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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 8 |
| 1878 | 10 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 9 |
| 1886 | 5 |
| 1887 | 4 |
| 1888 | 9 |
| 1889 | 5 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 13 |
| 1893 | 21 |
| 1894 | 9 |
| 1895 | 8 |
| 1899 | 8 |
| 1902 | 1 |
132 stories matching panic
- The Panic-Proof Man
A boisterous braggart in a Grand River grocery store claims he can stop any theater panic with a single revolver—until a fake fire prank proves his cowardice.
- Seattle’s Post-Panic Pep Talk: Canals, Steel and Paved Streets
On New Year’s Day 1895, Seattle’s mayor and aldermen promised economy, railroad terminals and a Lake Washington canal—and insisted the Panic of 1893 was finally fading.
- Midnight Panic at the St. Cloud
A spectacular five-story blaze in downtown Seattle forces guests to flee in their nightclothes, leaving a landmark hotel in ruins.
- The Heat That Broke the Girls: A Seattle Summer of Hysteria
In June 1902, a sweltering afternoon in downtown Seattle turned a garment factory into a scene of mass panic as workers collapsed from heat prostration.
- The Floor Gives Way: Panic and Death at Seattle’s Morris Opera House
A grand opening night turns into a nightmare when the second-story floor of the newly converted theater collapses into the stables below, killing several and injuring dozens in one of the city's earliest major disasters.
- Fatal Panic Following a Cruel Hoax
A woman drowns in a desperate escape attempt after a stranger falsely claims a Seattle saloon is under quarantine.
- The Seattle Grocer Who Died Chasing Central American Trade
J. E. Chilberg clawed back from a fire, a failed corporation and a panic to build a Puget Sound steamship trade with Guatemala — then went down with the foundering Colima on the voyage that was supposed to secure it.
- Fifty Shingle Men March Up the Hill—and Back Down Again
Seattle's shingle manufacturers spend a full day fixing prices, then panic and rescind the whole scheme in the final five minutes.
- The Prickly Pear That Changed a Life: How a Boy’s Prank in Iowa Sent Him to Seattle
A local resident reveals the bizarre chain of events that led him from an Iowa farm to the Pacific Northwest, starting with a screwdriver and a pair of boots.
- The Price of Discontent: A Warning from the 1877 Panic
While Seattle thrives on the steady hum of mills and logging camps, a Seattle editor warns citizens against petty grievances by recounting the harrowing hunger and unemployment plaguing the rest of the country.
- The City’s ‘Losings-Bank’: A Temperance Sermon on Economic Ruin
In an 1881 sermon at Plymouth Church, a local minister argues that Seattle’s rampant saloon culture—not market forces—is the primary engine of financial instability.
- A Pioneer Stove Merchant Survives Fire, Panic, and a Receivership
Z.C. Miles arrived in 1870, rebuilt after the Great Seattle Fire, and joined forces with a young executive to create a coast-wide jobbing giant in stoves and electric supplies.
- The Bond Buyer Likes Seattle’s Credit—and Its Empty Storefronts
W. H. Harris tells the Rainier Club that the West is recovering from the panic and that Seattle has fewer vacant buildings, pro rata, than Chicago or St. Paul.
- Banking on Seattle’s Resilience
When the First Presbyterian Church laid its cornerstone in 1893, they buried a message of defiance against the global financial panic.
- The Panic on Stage: How a Shout of 'Fight' Turned a Seattle Theater into a Stampede
In the winter of 1876, a misinterpreted cry during a local play sparked a chaotic rush for exits, injuring several patrons and exposing the fragility of public order in the young city.
- The High Cost of a Depressed Lumber Market
A Seattle lumberman's failed venture in San Francisco illustrates the brutal reach of the 1893 economic panic across the Pacific Coast.
- The Bank Failed, but the Panic Didn't Come
When Merchants' National Bank closed in 1895, depositors lined up, then went home reassured. The real scramble was for the receiver's job.
- Storm Topples Telegraph Poles, Threatening Streets
A morning windstorm turned a downtown intersection into a dangerous thicket of downed lines, nearly causing a panic.
- 1878 Seattle Grapples With Nationwide Money Shortage
While 1878 brought economic panic across the nation, Seattleites rejected the idea that their town was failing, pointing to local grit and coal-laden wharves as the true engines of progress.
- The 'Freezing Out' Campaign of 1885
As anti-Chinese sentiment reaches a fever pitch in Seattle, the local press advocates for a 'peaceful' campaign of economic exclusion to force the Chinese community out of the city.
- A Deadly Prank at the Blue Front
A malicious false alarm of a plague quarantine triggers a fatal panic in a Seattle dance hall.
- The Martial Law Panic of 1886
As armed vigilantes patrolled Seattle, labor leaders turned to the President of the United States to stop a coup by force.
- Fire Scare at South Eighth and Dearborn
A fire in a small stand caused a panic among nearby residents, who mistook a white man’s warning for a police raid.
- The Northern Pacific Railroad Meltdown
Shareholders accuse directors of self-dealing as the rail giant enters receivership amid the Panic of 1893.
- The Cedar River Siege: How a Power Mogul Tried to Steal Seattle’s Water
Seattle Star exposes the Snoqualmie Falls Power Company’s dirty game: using fake environmental panic to block municipal water rights and crush competition.
Also about this, in other words
- The Price of Panic in 1888 Seattle
When an unfounded rumor of a merchant’s bankruptcy swept through the city, the local business community banded together to stave off a catastrophic bank run.
- The Thunderstorm That Cleared the Air
When panic gripped 1887 Seattle following a series of rumors, a firm stand by the Governor turned local anxiety into a surprising display of civic unity.
- The Price of Panic: Seattle's 1878 Foreclosure Wave
A legal notice detailing the seizure of property in Seattle and King County reveals a landscape defined by debt, land disputes, and the brutal finality of the Sheriff’s gavel.
- A Terrifying Case of Mass Hysteria on the Ballard Line
A motorman and conductor abandoned their moving streetcar in fear, triggering a chaotic panic among passengers that led to multiple injuries.
- The Great Retail Panic of 1900
Facing a glut of inventory and the pressure of a 'flood-tide' of retail competition, a major Seattle department store launched a desperate, city-wide clearance event to move stock.