment, railroad reform and a quick end to the U.S. Senate fight so lawmakers could get to the people's business.
- The Pigeons That Flew Down From Rainier With News the Mountain Was Smoking
Seven homing pigeons carried dispatches from Mount Rainier's slopes, disproving the era's altitude limits and delivering word that the volcano was steaming.
- The Governor’s Message and the Territorial Legislature
As the territorial assembly gathers in Olympia, lawmakers debate office furniture and hear the Governor's address—while a member from Yakima keeps his feet on the table.
- McGraw to Olympia: Cut Spending, Fix the Courts
With Washington $1.5 million in debt and revenues falling, the governor calls for retrenchment and warns that court costs shut the poor out of justice.
- Seattle's First Poultry Show Was a Rooster Booster's Dream
The Puget Sound Poultry Club opened its first annual exhibition at Rialto Hall, with a California judge, silver cups, and homing pigeons that had just flown messages from a mountain expedition.
- The Perils of the Telegraph
A look at the chaotic and often hilarious errors produced by local telegraph operators.
- The Postmaster General's Forgotten 'Postal Telegraph' Scheme
Before the digital age, a visionary postmaster proposed merging the U.S. Mail with the telegraph to turn instant messaging into a public utility, aiming to bypass corporate monopolies.
- One Day Late: The Veto That May Hang a Man
A clerk's date stamp, a messenger who cannot recall which day he ran an errand, and a condemned Italian at Tacoma whose last chance at a new appeal may have expired in the paperwork.
- Seattle's Fire Chief Vanished Before His Day in Court
A.B. Hunt disappeared after telling friends he was off to Tacoma for trial; the city removed him, named Alexander Allen Jr. chief, and left a mystery that only deepened when his father was summoned to prove his birth.
- Seattle's Sewer Scandal: A City Council in Disarray
Mayor Ronald’s scathing message exposes massive budget overruns and administrative incompetence in the city's public works department.
- The Fire Chief Who Ran for the Border
A telegram from British Columbia, a contested resignation, and a letter to the editor expose the perjury and naturalization fraud case that consumed Seattle City Hall.
- City Hall Showdown: Council and Reformers Clash Over Charter Revision
A heated joint meeting of the city council and civic organizations debates whether to call a special election for a new city charter, with accusations of bullying and claims of wasted taxpayer money.
- The Mayor Moves to Shut the Dives and Gambling Rooms
A sweeping message from the mayor demands that the council revoke the licenses of saloons and music halls where girls sell liquor and gamblers run their games—passed in full by the aldermen even as auditors report a $27,000 hole in the street-improvement funds.
- The Candy That Killed: A Postal Clerk’s Tragic Mistake in Seattle
In May 1904, Assistant Postmaster W. H. Metralfe died after eating candy given to him by a stranger at the Seattle station, sparking an investigation into motive and madness.
- The Minister Who Left the Church for Socialism
Declaring the modern church a 'parasite,' Reverend J.C. Wiswell resigns to embrace the message of international Socialism.
- The Cultist Behind Bars
Joshua Klein, held in the county jail, claims to be receiving telepathic messages from his followers in Vienna while parents demand their daughters return home.
- The Governor Vetoes the Anti-Vivisection Bill
Washington's governor refuses to sign a sweeping ban on animal dissection in public schools, arguing that medical progress and anatomy lessons depend on it.
- Washington’s Governor Calls for a 'Bone Dry' State
Governor Lister’s annual message to the legislature includes a sweeping push for absolute prohibition and the overhaul of state government.
- The Woman Who Crossed the Lines: A Civil War Journey Ends in Seattle
Mrs. W. Harlan, who defied army orders and carried a lunch basket of soldiers' savings through Confederate country to reach her wounded husband, dies in Seattle.
- The Divorce Dozen: Olympia’s Council Clears a Path for Broken Marriages
In December 1860, the Washington Territory Council processed a flurry of divorce petitions, including one from prominent local figure Carson D. Boren, revealing the fragile nature of domestic life in the frontier.
- The President's Vision for a Settler-Colonial Expansion
In his final annual message, President Ulysses S. Grant reflects on the centennial of the republic, the management of the post-war South, and a failed dream of annexing Santo Domingo to solve the 'Negro question.'
- Sixteen Seattleites Climb Rainier, With Carrier Pigeons and a Night on the Crater
Two members of a Seattle climbing party return from Mount Rainier after the rest push on to the summit, where they plan to camp amid volcanic steam and signal the city with bonfires.
- A Christmas on the Ice King: The Climb That Saw Rainier Smoking
In 1894, Major Ingraham led six men, seven homing pigeons, and a camera onto Mount Rainier’s glaciers. They came back with frostbite, a story of steam and smoke rising from the crater—and one pigeon missing.
- The Sudden Resurfacing of Walter Williams
A tragic accident at the Seattle docks takes a strange turn when a missing man's body reappears exactly as police begin to communicate with his widow.
- Olympia Moves to Outlaw the Insanity Defense — and Gag the Press on Murders
With the 1909 session half gone, Washington's legislature advances local option and an anti-racetrack gambling bill, while a sweeping new criminal code would strip juries of the insanity plea and bar newspapers from covering homicides before trial.
Also about this, in other words
- Seattle Synagogue Modernizes Ritual
Congregation Ohaveth Sholom adopts a conservative reform minhag to shorten and simplify services.