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205 stories matching mob
- The Mob That Didn't Hang Wallace
A vigilante mob strings up a man in Seattle, only to be turned back by a local citizen standing between the prisoner and the rope.
- A Mob Hanged Two Men at the Courthouse. Then the State Argued Over the Bill.
After Hill and Parker were lynched in Colfax, Attorney General W. C. Jones ruled that the county need not pay for a coroner's inquest—and said the real hunt for the mob belonged to a grand jury.
- The Riot and the 'Queen City'
Mayor Henry Yesler recounts the dark days of the 1886 anti-Chinese riots and the subsequent rise of the 'Home Guards' in Seattle.
- Vigilante Mob Executes Prisoners in Oysterville Jail
After the supreme court granted a new trial to two men accused of murder, a Pacific County mob took matters into their own hands, storming the jail and killing the suspects.
- Vigilante Mob Targets Ballard Policeman
A vigilante mob descended on a Ballard home demanding that an acquitted police officer flee the county within 24 hours.
- The Sheriff’s Bold Stand Against Mob Rule
A newly minted newspaper editor-sheriff argues that local complicity, not just law enforcement failures, fuels vigilante violence in Washington.
- The Mob's Cruel Gamble: A Wrongful Lynching Attempt in Rosalia
A husband and wife were dragged into a horrific ordeal by a lynch mob convinced of their guilt in a missing child case—only to discover the child had been safe all along.
- The Local Press and the Mob
A critique of Washington newspapers that refused to take a hard moral stand against lynch law.
- ‘Incipient Treason’: Judge Hanford Sentences the Spokane Strikers
Seven men are jailed for contempt after a mob derails trains and seizes a roundhouse during the 1894 railroad strike. The federal judge calls it insurrection.
- Vigilante Mob Lynches Two Prisoners at Whitman County Jail
A masked party of fifty men broke into the courthouse to extract and hang a convicted assailant and a murder defendant, while a jury slept just feet away.
- The Night They Burned the Bridges: Sprague Makes Its Stand
A mob stones the returning militia, torch-wielding strikers destroy trestles on both sides of town, and a governor wires back orders to 'use all force at your command' to disperse the rioters.
- The Governor Condemns the Colfax Lynching Mob
Governor McGraw orders an investigation into the extrajudicial murder of two men in Whitman County, declaring that mob violence is no substitute for the courts.
- The Desperate Flight of Charles E. Myers
Accused of a fatal arson in Asotin, a man is moved from jail to jail across the state to escape an angry lynch mob.
- The Mob, The Military, and the Riot at the Seattle Wharf
In February 1886, a citizen-led campaign of forced expulsion against Seattle’s Chinese residents spiraled into a violent confrontation, triggering a week of martial law and armed conflict in the streets.
- Squak Valley Trial: Chinese Hop-Pickers Killed in 1885 Raid
A brutal night of terror in the hop fields as an armed mob targets immigrant laborers.
- The Mob That Tore Through Chinatown
Testimony from an acting police chief details the systematic expulsion of Chinese residents from Seattle during the violent anti-Chinese riots of February 1886.
- Mob Violence Against Federal Officers on Seattle Streets
A correspondent defends the Seattle police for their inaction while deputy marshals were hunted through the downtown district by angry crowds.
- The Massacre at Squak Valley
A coroner's jury investigates the brutal 1885 killing of three Chinese hop-pickers, uncovering a mob's systematic effort to ethnically cleanse the valley.
- The Minister Who Faced Down the Mob
How a local pastor stood against the 1886 anti-Chinese riots and became a target of the city's fury.
- The Mob That Stole Justice in Seattle
A federal judge delivers a blistering rebuke to the Seattle vigilantes who lynched three men in January 1882, declaring that the lawless 'Committee of Safety' is a threat greater than the criminals they executed.
- Mob terrorizes Chinese store on Washington Street
A group of men and boys pelted a Chinese-owned store with snowballs, forcing their way inside and destroying property until the police intervened.
- They Seized a Locomotive to Stop a Train—Then Faced Judge Hanford
After a mob of 3,000 surrounded a Northern Pacific train in Spokane, ten men were charged with contempt and riot; three pleaded guilty and two were sent to hard labor.
- The Newcastle Riot: When Labor Turned Mob
An editorial from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer condemns a violent clash in Newcastle, Washington Territory, where Knights of Labor members allegedly used intimidation to stop non-union miners from working.
- When the Local Paper Cheers the Mob
A governor's push to prosecute the Colfax vigilantes draws a shocking defense from Whitman County newspapers—and a sharp rebuke from The Olympian.
- An Interracial Wedding Sparks Public Outrage
Helen Gladys Emery leaves her California home to marry a Japanese man in Tacoma, facing mobs and hostile crowds along the way.
Also about this, in other words
- The Mob is Not a Court of Law
An editorial reflection on the recent lynching of Bill at Colfax, arguing that a community’s failure to maintain a just legal system does not justify vigilante violence.
- The Deadly Contagion of Mob Law
An editorial reflection on the rising threat of lynch law in the Pacific Northwest and the necessity of the courts.
- The Mob Rule at Our Doorstep
When an organized society in Walla Walla issued threats against anyone hiring Chinese labor, the press decried the move as a return to the lawless spirit of the frontier.
- The Billy and the Mob: A Tacoma Street Arrest
A thousand-strong crowd gathered on Pacific Avenue to witness the chaotic arrest of a man resisting police.
- The Mob Violence Trial That Shook 1885 Seattle
A jury acquits a man accused of murdering Chinese laborers in Squak Valley, sparking chaotic courtroom protests.
- The Mob That Met Its Match in Dayton
A man targeted for a vigilante lynching fights back and escapes his attackers, leaving his would-be murderers in the shadows.
- A Vicious Assault on the Waterfront
A Chinese resident attempts to seek justice in court after being beaten by a mob of schoolboys, but is met with the cold indifference of the law.
- Anti-Chinese Mob Drives Hop Pickers from Tampico
Armed vigilantes enforce local exclusionist sentiment, leaving hop crops to rot in the Yakima Valley.