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32 stories matching molest
- The Day Tacoma Forced Out Its Chinese Neighbors
In a pre-planned act of collective expulsion, hundreds of residents marched through the rain to force the city's Chinese population to flee to Lakeview, marking a dark chapter in Pacific Northwest history.
- The Judge Who Declared Unions Illegal
In a landmark charge to the grand jury in 1893, Chief Justice Thomas Burke declared that any combination of workers preventing employment was a 'conspiracy against the law of the land,' effectively criminalizing the labor movement before Washington even became a state.
- The Battle for the Puyallup Reservation
A federal judge rules that the United States government no longer has absolute control over allotted Indian lands, clearing the way for a railroad to cross the Puyallup reservation.
- Under Fire on the Way to Spokane: Seattle's Militia Rode Into a Rail War
Col. Joseph Green's detachment returns from Spokane after escorting a mutinied company through burned bridges, ambushes and striker country—and the city turns out to cheer.
- Tacoma Man Arrested for Refusing Smallpox Vaccination
As fear of disease grips the border, travelers are being forcibly vaccinated and quarantined in a climate of escalating hysteria.
- Tacoma’s Chinese Merchant Question Turns to Threats of Violence
A visiting Chinese businessman tests whether Tacoma will admit Chinese merchants, while the Trades Council calls them “a pestilential social element” and a crowd waits at the depot.
- Chinese Merchants Return to Tacoma
A trading company opens in the Bostwick Block, sparking fears of renewed anti-Chinese violence.
- Seattle’s 1895 Co-op Where 150 Unemployed Men Ate for 7 Cents a Day
At a Belltown barracks, unemployed single men pooled their wages, submitted to military-style rules and fed an average of 150 people daily for about 7 cents each.
- 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 Myth of the 'Lawless' Frontier
While regional papers fueled rumors of anarchy in Seattle during the anti-Chinese riots of 1885, the local press insisted the city was safer than ever.
- The Mayor Who Refused to Expel
When an outsider asked to ban Chinese residents from Tacoma, Mayor Jacob Mann stood his ground against the era's tide of exclusion.
- The Great Bail Bond Fiasco
Two swindlers arrested on a Puget Sound steamer have vanished after a two-year legal delay, leaving the state helpless to punish them.
- The Beating of Henry Brown: A Runaway Elevator Boy and a Family's Violent Secret
A 14-year-old black elevator operator flees his home after a savage whipping by his father, revealing a tangled story of poverty, pride, and punishment in 1894 Seattle.
- A High-Wire Heist at Ninth and Commerce
Budding criminals scaled a twelve-foot transom to loot a hardware store, only to ignore a massive, unlocked safe in favor of a handful of change.
- The 175-Pound Ghost That Fought Back
A skeptic grabbed a séance spirit, discovered a 175-pound man under the gauze, and touched off a fistfight in a Fremont parlor.
- Sunnydale Residents Organize Against Chinese Laborers
A local group passes a resolution to exclude and boycott Chinese workers after a land lease is finalized.
- Gold in the Wenatchee, but the Miners Were Told to Leave
Pearson's party returns to Steilacoom after Indians warn them off the new gold fields; a handful of dirt shows a dollar's worth of gold.
- The Scandalous Church Rivalry of 1872
A Seattle editor lashes out against a local rival, defending his character against allegations of meddling in the affairs of the Methodist Church.
- The Clerk Who Stole Everything to Run Away
A young Seattle clerk, blinded by a whirlwind romance at a Washington Street boarding house, betrayed his own mother to fund a desperate escape to San Francisco.
- The Anarchist’s Pamphleteer
While the nation held its breath over the Haymarket executions in Chicago, a woman faced down Seattle police to distribute radical literature on Government Square.
- The Clearing of Whitechapel
In April 1892, Seattle’s police chief launched a moral crusade to shutter the 'cribs' of Whitechapel, forcing residents into the shadows and signaling an early chapter in the city's long history of displacing vulnerable communities.
- The Open Secret of Washington Street
While Seattle’s reform administration promises order, popular gambling dens—including one run by a prominent Democratic politician—operate in plain sight.
- The Trains Came Back—And Seattle's Mail Came With Them
With the Pullman boycott collapsing, Northern Pacific and Lake Shore trains returned to schedule in Seattle, non-union crews took the throttle, and three days of stranded mail finally reached the post office.
- Bertha Jarvis Wants Out
A widow who remarried in Renton in 1885 asks a Seattle court for divorce and a share of the property, cataloguing years of abuse, thrown food and threats against her children.
- Labor Tensions Flare Over City Appointments
The Knights of Labor claim Seattle's mayor is prioritizing corporate security over working-class interests.