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63 stories matching pauper
- The Forgotten Panic Over 'Pauper Immigration'
An 1887 editorial reveals how Seattle's civic leaders—and the nation—framed foreign labor as a social and financial 'drain,' echoing the xenophobic rhetoric of modern political debates.
- Sheriff Blocks 28 Miners From Landing — a Newspaper Calls Out the 'Chronic Pauper Hunter'
In 1877, a steamboat captain brought 28 out-of-work miners from Victoria to Port Townsend. The sheriff said they were paupers and refused to let them off the boat. This Seattle editor wasn't having it.
- Spokane Judge Rejects a Cut-Rate Pauper Burial Contract
A county deal that paid a premium on each pauper's grave is struck down as against public policy—even after another bidder offered to bury the dead for a penny apiece.
- The Case for Universal Schooling in the Territory
An early local advocate argues that education, not incarceration, is the only path toward ending poverty and crime in the Washington Territory.
- The Night Port Townsend Refused a Boatload of Strikebreakers
Twenty-eight destitute men from a Nanaimo miners' strike were shipped to Port Townsend aboard the North Pacific. Sheriff Miller met them at the wharf and said they could not land.
- The Political Case Against 'Human Freight'
An editorial defending the exclusion of Chinese labor based on the philosophy of wage protection and the warnings of abolitionist Wendell Phillips.
- The Right to Remain: A Victory in Federal Court
Judge Hanford rules that a Japanese laborer cannot be deported as a 'pauper' by immigration inspectors, asserting a right to due process.
- County Public Assistance Funds Nearing Exhaustion
Mounting relief costs for Pierce County’s indigent population leave officials scrambling as funds run dry before the fiscal year's end.
- Grand Army of the Republic Seeks Final Resting Place for Veterans
Local veterans launch an effort to move honorably discharged soldiers from 'pauper’s fields' to a proper monument in the Masonic Cemetery.
- When the County Paid for Pauper Burials and Jailhouse Blankets
A look at the grim line items of Seattle's 1876 county budget reveals the mundane, often tragic, administrative costs of governing a frontier territory.
- Smallpox Outbreak Ignored at Snohomish Hospital
A health officer faces public backlash for failing to quarantine a hospital where a county pauper contracted smallpox.
- The Dignity of the 'Horny Hand'
In 1878, a Seattle editorial warned against the ‘pauperism’ caused by an overabundance of professional graduates who were too proud to labor.
- Everett Labor Unions Demand Immigration Restriction
Citing an influx of 'pauper labor' from Southern Europe, the Everett Trades Council lobbies Congress to stem the tide.
- The Sisters of Providence Take Over Seattle's County Farm
In an era of rapid expansion, King County commissioners shift the burden of social welfare for the impoverished and ill to the Sisters of the House of Providence for a fixed annual rent.
- The Saloon Men Who Saved a Logger from a Pauper's Grave
When Frank Johnson died at the county farm, his old friend Tommy Jones called on Seattle's saloon keepers to give him a proper burial in Lake View.
- The Great Walkout: Soldiers Protest 'Pauperizing' Rules at Seattle Home
Sixty men leave the city's soldiers' home in a mass exodus, citing degrading permit requirements and harsh governance by Col. Leslie.
- A State Medical Examiner Accused of Faking a Fracture to Bilk the County
M. D. Minkler of Centralia faces charges of obtaining money under false pretenses after county commissioners say his claimed treatment for a pauper patient was a fabrication.
- The Border-Walking Japanese Laborers
An early 1894 legal test of the 'pauper and assisted immigrant law' sees laborers shuttled back and forth across the Washington-Canada border.
- The Ex-Treasurer's Appeal Stalled Over Unpaid Court Fees
Adolph Krug, sentenced to seven years for embezzling while Seattle city treasurer, failed to perfect his Supreme Court appeal—because the clerk's fees went unpaid.
- The Unlucky Return of Alexander Fachant
A Frenchman who forfeited a $2,000 bond believing he was free finds that federal law has a longer reach than he expected.
- A Gambler's Estate Turns Ugly
A bitter legal battle over the estate of a Tacoma gambling house proprietor spills over into public accusations of fraud and pauperism.
- Seattle Settlers Condemn British Rule in Ireland
A local assembly of Irish-American organizers drafts a formal protest against the British government's land policies and the forced migration of the Irish peasantry.
- The Myth of Protective Tariffs
An editorial critique using nationwide reports to challenge the idea that protectionist policies actually benefit the laborer.
- Sixteen Paupers, a Clay-Bed Well, and a Farm Not Fit to Live On
County commissioners tour the county poor farm and find cracked fences, filthy bedding, horses bleeding on barbed wire and water unfit to drink. The old place will be sold, they say — but only if a poor farm is worth having at all.
- The Forgotten Paupers of King County
A backlog of 800 unburied individuals, kept in temporary graves due to a lack of city funds, sparks a call for municipal accountability.