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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 2 |
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 3 |
| 1899 | 5 |
| 1908 | 3 |
| 1909 | 1 |
34 stories matching purser
- The Mother, The Child, and The Purser’s Zeal
A desperate mother is arrested in Seattle after a daring escape from the hospital, exposing the cruelty of rigid legal intervention in the 1870s.
- The Sudden Loss of the Monte Cristo Purser
A young purser fell from the deck of a steamer and vanished into the river near the shingle mills.
- The Gold Rush Comes to Town: Klondikers Unload Millions in Seattle
As the first steamers of the season dock at Pier 52, miners from Dawson City bring fortunes in gold dust and nuggets, turning Seattle’s waterfront into a temporary vault for the Yukon's wealth.
- A Steamboat Inspector on Trial, and the Men Who Kicked
A Seattle courtroom hears masters and pilots defend Capt. Bryant against charges of favoritism—and admit that the men who complain are often the incompetent ones.
- An Expensive Dip in the Sound
A purser's accidental plunge into the harbor leads to a secret payoff to hush a blunder.
- The Tragic End of the Steamboat Annie Faxon
A boiler explosion on the Snake River kills eight passengers and crew, leaving only wreckage in its wake.
- Explosion on the Skagit River
A boilers explosion on a passenger steamer leaves eight dead and others wounded while commuters were at dinner.
- The Gold Rush That Wasn't: Copper River’s Scurvy Epidemic and the Ghosts of the Valdez Glacier
As Seattleites debated housing and labor, a grim report arrived from the interior: men dying of scurvy in the Copper River country, and the recovered bodies of seven explorers who froze to death on the Valdez glacier.
- The Marshal’s Club: A Vagrant’s Death on the Falmouth Harbor
When a Whatcom city marshal struck a drunk vagrant with his billy club, the man died. Now, a furious letter found under the body demands justice in Seattle.
- The Wickersham Scandal: A Judge’s Honor on Trial
In a Tacoma courtroom that captivated the Pacific Northwest, Miss Brantner takes the stand for days, detailing alleged improprieties with Probate Judge Wickersham. The trial exposes a web of land fraud, cocaine use, and social climbing, culminating in a judge’s furious rebuke of a laughing crowd.
- Steilacoom Empties Its Garrison for a Near-War on San Juan Island
On Aug. 9, 1859, soldiers and two brass cannon left Steilacoom aboard the steamer Julia to reinforce Capt. Pickett’s tiny command, as the U.S. and Britain edged toward war over a boundary and a pig.
- The Klondike Gold Rush Arrives in Seattle
When the steamer Humboldt pulled into the Arlington Dock, it carried a fortune in gold dust and the dreams of men hoping to strike it rich in the North.
- The Sound Goes Silent: Steamboat Crews Strike Over Wage Cuts
A coordinated walkout by skilled engineers and captains across Puget Sound brings mail service to a halt as operators face the reality of losing their irreplaceable workforce.
- The Steamboat Strike That Tied Up the Sound
Officers of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company refuse to accept wage cuts, halting ferry service between Seattle and Tacoma in a rare display of maritime labor solidarity.
- Harbor Inspector Accused of Corruption
Seattle mariners and merchants join forces to oust a federal official accused of kickbacks, incompetence, and intimidation.
- The Captain, the Dark Dock, and the Cry 'Man Overboard'
A Seattle jury weighs damages in the drowning of Capt. George Hill at Anacortes, where lanterns, liquor and a first officer's memory shape the case.
- The Ship That Smuggled Opium: How a Legal Loophole Freed a Vessel and $13,000 in Penalties
Judge Hanford rules that the steamer *Walla Walla* is not liable for contraband found in its cargo because the master lacked knowledge of the smuggling, setting a precedent for common carriers.
- The Steamer Traveler Goes Down Off Foulweather Bluff
A sudden leak in a winter gale drowned Captain Slater and several others on a routine Puget Sound run from Port Townsend to Port Gamble.
- The Boy Who Stole Gold Nuggets and Slept with Dogs
Eight-year-old Harold Hubbard burglarized a Seattle home, hid his loot under the sidewalk, and spent the night in a dog show—only to confess the next day.
- The Boys in the County Jail
A look inside the cell of four Seattle youths arrested for petty theft, and the cycle of crime they are already trapped in.
- The Political War Over John H. McGraw
The Post-Intelligencer battles claims that gubernatorial candidate John H. McGraw was seen at a notorious Seattle saloon.
- The Midnight Thief on the Steamer Isabel
A passenger loses her entire fortune while dining, sparking a tense confrontation and a failed pursuit of justice on the Sound.
- The Price of Passage on Bellingham Bay
Passengers are protesting predatory fare hikes on local steamers, pitting citizens against boat operators in a fight over transit costs.
- Fisticuffs and Rivalry: Fairhaven vs. Anacortes
A skirmish at the docks reveals the intense, sometimes violent, professional bitterness between neighboring boom towns competing for status.
- Gold Fever Lands at Bellingham Bay
Mail-steamer dispatches report 1,400 argonauts bound for the new mines, Victoria land prices climbing to a 'dizzy elevation,' and rumors of a fresh townsite at Semiahmoo Bay.
Also about this, in other words
- A Miner, a Revolver and a Pair of Suspenders
John Purse had lived in the coal town of Wilkeson for eighteen years. In one drunken night he shot his eldest son, was locked in the town jail, and hanged himself before anyone could stop him.
- A Chaotic Rescue at the Government Dock
An attempt to recover a lost purse from the harbor leads to a domino-effect spill of five men into the bay.
- The Landlady, The Lodger, and the Revolver
A rooming house rental dispute on Third Street explodes into a brawl involving hair-pulling, biting, and a gun.
- A Vengeful Pursuit of a Debtor
A woman travels from Denver to Washington to confront the man who allegedly swindled her out of her life savings, only to be thrown in jail.
- The Bellboy and the Purse Trap
A Rainier Hotel manager ends a spree of thefts by setting a sting operation for a dishonest employee.
- The Automatic Suitor-Smacker
A fed-up father builds a booby-trapped gate to drive away his daughters' persistent suitors, turning a domestic headache into a mechanical triumph.
- The Perils of the Hand-Crank
A Hover resident sustains a serious injury while starting his automobile, highlighting the physical dangers of early motor travel.
- A Close Call in the Columbia River Gorge
A young woman on horseback survives an encounter with a starving cougar.