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| Year | Stories |
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| 1858 | 1 |
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38 stories matching protract
- The Bank Cashier and the Midnight Spree
A Coupeville bank cashier is arrested in Seattle after allegedly embezzling thousands to fund a 'protracted spree.'
- The Cost of a Bridge Inspection
A protracted dispute over demurrage fees for the Puyallup River bridge reaches a compromise, leaving the contractor in the red.
- Tragedy in Olympia Following Domestic Dispute
A young man takes his own life after his wife refuses to live with him due to his alcohol use.
- Clearing the Right-of-Way North of Columbia Street
After a protracted legal fight with the city, the Oregon Improvement Company prepares to rebuild its tracks north of downtown.
- A Heartfelt Greeting at the Waterfront
A young woman travels across the country to marry a man she has never met, meeting him for the first time at the Seattle wharf.
- The passing of a pioneer farmer
Michael B. Ward, who hosted President Rutherford B. Hayes and Governor Watson C. Squire at his Walla Walla homestead, has died at age 75.
- The Phantom Bribe: A Legislative Ghost Hunt in Olympia
A state representative demands an investigation into a 'phantom' briber, while the legislature becomes deadlocked by scandal and partisan maneuvering.
- The Eight-Hour Day Fight Reaches Fever Pitch
Local machinists are holding firm in a region-wide strike against the Sumner Iron Works and other firms to secure the eight-hour workday.
- The Smell of Death: Seattle’s First Fight Over Industrial Zoning
In May 1890, a tannery near Seneca and Front streets was driving neighbors to the brink of eviction with its noxious fumes. One resident took to the press to demand the city council act before property values collapsed.
- A Desperate End on the Waterfront
After allegedly being robbed of fifty dollars in Tacoma, a laborer was found nearly dead from a morphine overdose.
- Farmers and Utilities Face Off Over Irrigation Rates
After a protracted legal battle, White Bluffs irrigation users meet to negotiate a flat rate for power with the Pacific Power & Light Company.
- The High School Garroter
A fifteen-year-old high school student is in custody after confessing to a series of violent street robberies in Tacoma.
- The Bureaucratic Standoff at Point-No-Point
A federal effort to build a lighthouse on Puget Sound hit a wall in 1878 when landowners demanded 'exorbitant' prices, sparking a debate over the government's power to acquire land.
- The Meteorology of the Woods
An 1880 meteorologist argues that deforestation is responsible for the drying of rivers and the loss of rainfall, a warning from the early days of Washington Territory.
- The Exhausting Wait: How Seattle's 1874 Election Paralyzed the City
After election clerks were locked in a hall for thirty hours to tally votes, local journalists decried the bureaucratic slog as a 'quarry slave' ordeal that turned even the most patient men into irritable, sleep-deprived ruins.
- An Editor's Dilemma in the Civil War
The Olympia Standard defends its editorial stance against critics who charge the paper with abandoning the cause of the Union by questioning the immediate abolition of slavery.
- The Judge Who Was Too High to Rule
Washington state legislators launch an impeachment investigation into a Spokane judge accused of being a 'morphine fiend' who presided over court while intoxicated.
- The Waterfront Tug-of-War: Squatters vs. The Empire of A.A. Denny
As Seattle's waterfront boomed, property titan A.A. Denny moved to clear 'squatters' from valuable harbor land, sparking a public anxiety over property titles that echoes through the city's growth.
- A Senate Seat, a Stubborn Judge, and a Wasted Session
In January 1893, a Republican faction's refusal to honor the caucus choice paralyzed the Washington legislature and threatened Senator John B. Allen's re-election.
- The Great Park vs. Boulevard Debate
A skeptical citizen challenges the Park Commissioners' grandiose plans for miles of boulevards, calling them an unconstitutional overreach of power.
- Railroad vs. Waterfront: The 'Ram's Horn' Dispute
Property owners along the Seattle waterfront push back against railroad companies attempting to rebuild tracks on disputed, long-dormant rights-of-way.
- Embezzling banker flees to parts unknown
A former Island County bank cashier accused of stealing nearly $15,000 has skipped town, leaving his legal defense behind.
- Gold in the Wenatchee, but the Miners Were Told to Leave
Pearson's party returns to Steilacoom after Indians warn them off the new gold fields; a handful of dirt shows a dollar's worth of gold.
- The $1,000 Bill and the Hatchet in the Hallway
Arthur Neal chased his wife Jennie through a Front Street lodging house after a missing banknote; Jennie Neal went downtown to seek peace bonds.
- The Ghost Crime of the Head of the Bay
A man turned himself into the sheriff for a murder that happened only in his own whiskey-soaked mind.