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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
19 stories matching paperwork
- A Deadly Dispute on the Pataha
A Christmas Day argument over a tool leaves a young man dead and the legal system in disarray due to missing paperwork.
- A Hero Betrayed by Paperwork
A local Indigenous hero, renowned for saving shipwrecked crews, faces the loss of his homestead due to a bureaucratic failure.
- The Missing Express Package
An express agent at Ainsworth finds himself in the middle of a $15,000 mystery after a package disappears under his watch.
- A Father Arrested for Burying His Child
A grieving father faces legal trouble for failing to secure a formal burial permit after his two-year-old child passed away.
- A Bungled Case of Robbery and Bad Paperwork
A classic instance of municipal incompetence led to suspected robbers walking free after their bail money was returned due to a clerical error in the police department.
- Social Club’s Liquor License Gambit Fails
A club for 'colored gentlemen' finds their strategy to circumvent licensing laws derailed by a bureaucratic oversight in their incorporation paperwork.
- The Paperwork That Couldn’t Save Chung We Long
A Seattle federal commissioner orders a Chinese laborer deported after testimony places him in Victoria, exposing the impossible “continuous residence” rules of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
- Washington’s New Industrial Insurance Program Hits Its Stride
A progress report from the state’s Workmen’s Compensation Commission reveals a busy start, thousands of claims, and the curious realities of the injured worker's experience.
- The Price of Freedom: A City Treasurer's Bond
While a train wreck delayed the arrival of accused city treasurer Adolph Krug, his friends and family scrambled through the midnight hours to meet a $64,000 bail requirement.
- The Town That Forgot to Define Its Borders
A paperwork blunder in Kennewick’s precinct boundaries leaves residents of three major additions accidentally disenfranchised, forcing a two-month delay for harbor elections.
- Snohomish Land Claim Dispute Heads to Probate Court
A legal summons from 1877 reveals the precarious reality of early Washington settlers who vanished from their claims, leaving behind only government paperwork and public notices.
- The Paperwork Revolution
Whitman County updates its land records to end a legacy of confusion and 'egregious errors' in tax assessment.
- The Paperwork Error That Challenged Seattle’s Property Claims
A legal dispute over a real estate deed in 1885 reveals how bureaucratic technicalities—specifically a missing county seal—threatened the validity of early land titles in King County.
- The Permit That Died With the Doctor
A Seattle family wanted to move remains out of a valuable cemetery plot. The health board said the paperwork required a physician’s statement—from a doctor who was already dead.
- The Sunnyside Canal's New Problem Was Too Much Water
Farmers who once feared the canal could never water the whole valley are now drowning in seepage — so a private company has been chartered to drain the land before the state district can get its paperwork done.
- A Surveyor's Delay, a Land Office Snarl, and Four Dead Men in Okanogan
Settlers near Loomis have waited years for their homesteads to be platted and put on the market while paperwork sat unfinished in Washington — and in the meantime, four men have been killed fighting over boundary lines nobody could settle.
- 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.
- The Paperwork of Exclusion: Chinese Residents Ordered to Register
New federal rules land in Seattle requiring every Chinese resident to carry a photographic certificate of residence, sworn affidavits and a detailed physical description — the machinery of the Geary Act takes shape.
- The Canal That Would Reshape Seattle, Held Up by Mud and Paperwork
In 1895 the government's Lake Washington ship canal was still a paper route, and every submerged lot owner had to sign away damages before a dredge could move.
Also about this, in other words
- The Disgraceful Scrawl of Territorial Law
A scathing editorial from the Weekly Dispatch reveals that the Territorial Legislature's laws were so poorly drafted, blotted, and grammatically mangled that the editor suggests burning them to avoid litigation.
- The Aldermen Tried to Keep Public Documents Secret. The City Clerk Objected.
After a bribery accusation leaked, Seattle's board ordered documents withheld. The clerk and corporation counsel said the public had a right to see them.
- The Mugwump’s Ledger: How Seattle’s Territorial Secretary Gamed the Law Printing Contract
A fierce editorial exposes Secretary Owings for delaying the publication of territorial laws to favor a cronies’ printing bid, while padding the bill with 40 pages of his own party platform.