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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 1 |
| 1894 | 5 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
23 stories matching rafter
- Tragedy in the Basement on Washington Street
A cook and cannery worker, struggling with isolation and mental illness, was found dead in a basement apartment.
- A Wife Arrived Too Late: The Theater-Builder's Fatal Fall
H. M. Jones slipped from a board atop the unfinished Seattle Theater at Third and Cherry, leaving six children and a neighbor's quiet tribute.
- A Nameless End in the Horse Heaven Hills
A stranger is found in a deserted sheep-camp shack, leaving behind no clues, no name, and no family to claim him.
- Vigilante Violence in Roslyn
A saloon keeper is dragged from jail and lynched by a mob after a deadly dispute over a two-dollar debt.
- A Deadly Slip in the Cokedale Mine
Two carpenters, working on the rafters of an incline, lost their footing and fell 330 feet into a freezing, water-filled sump.
- The Solitary End of a Salmon Bay Logger
A lonely worker’s death by suicide at a cabin in Salmon Bay highlights the hidden struggles of the frontier laborers who built the region's early economy.
- The Firebug's Last Exit: A Tacoma Lodging-House Owner Hangs Himself
After firemen foiled his attempt to burn his own lodging house for insurance, Carl Haesbseche walked out before breakfast, rigged a twine noose, and stepped off a platform.
- Fire Sweeps Through Opium Den and Saloon District
A negligent stove in a Washington Street opium den sparks a conflagration that consumes seven buildings in the heart of Seattle.
- Naming Mount Rainier
A judge finds himself in a comedic bind while trying to deliver a speech in Tacoma and mentioning the iconic mountain by its common, though disputed, name.
- The Lion in the Boiler Room
When a traveling circus lion escaped into a Seattle industrial district, two workers found themselves trapped in a boiler-house, staring down a predator while attempting a quiet rescue.
- The Old Capitol Gets a Hurried Remodel Before the Legislature Returns
Secretary Weir is shoring up sagging foundations, rebuilding the Senate chamber, and squeezing five or six more years out of Olympia's aging statehouse.
- The Irish Question in 1887 Seattle
A fervent mass meeting at Frye’s Opera House saw Seattle residents packing the rafters to protest British 'coercion' of Ireland, drawing parallels to American liberty.
- South Bend’s Mill Burns While the Hose Company Stays Home
The Willapa Cedar Lumber Company’s mill and dry house burn to the ground; a kerosene-soaked fireball and a short hose supply leave the town reeling.
- The Tragedy at the Soap Factory
A local businessman meets a horrific end after falling into a vat of boiling grease.
- Seattle Rallies Against Chinese Labor at the Standard Theater
An overflow crowd packs the Standard Theater to demand the total exclusion of Chinese laborers and the termination of the Burlingame Treaty, revealing the deep economic anxieties of the era.
- A South Bend Mill Assigned Itself to Creditors, Then Burned to the Ground That Night
The Willapa Cedar Lumber Company signed its assets over to creditors at 4:55 p.m. By 11 that nightthe shingle mill and dry house were in flames, five car loads of shingles lost and $12,000 gone up in smoke.
- Rising from the Ashes: The Great Seattle Fire of 1888
While the downtown core smoldered, Seattle citizens gathered in the courthouse—lit by tallow dips—to demand a modern city of brick and stone, rejecting makeshift wooden shacks and dreaming of a reconstructed metropolis.
- Standing Room Only: Seattle's Amateur Thespians Surprise Their Director
The Athletic Club's comic travesty packs Cordary's Theater to the rafters, and a floral tribute turns the second act into an ambush for director Bray.
- The Tragedy of the Tenement Boy
A heart-wrenching account of a young boy struggling to survive in a Seattle tenement while clinging to his faith despite his father's cruelty.
- A Tin Box of Gold Hidden in the Rafters
South Seattle police say the hammer that killed a mother and her baby belonged to Henry Cramer — and the money taken from the dead woman's house was stashed in his shed. Now the neighbours are talking about a rope.
- The Bloody Hammer and the Brewer's Wife
Seattle prosecutors rest their murder case against Craemer after a courtroom day of fire, hidden gold, and a suspect whose hands shook at the sight of the weapon.
- The Six-Story Mill Built on a Rock in the Spokane River
In 1883, S. G. Havermale and B. F. Davis began raising a flour mill and elevator on Little Island, betting that water power and wheat would make Spokane Falls a grain capital.
- A Father's Vengeance: The Killing of the Muckleshoot Medicine Man
When three of Jerry Domnick's children died under Jim Bouchitt's care, the grieving father took a rifle into the woods — and the healer was found buried under a log near Soos Creek.