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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 4 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1903 | 3 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
36 stories matching peddler
- A Chinese Merchant Challenges Tacoma's Exclusion Laws
Years after the violent 1885 expulsions, a local merchant risks arrest to assert his right to work and peddle in the city.
- The Street Hawker's Stand Against Discriminatory Laws
When a Chinese produce seller was arrested for violating city peddling ordinances, he challenged the legality of a law targeting his livelihood all the way to the Chief Justice's chambers.
- A Cold Case Reopened in the Shadows of Lake Washington
Two men have been transported through Tacoma to face trial for a two-year-old murder, allegedly sparked by a debt between peddlers.
- Spokane Police Chief Assaults Peddler in Mayor's Office
An altercation over vending licenses in the Mayor's office ends with the city's top cop in the defendant's chair.
- Street Peddlers Defeat Seattle’s Restrictive Ordinance
A municipal court judge rules that a city ordinance banning fruit and vegetable street vendors is unconstitutional and void.
- Judge Strikes Down Peddler License Law
- The Murder of the Syrian Peddler
A Skokomish man faces trial for the killing of an itinerant merchant, exposing tensions and fear in the local court system.
- The Mystery of the Duwamish River Murder
A Norwegian immigrant is found brutally murdered in a ravine, leaving behind a cold trail, a missing peddler, and a community unsettled by itinerant crime.
- Assault in Old Town
An Italian peddler attempts to assault two young girls, sparking a neighborhood manhunt.
- The Right to Peddle in Spokane
A local ordinance banning street vendors from the downtown fire district is struck down by the courts.
- The Struggle for the Curb: Seattle's 1892 Market Fight
A local letter to the editor highlights the class divide between city planners and the peddlers struggling to feed the city's residents.
- The City’s Crackdown on Traveling Salesmen
In 1886, Seattle’s City Council passed a strict licensing ordinance to curb 'peddling' and hawking, requiring vendors to pay steep daily fees or face jail time.
- The Tomale Peddler and the Hen Roost
A South Seattle widow loses her flock to a hungry vendor who is quickly caught and sentenced to jail.
- A Deadly Encounter at the Pharmacy
A South Tacoma druggist is fighting for his life after a masked intruder opened fire during a robbery attempt.
- The Body in the Hen House: An Unidentified Murder Near Eagle Harbor
A well-dressed stranger was found half-burned in an abandoned Kitsap County farmhouse, with only spectacles, a corkscrew, and a torn newspaper to say who he was.
- A Forged Passage: The Counterfeit Papers That Nearly Smuggled Chinese Immigrants Into Seattle
A ring selling near-perfect imitation government certificates was caught trying to land Chinese immigrants at Tacoma, Seattle and Port Townsend — and the customs collector was not impressed by their craftsmanship.
- The Raspberry Bush Manhunt
A teenage jewel peddler leads Everett police on a frantic chase through a private backyard.
- The Unlikely Nihilist of Seattle
A Polish exile who survived the mines of Siberia and the horrors of Andersonville finds a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
- The Vanishing Pensioner of Ballard
A Civil War veteran draws his quarterly pension and vanishes, leaving his family destitute for the fourth time.
- The Mysterious Hardware Peddler
A man arrested at Front and Pike streets offers a flimsy excuse for the odd assortment of hardware in his possession.
- The City Council's Tug-of-War Over Curb-Side Commerce
An attempt to ban street peddlers in Seattle sparks a fierce debate over monopoly, public markets, and the rights of local farmers.
- 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 Farmer and the One-Dollar Fee
A Stanwood farmer’s struggle to sell his own harvest in Seattle triggers an impromptu protest against city bureaucracy.
- The 'Novelty' Harness That Changed Farm Life
A skeptical farmer encounters a bizarre, iron-framed invention that promises to revolutionize how horses work the land.
- City Clerk Faces Embezzlement Charges
A Tacoma official is arrested at his suburban home and charged with embezzling city funds, blaming the trouble on a licensing irregularity.
Also about this, in other words
- The Persistent Peddler of Front Street
A persistent brush salesman tries to make a sale in 1876 Seattle, leading to an amusing exchange about baldness and local vanity.
- The Risks of the 'Shipper’s Order' Grain Hustle
A federal warning exposes how unlicensed speculators were clogging rail yards with hay and grain they couldn't afford to pay for.
- The Transient Merchant Problem
A group of clothing peddlers skips town, leaving local brick-and-mortar merchants to foot the tax bill.
- The Man Who Sold Olympia's Eastside Like Hot Cakes
W. E. Sebree platted a tract on the Eastside, cleared nearly $40,000, toured Alaska and Europe — and came home to a town he hardly recognized.
- The Poison-Peddling Pharmacist
The head of the state board of pharmacy is caught stealing and adulterating strychnine intended for local farmers.
- The Madison Street Midnight Escape
A Seattle grocer skips town in the dead of night, leaving behind a shop full of unpaid bills and curious neighbors.
- Smuggling Silks in His Trousers
A crew member of the steamship Olympia attempts to bypass customs, revealing the era's aggressive enforcement against Chinese laborers.
- The Wholesaler Tells the Growers the Truth: 'We Don't Love You'
Sixteen years in the Seattle commission trade and no patience left, R. Merchant tells a room of fruit growers that no middleman has ever cared about them — and that neat, uniform packing, not grievance, is the only thing that ever got a farmer paid.