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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 12 |
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1859 | 8 |
| 1860 | 7 |
| 1861 | 16 |
| 1862 | 14 |
| 1863 | 5 |
| 1864 | 5 |
| 1865 | 2 |
| 1872 | 29 |
| 1876 | 109 |
| 1877 | 81 |
| 1878 | 105 |
| 1879 | 11 |
| 1880 | 22 |
| 1882 | 17 |
| 1883 | 75 |
| 1884 | 41 |
| 1885 | 103 |
| 1886 | 63 |
| 1887 | 47 |
| 1888 | 55 |
| 1889 | 153 |
| 1890 | 30 |
| 1891 | 98 |
| 1892 | 248 |
| 1893 | 225 |
| 1894 | 246 |
| 1895 | 295 |
| 1897 | 4 |
| 1898 | 17 |
| 1899 | 58 |
| 1900 | 7 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 85 |
| 1904 | 62 |
| 1905 | 4 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 27 |
| 1909 | 99 |
| 1910 | 15 |
| 1911 | 5 |
| 1912 | 6 |
| 1914 | 11 |
| 1915 | 9 |
| 1916 | 30 |
| 1917 | 25 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 7 |
| 1924 | 8 |
| 1925 | 3 |
| 1928 | 2 |
| 1929 | 2 |
2,615 stories matching person
- The Judge Who Was Both Defendant and Accused
In a stunning legal double-header, Judge Wickersham is convicted of seduction in one court, then immediately indicted for perjury by the federal grand jury in the very same day.
- Who Gets to Vote in the Primaries?
Seattle's corporation counsel says registration is not optional—even for party primaries—and that election judges cannot waive it.
- The Four Days James McCutcheon Was Someone Else
A Roy butcher vanished on Sunday and reappeared near Auburn with no memory of where he had been—an early-twentieth-century case of “dual personality.”
- The Great Timber Heist: Federal Law Cracks Down on Puget Sound Loggers
In 1872, the U.S. government enforced a strict new law protecting live-oak and red-cedar from unauthorized removal, threatening massive fines and ship seizures for anyone caught logging federal lands without Navy permission.
- The Trial of the Anti-Chinese Conspirators
A federal judge clarifies the legal bounds of anti-Chinese intimidation in King County, 1886.
- 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.
- Who Should Judge? Washington’s New Jury Law Under Fire
A Seattle paper defends a legislative overhaul that ended the professional juror and required jurors to be householders, as critics charged it handed the courtroom to property owners.
- A Mob Hanged Two Men at the Courthouse. Then the State Argued Over the Bill.
After Hill and Parker were lynched in Colfax, Attorney General W. C. Jones ruled that the county need not pay for a coroner's inquest—and said the real hunt for the mob belonged to a grand jury.
- The Pastor, the Circular, and the Hung Jury
For three days a Seattle courtroom heard accusations of adultery, an illegitimate son, and a pastor’s libelous circular. At 12:35 a.m., the jury was still deadlocked.
- He Was Not Going to the Asylum: How an Olympia Guardianship Case Was Settled
Peterfield Turpin’s family asked the court for a guardian. Rumors flew that he would be committed and his estate seized. In open court, the parties explained—and settled.
- The Income Tax Comes to Seattle: Men of Means Ordered to Report
Deputy Collector S. P. Gleason is preparing to summon about 100 Seattle-area individuals and corporations for sworn income returns under the new federal tax.
- The Moral Gatekeeper: Snohomish’s New Battle Over Who Gets to Sell Liquor
A new state law requires liquor license applicants to prove 'good moral character,' turning county commissioners into judges of private virtue and sparking a fierce debate over who gets to define morality in the Territory.
- The Strict Rules of Territorial Ballot Boxes
Before the secret ballot was standardized, Washington Territory enacted stern penalties to prevent election-day fraud, coercion, and liquor-fueled chaos.
- The Delegate Who Sold Seattle’s Future for Five Thousand Dollars
A scathing editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch accuses Territorial Delegate George Freeman Willard of betraying Seattle’s interests—specifically the mud flats of Duwamish Bay—to secure his own political and financial gain, while simultaneously accepting bribes from rival railroad companies.
- Fifteen Minutes to Confess: The Morphine Trial of Port Townsend's Captain De Lion
A former mayor, Chilean consul and dry-dock promoter worth half a million dollars sits in superior court while his emaciated wife describes a year of morphine, delusion and a pocket watch set on the table between them.
- Knockout Drops at the Standard Saloon
A Tacoma man swears he was drugged, fleeced of $210, and knocked toothless—then asks the city to revoke the saloon's license.
- Eight Dead, and the Steamboat Owners Owe Only $3,500
A federal judge in Seattle limits the Annie Faxon's liability after a Snake River boiler explosion, extending an old maritime rule to inland steamboats.
- Grand Jury Exposes Seattle Brothels and Liquor Sales to Native Americans
In September 1876, a King County grand jury reported widespread lawlessness in Seattle, including indictments for selling liquor to Native Americans, running gambling houses, and maintaining public nuisances.
- The Gambler’s Shield: How Seattle Saloon Keepers Dodged Mayor Moras’ Purge
When Chief Justice Burke urged the city to revoke liquor licenses from gambling dens, the Common Council refused—citing legal technicalities and protecting the very establishments the mayor wanted shut down.
- State Supreme Court Upholds Lake Washington Canal Contract, Clearing the Way for Tide-Land Transformation
The Washington Supreme Court rules that the Lake Washington Waterway Company's contract to dig a canal and fill tide lands is constitutional, rejecting a landowner's challenge and affirming the state's power to remake the waterfront.
- A Governor's $1,000 Reward for a Missing Spokane County Farmer
Charles F. Gloystein vanished from his Mica home in July 1894. As neighbors whispered murder and Populists attacked his name, Washington's governor offered cash for his body and for his killers.
- 651 Bills, 13 Laws: Inside Olympia's Frantic Last Two Weeks
A deadlocked local-option fight, a women's eight-hour bill that ended in fisticuffs, and a marriage law barring 'drunkards' and the 'feeble-minded' — the 1909 legislature's chaotic home stretch.
- The 1854 Territorial Criminal Code
A comprehensive look at the foundational laws of Washington Territory, detailing everything from murder and manslaughter to the prohibition of kidnapping and coerced servitude.
- The Condemned Murderer Who Ran the Jailhouse Court
Thomas Blanck, awaiting execution for murder, was unanimously elected to preside over the county jail's prisoner-run tribunal—complete with fines, lashes, and a Bible in his cell.
- The Judge Who Refused to Step Aside
In Thurston County court, Judge Robinson denies a change of venue in the Minkler case, rejecting claims that county prejudice or a newspaper feud had compromised him.
Also about this, in other words
- The Fugitive 'Dude'
A local Indigenous man is pursued by the sheriff for an alleged land fraud scheme involving Puyallup tribal property.
- The Man Who Believed Time Was Racing
A railroad laborer in a remote mountain camp suffers a psychological break after a near-fatal cave-in, convinced he is living at an accelerated pace.
- An Eccentric Pioneer Found Alone and Helpless
After marrying a much younger woman and deeding away his property in a scandal that made local news, a reclusive tailor has been found paralyzed in his home.
- A Kenton Picnic Speech and the Justification of Native Displacement
At a Kenton picnic, Judge Orange Jacobs cast pioneer survival as historical necessity and used dehumanizing rhetoric to defend the displacement of Native Americans.
- The Man Who Owned the Earth
A laborer from Redmond is committed to an asylum after a mental break convinces him he holds the deed to the entire planet.
- Neighborhood Alert After Assault on Teen
A railroad worker was apprehended by police following an alleged assault on a girl in a shed near Jefferson Avenue.
- The Man Who Cut Off His Own Foot
Desperate and denied by surgeons, a young Washington man performs a self-amputation with a pocketknife to save his life.
- Prominent Pioneer Detained
A longtime city contractor suffers a mental health crisis at home.