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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 5 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 8 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 7 |
| 1886 | 4 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 12 |
| 1890 | 1 |
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| 1892 | 11 |
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| 1895 | 17 |
| 1897 | 1 |
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| 1903 | 5 |
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147 stories matching midst
- The City’s Panic Over a Smallpox Outbreak
When an infectious disease arrived on the Seattle waterfront in 1876, the City Council and local editors turned to extreme rhetoric, calling for the forced removal of the city's vulnerable populations.
- A Territory Mourns: Olympia Buries Charles H. Mason
When Washington Territory's secretary and frequent acting governor died in 1859, Chief Justice McFadden and Olympia's leading men gathered at the capitol to call him a public servant 'of both soul and nerve.'
- The Sudden Death of the Man Who Ran Seattle’s Newspaper, Bank and Republican Party
George H. Heilbron, banker, Republican kingmaker and editor of the Post-Intelligencer, died without warning. Rival Seattle papers agreed the city had lost one of its most useful citizens.
- Washington’s Citizen Soldiers Prepare for Duty
While the upcoming National Guard encampment at Chambers Prairie promises camaraderie, it serves a serious, dual purpose: law enforcement and the maintenance of civil stability.
- The Man Who Wouldn't Die: A Seattle Gallows Horror
In a gruesome spectacle that shook the young Territory of Washington, Francis Epps survived his own hanging by mere inches, crying for mercy as the crowd watched him dangle in agony before being cut down.
- Seattle Rallies Against Chinese Labor at the Standard Theater
An overflow crowd packs the Standard Theater to demand the total exclusion of Chinese laborers and the termination of the Burlingame Treaty, revealing the deep economic anxieties of the era.
- The Call for an Anti-Chinese Convention in Seattle
A local organizer proposes a massive, territory-wide assembly at Frye’s Opera House to coordinate the systematic removal of Chinese residents.
- An Arson Plot Unearthed in a Rented Shack
A struggling family, searching for kindling in their attic, discovers a lethal trap set to torch their home.
- Forced Expulsion of Japanese Workers
Citizens in Darrington organize to forcibly remove immigrant laborers from town.
- A Town Organizes a Vigilance Committee to Keep 'Northern Indians' Off Its Shore
Citizens meet at the Court House, resolve that 'no Northern Indians at any time be allowed to land at this place,' and appoint a standing Committee of Vigilance to enforce it.
- The Coal Creek Massacre: A Coroner’s Inquest into the Battle Between Knights of Labor and Mine Owners
In January 1890, Seattle Sheriff Cochrane deployed militia to Newcastle to suppress a miners' strike. When a riot erupted at Coal Creek, one man was killed and ten arrested. The subsequent coroner's inquest revealed a chaotic scene where union men claimed self-defense against armed mine owners, while the sheriff dismissed the Knights of Labor as 'too excitable.'
- The Statehouse Heist
A political mob forcibly seizes company records from a government official in a Spokane hotel room.
- The Wild West of Willapa Bay
Tensions boil over as armed citizens and rival officials fight a desperate 'seat war' to determine the county capital.
- A Gold-Headed Cane for the Man Who Stayed on the Phone in a Burning Mine
Newcastle honored C.C. Anderson, who kept giving orders to trapped miners as the roof burned above him.
- Saving the Archives from the Great Fire
Recalling the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, an employee recounts his desperate race to save the newspaper's historical files from the flames.
- The Pony Express Ends: Lincoln Wins, But the South Sees War
As the Pony Express delivers the shocking news of Abraham Lincoln’s election to a nervous Sacramento, Olympia residents mark local weddings and watch their market prices hold steady.
- The Tulalip Residents' Stand
A group of residents of the Tulalip Reservation sign a collective protest against an Indian Agent's interference in their logging operations and relationship with their white neighbors.
- The Oil Men’s Last Stand: Seattle’s Battle Over Fire Safety and Corporate Power
In March 1889, a proposed ordinance to ban oil storage within city limits sparked a fierce standoff between the Board of Trade and powerful petroleum interests. While the city pushed for safety, the oil dealers argued the rules were discriminatory and economically impossible, setting the stage for a legal battle that would define Seattle’s industrial future.
- The Struggle for Order in 1885 Olympia
As anti-Chinese riots swept through Tacoma and Seattle, the citizens of Olympia gathered to pass a desperate set of resolutions, hoping to avoid the 'lawless expulsion' of their neighbors.
- Vancouver Paper Acknowledges Sympathy for Expelling Chinese Residents
A 1885 dispatch from the Vancouver Independent reveals the chilling, unchecked spread of anti-Chinese sentiment as communities across the Washington Territory debated the forced removal of residents.
- They Refused the Money and the Land
In 1895, the Wenatchee Indians turned down a $36,000 payment and allotments, fearing it would erase their claim to a promised Mission Creek reservation.
- The Converted Burglar Who Asked Kansas to Come and Get Him
After a Salvation Army altar call in Seattle, an escaped Leavenworth prisoner walked into the Post-Intelligencer and confessed—then notified the governor he was ready to serve the eight years he owed.
- A Ruinous Gale Sweeps the Valley
A severe windstorm lays waste to orchards and hay crops in Finley, leaving farmers to survey the wreckage.
- A Local Union Distances Itself from Anti-Chinese Violence
The Knights of Labor in Snohomish issue a public resolution disavowing a recent attack on Chinese residents, while still calling them a 'curse to this country.'
- Smallpox Scare in Downtown Seattle
A man arriving from San Francisco by steamship causes a panic after seeking help for symptoms at a local physician's office.
Also about this, in other words
- The Fight for the Nitrate Plant
Federal engineers scour Priest Rapids, scouting a location for a massive $20 million government facility.
- 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.
- Standing Room Only: Seattle's Amateur Thespians Surprise Their Director
The Athletic Club's comic travesty packs Cordary's Theater to the rafters, and a floral tribute turns the second act into an ambush for director Bray.
- A Minister’s Sharp Critique of City Hall’s 'Joinery'
Rev. Wallace Nutting takes the pulpit to call out bureaucratic waste, road-grading failures, and a lack of conscience in police enforcement.
- The Nahcotta Bear Fighter
A meat market man from the coast fends off an angry mother bear using only his boot.
- The Bid for the Priest Rapids Nitrate Plant
Federal cabinet members are set to investigate the Columbia River as a potential industrial powerhouse for national defense.
- Vigilantism in Wiser
A deputy sheriff takes three men into custody for the targeting of Chinese laborers.
- A Domestic Tragedy in Mount Pleasant
A husband's rage turns fatal when a neighbor intervenes to protect his wife and children.